Platonic love has nothing to do with women

Today, "platonic love," most of the time, is seen as a spiritual love. We would argue that in platonic love, both senses and desires are secondary, mainly spiritual admiration and mutual respect for personality. But if we ask carefully, why should we call this kind of love "platonic love" and what does it have to do with Plato? Most people will be confused.

Of course, first we must know that Plato focused on the soul and despised the body (there is a false continuation today that becomes pessimism and nihilism). Today, if we see a person who is pure-hearted, spiritually focused, and indifferent to matter, we can say that this person is "platonic." But in ancient Greece, true "platonic love" actually had little to do with women, which stemmed from another fashionable fashion at the time.

At that time, such a "love" prevailed - the old man's love for boys. Reputable middle-aged men, city-state dignitaries, and generals would adore some handsome young men. There is no filthy meaning here. It is said that Plato's teacher, Socrates, was in love with a young man named Alcabiyad. But, again, it should be emphasized that this admiration does not have any carnal desires. This is just a love that is completely devoted to the other person and at the same time restrained. We can understand this adoration as a pursuit of beauty, and they want to exert their creativity in this pursuit of beauty. The form of beauty can lead us to a higher level of beauty—philosophical love. They even think that it is possible to have children with a woman, but in terms of spirit, it is also necessary to find a fertile bar, a healthy body, an upright mind often stimulates their creativity, this relationship is even more intimate than marriage, can bring a steady stream of spiritual products, closer to the "beauty" itself.

Platonic love, therefore, does not simply refer to the exclusion of carnal love, plato's point is that carnal love is only a passion, and it is this passion that motivates us to seek a higher level of love, rather than staying in the midst of indulgence and absurdity. The fashion of the ancient Greek period was guided by the beauty of a single form, from the beauty of the human body, to the beauty of morality, and finally to the beauty itself. More fundamentally, it is the love of wisdom.

Plato