PSYCHE AND EROS...

Psyche is the root word of psychology, psychic, psychosis, psyched out, psycho, etc. The word is often used with little or no appreciation of the ancient myth that so powerfully contains its meaning. In this beautiful metaphor of human life, the mortal Psyche is tested again and again in her desire to become complete.  In the end, her efforts are rewarded with the fullness of life.  While I won't retell it here, the lessons imbedded within the myth of Psyche have become central to my own life's work. After all her struggles and travails, despite impossible obstacles.  The Greek work psyche has two meanings-- breath and butterfly.  It has come to mean Soul.

To read the basic myth of Psyche and Eros, visit the Apulieus Web Page. In this myth the couple are rewarded, in the end, with the product of the culmination of their union--a daughter named Voluptus (Joy.)

For excellent interpretations of this central myth, see:
J. Gollnick

"I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: 'What is the myth you are living?' I found no answer to this question….I took it upon myself to get to know 'my myth', and I regarded this as the task of tasks, for--so I told myself--how could I, when treating my patients, make due allowance for the personal factor, for my personal equation, which is yet so necessary for a knowledge of the other person, if I was unconscious of it?"    C.G. Jung