| Eros & Psyche: Eternally in Love |
Eros and Psyche were lovers separated by Venus. Every love story has a moment of truth at some point, where two people decide that being apart is impossible, and must find a way to be together. The re-telling of the Eros and Psyche myth gives us clues to the powerful, swirling emotions that can torture or lift the heart through these moments. Love's eternal story is an archetype, carved in stone. Every love story has its heartaches. Yet, from this tale we have a narrative which details how physical attraction and the psychology of attraction grips us with continual desire, causing the motion of the story to be carried by the feminine component. Psyche is represented as a female, but that doesn't mean she represents women only. The story of Eros and Psyche from the late Greek classical period was a popular myth whose main characters were intent on, instead of heroism for the benefit of their community, a personal feeling. The two pursuits, one belonging to a Hero (conquest and domination) and the other belonging to a Heroine (inner goals of relationship) are archetypal paths. One is represented by the masculine, testosterone-based activity of nailing a target. The other is represented by an estrogen-based behavior, relating and keeping a group bonded together, starting with the nucleus pair. A re-imagination of the story of two lovers who pursued the inner goal of love, reveals a story so much in contrast to the more frequent themes of conquest or power, that their myth of itself was a revolution on the role of Love in the Late Classical Greek period. It was femininity's first heroic myth. This means that the role of Psyche can be played by a man. A really good example is the role taken by Tim Robbins in "The Shawshank Redemption." (more on this in another essay). In the movie, the prisoner is an innocent man, hurt by his wife's affair. A cruel turn of events puts him at the scene of her murder. He spends the next 20 years, battling the battle of Psyche against a tyrant, then escapes in much the same way as the myth, magically appearing on a beach in Mexico, the haven of the reunion of his buddy and himself, where they may live out their days in peace. Each scene (whether taken from the movie or the myth) has a value of the eternal for lovers today, particularly for those in the sometimes excruciating pangs of difficulty and misunderstanding. In the Eros and Psyche myth, we see the same dialogue occurring in our lives as it did in this myth, as Psyche doubts herself and her future with true agony.  Many relationships and courtship experiences reflect these tortuous scenes as surely as they are eternally depicted in stone and in art. The Eros and Psyche story is an archetypal story, and encompasses the labors of love that must withstand the four tests of Venus. Each test imposed by Venus brings Psyche closer to the depths of depression and despair known by lovers the world over. Venus has a complicated (to say the least) relationship to Eros, her lover; complicated because Venus actually gave birth to Eros. As his mother and his lover, we find a clue that can occur only in the confines of Olympus, as such a relationship would be nearly (or should be) impossible among humans. But the gods do not have humanity’s moral code, as they are quite simply, the gods. As such, they “rule” in the Underworld, i.e., the vast pool of collective consciousness in which humans are mistreated and abused on a regular basis, a place to be avoided if at all possible. Therefore the human state is a different place, and our jobs as humans is to maintain that difference, keeping the gods where they are happy, and staying out of their way, which is enough. But, be warned! The gods like to mess with us humans for their pleasure.  The psychology of Eros: He's a baby to his mom who can't let him go. The point is, in our culture we have become one-sided, and very infrequently try to fathom the deeper details. Yet, women and men can take deeply felt inspiration from Eros and Psyche, if they are willing to explore the myths via their own experiences, and understand their deep longing for connection with Eros–the archetype. We can all be aware and respond more easily to love if we see ourselves in these stories, taking the steps that these lovers did, in order to break from the tyrant Venus and completely commit to the human proportion in Love. To understand how our story may connect to the Greek Myth takes us on a journey of transformation. Each test of Psyche was one that exhausted her energy, and took her will to live. Yet in each case, Psyche was triumphant. By what means did she succeed against the full will of the goddess? In the telling of the woeful tale of suffering, the beleaguered Psyche is made to suffer Love. When a birdie tells the goddess about the absence of her worshipers and where they have gone, Venus is furious. With murder on her mind she commands her son, Eros to make mince meat of her. Wickedly he packs a couple of poison vials, and follows the crowds to her house. Psyche may be a beauty, but she is doubly unfortunate as her sisters who are older must find husbands first. Their efforts are futile as long as Psyche remains in their household. The family travels to ask the Delphic Oracle for a reading: What should we do with our daughter who has disrupted the wooing of her sisters? The Oracle responds, “She must be put to death as no good can come from someone who so impersonates the goddess.” The family carries out the destruction of the young beauty, pitching her over a cliff to her death–-or so they thought. They walked away from the scene, heavy-hearted for their lost daughter, but resolved. Little did they know that a convenient breeze and an eagle sent by a god, had whisked her to safety–in some secret palace full of conveniences and tasty bites delivered without conveyances or servants. What magic place was this?  To be continued! Join the mailing list to get notification, register on this site. Read more essays by Claire-France Perez on the psychology of love, and the path toward fulfillment in love. |
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