What is this?

The Problem of Desire - (Of Hermits and Lovers - The Alchemy of Desire) 50 mentions

• that really has a word for that so we want to use the word eros e-r-o-s it's a word that's um familiar and
• um craving clinging and eros three kinds craving cleanliness now i'm using those words
• kinds of desire craving clinging eros and part of that what that comes out of
• between these three can we recognize what's craving and what's eros can we navigate between sometimes uh if it's
• simplest i'm trying to do i will actually miss eros and soulmaking is it there's a good chance i will miss eros
• actually miss eros and soulmaking is it there's a good chance i will miss eros and soulmaking that soulmaking that
• and soulmaking that soulmaking that goes with eros we're free rather to move and to explore
• there's clinging and there's eros and eros has said has something to do is intrinsically bound
• take a little time right now to define what we mean by eros and i say there's the two kind of levels of definition so
• right now give what we call the the sort of small definition of eros for right now
• it's really important to understand how um but as a small definition of eros what is this word and how can we begin
• what is this word and how can we begin to understand it so i want to say eros is is a desire it's a wanting
• is is a desire it's a wanting eros is the wanting of more contact with more connection with more intimacy with
• right now this small is what i'm calling the small definition of eros it's very important
• now you might not recognize your experience of eros in there and i it it actually sounds uh perhaps quite dry as
• so uh eros you'll notice in that definition is certainly not just sexual attraction
• equating it with freud's usage of eros as the pleasure principle essentially just the seeking
• i think later in his theorizing freud equated eros with the life instinct in contradistinction to thanatos which is
• relationship between our definition of eros and that life force if you like but we're not equating them
• we're not equating them notice also that we're not equating eros with love so some people just uh say
• with love so some people just uh say eros just means love and that's fine how other people define it's complete if i'm
• uh with the way the neoplatanists characterized eros as a movement a movement or force for unification
• between what he calls libido and what we're calling eros but they're still really important distinctions between
• so notice a couple of other things about this definition of eros or what we mean just for now one is that it has a huge
• range so eros really encompasses a huge range it certainly includes the most intense
• and if in in the realm of the imaginal this uh when the sexual eros is very strong and intense sometimes it can open
• beyond what's physically possible just because the eros and the soul if you like is demanding it
• very intense down to really uh quite subtle movements of eros that are just kind of
• so there's the point is there's a huge range huge huge range of eros in terms of intensity and subtlety
• um and a little bit implied by what i just said eros can be in regard to anything at all that can be an erotic
• that fill it out but for now just want to point out that eros one of what it does in a nutshell is it
• already know and experience that's what eros moves towards that's what it instigates
• but for this retreat we're emphasizing mostly the way that eros involves soul making and the imaginable
• yeah now eros is already in our life i'm not talking about something that doesn't
• laughs eros also in its movement in the soulmaking movement also make possible
• soulmaking movement also make possible for us a view of eros and itself and desire as sacred
• so why why are we bothering making this delineation uh of eros um because because as i said um it's
• there there there there is soulmaking for us and there there is eros so we're talking about something that's
• we'll go into this eros as i've already intimated is an intrinsic element of the imaginal and
• practice and develop that and as i've already said eros just answering this question why kind of
• question why why get interested in the eros why make the delineation why bother um because of our relationship with
• much deeper you know our sense of what sexuality can be in the eros involved there
• and lastly you know so we're trying to explore eros and make the delineation trying to understand it
• trying to understand it um but eros i think will always uh keep some sense of mystery always remain
• understanding or definition or whatever eros will always retain that mysteriousness that beyondness partly
• there's something in the soulmaking dynamic and an eros itself which can making eros bigger than we can and then
• dynamic and an eros itself which can making eros bigger than we can and then we have understood at present
• definitions delineations understandings of whatever it is in this case eros are part of what determined condition
• shape fabricate what that thing in this case eros becomes and what it leads to so if we want
• what this thing or that thing is in this case eros rather we understand something about

The World and More: Immanence, Tantra, and Transcendence (Part 1) - (Eros Unfettered - Opening... 49 mentions

