Eros (concept)
[1] Psychoanalysis uses the term to describe the universal desire that drives all innate needs (of the id), which according to Freud is identical to Plato's conception.
[2][3] The Protestant philosopher C. S. Lewis posits it as one of the four ancient Greek words for love in Christianity, alongside storge, philia, and agape.
In the event that the loved one was cruel or uninterested, this desire was shown to drive the lover into a state of depression, causing lamentation and illness.
Occasionally, the loved one was depicted as an unwitting ensnarer of the lover, because of her sublime beauty—a "divine curse" which inspires men to kidnap her or try to rape her.
[10] Stories in which unwitting men catch sight of the naked body of Artemis the huntress (and sometimes Aphrodite) lead to similar ravages (as in the tale of Actaeon).
[11] In ancient Athens the dominance of man in the marital relationship is expressed by figures such as the prominent Greek statesman and general Alcibiades.
There was an elaborate preparation for the first night after the marriage, while the man in a symbolic rite had to abduct his future wife before the official ceremony, while she had her hair cut short and dressed in boy's clothes.
[18] The ancient Greek philosopher Plato developed an idealistic concept of eros which would prove to be very influential in modern times.
According to Plato, eros could be diverted to philosophy (inclusive of mathematical, ethical and ascetical training), rather than dissipated in sexuality, for the purpose of using erotic energy as a vehicle for the transformation of consciousness, and union with the Divine.
[21] "Platonic love" in this original sense can be attained by the intellectual purification of eros from carnal into ideal form.
Eros, understood in this sense, differed considerably from the common meaning of the word in the Greek language of Plato's time.
[23]In some medieval texts, the gaze of a beautiful woman is compared to the sight of a basilisk—a legendary reptile said to have the power to cause death with a single glance.
[26] Ancient Jewish tradition, Augustine of Hippo, and Bonaventure all have influence on Roman Catholic marital teachings regarding eros.
In his first encyclical, Deus caritas est, Pope Benedict XVI discusses three of the four greek relationship terms: eros, philia and agape, and contrasts between them.
In his 1925 paper "The Resistances to Psycho-Analysis",[27] Freud explains that the psychoanalytic concept of sexual energy is more in line with the Platonic view of eros, as expressed in the Symposium, than with the common use of the word "sex" as related primarily to genital activity.
He finally writes that his theory naturally explains this collective misunderstanding as a predictable resistance to the acknowledgement of sexual activity in childhood.
According to Jung, this split is recapitulated in the unconscious mind by means of "contrasexual" (opposite-gendered) elements called the anima (in men) and the animus (in women).
"Taking back the projections" is a major task in the work of individuation, which involves owning and subjectivizing unconscious forces which are initially regarded as alien.
