There were some groups in the ancient Greek world that made offerings to Eros before going into battle. The Sacred Band of Thebes, for instance, used Eros as their patron god. The Sacred Band of Thebes was an elite fighting force that consisted of 150 pairs of homosexual men. Eros as Aphrodite’s Son Pothos could often be distinguished from the other erotes because he carried a vine in many images. This vine helped to make the connection to another of Greek mythology’s important gods and another aspect of desire. My Modern Interpretation

Yet they reign in our minds too. They tell us that God must be angry, that he must need appeasing. That he must want us to do something heroic or terrible, something to atone for our sins. Save Clarity, Brevity and Impact 3 Ways to Create a Life you Desire and Deserve to your collection. Share Clarity, Brevity and Impact 3 Ways to Create a Life you Desire and Deserve with your friends. To explain what you mean by being an atheist Jew is complicated,” he says, “and I’m drawn to complexity. The book, I think, to some extent comes from trying to explain what that is.” On reading it, he says, Stoppard told him, “I’m really enjoying your conversation with yourself”, which is on-brand for Baddiel (and a bit on-brand for the courteous, sphinx-like Stoppard). He’s a great one for conversations with, and about, himself. Where “character comedians” hate being themselves on stage, Baddiel never tried to create a gap between his public image and his private one. Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned, he says, was an exercise in “let’s see how close as possible we can get to who we actually are on TV”. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Eros features in two myths that center around the Greek god of wine and fertility, Dionysus. The first myth is a tale of unrequited love. Eros strikes a young shepherd named Hymnus with one of his golden-tipped arrows. The strike from Eros’ arrow makes the shepherd fall in love with a water spirit called Nicaea.At the tender age of thirteen the nation welcomed Euro ’96 and with it Baddiel and Skinner’s anthem “Three Lions on a Shirt.” I will never forget returning from a school trip to Alton Towers listening on the radio to England beating Spain 4:2 on penalties. We were parked outside the school gates, our parents waiting, but we refused to get off the coach until the game finished. At the moment of jubilation we sang the entire song, word for word in unison with my class, teachers, the bus driver and all waiting for us outside before departing. A pseudo religious experience, the hymn of our generation. The Kalam cosmological argument: Everything which begins to exist has a cause, and an intelligent cause is the best explanation for the universe’s existence. I wonder, too, whether being famous scratches some of the itch for significance that he identifies as a root of the God desire. “It probably does,” he says. “I mean, people want to be famous to be rich, which I’m sure is in there – but I think more, people want to be noticed. And wanting to be noticed is definitely associated with the God Desire. It could also show its hazards. One of the most famous stories of Zephyrus was of his jealousy over the love of Hyacinthus, showing that desire could be dangerous and even deadly. Together the winged gods are known as the Erotes, and they represent the different forms love can take. Anteros symbolized love returned, Pothos, longing for an absent love, and Himeros, impetus love.

Baddiel pares this down to a nifty equation: “desire + invisibility = God”, writing: “God is all about death…[and] the heart’s cry for an eternal protector [from it]…” The Pharisees saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners and were offended. More than that, they felt Jesus was offending God. He was throwing in his lot with traitors and apostates. A second myth that involves Eros and Dionysus revolves around Dionysus and his all-consuming desire for a maiden nymph called Aura. Aura, whose name means breeze, is the daughter of the Titan Lelantos. The Golden Ass, and Greek oral traditions before that, detail the relationship between the Greek god of desire, Eros, and Psyche, a beautiful mortal princess. The tale of Eros’ relationship with princess Psyche is one of the most well-known myths involving Eros. The story of Eros and Psyche begins with jealousy, as all great tales so often do. Eros and Psyche I think it’s absolutely convincing,” he says proudly, while admitting that he doesn’t expect any true believers to find it all that persuasive. The God desire, as he sees it, is hardwired and it’s strong – and there’s simply not much getting round it.He then describes how Judaism has helped him express his anguish in suffering (less so his joy in celebration); and reflects on how “religion is a key part of many people’s identity…it may be inseparable from that identity.” Instead of fulfilling his mother’s wish, Eros transported Psyche to his heavenly palace with the help of the West Wind. Eros had made Psyche promise she would never look upon his face. The god was to remain unknown to Psyche, despite their relationship. Psyche agreed to this and the pair lived happily for a time.

Very uplifting, I say. Baddiel laughs. And what is there but to laugh in any case? I ask him at one point whether he expects his argument to change any minds. Given how fast our understanding of the universe evolves, to rule out the possibility of evidence for God seems unscientific – doubly so when it is done on a hunch. Baddiel, a crusader for verity, is uncom­fortable with people insisting that they have a right to their own truth. But if he is correct that we cannot prove God because he exists outside reason and logic, then nor can Baddiel prove the Almighty doesn’t exist – and by constantly insisting it is a fact that he doesn’t, the author engages in the very demand for personal truthiness he claims to dislike. There are a number of approaches I thought about taking, which is exactly why I love Baddiel’s writing. His style is naturally conversational and allows your mind to drift into wider concepts. But I did not want this review to be yet another Christian apology that goes over the tiresome evidences that seem to do nothing but harden pre-existing views. To sabotage the relationship, Psyche’s jealous sisters convinced Psyche that she was married to a hideous monster. They persuaded the princess to betray her promise to Eros and look upon him when he was sleeping, and kill him. Eros and Lost Love

So once humans get to the point where they realise we’re going to die, life is meaningless, it’s all shit, they would all be depressed. So we wouldn’t exist as a species if we were all depressed. We need something to keep us going.” Christianity is simply not about anything Baddiel rightly criticises. Christianity is the essence of reality mediated through a historical person – Jesus. That when questioned what is good or bad, simply said “follow me.” A truth that lead to cruxifixction. Christianity is not about being good or bad, or about feeling better or worse, it is truth that overrides and nullifies all these uniquely human desires to trust in what is.