{"id":151232,"date":"2012-01-16T22:02:21","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T20:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/espirited.com\/knowing-little-orpheus\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T20:15:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T18:15:55","slug":"knowing-little-orpheus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/espirited.com\/en\/knowing-little-orpheus\/","title":{"rendered":"Bert Hellinger, Who Knows Orpheus the Lesser"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a story retold by Bert Hellinger in his book “Love’s hidden symmetry”<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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“In olden times, when the gods still seemed to be closer to human beings, two singers named Orpheus lived on the same island. One of them was Orpheus the Great\u2014the very same one we know from the legends. He was the creator of the guitar, and when he played and sang, Nature itself was moved by the beauty of his music. Wild animals lay in his lap appeased, and the tallest trees bowed to the ground. As befitted his greatness, he was in the company of the greatest kings and dared to love Eurydice, the most beautiful of women. Thus began his failure.<\/p>\n

The beautiful Eurydice dies at the very moment their wedding ceremony begins, and his overflowing cup breaks before it even touches his lips. But Orpheus the Great refused to accept Eurydice\u2019s death as an end. Relying on his highest art, he found a way to enter the Underworld and reach the reality of shadows. He crossed the River of Forgetfulness, slipped past the Hound of Hell, and, still alive, reached the throne of Hades, where he sang.<\/p>\n

The King of Death, touched by the beauty of his music, agreed to release the beautiful Eurydice, but only on one condition\u2014that Orpheus not look back at her until they both went together to the Upper World. Orpheus was so overjoyed that he did not notice the treachery in this request.<\/p>\n

Heading home, he heard the footsteps of his beloved wife behind him. They safely passed the Hound of Hell, crossed the River of Forgetfulness, and began the long ascent. When they saw the light of day above, Orpheus heard a cry\u2014Eurydice had stumbled. In his panic, he turned to help her and saw the shadows of death, which, released by his loving fear, began to envelop her. He remained alone. Overcome by sadness, he sang his lament: ‘She is dead\u2014and all happiness is gone forever.’<\/p>\n

Orpheus managed to return to the reality of light, but his temporary stay among the dead had wounded him, sickening his desire for life. A group of drunken women, remembering the beauty of his singing, tried to seduce him to accompany them to the Feast of the New Wine. Embittered by his refusal, they attacked him and tore him to pieces.<\/p>\n

So great was his suffering and so vain was his high art, yet he is known throughout the world.<\/p>\n

The other Orpheus was Orpheus the Lesser. He was a singer of modest talent, singing to ordinary people and entertaining them at ordinary events where he himself was entertained. Since he could not support himself through singing, he learned an ordinary craft, married an ordinary woman, had normal children, and committed ordinary sins from time to time. He lived happily and died at a ripe old age, drinking his cup of life to the dregs.<\/p>\n

So modest were his talents and so immense was his satisfaction, yet he is not known to the world, except to me.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bert Hellinger<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After so many years of effort to accept my own human limitations and to see the beauty of being ordinary, I think I, too, have come to know Orpheus the Lesser. I think many other people know him as well\u2014he is the one who helps people undergoing the processes of inner transformation to escape the vengeance of the Maenads. Contempt and arrogance toward the lower parts of our psyche are cruely punished, and proximity to the archetypal layers of the human psyche, the world of the gods, carries serious dangers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it is of immense importance for one to be aware that with every step forward on the path toward the center of the Self, their earthly ego shrinks. In Jung’s analytical psychology, this process is called “individuation.” On one hand, our Self becomes increasingly separate and individualized, and on the other, it becomes increasingly all-encompassing and connected to everything else. We experience the first as uniqueness and the second as ordinariness. As the feeling that nothing human is foreign to us and that we are connected to the rest of humanity.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is only through our weakness and inability that we are connected with the unconscious, with the lower world of instincts and with those around us. Our virtues make us independent. In this state we do not need anyone\u2014here we are masters, but in our inferiority we are connected with humanity as well as with the world of our instincts\u2026 My maxim is: for God\u2019s sake, do not be perfect, but try by all means to be complete\u2014whatever that may mean in each specific case.\u201d \u2014 Carl Jung<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am also reminded of the First Epistle of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing… Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own… Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things…\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To me, this is the secret of happiness\u2014it comes only after we succeed in transforming our claims of specialness into the humility of the heart. Then the hole in our heart finally begins to fill. Together with Orpheus the Lesser, we begin to enjoy the small things. And thus, we realize that the feeling of ordinariness, which comes after the death of Orpheus the Great, is actually the most extraordinary thing in the world. From it flows the deepest inner peace.<\/p>\n

There are moments when the challenge before us is to release the fears of our own greatness<\/a>. There are moments when the opposite is more true for us\u2014to accept the limitations that the manifestation of the spirit in matter inevitably imposes, and to discover in them the gift of ordinariness.<\/p>\n

Kameliya Hadzhiyska<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a story retold by Bert Hellinger in his book “Love’s hidden symmetry”: “In olden times, when the gods still seemed to be closer to human beings, two singers named Orpheus lived on the same island. One of them was Orpheus the Great\u2014the very same one we know from the legends. He was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[646],"tags":[671,729,683],"class_list":["post-151232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-intelligence","tag-alchemy","tag-bert-hellinger","tag-spiritual-transformation"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t