Appendix, A Discussion Summary and Analysis

Contrary to popular usage, myth is a vehicle of truth, not falsehood. Humans use it to tell the stories they want remembered, over fads. Myth is the language of religious experience. A "single underground spring" of religious experience nourishes all. Diverse traditions merely express a single experience differently. Myth lets people connect with the universe, validates social and moral codes, and helps people deal with the stages of life. Myths derive from a shared creative imagination, and each story helps recognize spiritual meaning through heroes going to unknown worlds, battling darkness, and returning with the gift of knowledge. The "Space Age" challenges literal interpretations.

The central truth of Easter and Passover is the call out of bondage, but it cannot be appropriated in a pre-Copernican view of the universe. Seeing their transcendent spiritual sense allows religious traditions...