Myth of Psyche

Apuleius wrote the story of Cupid (Eros) and Psyche in the Fourth Century, published in his Metamorphoses (or Golden Ass). It has been suggested that this was not just an entertaining fable but teachings from The Mysteries, which therefore had to be suitably veiled. This story has been brilliantly retold by C.S. Lewis in his "Till We Have Faces".
Althought themes in the original story can be found reflected in fairy tales (of the Beauty and the Beast type), the story by Apuleius presents some profound ideas about the nature of the Soul. One will be considered here. Psyche has been spending nights with her mysterious husband - whose face she has been told never to look upon. He only came to her after dark. Otherwise whe was on her own in her sumptuous palace. Her sisters say that her husband must be a monster, and that is why he is hiding his face by day and refusing light at night. Psyche should take in a taper and light it to see what her husband truly is.
She waits till he falls asleep, and then lights a taper. She sees her husband is beautiful beyond all comparison. But in adoring him she drops hot wax on his face and he awakens. He is deeply saddened for he now knows that Psyche must start her wanderings - and (apparently) lose him. She wakes to find herself on a desolate hillside. Her journey back to her true husband then begins.

It is in a story like this that the truths of evolutionary modern science meet their limitations. It is not that evolutionary theory is wrong, but it just entirely leaves out the concept of the Soul. Without an understanding of that principle, the mistake is made of seeing human beings as fundamentally material beings, where consciousness is a fortuitous occurance. Apuleius knew this was not so.

For Psyche is nothing less that the individual human Soul - perfect in essence but often foolish in action, through ignorance of her true nature. When the Soul turns to lower forms of truth (symbolised by her sisters) she acts instinctively or only from the dictates of 'common sense'. She needs 'proof' about her husband. However, the only light she can use is that of a taper (a pathetic little light, indicating the undeveloped nature of her own consciousness). When she sees her husband Eros's true nature she is unable to sustain her contact with him. In looking at Eros she is looking at the perfection of Spirit. The undeveloped Soul cannot hold that Vision of Reality, and so the 'fall' represented in both Myth and Religion, starts.

Psyche has to undertake many trials in order to return to her true home. Her journey is the same as our journey - back to the True.