GAMBOA, Patricia Regine M.

November 28, 2019

1ASN 1 Dean Prof. Michael Anthony Vasco Ph.D.
“Love” in Plato’s The Symposium

We have known love ever since we were young and our parents would say that it is when

two people have a connection and would build the connection into something more. Hence, the

reason why you are born into this world. We are the primary reasons onto why love is what love

is. But we often perplexed with the fact that we do not fully understand what love truly is. Is it

something that we see and touch and feel and suddenly get the hang of it. Or do we see it in the

faces of our family. Or do we see it in our passions and aspirations in life. What does love ever

truly mean. Is happiness related to love? If we are happy, do we associate it with love?

Man has been in this world for thousands of years and we have not fully grasped the

meaning of this terminology. Many have different definitions on what love truly is. Even they are

not a hundred percent certain of what the definition truly is. The reason of which is because, it was

not taught to us. We have not specifically dedicated a topic in which we have discussed what is

the true meaning of it. We have often found ourselves finding the meaning of it ourselves and

sometimes search for it and try to understand it but we sometimes still come back empty handed,

because it does appear in a plate and fed to us so that we would understand it.

In Plato’s Symposium, they often associated love with beauty. A beautiful body is what

love is. Or a beautiful mind is what love is. Beauty is defined as something that pleases the senses

aesthetically. Does beauty really trigger love? If so, here is an example, Nick Vujicic is a man that

was born with no arms and legs, he obviously does not have a beautiful body or he is imperfect.

Yet he has a wife and children that loves him. He has parents that loves him. Yes, maybe beauty
does not only mean the beauty of the body but the mind as well, because Nick is a very outspoken

person that made him beautiful.

Love is unexplainable, we often see cases in which we doubt whether or not a certain

person loves someone because we see no beauty at all. It may seem funny but we have all doubted

that one relationship that we think is not suitable because the two parties are not compatible

because one is pretty or handsome and the other one is not. Even in the bible, we see that the Lord

created beauty in order, and this resulted in us being able to love what the lord had done even

though we have never witnessed it. Speaking of religion, Roman Catholics would always say that

we love the Lord because He is great and so kind, and critics would often ask; why love someone

who you cannot see? And my answer to that is Faith. Faith has been the primary source as to why

we love someone that we do not even know exists. Not just in religion, long distance relationships

prove as to why love and faith coexists. We love because we have faith and trust people that they

would love us back.

Despite all the things that we have said about love, we are often being fed by wrong notions

of what love is. If we love someone, we expect someone love us back because we have made an

effort into loving them. But that is not always the case because love is giving your all without

expecting something in return. We put our best efforts into something that we want, but whether

or not that is acknowledged we would still be fulfilled because we are proud with what we have

done. That is just one thing that we have to take into consideration because, there countless of

things that we think of when we are in love.

Media, is also one of the reasons as to why we have certain stigmas as what love is. We

would often say that we don’t really feel love until we are at a certain age because we see love as

something that is romantic; being shared with someone that would reciprocate our feelings. There
are many types of love. Love that we receive from our family, friends. Even love that we have for

material things. Let me explain further Paternal love, it is the love that we receive from our parents

as well as the love that we give to them because they are our parents. We acknowledge this kind

of love very seldom because we think there is only romantic love, saying its different but it is not.

Love is love, the object of love can change but not the meaning itself because love is what we

make it. Going back to how the media, it gives a uniform way of love to the audience that they

want to showcase to. I’m not saying that it is wrong, but it is just wrongly portrayed to cater to the

suggested needs that need to be sustained. Thus, the reason why love stories which holds a different

kind of plot is often recognized because it is a different approach to what we are used to seeing.

Music is also a platform in which we can convey one’s love for something that is sometimes

even more real than what we see in movies because it really is based from what the writer is truly

feeling, sometimes stories that are based on something that happened to them, and it gives them

something real and raw to talk about. That causes us to feel the emotions, commonly the love that

they are feeling without really having to relate to the message. Literature is also a way to express

the raw emotion that is being felt. But unlike music, literature would make you analyze the text

itself before even realizing the meaning of the topic.

The real question that I want to answer in this paper is: is the meaning of love the same

with other’s meaning of it? Does my meaning can somehow be related to how you would define

love is? Whether it is the love of parents, friends, materials, and romantic love. Does it all relate

with each other? When I would ask people if their definition of love applies to all aspects, they

would always say no because, how you would love your parents or friends is different to how you

love your lover. In other words, we cannot associate it with one another because its feeling is

distinct to each other. But is it really different? As I have said before, love is love. We only have
different vessels in which we express our love to but the meaning is just the same. Yes, we cannot

love our brother the way we love our husband, but it is still love. What we can distinguish is the

reason as to why we love them, we love our brother because we have spent our childhood with

them, and because he is our sibling, same as with the husband, we have an entirely different reason.

Next, is the amount of love that we have received or give. Is there really an amount when it comes

to giving and receiving love? I do not agree when someone says, “I love you to a certain degree.”

Because then, they would be putting a measurement on something that is immeasurable. The

choices are to love or to not. Some would say that the word like is the middle ground of love and

to not love. But taking a liking to something should not be associated with love because these

definitions do not match because when we say we like something which means that we have

interest on it and have a certain fondness not to a point where in love can be associated with it.

Given a situation, in Filipino culture we have something that we call as a crush. Someone that we

have a liking to and not love passionately like what we know of. Love is beyond what like is, it is

much more raw and real and inexplainable. The same goes for when people say that they have too

much love for you, to a point where it becomes obsessive and toxic. Which then leads to another

string of unfortunate events.

