At certain moments in life, we find ourselves avoiding something we know we probably need to face—a conversation, a change, a risk, or a truth about ourselves. Strangely, those moments often point toward the life we most want to live.

Joseph Campbell once said that the treasure we most desire is hidden in the cave we most fear. From Theseus entering the labyrinth to Bilbo confronting Gollum beneath the Misty Mountains, stories across cultures suggest that fear is often a signal rather than a stop sign. This talk explores how myths help us recognize the “cave entrances” in our own lives and how stepping toward them can lead to insight, growth, and unexpected treasure.

At some point in the third quarter, many people feel as if the life that once made sense no longer quite fits. Careers shift, identities loosen, and questions about meaning begin to press more urgently.

Ancient myths describe this experience as a descent—what the Greeks called katabasis. From Persephone and Odysseus to Inanna and Orpheus, transformation often begins not with triumph but with a journey downward. Modern stories echo the same pattern: Dorothy swept out of Kansas into a bewildering new world, Toni Morrison’s characters in Belovedconfronting the haunted past, or the Game of Thrones heroes repeatedly entering dark and dangerous places in search of their destiny. This talk explores why the second half of life can feel disorienting—and how stories like these, ancient and modern, offer a surprisingly helpful map for navigating change, loss, and renewal.

By midlife, many of us become aware of the lives we didn’t live—the career we almost pursued, the talents we never developed, the identities we once imagined becoming.

These alternate versions of ourselves don’t simply disappear. They linger at the edges of our story, sometimes as regret, sometimes as curiosity, and sometimes as a quiet reminder of what still matters to us. Drawing on poetry, mythology, and depth psychology, this talk explores the idea of the “unlived life” and why acknowledging these forgotten paths can lead not to regret but to greater clarity about the life we still have time to shape.

Many people reach the middle of life and discover that certain memories, regrets, or unfinished stories still linger. These experiences can feel almost like ghosts—old versions of ourselves or inherited family stories that continue to shape the way we see the world.

This talk explores the idea of “psychological haunting”: the parts of our past that refuse to disappear. Drawing on myth, literature, and depth psychology, we examine why these ghosts tend to grow louder in midlife and how listening to them can lead to greater understanding, integration, and freedom.

Los Angeles is often imagined as pure urban sprawl—freeways, suburbs, and endless development. Yet the city has always been shaped by powerful natural forces: desert winds, wildfire landscapes, wandering wildlife, and a river that still remembers how to flood. 

Writers from Raymond Chandler to Joan Didion to Walter Mosley and Luis Rodríguez have tried to make sense of this strange collision between wilderness and metropolis. This talk explores how Los Angeles literature reveals the wildness still hiding within the city, reminding us that even in one of the most urban places in America, nature is never very far away.