• which means the senses and sense experience which also means eros included in that itself what is the
• included in that itself what is the relationship with eros itself and uh that comes out of soulmaking if you
• knowing that everything is empty and allowing in our language eros and that erotic connection
• we know that everything is empty um and because eros stimulates uh soul making which knows images image then
• his um autobiography um eros is a cosmogonos he said the cosmogonas in his fancy greek word for
• words desire whether it's craving or whether it's eros clinging desire is a cosmogonism because
• one of the essential ingredients of what delineates craving from eros in our in our language
• movement there is it what we're calling eros then what we get is we've been outlining is not the imprisonment of a
• world this is the cosmo the cosmo gone us there when it's when the eros is the cosmogonus and not the craving then the
• so that there's again a distinction between craving an eros and there's a distinction between realist
• to me we could make a parallel there with what we're calling eros and i've said
• in the imaginal practice in the meditation when there's eros around and it and it always is eros to some degree
• meditation when there's eros around and it and it always is eros to some degree with imaginal practice even if it's very
• and can you notice or begin to notice the sacred and divine uh nature of eros meaning just the the perception of
• and and there's this quality of insatiability to her eros or or should i say uh because it's not
• insatiability but it's just that her eros is inexhaustible um and there's no problem with that in
• to the surrender to the passion to the eros itself and so in this image in in this imaginal
• personified in the very image of the inexhaustibility of eros and that inexhaustibility being one of the
• inexhaustibility being one of the aspects of the holiness of eros so there's a sense of the holiness and the
• devotion and all that unlike the uh of the eros and then a particular dimension if you like or
• so this is uh this inexhaustibility of eros has a holiness to it unlike the unquenchable thirst of tanha are they
• um and we can see tying that into what we we've been saying about eros and soul making and cosmopoasis that
• there's the diamond passion when there's the eros and we thoroughly know that i know the images image self and world are
• in in our perception so as we've been saying eros starts to involve it implicates all the other elements and
• what we've been saying so far is it so far is eros will bring when it is um unfettered so to speak when it's not
• allowed to expand fertilize each other aero psychologus there will be eros will bring will give rise to will stimulate a
• that's the beloved other the erotic object we may start with eros towards the transcendent unfabricated the
• where um eros can go and therefore and then what it can make divine and even in
• been through this or we start with a desire the eros for the transcendent god for their unfabricated the hidden god
• facetedness in the multi-dimensionality of the sense of divinity but eros will naturally tend to widen deepen multiply
• new connections um there can be eros towards the unfabricated eros that belongs for the
• um there can be eros towards the unfabricated eros that belongs for the transcendent other
• transcendent other um eros belongs to towards um different levels of oneness that perhaps we don't
• um and then that eros needs a skillful development of the art and the
• uh all that range so there's that kind of eros towards the unfabricated to different kinds of
• unfabricated to different kinds of oneness etc and then there's eros too if you like
• experience and things um and this kind of eros for the particulars and the uh
• world re-enchanted and empty one is free to become impassioned eros is free to to flow to ignite
• so it's really saying something about the uh how eros is woven into the imaginal and soulmaking how that
• seeing sensing emptiness and the eternality that allows more eros and i think everything infinite things even
• elements so the eros is what re-enchants and what um reveals to us the timeless level of
• mutually dependent so eros re-enchants the opening up of things give rise it gives rise to eros
• so eros re-enchants the opening up of things give rise it gives rise to eros to more eros because there's more that's
• things give rise it gives rise to eros to more eros because there's more that's attractive there there's that beyond
• kabbalistic teaching the jewish mystical teachings there's the eros between um aspects or faces of the divine
• um the transcendent and the imminent there is eros between uh that the wisdom knowing and
• etc again eros and the imaginal wrapped up together there and and you can also see
• through the lenses of imaginal perception when the eros has is allowed to fertilize it perceived through if you
• perception so an idea actually seeds the imaginal and and fertilizes the eros and the idea and the image start mixing and

Dilemmas and Delineations: How did we get here?! (Part 4) - (Eros Unfettered - Opening the Dharma... 48 mentions

