liturgy, a contemporary crisis, and the release of new creative vitalities. In such contexts, the society’s traffic with the invisible realm may increase. Its imaginative powers may flourish. Becoming freshly aware of a story that lies beneath and behind its own story, this society will adopt its inherited language of metaphor to meet the need of pointing to a cluster of forces which otherwise would escape notice. c. A third function of images is that of advancing self-understanding, whether by an