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Dr Tom Kerns North Seattle Community College
An outline
Eros in the Third Speech
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3. Spiritual realm, essences, pure being |
3. Divine madness |
2. Intellectual realm, numbers, concepts, thoughts |
2. Mind/intellect/Nous |
1. Physical/sensory realm |
1. Physical senses |
Eros can take us to the heavenly/spiritual realms, or to the hells; to the beautiful or the destructive
And whichever it is going to be will depend on the state of your soul.
A soul (if it is in good order) has the nature of wing:
it lifts the earthbound into the heavens (See also The Phaedrus and The Eternal)
What is a soul?
A soul, says Plato, is like a chariot with two horses and driver
The chariot represents (for Plato) the body
The ugly, misshapen black horse on the left represents (for Plato) all the appetites
The white, beautiful and noble horse on the right represents (for Plato) our hot-blooded and high spirited element
The charioteer represents (for Plato) the mind
The Driver (Mind) must
1.) be in control2.) know and understand the system3.) have a vision/meaning (Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)
How?Only then will eros be a madness that can be healthy and beneficial to the soul
- self-knowledge ("the unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates)
- listening (L. "ob-audire") to the gods
Souls without eros are (for Plato) flatfooted, earthbound and spiritually trivial (see Phaedrus pp 501-503)
(A few good books about erotic love)
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