• vadana leading um so when you talk about eros or that kind of thing as um that's just
• um creating soulfulness it will not do that it's not eros it's what we might call craving as i said
• soulmaking and embodiment if you like of eros something we do with our bodies that is
• so with all this and all this um talk about eros and exploration and eros i really want to emphasize again
• um talk about eros and exploration and eros i really want to emphasize again you know something you've heard in
• um eros also despite all these definitions and
• how unfamiliar it all might sound etc um eros is already in imaginal practice um it already i would say is a an
• the same as but related is is a kind of eros it's not the same as sex or might be sexuality
• um but um in the imaginal practice but um but there's eros and when we talk with images and in
• um these words opening to service surrender they either lead to eros they deepen the eros or they already imply
• surrender they either lead to eros they deepen the eros or they already imply that eros is there in the relationship
• deepen the eros or they already imply that eros is there in the relationship and actually i would say eros is
• that eros is there in the relationship and actually i would say eros is inherent in imaginal relationship a
• experimentation you will discover that eros can lead at times or it can be steered to lead definitely to samadhi to
• about the link and the relationship between eros and abramovirus but i think i gave at least one example in that
• very potently so maybe we'll return to that later in relationship between eros and the brotherharos
• here and and standard dharma etc um and eros eros we've already said is much more than sexuality and sexual
• let's um put it that way that exploring eros and um the imaginal in practice in
• um i think i've said this before i'm not equating eros with love so love is one of those poor words nowadays um it's
• um sex even pleasurable sex enjoyable sex but without love and without eros so then i would say hopefully there's some
• maybe it's common without love or without eros um it's also possible that you can have
• sex with love with care um but without eros in other words there's sexual arousal sexual pleasure
• and of course you can have love care without sex or eros you can care deeply for someone and with meta etc but
• and if it's not clear by now hopefully it is we can have eros in an erotic connection with someone
• so all those permutations but i would say it's not possible to have eros without love
• so that's quite interesting not positive eros without love because eros
• eros without love because eros leads brings stimulates uh opens a
• object of the erotic object eros opens the perception of beauty and divinity and we can't help but love what
• so i would say it's actually not possible to have eros in the way that we're talking about it without love
• implicit in in all that we just said is that in a way eros is actually always involved with and
• that i used that word before and so where there's eros the imaginal is instigated
• where where that's operating where something's an image eros as i said already is inherently wrapped up in that
• um supports to whatever extent it can support that eros uh
• so mentioned this eros psychologos dynamic is one of one of our list of things that
• more about this but um what it means i said is that the eros wanting more
• um to for the psyche so to speak to move into to expand but also for the eros to find attractive and to want more of so
• things one is that um to say another way what we've already said is that eros is liberating
• negotiated or made aware of etc but what that means is that eros in its capacity to open perception and see also
• um i did say i didn't know that there's a small definition of eros as we said that eros is this wanting more uh
• a small definition of eros as we said that eros is this wanting more uh contact connection intimacy experience
• actually implicated or the natural tendency of what eros does it will start to involve them and it will start to
• expand unless it's inhibited um we can also kind of talk about eros and imply all that really imply that
• so that in the small definition we're really talking about eros as one element of that era psychologos uh that
• um another implication there is that eros in itself so to speak the small definition
• there really is no in itself what whether eros is um
• that logos as really being true then problems come in and eros becomes craving and there's realism
• craving and there's realism eros leads to craving related to what i said before about
• blocking or um a limiting in different ways either of the eros of the libido if you like or or of the psyche

