American values like intimate expression, overcoming personal obstacles to achieve unique goals, and individualism are the culmination of a European culture that goes back to the Paleolithic Era.

The role of the shaman stayed important in Europe, where hunting culture persisted for a long time past the agricultural development of the Near East. In Europe, the mythological foundations of societies came from one person who related his personal, unique realizations to the group.

The shaman, psychologically ingrained within his community, but willing to embark on a personal, lonesome spiritual journey, returned to his companions with idiosyncratic pictures and sounds and essentially communal ideas. Stories about his deeply introspective venture justified community values in a cosmic sense, and he was regarded as a Holy Man.

We still value the will, drive, and determination to go out there and find our own story in the wilderness, and we celebrate it through art.