The lively image: 4 myths in literature

"The Lively Image: 4 Myths In Literature" by Richard E. Hughes explores four myths from a Jungian perspective; the Narcissus myth, the Dionysos myth, the Orpheus myth, and the Christ myth. He puts a positive spin on narcissism: pg 16 "Narcissus is not simply infantile regressor. He is time-traveller and unity-seeker, drawn to the womb-pool not as the end of his quest but as the vehicle of his travel and his search." This comes close to how I view the Narcissus myth but I prefer to imagine Narcissus looking within himself and becoming entranced by the unknown. Self love based on the psyche and not the ego. pg 112 "Orpheus has been recognized as the emblem of the creative artist, and the artist is the interiorized hero. The artist trods on inner geography and brings back images of what he has found there, having liberated something from the prison of the unknown. The symbol incarnates the quest, the discovery, and the return." I like the idea that the artist liberates something from the prison of the unknown. I've always considered the artist's purpose to be to manifest the sacred and make it a presence in this world. However I've discovered that it is almost impossible to invest anything with the significance of a personal myth and expect its numinous quality to communicate itself to others. pg 54 "Dionysus. To the rational and conscious mind the collective unconscious is incredible, frightening; it is radical, capable of altering the more staid world of consciousness, so much so that consciousness struggles in a regular panic against being swallowed up in the primitivity and unconsciousness of sheer instinctuality." This interpretation probably reflects the radicalism of the 1960s when LSD was liberating the unconscious to threaten the conservative and repressive society with reforms and change. Even psychosis was seen in a positive light in the 1960s. Now it is thoroughly vilified. The collective unconscious appears to be properly cowed today, secure in a straight jacket.