An Ecology of Love (Part 2) - (An Ecology of Love) 45 mentions

• to include meta or it does include meta and eros so let's take the meta first now i've talked and in the dharma of
• i want to emphasize more in this talk is the eros strand or or or or kind of of love that aspect of love
• um euros has the desire to connect um eros is this desire to connect let's add one more piece to that
• ancient some ancient greeks pointed out always with eros there is pothos that's another greek word p-o-t-h-o-s and this
• another greek word p-o-t-h-o-s and this pothos within so to speak the eros this pothos
• so that we can expand the definition of eros to the desire to connect more the one thing that urged the intention
• that this pothos aspect of eros this wanting more connection creates or instigates
• because of this pothos within the earth because of what eros involves it starts involving
• perception so when we define eros as and when we see this is what's happening in an
• erotic um when there is eros in relation to anything
• to connect more and then it's like the eros we could say if we if we
• um it's object eros desires manifest as a movement of desire to penetrate more
• um to uh the eros this this desire to connect more will manifest as a movement
• if you like more feminine so eros in in relationship with nature and we'll talk about an erotic
• but not just that emphasis on not just because of of what eros is it will keep insisting on expanding its
• perception appearance view all that gets and eros insists on expanding it over time
• um any other that it's involved with the eros in this case over perception view sense conception experience of nature
• sense of nature view of nature and our eros in regard to nature won't be confinable for very long people this
• confinable because of this dynamic of eros won't be confinable either to a wonder or wonderment and appreciation of
• all that can be there absolutely but but it cannot stay at that if the eros is allowed to penetrate and open more and
• erotic connection with so eros involves again that word involves terms with draws in to turn
• by this dynamic of yours in and with with eros so let's explore a little bit what what
• complicating of what we love through the eros some manifestations are so subtle that we may not recognize them
• and more eros and psyche if you like and by psychium really emphasizing the
• imaginal dimension of our beings the capacity for to perceive imaginably eros is it's like you start to involve again
• nourish and enrich each other so the eros this dynamic of eros kind of starts to complicate
• moves towards the unfabrication the unfabricated towards unfabricating eros on the other hand complicates and
• fantasy in the perception now still with the eros it may still be vague there may be a vague imaginal
• sense um that can still be part of the eros as well or what the euros opens up in the
• the sacred sense and through both matter but particularly eros now um is is this not one-dimensional
• so eros involves or ignites
• the psyche and the object now this is what eros does it's just what it does it's how it works for this is my theory
• it's how it works for this is my theory that is what it does it's what eros does if it is not hindered either by clinging
• push and expand and it's just simply what eros does in relation to anything
• and so what's involved in in the very desire of eros starts to open up through the dynamic in the eros itself even the
• desire of eros starts to open up through the dynamic in the eros itself even the idea of eros itself
• the dynamic in the eros itself even the idea of eros itself gets opened up through the dynamic of
• so any definition even definition of eros is a boundary definition is a boundary is a limit it forms a limit
• and um because eros pushes through and expands it will push through even that
• other possibilities and hence eros is undefinable because it's divine it's it's infinite in that
• pothos in it so eros psyche logos they mutually inform and influence each other
• potentially that is endless so where there's this eros and it wants to
• and in love with and connect with and and more desire of the eros there and the more desire
• sensibility and the more the eros is allowed to do its work and to have its dynamic and
• um will open up it will come from the eros and um

The Image of Ethics (Part 1) - (In Psyche's Orchard) 43 mentions

• possibility and the need for a relationship of love and and of eros with the virtues with the values as i
• emotion ever before it must include love and eros as i said that would be five
• um then actually love and eros for uh for virtues for the virtues and loving yours for
• there's no real place there for genuine love of virtual ethics and genuine eros so i'm saying that again this as i said
• in relation to which we can we can and do feel love and in eros and plenty of it
• going to be tied in if we i'm using that word eros in the soulmaking sense so i'm not only saying this because i think
• virtues and the beauty of that and extending myself then it's exactly eros and love that is that is an appropriate
• that both of these allow and imply that eros is a possibility when there's an
• dimensionality of virtue and also that eros is a possibility in relationship to them
• implies and brings automatically or involved in that there will be eros then for those virtues and values
• have so much willpower actually maybe it's more a matter of eros euros for certain virtues values eros
• it's more a matter of eros euros for certain virtues values eros for that means the ideas that wanted to
• be expressed euros for the future sangha etc love and eros more than willpower it also said sometimes of course in a
• to be times when you're not feeling that eros same same in when we come to ethics and
• need emotions and moral things but we need also more than that eros is actually as you know more than an
• emotion and eros again i mean eros in the whole soulmaking sense that we that we use
• soulmaking sense that we that we use that term eros so yes we need emotion but we need more
• than emotion and part of what's more is we need eros and partly we need
• so we need emotion but we need more than motion we need eros we need a conceptual framework and we need a way ways of
• lead to our manifesting those values and virtues our eros for those values and virtues and then our life refracting
• sense of the ideational imaginal and sensing that so implies all the eros and everything else the sense of beauty and
• um by allowing and giving place an important significant place to eros in other words almost partly basing
• in other words almost partly basing ontology and epistemology on eros of course that's a that's a really uh an
• it's saying this is terrible if you if you follow your desire eros and not something called truth and you create
• theory or create conceptual frameworks out guided by your eros and desire then there can be no theoretical object
• using all the aspects of our soul and our eros and that stands against and kind of in opposition to
• whether we're conscious of it or not that eros comes in to our decisions about what is true what conceptual
• briefly the other day there are limits to the eros it's not just that there are other constraints in our
• will to know in accord with desire now that we let the eros lead then the kneeless gap has already opened
• um with the inclusion incorporation of eros as a guide for our conceptual frameworks for our logo for ideas for
• our notions for our provisional truths the discipline of eros when it's in practice and in a soulmaking way in
• talking about an ontology or ontology or epistemology based partly on eros and how eros might be redeemed
• epistemology based partly on eros and how eros might be redeemed along with other
• and there's a whole journey there eros doesn't leave us with clear discrete uh things easily comprehended
• that um eros may be in john milbank's word ontologically disclosive may have a
• you know classical modernist terms it's an eros redeemed and
• perhaps more positively reality eros validating our soulmaking experience validating
• regarding ontology and epistemology to eros and the notion of participation and the
• as having any ontological disclosive status so eros anxiety boredom trust poetic response faith hope charity and
• um uh you know can be understood as a lack of eros when there's boredom there's lack of eros when the xeros is
• lack of eros when there's boredom there's lack of eros when the xeros is no boredom
• bit on this idea of the ontological and epistemological value of eros potentially
• again what's happening is boredom as an absence of eros is telling me um at its best i mean boredom at its

