Tales told by shadowy elders around ancient campfires offered both explanation and comfort. Life hasn"t changed that much: our dependence on explanation and comfort still lies just under our busy ambition and constant yearning. Most of the time, the basic assumptions of our early years were so viscerally absorbed that we have never made them articulate, and therefore never had any way to evaluate their relevance for us now. What if they are outdated? Immature? Beside the point?