The god Eros fell deeply in love with the mortal Psyche, and took her for his wife.  But in the darkness, he warned her to never look upon his appearance.  When she disobeyed as he slept, he was physically wounded and disappeared into the night.  Psyche sought help from her mother-in-law, Aphrodite, to find her husband.  But Aphrodite, jealous of Psyche’s beauty, set for her many meaningless and impossible tasks.  With help from her many admirers, however, Psyche completed the tasks, only to fall into a deep sleep.  Eros, recovered from his wounds, rescued her and convinced Zeus to make her a goddess. 

In looking upon her lover Eros, Psyche examined her passions rather than live them.  The bright light of the intellect turns love into marriage, and the bond of the heart into a mechanical duty.  Aphrodite, the abstract idea of love, drains Psyche of life, plunging her into an unconscious living death.  But Psyche, having proven her love, is reunited with Eros and immortalized into the pantheon of Olympus.  Those who worship at the alter of Psyche, the artists and poets and true lovers, know that the triumph of Psyche is the triumph of the spirit over empty rules and obligations.