The age-old 'war' between the Principle of Light and the Principle of Darkness (between Ahura Mazda on the one side and Ahriman on the other) may be seen as a metaphor for the war between consciousness and rational thought (which seeks to 'pull everything down to its level', so to speak). This way of understanding the essential dualistic myth is however not at all to our liking since we identify with thought, and not with consciousness. In our society we worship thought. and this - needless to say - doesn't do us any favours at all....