Eros

Eros is one of the most well-known Gods: the God of Love and Relatedness.

We have seen numerous representations of that small cherub with its wings and its arrows. It lent its name to the words “erotic” and “eroticism”.

He was known as an independent and autonomous God. Try to have power over him? Think again. He has power over you. In Carl Jung’s words: “Eros is a questionable fellow… a superhuman power… a mighty daemon.”

Indeed at times we feel struck by his arrows and there is not much that we can do. Eros chooses us and moves us.

Sappho writes: “Eros has moved my soul as the wind violently moves the oak trees.” 

One day Dante sees the young Beatrice who simply salutes him. His life, he writes, will never be the same. “She saluted me and her look was so powerful that I felt I knew the extreme limits of Bliss.” Dante will carry that vision forever. Dante fell in love with Beatrice. He fell in love with the Mystery of love and its poetry.

The reason for Eros is Eros itself. In the words of Michel Cazeneuve: “The reason for love is love. The reason why we love the beloved is the beloved. And the measure of how to love the beloved is to love the beloved beyond measure”.

And love can indeed be without measure. It can be intense in many different forms. It can wreak havoc in our lives. We may love the wrong person. Romeo and Juliet are doomed lovers because their respective families are at war.

Tristan is instructed to fetch Isolde and bring her back to his uncle Mark who wants to marry her. But on the way back they drink a love potion by mistake. They fall in love and will not be able to resist their love. The love potion can play tricks on human beings. Something happens that breaks even the codes of society. The love potion that Tristan and Isolde drink lasts at least 3 years. In some versions of the tale it lasts forever.

One can be taken over by Eros with not much power over it.

As all archetypes, Eros/Love has two sides. Eros in its positive qualities brings our life joy, vitality, sensual and sexual pleasure, energy and beauty. In its darker side it leads to confusion, conflict, violence and a dismantlement of our sense of self: we do not know who we are, we lose our bearings and we may destroy the values that we held the dearest.

Eros might indeed have a terrifying aspect. When we love we take a risk, the risk of ending with a broken heart, in deep pain. Grieving our lost love then implies nurturing the pain, and slowly getting back on our feet. We do not fall out of love as much as stand in life again and that painful work may allow us to love in a different way.

Seminar on Eros hosted by Gary Bobroff (Jungian Online) with Alexis Durgee, David Pressault and Elisabeth Pomès