The Tale of Two Souls and Love's True Story

Long before human beings gained the ability to discern the truth about their existence, several theories, stories, or tales told how each person desired to be with another.

According to Plato, three genders sprouted from the workings of the gods: man, woman, and the Androgynous. Although stripped of complete understanding of their destinies, these conjoined humans had great strength to conquer the gods. Threatened, Zeus split the humans in half as punishment for their pride; but, as a result, humans eventually sunk in misery to a point where they would not eat and would perish.

Apollo saw what the split did to the humans; that, he had sewn them up and reconstituted their bodies. Each human would then only have one set of genitalia and would forever long for his or her other half of his or her soul. 

It is said, that when the two find each other, there is an unspoken understanding of one another, that they feel unified, would lie with each other in unity, and would know no greater joy than that.

Today, human beings have become engrossed on ideas on finding “The One”, that, searching for it never truly ends. 

Mary Margareth’s (Snow White) Dilemma

There was once a king and queen, who had three beautiful daughters. The youngest and most beautiful was Psyche, whose admirers neglected to worship of the love goddess Venus at that time. Venus is offended, and commissions Cupid to kill Psyche. Cupid, however, falls in love and loses his immortal heart to, Psyche that he desires to possess her for himself.

Hence, the tragic events that befell the lovely Psyche stemmed from her persistent curiosity and her desire to be reunited with her one true love, Cupid.

  

The Doubting Belle (Beauty) and The Alleged Beast

Psyche’s father arranges that her daughter be offered to the unveiled Cupid to avoid the wrath of Venus. Zephyr, the West Wind bears Psyche up to a marvelous house with golden columns, a carved ceiling of citrus wood and ivory, silver walls embossed with wild and domesticated animals, and jeweled mosaic floors. A disembodied voice tells her to make herself comfortable, and she is entertained at a feast that serves itself and by singing to an invisible lyre.

 

One night after Cupid falls asleep, Psyche brings out a dagger and a lamp she had hidden in the room, to kill Cupid. But when the light shone on the sleeping god, Psyche is startled, that she wounds herself with one of Cupid's cast-aside arrows. Struck with a feverish admiration over Cupid’s appearance, she spills hot oil from the lamp and wakes him. He flees, and though she tries to pursue, he flies away and leaves her on the bank of a river.

 

Danielle de Barbarac’s (Cinderella) Lament and the Miller’s Daughter

 

Venus turns Psyche over to her two handmaids, Worry and Sadness, to be whipped and tortured. The goddess then orders Psyche to sort a great mass of mixed wheat, barley, poppy seed, chickpeas, lentils, and beans. But when Venus withdraws to attend a wedding feast, a kind ant takes pity on Psyche, and assembles a fleet of insects to accomplish the task. Venus returns the next day only to find the task completed. At dawn, Venus orders Psyche to cross a river and fetch golden wool from violent sheep who graze on the other side. Psyche almost drowns, but instead a divinely inspired reed, which then gathers the wool caught on briers, saves her. For Psyche's third task, she is given a crystal vessel in which to collect the black water spewed by the source of the rivers Styx and Cocytus. Daunted by the foreboding air of the place and dragons slithering through the rocks, Psyche falls into despair. Jupiter himself takes pity on her, and sends his eagle to battle the dragons and retrieve the water for her. The last trial Venus imposes on Psyche is a quest to the underworld itself. She is to take a box (pyxis) and obtain in it a dose of the beauty of Proserpina, queen of the underworld.

Once again despairing of her task, Psyche climbs a tower, planning to throw herself off. The tower, however, suddenly speaks and advises her to go to Lacedaemon, Greece, and to seek out the place called Taenarus, where she will find the entrance to the underworld.

Aurora’s (Sleeping Beauty) and Pandora’s Curiosity

Everything goes according to plan and Proserpina grants Psyche's humble entreaty. As soon as she reenters the light of day, however, Psyche is overcome by a bold curiosity, and can't resist opening the box in the hope of enhancing her own beauty. She finds nothing inside but an infernal and Stygian sleep, which sends her into a deep and unmoving torpor.

Meanwhile, Cupid's wound has healed into a scar, and he escapes his mother's house by flying out a window. When he finds Psyche, he draws the sleep from her face and replaces it in the box, then pricks her with an arrow that does no harm. He lifts her into the air, and takes her to present the box to Venus.

A Princess Becomes a Queen

He then takes his case to Jupiter, who gives his consent in return for Cupid's future help whenever a choice maiden catches his eye. Jupiter has Mercury convene an assembly of the gods in the theater of heaven, where he makes a public statement of approval, warns Venus to back off, and gives Psyche ambrosia, the drink of immortality, so the couple could be united in marriage as equals.

What the story means

Feelings of love for another human being become the most important aspect of our lives. This has always been true as evidenced by the story of Cupid and Psyche.

So enduring is their story, that, several other fairy tales have been written to keep the feeling of love alive in most of us.

But, attractions occur without rhyme or reason; meetings are so often by the merest thread of chance; and our psychological state runs hot and cold when falling in love, and in maintaining intense interest.

Whenever those feelings become romantically centered on one other person, moreover, we experience the same primitive reactions we endure today: loss of appetite, sleeplessness, mood swings, tendency to daydream, obsessive thoughts dancing through the mind, and engaging in irrational actions that supersede much of our good sense.

This means, humans are social creatures who need one another to survive. Humans need and want love in many forms. We want connections, loyalty, companionship, friendship, romance, and to have someone else assure us of our attractiveness and worth. Bad or good, right or wrong, that’s the way we are. What we sometimes overlook to seek a mate is the more basic issue of companionship.

And love, like any other desired human emotion, is mysterious, much more internal than external. True Love could not be owned. Eternal and True Love could only be searched for and struggled for. TRUE Love will always escape us. True Love will always be out of reach because it belongs much more to the field of dreams than to reality.

DISCLAIMER:

This blog is a work in progress. Proper citation and re-phrasing have not been applied.

Primary Reference:

Wikipedia