Since love is something that we often talk about, especially here in the Philippines, we have

made love somehow turn into something that is funny or comedic because, that is our culture.

Making something serious into a joke to loosen the tensions of that particular issues. Hugot is a

terminology used here in the Philippines, very common to Millennials and Generation Z for it is

used when a very random topic can be related to something related to love, this can sometimes

happen unexpectedly. Thus, the reason why it is so funny and so common to use among the

mentioned age groups.

 Love also varies in time. People have different understandings of love based on the person

himself, but it is also based on the time where in the said love is being associated with. When

people were in the 1950’s they would often send letters to their loved ones, hoping to get a letter

back when the mailman comes back. Today, people would just send a quick message to a loved

one and seconds after, they would get a reply. Totally similar way of showing love in two very

different timelines. If you would look closely it is the same concept, I just think that the innocence

of love is what makes love in later times so enchanting. Unlike now, we simply click a button to

know everything about the person we are interested in. Sometimes forgetting the true essence and

feeling of what love is because there are incidents where we think we have fallen for someone and

yet, it is the exact opposite of what we have set our minds upon. Deception in today’s time is

prevalent because of fast connection and easy communication, that would eventually lead us to be

broken hearted.

Since romantic love is very popular, what does I mean to be truly in love? Some would say

that constantly thinking about that person would mean that you are in love. Being a nicer means

you are in love. There are many things that influences us into thinking that we are in love but we

are not. Giving material treasures is one of the reasons why people are in love. Giving time and

effort to another other than yourself, or sometimes no time for yourself means that you are in love.

These are the observations that makes us thinking if we are in love. Maybe you are right, being in

love is sometimes how you make it to be. There is not template in which we can copy the way

people are in love and find the commonalities of these and check of the list. Just like the Book of

Life, we write our own stories and we are the captains of our own boat, we get to decide what goes

well in and what is not. Our own definition is what makes our own understanding the best.
 Love finds no perfection, we have often have heard stories that love finds ways to be

unexpected because that is just what love does. Seeking for perfection, is like looking for a needle

within hectares of corn fields. It would take you days, weeks, months and even years. Lucky ones,

find it immediately but most of the time we are one of those unlucky ones. We have set a high

standard in which we have to find a person that fits the exact cardboard cut-out that we carved out

ourselves. But fate, gave us a rock that barely fits. Love is disregarding the cardboard cut-out and

accepting whole heartedly the rock just the way it is. But we often do not throw away the mold

that we made just because of the rock, we would need time to get used to having that rock around.

Then realizing that it is beautiful because it is a creation and a start of something more special.

Love is seeing something beautiful in ways others have trouble doing so. It does not grow

overnight. It takes time and a whole lot of understanding, but hopefully worth it in the end.

Love is you. as what has been stated previously, love can be categorized. But we should

not forget that love is loving yourself. As what the people of this generation would always say; in

order to love someone else you must love yourself first. You cannot have the capacity to be in a

romantic relationship and demand love from another without acknowledging that you can give

yourself that love that you are looking for. Selflove is way of keeping boundaries and limitations

to one’s self, which means that you would know where you should have to draw the line in things

that you are not comfortable with. You already know yourself, that this situation can be dangerous.

Thus, the reason why love is something that should be completed by yourself and not with someone

else.

Love is everlasting. Love does not put any expiration date. it is supposed to be there till

death takes its toll. Even after death love is always present. One example is, our love for the people

that have passed on. Maybe they can or cannot feel the love that we give but it is still there, up and
running and it did not stop even after death. It holds no time limit, it does not tell you that you

should be punctual. It always waits for you and will never leave you. if there is anything that will

never die it would be love, even if it’s just a spec it will not wither. If it does, then that is not love

but something inferior to it. Love is also unconditional. It does not need any excuses and reason to

do something. Under any circumstances, love is there and will do anything for the happiness

without compromising other things as well. Because, love is also understanding and wise. It takes

time to think about the conditions that may or may not affect certain affairs. It knows what is right

and what is wrong. It thinks about the outcomes and the after math of every situation. Love never

rests. It never shuts down, its open 24/7 for whatever reason it may be.

Lastly, Love is the Lord. He has shown us that without love in this world, we would never

have existed this long. People are inherently good and have the capacity to love and nurture. He

could have just given the ability of love to plants. But He entrusted it with us because He knows

that we are going to fulfill our promise that we would listen and follow our hearts.

There are many things that love can be. Love is what you can make love to be. The Lord

gave us the will to do what is righteous. One of which is to Love and to have our own clear picture

of it. It is what you see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. It is all up to you, but bear in mind that love

is righteous. Hate can be able to love, but love can never hate because that is the only thing that

love is not. It can be you, your family, your friends, your passions and goals but not hate and evil.

That would be the last thing that love would want to be. The sky is the limit when it comes to love.

We sometimes may have doubt whether love really exists, just by looking at the faces around you,

you can see the love and the beauty in all of it. With this mindset, you can love with all our being.
Reference:

Bucher, M. (2018, September 12). What Is Love? - Meaning & Biblical Understanding of the
Word. Retrieved from https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/what-is-love.html.

Love Essay Topics and Relevant Ideas. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://get-essay-
service.co.uk/love-essay-topics.

Westacott, E. (2019, July 24). Discover What Plato Means About the Ladder of Love in his
'Symposium'. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/platos-ladder-of-love-2670661.