Wisdom and Desire - (Foundations of a Soulmaking Dharma) 41 mentions

• back to this in soon but we talk about craving and eros and discerning between them
• whole other retreat called well it's a series of talks a long series eros unfettered there's lots of subtlety to
• this this is something not to do with eros as we're talking about not even to do with imaginals so much is to do with
• in relation to the imagine so we have this this thing that we're calling eros and we contract it's a kind of desire
• discern the difference when it's craving and when it's eros and further can i is it possible for me to learn how to open
• can i can i actually open that up so it so it flowers into eros with all the beauty that that brings that's a skill
• what the difference is between craving an eros until i actually get burnt so oh that's what happens that ouch you
• and this particular this particular kind of fork between craving and eros so much depends on that in terms of worlds that
• in terms of that art but we will never be the master of eros completely bigger than us
• in relation to it all these things eros emotion um
• anyways um he said eros psychologs no one talks like that
• discernment so that when we don't discern something called eros separate from craving or just other kinds of
• before and is that really what's going on is there not already eros and already the imaginal air and yet we don't have
• make sense of my life so eros catherine already uh defined it i would again like i think i did with
• make is of this thing this kind of desire that we're going to call eros and then we make further determination
• is just the basic narrow definition of eros and then and then we'll open it up basic narrow definition of the arrow is
• opens up then this eros wanting more starts to find more by
• if the uh if the eros is allowed to include the imaginal sense
• and that's it then the imagine might arise from from the the power of my eros but i i my logos doesn't accept the
• and in that who am i and what is my perception and what is this eros and the world will look different i go
• starts to open so the logos not just the eros grows not just the psyche in terms of the image sense grows but the idea
• idea and then the idea being richer the sense of things is richer and and eros gets even more inflamed and the whole
• images of someone i really like and i want that person there's eros there and they come to me in images
• is um eros in the small sense and at that point eros in the small sense just this
• um eros in the small sense and at that point eros in the small sense just this desire for more it can go both ways
• it move towards eros rather than collapse into craving open into eros rather than
• move towards eros rather than collapse into craving open into eros rather than collapse into craving
• the more it supports the craving opening up to eros rather than staying in craving
• contraction in the energy body not so with eros as it opens up in the full sense so one thing we can do
• and that kind of supports the opening up of eros rather than the collapsing to craving now this can happen many times
• the nature of my desire it opens up craving to eros it helps to do that uh the one i meant to say was um this
• uh to more or less degrees um the expansion of eros psychian logos and the expansion from uh of the
• actually just check where has where has the imaginal sense gone and the eros gone and actually is it possible to just
• a that's a real option but at that point and some people define eros that way it's the desire for union the desire
• used in different ways in different circles we're saying eros preserves and needs a sense of twoness
• in a kind of different way what collapses the eros is just maybe a habit or a meditative habit or a tendency to
• or a meditative habit or a tendency to just go to oneness and then the eros needs to and it actually creates more
• elastic in this and that's part of what eros is and does someone wrote a note this morning or
• um a couple of things uh so basically eros and all these other elements
• and all these other elements um if eros is allowed to do what it wants to do it wants to impregnate the
• all sense experiences one and that can be eros for that and they can be a desire for that and there's a certain

