The four loves

The four fundamental forces that describe every interaction in nature.

From walking on the street to launching a rocket into space to sticking a magnet on your refrigerator, physical forces are acting all around us. But all the forces that we experience every day (and many that we do not realize we so experience) can be whittled down to just four fundamental forces:

• Gravity. 
• The weak force. 
• Electromagnetism. 
• The strong force. 

These are called the four fundamental forces of nature, and they govern everything that happens in the universe.

The four loves

1. στοργή • (storgḗ) – empathy bond; love, affection; especially of parents and children
2. φῐλῐ́ᾱ • (philíā) – friend bond; regarded as the natural force which unites discordant elements and movements, as νεῖκος (neîkos) keeps them apart
3. ἔρως • (érōs) – romantic love; love, desire
4. ᾰ̓γᾰ́πη • (agápē) –  love, affection, esteem; goodwill, benevolence, unconditional "God" love.

John William Godward  (1861–1922): The Old, Old Story

κυκεών, kykeȏn; from κυκάω, "to stir, to mix"

Henryk Siemiradzki (1843–1902): Phryne at the Festival of Poseidon (Poseidonia) in Eleusis, Fryne na święcie Posejdona

Numerous scholars have proposed that the power of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from the kykeon's functioning as an entheogen or psychedelic agent. The use of potions or philtres for magical or religious purposes was relatively common in Greece and the ancient world. The initiates, sensitized by their fast and prepared by preceding ceremonies (see set and setting), may have been propelled by the effects of a powerful psychoactive potion into revelatory mind states with profound spiritual and intellectual ramifications. In opposition to this idea, other pointedly sceptical scholars note the lack of any solid evidence and stress the collective rather than individual character of initiation into the Mysteries. Indirect evidence in support of the entheogenic theory is that in 415 BC Athenian aristocrat Alcibiades was condemned partly because he took part in an "Eleusinian mystery" in a private house.
Many psychoactive agents have been proposed as the significant element of kykeon, though without consensus or conclusive evidence. These include the ergot, a fungal parasite of the barley or rye grain, which contains the alkaloids ergotamine, a precursor to LSD, and ergonovine. However, modern attempts to prepare a kykeon using ergot-parasitized barley have yielded inconclusive results, though Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin describe both ergonovine and LSA to be known to produce LSD-like effects.
The discovery of fragments of Ergot (fungi containing LSD-like psychedelic alkaloids) in a temple dedicated to the two Eleusinian Goddesses excavated at the Mas Castellar site (Girona, Spain) provided legitimacy for this theory. Ergot fragments were found inside a vase and within the dental calculus of a 25-year-old man, providing evidence of Ergot being consumed. This finding seems to support the hypothesis of ergot as an ingredient of the Eleusinian kykeon.
Psychoactive mushrooms are another candidate. Terence McKenna speculated that the mysteries were focused around a variety of Psilocybe. Other entheogenic fungi, such as Amanita muscaria, have also been suggested. A recent hypothesis suggests that the ancient Egyptians cultivated Psilocybe cubensis on barley and associated it with the deity Osiris.
Another candidate for the psychoactive drug is an opioid derived from the poppy. The cult of the goddess Demeter may have brought the poppy from Crete to Eleusis; it is certain that opium was produced in Crete.
Another theory is that the psychoactive agent in kykeon is DMT, which occurs in many wild plants of the Mediterranean, including Phalaris and/or Acacia. To be active orally (like in ayahuasca) it must be combined with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor such as Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala), which grows throughout the Mediterranean.
Alternatively, J. Nigro Sansonese (1994), using the mythography supplied by Mylonas, hypothesizes that the Mysteries of Eleusis were a series of practical initiations into trance involving proprioception of the human nervous system induced by breath control (similar to samyama in yoga). Sansonese speculates that the kisté, a box holding sacred objects opened by the hierophant, is actually an esoteric reference to the initiate's skull, within which is seen a sacred light and are heard sacred sounds but only after instruction in trance practice. Similarly, the seed-filled chambers of a pomegranate, a fruit associated with the founding of the cult, esoterically describe proprioception of the initiate's heart during trance.

Reconciliation of eRos & LoGos

• ἔρως • (érōs)
• λόγος • (lógos)

There is an ancient heartbreak living in the centre of each of us, between two unrequited lovers we shall call Eros and Logos. These divine counterparts have been separated for so long that they barely remember they belong to one another. Though impossible to imagine, because they are like night and day, the whole world is waiting for their sacred reunion. If only we could introduce them, they might remember. They might finally fall in love again, as destiny intended in a holy union of opposites within.

With her beguiling beauty, Eros will possess us. She is a singer and a dreamer, whose elements are mystery, magic, and earth. Her voice is not pretty nor is it sweet, but rather scorched with honesty. And when she sings, the ache of being alive rattles and resonates deep in our bones. It is with her raw passion that she pushes blood into an idea, and makes it dance. Her home is in the wild, and she speaks the language of all untamed beings. She is the animal body, both fierce and graceful, who moves with the rhythm and sway of the soul.

Logos is a powerful emperor who rules the sky kingdom, a place vaster than anyone has ever seen. He is a brilliant mathematician whose elements are reason, law, and matter. He has devoted his life to logical inquiry, in search of absolute truth, and is a master of creating order from nothing. He builds complex systems and then he governs them with incontestable law. He likes to be alone in his tower of books, where he loses himself in theories and plans. He prefers others to speak rationally, if at all, and provide evidence for the worthiness of their position.

The truth is that Eros and Logos belong to one another, but for as long as any of us can remember, they have been estranged.

It all began when Logos discovered what he called “irrefutable truth” a method of deduction that could explain the whole universe. Driven by the power of his dominion over nature, Logos began to dismantle the mysteries Eros served, exposing them for puzzles of constituent elements that he believed they were.

Captivated by his charisma, everyone followed Logos’ rule. Eros was sent, along with the magicians and the night-walkers, poets and reveller, to live underground where she could no longer influence people with her dark, moist longing for the holy in nature.

~Toko-pa Turner / Belonging

In Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology, the counterpart to eros is logos, a Greek term for the principle of rationality. Carl Jung considers logos to be a masculine principle, while eros is a feminine principle. According to C.G. Jung:

"Woman's psychology is founded on the principle of Eros, the great binder and loosener, whereas from ancient times the ruling principle ascribed to man is Logos. The concept of Eros could be expressed in modern terms as psychic relatedness, and that of Logos as objective interest."

― Carl Jung, “Woman in Europe” (1927), in Collected Works vol. 10, paragraph 255; reprinted in Aspects of the Feminine, Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 65, ISBN 0-7100-9522-8.

This gendering of eros and logos is a consequence of C. G. Jung's theory of the anima/animus syzygy of the human psyche. Syzygy (from Late Latin sȳzygia “conjunction”, from Ancient Greek συζυγία suzugía, “yoke; union”. This word was recognized as English in 1847 in its astronomical meaning) refers to the split between male and female. According to C. G. 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). Thus men have an unconscious feminine principle, the "anima", which is characterized by feminine eros. The work of individuation for men involves becoming conscious of the anima and learning to accept it as one's own, which entails accepting eros. This is necessary in order to see beyond the projections that initially blind the conscious ego. "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.

In essence, C. G. Jung's concept of eros is not dissimilar to the Platonic one. Eros is ultimately the desire for wholeness, and although it may initially take the form of passionate love, it is more truly a desire for "psychic relatedness", a desire for interconnection and interaction with other sentient beings. However, C. G. Jung was inconsistent, and he did sometimes use the word "eros" as a shorthand to designate sexuality.