ABSTRACT
The “contamination of anomaly with the threat of death,” attendant on the development of self-consciousness, amplifies the valence of the unknown to a virtually unbearable point. This unbearable amplification has motivated the development of two transpersonal patterns of behavior and schemas of representation, constituting the individual as such, embodied in mythology as the “hostile brothers.” One of these “hostile brothers” or “eternal sons of God” is the mythological hero. He faces the unknown with the presumption of its benevolence—with the (unprovable) attitude that confrontation with the unknown will bring renewal and redemption. He enter, voluntarily, into creative “union with the Great Mother,” builds or regenerates society, and brings peace to a warring world.