The Ontology of the Soul, and the Soul of Ontology ( ... inevitably) - (In Psyche's Orchard) 41 mentions

• epistemology there can be eros for ontology itself as i alluded to earlier
• bring in the connection with uh between eros and ontology so again let's see if i can try and
• why can't i readmit affect and desire and even eros and perhaps they're given even equal status with any
• they're given even equal status with any other affects their desire and eros are given equal status with other affects
• if that's what reality is then it is is exactly eros in the way that we are using that word
• our subject is what we're penetrating etc so it's it's exactly eros in the way that we in soulmaking are using that
• word is exactly eros that which reveals the truth in reality
• truth in reality and and in that case it's eros is more valuable than other effects
• you understand because eros has this has this uh tendency to penetrate further
• around a circle but it's exactly eros which is what opens it
• perhaps it can be developed this idea of eros is having actually ontological value
• from a cold reason that disallows to the moods of eros anxiety boredom trust poetic response faith hope charity and
• ruled out of any definition of truth so the mood the affect of eros anxiety board and trust poetic response faith
• participation in creativity poetic response as well then eros and and secondarily you know other emotions
• um eros does disclose or open up to us the truth or we could say truth or
• but for our purposes once again something about eros in relationship to ontology and the ontological value and
• ontology and the ontological value and place potentially of eros with epistemological and ontological
• with epistemological and ontological value of place of eros because eros when allowed to stimulate the soulmaking
• dynamic and that's what we again that's what we mean by eros in its bigger definition it's larger definition eros
• what we mean by eros in its bigger definition it's larger definition eros will open up exactly what does not fit
• here's this object and if if i if there's eros i'm for it in relationship to it that object begins
• um it's eros that opens up exactly
• if we conceive it that way and if it is eros um above or as much as anything else
• what about love what about love of something what about eros again does that have no place in
• of course even before we get talking about eros and angels and soul duty and all love and all that what about just
• aspects of our psychology love eros again the calling of the daemon the sense of
• way that doesn't include love eros the demands of the angel the the the the
• that someone who has percent of eros and duty to the angel and the demands of the daemon and all
• um that way they always feel filled with love and eros and the juiciness of all that
• of calling love eros is not there or is much diminished and
• um the sense of the other the calling of the eros of the love and then and then one perhaps is in a mode of like just
• or the scent of the other that love the eros the images is much diminished but then we have this other word
• um seeing with a sense of soul and there isn't the depth in the eros and the calling and the love there's not
• sense as other their energy their brightness their desire and eros to be made manifest and somehow
• made manifest and somehow somehow i i can trust their eros will enable that manifestation
• being a possibility conception all of it again willpower versus eros or daemon it means it's a relative i mean it's it's a
• realities it's a helpful idea but compared with eros and demon it it's very much less rich and and if we just
• to include self other world and in fact and also eros as we've discussed many times to self other world eros become
• and also eros as we've discussed many times to self other world eros become immaculate
• dynamic itself eros will ignite that whole dynamic so that psyche
• and all these both of these predictions that serve other world eros become imaginal and that the iraseki

