Plato: Symposium · 27 of 36 · tr. Benjamin Jowett
Section 1{
"These are the lesser mysteries of love, into which even you, Socrates, may enter; to the greater and more hidden ones which are the crown of these, and to which, if you pursue them in a right spirit, they will lead, I know not whether you will be able to attain.
But I will do my utmost to inform you, and do you follow if you can.
For he who would proceed aright in this matter should begin in youth to visit beautiful forms; and first, if he be guided by his instructor aright, to love one such form only-out of that he should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another; and then if beauty of form in general is his pursuit, how foolish would he be not to recognize that the beauty in every form is and the same!
And when he perceives this he will abate his violent love of the one, which he will despise and deem a small thing, and will become a lover of all beautiful forms; in the next stage he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than the beauty of the outward form.
So that if a virtuous soul have but a little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of institutions and laws, and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that personal beauty is a trifle; and after laws and institutions he will go on to the sciences, that he may see their beauty, being not like a servant in love with the beauty of one youth or man or institution, himself a slave mean and narrow-minded, but drawing towards and contemplating the vast sea of beauty, he will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong, and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the science of beauty everywhere.
To this I will proceed; please to give me your very best attention: "He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils)-a nature which in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and-foul to others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven or in earth, or in any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things.
He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end.
And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.
Themes
◆Active Contemplationpraxis
A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
The process involves actively creating fair thoughts and contemplating the vast sea of beauty rather than passive reception.
All passages →◆Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The nature of Beauty is defined by negation, stating what it is not (not growing, not relative, not bodily).
All passages →◆Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The ascent requires moving beyond outward form to the mind, viewing personal beauty as a 'trifle' compared to higher forms.
All passages →◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Salvation or fulfillment is achieved through the direct vision and perception of the nature of Beauty itself.
All passages →◆Hidden Sayingssoteriology
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The speaker distinguishes between 'lesser mysteries' and 'greater and more hidden ones' reserved for those who pursue them in a right spirit.
All passages →◆Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The ascent culminates in a vision where the lover perceives and knows the essence of Beauty, implying a union with the Form.
All passages →◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
Absolute Beauty is described as not being fair in one view and foul in another, transcending relative oppositions.
All passages →◆Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The text asserts that the beauty of all forms, laws, and sciences is 'of one family' and leads to a 'single science'.
All passages →◇Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
[auto] The Form of Beauty is explicitly described as 'absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting' without parts or change.
All passages →◇Ladder Of Lovesoteriology
Diotima's staged ascent from love of beautiful bodies → beautiful souls → beautiful pursuits → beautiful knowledge → Beauty itself; the canonical scala amoris that grounds Plotinus's On the Beautiful and Bruno's Eroici Furori — distinct from generic spiritual_ascent in that eros is the specific motive force.
[auto] The passage explicitly details Diotima's canonical scala amoris, moving from love of bodies to souls, laws, sciences, and finally Beauty itself.
All passages →◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
[auto] The text describes a staged journey of the soul upward through levels of being toward the divine source using specific steps.
All passages →Related passages · 16 parallels
◆gnosticism|Pistis Sophia|Document SECOND
“And he who will receive the one word of that mystery, this which I shall say unto you now with all its (his, 114 MS thus again) types with all its figures, with the manner of completing its mystery: because that ye are the perfect of all-pe…”
Both passages describe a mystical ascent through stages of understanding and perception of beauty or light, leading to a transcendent realization. They share a common theme of progressive spiritual enlightenment and the ultimate union with a higher, ineffable reality.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 27
“Section 1 1. What art is there, what method, what discipline to bring us there where we must go? The Term at which we must arrive we may take as agreed: we have established elsewhere, by many considerations, that our journey is to the Good,…”
Both passages describe a mystical journey towards the contemplation of absolute beauty and the Good, emphasizing a progressive ascent from the appreciation of physical beauty to the understanding of higher, abstract truths. They share a similar structure of spiritual progression and the use of beauty as a pathway to divine insight.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 28
“Section 2 2. The born lover, to whose degree the musician also may attain- and then either come to a stand or pass beyond- has a certain memory of beauty but, severed from it now, he no longer comprehends it: spellbound by visible lovelines…”
Both passages describe a process of ascending from appreciation of physical beauty to understanding of higher, abstract beauty and the ultimate principle of beauty. They share a similar conceptual framework of spiritual ascent through stages of understanding.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 62 (part 1)
“Section 1 1.
Beauty addresses itself chiefly to sight; but there is a beauty for the hearing too, as in certain combinations of words and in all kinds of music, for melodies and cadences are beautiful; and minds that lift themselves above…”
Both passages explore the concept of beauty as a path to higher understanding and the nature of absolute beauty. They discuss the progression from appreciating physical beauty to understanding the beauty of virtues and abstract concepts, ultimately leading to a comprehension of absolute beauty.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 66 (part 1)
“Section 5 5.
These Lovers, then, lovers of the beauty outside of sense, must be made to declare themselves.
