ABSTRACT
In the discussion of myths, dreams, and the unconscious fantasies that generate them the authors have found that: first, most of them deal primarily with ultimate concerns, life and death. Even when sexuality enters consideration, it becomes a source of rivalry and combat or guilt provoking Promethean aspirations. Second, in their conscious derivatives, these themes are associated with specific affects or moods. The myth tells us that under certain circumstances man has little or no freedom of will. Of the various types of myth that the authors have considered, the apocalyptic myth carries the most extreme affects. The fantasy of the apocalyptic destruction of the real world symbolizes and replaces suicidal fantasies, so that when apocalyptic fantasies generate action, the action is paradoxically likely to be self-destruction, or indirectly and ultimately to lead to it. On the other hand, the fantasy of rescue that appears in the passive type of apocalypse encourages hope and reinforces morale.
