Melbourne’s silly season looks not to be so silly this year with COVID restrictions continuing to keep us indoors and online just as the evenings start to fill with light and warmth. Our final sessions for the year begin right Read more…
The Spring Reading Plato groups are now moving on to one of Plato’s most influential dialogues, Phaedo, set in prison on Socrates’ last day. This modern British screen adaptation of Crito and Phaedo might aid engagement with the philosophical discussion.
Last night in Platonic Love we discussed how Plato identified the motive of love for a beloved with the motive for wisdom, remembering after all that his practice was called ‘philosophy’, which literally means ‘love of wisdom’, love of Sophia.
Plato’s Symposium is one source of a tradition of mysticism where a powerful desire for Sophia drives the soul upwards towards the beloved first principle. When finally arriving at desireless union, the ego-self simply fades away.