 For weeks, he had been living off of hand-rolled cigarettes and ancient Sanskrit poetry. Starved, parched, six feet tall, and 116 pounds, there was almost nothing left, a wasted man in a wasteland. Like a nuclear bomb was dropped here, he thought. The phrase would soon become a horrifying cliché, but these words passed through Oppenheimer's mind first. That day, only he and a handful of other exhausted men knew the bomb existed. In spare moments like these, Oppenheimer had been reading the Bhagavad Gita. A 4,000-year-old's sacred text. It was science that he used to create the bomb, but it was a myth he used to understand what it all meant. At times, he saw himself as Arjuna, the reluctant hero forced into battle with his cousins. Arjuna appeals to Lord Krishna for help and must choose either Krishna's vast armies or his bottomless wisdom. He chooses the power of the God's mind. Arjuna's story fit Oppenheimer's own, that the wisdom of a few men could overcome the armaments of even millions was what he had been hired to prove. At other times, though, he thought of himself as Krishna. Until now, it had only been the gods who held the power to utterly destroy worlds. That power might soon become his own. Now, the announcer shouted, and the men braced themselves. There was a flash, and the pre-dawn became day, the brightest and hottest any of them had ever known. There was jubilation, but as the men celebrated, Oppenheimer's mind returned to the Gita. He would often recall his thought of that moment. Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. His words were the words of Krishna. But all he said aloud was, it worked. Soon, two bustling Japanese cities would be as wasted as the New Mexico desert. For many, these blasts would bring their most important stories into serious question. The Old Testament cast man as small, subject to the whims of God and nature. These myths were just not equipped to handle the bomb that Oppenheimer had created. That day marked another major lurch in the widening of our myth gap. The space between the realities of our moment and the shared stories to which we turn for guidance. Humans need shared myths. Every society we know of was built on these all important stories. But where do we find them in rapidly changing times? To identify a working myth, we need to look for four key elements. Explanation, meaning, story and ritual. And for a myth to work, it must be understood and shared by everyone. Today, our myths come from marketers. Beginning in the 50s, marketers perfected the use of stories to move minds and they revolutionized society. Take the Marlboro man. Explanation, here's a filtered cigarette, a better way to smoke. Meaning, get the identity of a rugged cowboy. Story, we care about him, though we know he's not real. And ritual, you can live this story every time you light up. Nearly every successful marketing campaign has created new myths and a world hungry for just that has gobbled them up. The most successful marketers have become myth makers, but too many have abused that power. Where the great stories of the past told of a hero's journey towards higher purpose, most marketers have pushed fear, insecurity and greed. This is the dark art of marketing, and we have all suffered under its rule. But there is a new hope, a way to fight back in the story wars. Empowerment marketing myths call people to citizenship, to live their values and to fight the lies of the dark art. A few of the most iconic brands have discovered this powerful story wars weapon and it has begun to reshape our world. They are breaking through the media noise and telling the truth about human nature as great myths have done for millennia. Learn to tell and live these truths and you too will get heard and help to create a better world. This is your call to adventure, the call to enter and win the story wars.