another quote:
Myth was regarded as primary; it was concerned with what was
thought to be timeless and constant in our existence. Myth looked
back to the origins of life, to the foundations of culture, and to
the deepest levels of the human mind. Myth was not concerned with
practical matters, but with meaning. Unless we find some
significance in our lives, we mortal men and women fall very easily
into despair. The mythos of a society provided people with
a context that made sense of their day-to-day lives; it directed
their attention to the eternal and the universal. It was also
rooted in what we would call the unconscious mind. The various
mythological stories, which were not intended to be taken
literally, were an ancient form of psychology. When people told
stories about heroes who descended into the underworld, struggled
through labyrinths, or fought with monsters, they were bringing to
light the obscure regions of the subconscious realm, which is not
accessible to purely rational investigation, but which has a
profound effect upon our experience and behavior. Because of the
dearth of myth in our modern society, we have had to evolve the
science of psychoanalysis to help us to deal with our inner
world.