pyros

 

 

See also:

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33287

 

the pangs of life...

Venus was apparently born of the foam of the sea, fully aware of her own dripping beauty. Having become a slut with a few lovers after abandoning her husband Vulcan, she took upon herself to manage young people’s love, most interferences ending in tragedy. Venus was a bitch.

Thus were born the legends of Romeo and Juliet way before Romeo and Juliet — in the myths of Pyramus and Thisbe, and that of Hero and Leander. Sleeping Beauty appears way before Sleeping Beauty. The ugly jealous sisters of Cinderella, mostly a Chinese legend from way before BC, do also appear in the Greek mythology of Cupid and Psyche. 

The only story that seems to end well, but is a bit iffy, I’d say, in regard to our modern erotic robots, is that of Pygmalion — or the "raw stone improvement"… We know the modern film version “My Fair Lady”, itself based on a play by George Bernard Shaw “Pygmalion”, rehashing the ancient Greek story of the King of Cyprus, Pygmalion, who was a famous sculptor… 

Mostly concentrating on carving beautiful statues of goddesses, one day, the king decided to sculpt a magnificent mortal woman. More beautiful than his other godly fares, Pygmalion gave it the name of Galatea and begged Venus (Aphrodite) to give it life:

“O Aphrodite, kind and fair,
   That what thou wilt canst give,
Oh, listen to a sculptor’s prayer,
   And bid mine image live !”
              Andrew Long

Pygmalion was a confirmed bachelor, but happy to see that he now wished a beautiful wife like that he had carved, Venus granted him his wish…

"At once with prayers in passion flowing,
Pygmalion embraced the stone,
Till, from the frozen marble glowing,
The light of feeling o’ver him shone.”
                        Schiller.

The statue had become a fair and living maiden — and after some passionate sexy wooing, she became his “happy” wife. Yippee… Now you know why the sexy robots attract bachelors — with no "talk-back" setting included…

The legend of Narcissus is even more poignant. The young man Narcissus met Echo (you know that voice that comes back to you that is your own) when she was a lovely talkative nymph, free from care and fleeting light. This frivolous girl fell in love with this most beautiful young man… who did not return her affection. Scorned, she vanished into the forest to die, not before begging Venus to punish him — until all that remained was her melodious voice, which the gods condemned to repeat the last sounds she could hear…:

“But her voice is still living immortal, —
     The same you have frequently heard
In you rambles in valleys and forests,
   Repeating your ultimate word.”
                                 Saxe

Soon, Narcissus, thirsty, came upon a lonely pool. As he bend over to take a sip, he saw a beautiful nymph in the water above the pebbles of the bottom. barely touching the water with his hand, the nymph disappeared. The water soon returned to a mirror like smoothness and looking back into the pond, Narcissus saw the nymph again. He repeated the process several time, as he could see the nymph answering him as the same time as he talked. Enamoured with the image, his own reflection, he stopped drinking and eating until he died and became a flower. Venus had granted Echo her wish…

“A lonely flower he spied,
A meek and forlorn flower, with naught of pride,
Drooping its beauty o’er the watery clearness, 
To woo its own sad image into nearness :
Deaf to light Zephyrus it would not move ;
But still would seem to droop, to pine, to love.”
                                               Keats.

And now to our own psyche… Psyche was more beautiful than Venus. Venus was jealous. She ordered her son Cupid to kill Psyche with poisoned arrows she gave him. But Cupid saw the "unequalled loveliness" as he was about to strike with his first arrow, and taken aback, he hurt himself with his own love arrow. The image of the fair maiden fell into his heart. Cupid himself was in love! Seeing that her plan had failed, Venus inflicted torment upon torment on Psyche (don’t we all know), who in despair climbed atop a mountain and threw herself off a cliff… Cupid, who had witnessed his mother’s nasty desires, called upon Zephyrus to take Psyche floating away through the air to a distant island (isn't this our bipolar problem!).

There Psyche ended up in the exquisite garden of a beautiful castle. When night fell, Cupid came pining for love in return, but begged Psyche not to try to unmask his identity (here comes the Phantom of the Opera still stinging our hearts and brains)… And Cupid always left way before Aurora came to open the sky to Apollo…

“ ‘Dear, I am with thee only while I keep
My visage hidden ; and if thou once shouldst see
My face, I must forsake thee : the high gods
Link Love with Faith, and he withdraws himself
From the full gaze of Knowledge.’ “
                             Lewis Morris

But Psyche was curious to know her lover, who could be a monster, as told to her by her jealous sisters (here comes the Phantom and Cinderella together)… Psyche has a dagger to kill the “monster” just in case and a lamp to see his face…

“Now trembling, now distracted; bold,
And now irresolute she seems ;
The blue lamp glimmers in her hold,
And in her hand the dagger gleams,
Prepared to strike, she verges near,
“Then, the blue light glimmering from above,
The hideous sight expects with fear —
And gazes on the god of Love.”
                              Apollonius.

Awaken by a drop of burning oil from the lamp, Cupid escaped through the window:

“ ‘Farewell ! There is no Love except with Faith (here comes the evangelicals),
And thine is dead ! Farewell ! I come no more !’ “

Distraught, Psyche seek to kill herself once more, by drowning. She is saved by the water nymphs… She is given the advice by Ceres, to become at the service of Venus, where she could see Cupid again and patch things up with her lover. Venus was a bitch to Psyche by giving her the vilest of tasks to perform, including going to Hades (Hell-side) to pick up a magic potion of eternal beauty, for Venus, from Proserpina. 

On her return from Hell, Psyche, affected by age and torment, decided to use some of the potion herself... but inside the box was only the Spirit of Sleep… and Psyche fell by the roadside…

Cupid eventually passed by, and with his own mind and love wrestling with the Spirit of Sleep, woke Psyche with a kiss (Sleeping Beauty, here we come):

                   “ ‘Dear, unclose thine eyes,
Thou mayst look upon me now.   I go no more,
But am thine own for ever.’ “
                                  Lewis Morris

Had love been tame by knowledge and reality? Is this our own psyche awakening to relativity? Faith and passion are long gone, but the science is telling us that love is not dead, but good. Different. Bugger, here I am talking like an advertisement for Aldi. I tend to shop at IGA, mind you. That's “where the locals go”… 
I hope you enjoyed this short visit to the gods… and that your house isn’t on fire. Yes Venus was a nasty piece of work. Beauty is only skin deep, if beauty ever was. Eventually Venus welcomed Psyche as Cupid’s bride… and Psyche became the soul that shall never die. 

Until Freud came along. 


Gus Leonisky
Your local wandering red ned drinking atheist...

 

 

When Science and political hubris

Marry to fight a virus,

Their child is a little brat that piss

Like the fascist little Venus

When power and the cross were bedfellows

Under the pillows.

 

              Gloria Longbottom

 

 

 

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