For Bierlein, the hero myths “offer an eternal mirror in which we see ourselves.” These myths are not merely tales of adventure, like American Westerns, for they also speak to a greater, metaphysical sense, “only in moments of ‘opening,’ revelation, and transcendence do we see the gods address or aid the hero.” (Living Myths, 120) Hero myths are connected to the occult because they are shining examples of what that particular mythological system represents. For Campbell, any religion can be considered part of the occult, and thus Jesus Christ is a shining example of Christianity’s belief structure. According to Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, the hero and religion’s god, or the occult’s metaphysical presence in nature, are connected, “The two…are thus understood as the outside and inside of a single, self-mirrored mystery, which is identical with the mystery of the manifest world.”(40) Again, we see the word mirror. To both Campbell and Bierlein, the hero myths reflect the inner “occult” in all of us. They are stories that connect humanity to the occult, the hidden, the metaphysical, or to God himself. I believe this stems from an innate feeling that the metaphysical, the Self, the “Tao”, the FORCE, lies within all of us, and religion or the occult (and subsequently hero myths) is a way of explaining a sense or a feeling that cannot be represented by our physical senses.

Like “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, the hero myth/story of Christ, is the foundation of Christianity, so too are all the hero myths. Without a hero, without an icon, without a symbol, a belief structure cannot exist. Some attribute this to Carl Jung’s collective unconsciousness and archetypes, while others say that heroes are merely humanity’s need for perfection, and those heroes represent the quintessential of a belief system. The why, is not important, however, because no one can deny the power of hero myths. Hero myths make the unknown convincing and enthralling, while at the same time, inspiring others to follow in the path of the hero. Hero myths inspire us to better ourselves, to better humanity, and to strive for some goal or quest. Without them, there is only complacency.


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