This might be how we got from Myth to Morality. But what it really tells us is that we must protect our understanding of the world through the constant addition of new and valid information to our minds. Oppenheimer viewing the first atomic explosion is a good example of someone faced with previously unknown power. It is not my intention to limit this idea to Western Civilization.
Physiologically, our minds will only attach our new information if we have some similar experience that we can link to this new experience. If not, we cannot understand the new experience or retain the added information.
Myths and metaphors are often the unconscious anchor for new experiences. I am drawing on Old Testament tales from Genesis only because they long ago became almost universally known through repetition in art and literature Mediterranean cultures and then into European cultures. Stories such as "The Snake in the Apple Tree" or “The Tower of Babel" (found in the Judeo/Christian Old Testament) as well as myths or tales common to other cultures become widely known tales with universally predictable consequences. Here, our "snake" might become a new idea: "Eat This" thus overriding the old information: "Don't Eat This". What is missing is any knowledge of the consequences of following the new action.
The story of "The Tower of Babel" can be interpreted as what might happen because of hubris and its consequences of confusion of languages - ending the building of a tower that "might reach to the heavens!' *
We are all at the mercy of one physiological oddity: interpretation of an idea requires similar information in the mind of the hearer as well as the teller. You could make a case that this quirk is the cause for everything: from the useful concept of "civilization" to the endless wars we inflict on each other. I believe that stories, however or wherever they are told, provide this same function to all of humanity. We define ourselves and our world through the stories we treasure. Seems that we would be a little more cautious - knowing the power that they hold.
*The interesting text in this story is from Gilgamesh. In that version, it is said that "the gods" grew wary of everybody speaking with understanding and changed up the game.
If our fiction is not rooted in a truth that resonates with the writer, I believe the story we write won't resonate with readers, either