An edited excerpt from Venus and Jupiter: Bridging the Ideal and the Real (CPA Press, 1997). This article shows the many aspects of Eros and inspiration in life, love and creativity. First published in Apollon, April 1999.
In the Theogony, dating from the 6th century BCE, the origins of the Greek hierarchy and theocracy are found. Hesiod begins this wonderful poem with the origin of the world in Chaos. Chaos means literally a gap, a 'yawn', a state of animated suspension. The Greek state of chaos implies unboundedness, an open, undifferentiated state of being. In other origin myths there are parallels - in Egyptian, Sumerian and Babylonian stories, as well as Native American, South American, African, Tibetan, Hindu exist a state of chaos out of which is born matter. Hence from this cosmic prima materia are born various deities - often elements of nature or necessary precursors to life itself. Therefore, chaos is a rich array of elemental forces all in place, but without form or differentiation.
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