“Thus it is that I have now undertaken, in my eighty-third year, to tell my personal myth. I can only make direct statements, only ‘tell stories.’ Whether or not the stories are ‘true’ is not the problem. The only question is whether what I tell is my fable, my truth.” MDR, p.3

Thank you both for your very interesting Post.
Robert dealing with the Mother and John with his (by others) great knowledge of the Chosen People.
I recall your Post on the day of your birthday last year Robert in which you wrote about the Mother Complex and the picture of the beautiful Dragonfly.
In the response Post John wrote and revered to the Symbolic origin of the Mother Complex – the Myth of Perseus and Medusa.
And then John and I continued on the site and John gave his very interesting overview of the Chosen People.

One time, Jung visited a tribe and he asked the Chief of how he saw the White man.
Jung wrote (free translation): To my astonishment the Chief told me of indications that I experienced in my psychiatric patients.

And yes Robert interesting remark about :” …., all with compulsive, ritualistic energy so as to keep the Serpent at bay” – and I like to add, next to compulsive, the word obsessive .

As you once wrote Robert – we are talking about synchronicity experiences.

So what about, when what I wrote here above we would melt together for the situation of Robert’s and John’s Post here today – and see what comes out ?!

This is my response, but of course I am also very interested in the response of Dr. Urspo on the matter and hope that he will write a response.

What sustaining myth you ask? Let me propose a somewhat radical, but nonetheless correct, answer to your question. It begins with a simple quote:

“. . . Every culture therefore lives by myth. Or, if the culture remains mostly unconscious, the culture is lived by its myth. This latter is the case in all primitive and most modern cultures. Their myths go unidentified because they are considered to be ‘truths,’ ‘self-evident facts,’ ‘scientific facts,’ ‘common sense,’ ‘universal values,’ or are quite unconscious.”
Gerald H. Slusser, in his essay “Jung and Whitehead On Self and Divine, The Necessity for Symbol and Myth,” found in the book “Archetypal Process, Self and Divine in Whitehead, Jung and Hillman.”

Now, what myth is “living” Western culture? We must be clear here, we are not living a myth, but rather, in our massive unconsciousness, a myth is living us. For me it is clear that the myth living Western(white, Christian) culture is the myth of “The Chosen People.” If you can open your eyes and look around you can see evidence, even today, of its impact. In his book “Chosen People,” Clifford Longley(read a review: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=7089 traces this concept in English and American history. In reality the idea goes back even further to the 4th century when the Christian church, via the doctrine of “supersessionism,” proclaimed themselves the “Chosen People,” as successors to the Hebrews, because the Jews had failed to keep their covenant with God, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersessionism
This myth is alive, though rapidly losing its power in Western culture today. The badges of “election, of being chosen” are still with us, they are wealth; and fame/celebrity.

This subject is worth a much longer discussion, but now I seek only to pose an answer to your question. Keep in mind that Jung’s “Spiritual Problem of Modern Man,” is concerned with these exact issues.