Dukkha and Soulmaking (Part 3) - (The Mirrored Gates) 41 mentions

• on before so we'll just re remind us of now is that where there's eros it will create and discover or create slash
• beyond the perception the sensing but in and through eros always will create and find a way to create and or discover
• that there's all that's related to the pothos in the eros and the kind of longing so it has this tonality if you
• brings uh you know samsara where saying ah no with the eros there's the possibility of beauty and discovery and
• wrapped up in that in in that in in the eros in the movement of eros but again as we've as we've
• um knowing that that's will be there because of the eros um
• recognize that it's part of what happens with eros let that ignite more and let that ignite the whole imaginal
• in relationship in the sensing the soul and that investigation is with eros with um the sensing the soul with soulmaking
• start off with a sensing with soul and then eros actually if we're not careful can shrink to craving and then that
• that the intention is bigger than just just for that nor is it just for eros nor is it just for image
• to extend or intensify the eros or the image or images we're having in the smaller sense without kind
• that where we want to kind of extend or intensify the eros and the psyche and the feeling of that and we we're less
• increases as i said if if eros becomes craving or shrinks to craving to increases no doubt about it
• craving but if the eros can be maintained as eros and not shrink into craving then
• but if the eros can be maintained as eros and not shrink into craving then there will there won't be uh
• can be um alchemically transformed into eros which is very possible we've talked
• on other retreats then that conversion of craving to eros alleviates look it would drain
• the whole energy body allows craving to manifest more as eros shrinking of the bodily awareness to one
• it because we've talked a lot about it before but um eros unlike craving eros opens it opens the sense of
• mill if you like versions of divinity of universal dignity eros opened uh creates and discovers richnesses and
• discovery of all of that um essentially eros goes with and opens up and leads to and stimulates and
• put out quite a few teachings but when the eros can be very strong can be very subtle and can also be very strong at
• possible maturing to learn how gradually to if you say ride that eros or handle it or respond to it to modulate it
• and simplify and let the image go let the eros go and so there's that possibility too when
• there's dukka there um because the eros feels like too strong
• um in relation to eros let me read you something by the poet wh ward and i
• obscured by the staleness of our senses the vision of eros is in my opinion a religious vision
• since uh they're actually just a schmuck like everyone else and we say uh eros was uh it was a projection when i fell
• um odin is is in in that little short quote there he's really saying no eros is uh helps us to see reality it's only
• is uh helps us to see reality it's only through eros that we perceive what is real about this person and because eros
• through eros that we perceive what is real about this person and because eros and the kind of acuity and sensitivity
• flat etc less holy um and he's saying uh actually eros is if you like the mode of being or the
• write say an alternative ontology is that eros eros as we said stimulates and supports
• an alternative ontology is that eros eros as we said stimulates and supports and opens and ignites soulmaking in the
• what's happening here is rather than eros showing us the real um this person this object this thing
• worldview at the moment an alternative ontology was is that eros brings soulmaking and in soulmaking
• through the erotic imaginal through eros and through sensing the soul
• in imaginal perception in sensing the soul in through eros i discover the real so that may be something more akin to
• ontologies so if we say this is what eros this is what's happening with eros in terms of
• so if we say this is what eros this is what's happening with eros in terms of its effect on perception and what kind
• i want to say a little bit more about eros and fire in the next hopefully in the next part

Sensing with Soul (Part 2) - (The Mirrored Gates) 35 mentions

• steering and our desire our eros so in the making it's this uh mysterious beautiful somewhat
• involved in soulmaking eros is involved this wanting more connection wanting more penetration
• of divinity um with eros with dimensionality with beauty etc etc it makes and creates an
• that eros and psyche and logos are always involved when their soulmaking always
• perception what that means we said eros is this wanting more connection wanting more
• when there is a sensing with soul there has to be eros there has to be um the image has to be involved imaginal
• the ways one of the most obvious ways that it happens is because eros if you heard in the definition it has
• that more it wants more so whenever there's eros there's the enjoyment of what is present and the appreciation and
• the beauty there and at the same time it has uh pothos in the eros and pothos is the greek divinity who of infinite
• wanting of wanting always more so within it eros has this pothos that um no matter what beauty and what depth
• creative and stimulating and fertilizing about this pothos within the eros this wanting always more
• in the world so eros because of the pothos i'm always constitutes a a beyond
• is the soul what is this looking what is this eros what is this world around i perceive the whole id not just the sense
• um in this beyond eros has a an element of um impetus to transcend
• whatever eros and soulmaking dynamic kind of um gets involved with that object
• beauties all of that uh so in a sense eros has this um push or or impetus or or longing or
• of side point but because of this pothos and eros and the constitution of the beyond eros
• and eros and the constitution of the beyond eros um we could say or wonder does it need
• go across boundaries go across wherever there's a boundary eros will push across that in different ways does it it does
• that in different ways does it it does eros in a way constantly or create transgression
• this um this natural impetus of eros to to consolator beyond which it then wants to
• transgressive movement and impetus in eros which is really a as i said a thinner and poorer and limited
• seems to me that it might be generally true to uh to say that eros is more um labile and more uh subject to change
• mercurial layer how changeable they are how labor they are so eros and again you'll notice this if you if you engage
• what's going on and track your own experience eros comes and goes and fluctuates it ebbs and flows relatively
• quickly even even over over a few minutes the the eros is sort of coming and going and and getting stronger and
• relatively steady and within that the eros in relation to that image can can ebb and flow up and down
• territory um when there is eros for logos in other words when we see the beauty of the
• conceiving function of the soul when there is eros for the logos and we're attracted towards that and it becomes
• it divine uh dimension you know has dimensionality when there is eros for logos the logos is ignited through that
• logos the logos is ignited through that eros and this igniting of the logos engenders
• so that um in our terms eros psyche and logos can expand and enrich themselves and get
• um in both the image and in the sense of eros and in in ideas themselves in in the element of logos
• this and that so for example between eros and craving um
• uh so that for example again the distinction between eros and craving is supportive of the whole endeavor of soul

