[56] the highest gods and man, sometimes sharing man's death and suffering (as [did] Apollo Adelphi [?], in spite of their essential immortality. This is the world of the myths, the mythological realm of mankind. It is a great and strange world. It is always changing, even in the same culture, but it is fundamentally the same, namely man's ultimate concerns symbolized in divine figures and actions. Therefore we now can say: myths^a are symbols of faith^b combined in stories about divine-human encounters. From this follows that myths^c are ALWAYS present, in every act of faith^d, because the language of faith is the symbol. But--and this is interesting in order to understand the history of ALL religions--these myths are also attacked, criticized, and surpassed in each of the great religions of mankind. The reason for this criticism is the very nature of the myth: it uses material from our ordinary experience. It puts the stories of the gods into the framework of time^e and space^f, although it belongs to the nature of the ultimate to be beyond time and space. But above all, it divides the divine into several divine figures, and in doing so, it removes ultimacy^g from each of them. But although it removes ultimacy from each of them, it does not remove the claim to ultimacy which is immediately given, with the name of God. If something is called "God," it CLAIMS ultimacy, and must claim it, because it is an expression of ultimate concern. If there are many claiming this, there is a conflict of these claims, and this conflict of ultimate claims is the ultimate criterion against all forms of polytheism and idolatry, modern and present. It is the claim of different ultimates which disrupts the individual soul as much as it disrupts society. All imperialistic wars are ultimate claims of one or more of the nations, of the empires. And in the individual soul, the ultimate claims which fight in ourselves, with each other are the reason for all the disruptedness [sic.] of our personality, they are the reason for neurosis and psychosis. Most of our psychological sickness is based in the hidden polytheism of our soul. It is based in the idolatrous^h elements of our personality which fight with each other and produce disruption. Now the criticism of the mythⁱ, wherever it appears, rejects the division of the divine. And there is a tremendous endeavor going on in all great religions,