What do you feel in presence of the grace you discern in actions, in manners, in sound morality, in all the works and fruits of vi…”
Both passages explore the concept of beauty and its relationship to the soul and virtue. They discuss the ascent from physical beauty to higher, more abstract forms of beauty, emphasizing the purification of the soul and the recognition of absolute beauty.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 479
“Section 1 1. It is a principle with us that one who has attained to the vision of the Intellectual Beauty and grasped the beauty of the Authentic Intellect will be able also to come to understand the Father and Transcendent of that Divine B…”
Both passages discuss the nature of beauty and the ascent to higher forms of understanding or contemplation. Plotinus describes the beauty of the divine Intellect and the process of understanding it through art, while Plato's Socrates outlines the steps of ascending from physical beauty to the contemplation of absolute beauty.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 480
“Section 2 2. But let us leave the arts and consider those works produced by Nature and admitted to be naturally beautiful which the creations of art are charged with imitating, all reasoning life and unreasoning things alike, but especially…”
Both passages discuss the nature of beauty and its origin, emphasizing that true beauty is not found in physical forms but in the realm of ideas or the inner essence. They both advocate for a journey from appreciating physical beauty to understanding the higher, abstract concept of beauty.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 494
“Section 2 2. What is this other place and how it is accessible? It is to be reached by those who, born with the nature of the lover, are also authentically philosophic by inherent temper; in pain of love towards beauty but not held by mater…”
Both passages describe a mystical ascent towards ultimate beauty and wisdom, starting from the appreciation of physical beauty and moving through higher forms of beauty and knowledge until reaching a transcendent, absolute beauty. They share a similar conceptual framework of spiritual progression and the nature of beauty.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 500
“Section 8 8. If, then, the Intellection is an act upon the inner content [of a perfect unity], that content is at once the Idea [as object: eidos] and the Idea itself [as concept: idea]. What, then, is that content? An Intellectual-Principl…”
Both passages describe a mystical ascent from the appreciation of physical beauty to the contemplation of absolute beauty or the Intellectual-Principle. They share a similar structure of progression from lower to higher forms of beauty, emphasizing the ultimate goal of understanding the essence of beauty.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 556
“Section 18 18. To pass to the consideration of beauty: If by beauty we mean the primary Beauty, the same or similar arguments will apply here as to goodness: and if the beauty in the Ideal-Form is, as it were, an effulgence [from that prima…”
Both passages explore the nature of beauty and the ascent towards higher forms of understanding or absolute beauty. Plotinus discusses the primary Beauty and its effulgence, while Plato describes the ladder of love leading to the contemplation of absolute beauty, showing a conceptual parallel in their mystical traditions.
6 more
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 671
“Section 32 32. Where, then? where exists the author of this beauty and life, the begetter of the veritable? You see the splendour over the things of the universe with all the variety begotten of the Ideas; well might we linger here: but ami…”
Both passages explore the concept of an ultimate, formless source of beauty and goodness that transcends individual beautiful objects or forms. They describe a journey or process of understanding that leads to the realization of this ultimate beauty, which is beyond physical form and is the source of all beauty in the world.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 672
“Section 33 33. When therefore we name beauty, all such shape must be dismissed; nothing visible is to be conceived, or at once we descend from beauty to what but bears the name in virtue of some faint participation. This formless Form is be…”
Both passages explore the concept of beauty as a formless, transcendent ideal that is beyond physical appearances and particular forms. They both describe a journey or process of ascending from the appreciation of physical beauty to the understanding of a higher, more abstract beauty.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|Second Dialoguea
“.
Tansillo.
Now begins the enthusiast to display the affections and uncover the wounds which are for a sign in his body, and in substance or essence in his soul, and he says thus: 9.
Of Love the standard-bearer I; My hopes are ice, and g…”
Both passages explore the nature of love and beauty, emphasizing the journey from the particular to the universal. They discuss the idea that true love or beauty is not found in individual instances but in a higher, more abstract form. The passages also highlight the transformative and aspirational nature of love, leading the individual from the mundane to the divine.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|Second Dialoguee
“Herein he proves that his love is truly heroic; because he proposes to himself as the chief aim, not corporeal beauty, but rather the grace of the spirit, and the inclination of the affections in which, rather than in the beauty of the body…”
Both passages discuss the ascent from physical beauty to spiritual or divine beauty, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond corporeal attractions to higher, more enduring forms of love and beauty. They share a conceptual parallel in their mystical and philosophical approaches to love and beauty.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|Fourth Dialoguee
“She dispatches the armed thoughts, which, solicited and urged by disagreement with the inferior nature, are sent to recall the heart.
The soul instructs them how they should conduct themselves, so that, being allured and attracted by the o…”
Both passages discuss the nature of love and beauty, emphasizing the progression from sensory to intellectual appreciation. They share the idea that true understanding and love come from transcending individual instances of beauty to grasp a higher, more universal concept.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialoguec
“And I will say, because to me this pain Is dearer than all other pleasures are.
Mar.
In reference to this I told you that although one should be attached to corporeal and external beauty yet he may honourably and worthily be so attached;…”
Both passages describe a mystical ascent from the appreciation of physical beauty to the contemplation of absolute or divine beauty. They share a similar structure of moving from the particular to the universal, emphasizing the transformative power of love and beauty in the spiritual journey.