Wisdom, Art, Balance (Part 4) - (Eros Unfettered - Opening the Dharma of Desire) 34 mentions

• development of the art of practicing with eros so that it is soulmaking and fertile working with the imaginal and
• so to speak of the five practice of the fire of eros and practice of the the the um the steadiness of the earth
• where um allowing the eros it's another way of saying this because because the erosion
• saying this because because the erosion imaginative allow the eros allow the feeling of the desire allow that erotic
• charge and allow it to increase go into the image allow the eros to increase the slightly different angles
• in on the same thing really if you like but allow the eros to increase and what will happen
• uh that that you're a psyche look because the eros is increasing it it stimulates
• um it uh ignite etc it starts to expand inseminate fertilize the eros like you logos dynamic the soulmaking dynamic
• going into the image opening to the image opening to the eros allowing the eros not cutting it not trying to
• image opening to the eros allowing the eros not cutting it not trying to stifle it or erase it or put it away etc
• stopping it not putting it down not turning away from it and also the eros allowing opening going into
• allowing of it it actually became strong eros as i was with it and felt it and it turned very intense and beautiful
• and he described so this is staying with the image okay allowing the eros with the image really feeling in the body but
• emotion finding the difficulty energy body let the eros constellate let the image feel out and see what happens
• um but sometimes what happens uh with the erotic imaginal or with eros or with desire in our life is that
• about in different ways um of the eros psyche logos dynamic or a better word is an a block in a certain
• beauty of the self's eros the self's passion my eros my passion is beautiful am i seeing
• the self's eros the self's passion my eros my passion is beautiful am i seeing it am i seeing the beauty of myself in
• but in order for the soulmaking dynamic and and the expansion and the eros to be sustainable to be stable to be fertile
• with the sense of the beauty of the self and the self's eros so it's good to to notice if there's a
• lovely even divine either that there's so much eros and devotion to etc can i notice i'm not taking the attention off
• direction of the self and in the direction of the eros yeah
• moving unblocked in one direction the eros that the measurements filling out and flowing penetrating deeply richly
• and with all that eventually the images sort of love if you like becomes eros so the the forest we could say the
• that before the four object self world um and eros need to be included included in the soulmaking dynamic
• is the self as well so one one thing you can do so there's eros there's this imaginal thing going on
• mentioned sometimes with an image and with the eros there there is a sense of duty
• space to tolerate there can be even an increase of the eros with that um but there's uh
• the whole imaginal constellation of of the eros is um seen felt perceived as if you like
• desire it's this divinity it's the buddha's eros it's the buddha's desire or it's the the deities or the the
• the phenomenology of um our experience and our exploration of eros and soul making because seeing the desire as the
• know himself fully as possible um then the eros sustains or even expands increases deepens gets richer
• more clearly as this is this is god's soulmaking dynamic this is god's eros psyche logos and sometimes we can have a
• we get the sense that all instances of eros are if you like instantiations of the