infinitely precious to him. It is
something from which he was separated in times of yore, and for the
recovery of which he has to overcome terrible forces. It is thus with
the eternal in the human soul. It belongs to man, but man is separated
from it by his lower nature. Only by overcoming the latter, and
lulling it to sleep, can he recover the eternal. This becomes possible
when his own consciousness (Medea) comes to his aid with its magic
power. Medea is to Jason what Diotima was to Socrates, a teacher of
love (_cf._ p. 88). Man's own wisdom has the magic power necessary for
attaining the divine after having overcome the transitory. From the
lower nature there can only arise a lower human principle, the armed
men who are overcome by spiritual force, the counsel of Medea. Even
when man has found the eternal, the fleece, he is not yet safe. He has
to sacrifice part of his consciousness (Absyrtus). This is exacted by
the physical world, which we can only apprehend as a multiple
(dismembered) world. We might go still deeper into the description of
the spiritual events lying behind the images, but it is only intended
here to indicate the principle of the formation of myths.

Of special interest, when interpreted in this way, is the legend of
Prometheus. He and his brother Epimetheus are sons of the Titan
Iapetus. The Titans are the offspring of the oldest generation of
gods, Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth). Kronos, the youngest of the
Titans, dethroned his father and seized upon the government of the
world. In return, he was overpowered, with the other Titans, by his
son Zeus, who became the chief of the gods. In the struggle with the
Titans, Prometheus was on the side of Zeus. By his advice, Zeus
banished the Titans to the nether-world. But in Prometheus there
still lived the Titan spirit, he was only half a friend to Zeus. When
the latter wished to exterminate men on account of their arrogance,
Prometheus espoused their cause, taught them numbers, writing, and
everything else which leads to culture, especially the use of fire.
This aroused the wrath of Zeus against Prometheus. Hephaistos, the son
of Zeus, was commissioned to make a female form of great beauty, whom
the gods adorned with every possible gift. She was called Pandora, the
all-gifted one. Hermes, messenger of the gods, brought her to
Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. She brought him a casket, as a
present from the gods. Epimetheus accepted the present,