All good things in life come with effort, and the man’s satisfaction and boost of masculinity he feels comes in part by way of yet another Greek god-based instinct in him: the Hephaestus Instinct – god of “a job well done,” or “honest work,” or the “blue collar work ethic”, which drives the male need for “meaningful work.” (Hephaestus was the actual husband of Aphrodite, on whom she cheated with Ares.) He is the male instinct for working hard, but also outrage at being cheated upon while working hard.
Which of course opens up whole worlds of discussion about today’s marital relations and division of shared labor in the married household as it pertains to infidelity and frequency of sex - as there is less sex in the marriage in proportion to the amount of chores around the house a man does. Yep, the research shows this, not just mens’ opinions.
Hephaestus was in a bad marriage with Aphrodite, like a hard-working, financially solid guy with a beautiful, but conniving wife. She eventually cheats on him with Ares, the god of war.
Helius, the Sun God, able to see everything by day, and witnessed Aphrodite taking her lover in her bed, while Hephaestus was absent. So, he told everything to Hephaestus.
Hephaestus decided to take revenge on the cheaters. Thus using his wit and his blacksmithing skills to the gods, he created an unbreakable net and trapped the cheaters while they were in bed. He wanted the other gods to witness the disgraced pair, but only the gods appeared, while the goddesses stayed in Olympus.
The feeling of being alive in Hephaestus Instinct comes, in a sense, from "pride in honesty," and also social justice. The symbolism of the sun god in the story, is that Hephaestus operates by truth. And so he is "pride in honesty" for a man.