By Santosh Rath
CUTTACK, Odisha, India–Platonic love is named after famous Greek philosopher Plato. It is believed that he conceptualized and practiced it in his life. People often joke and ridicule friends about it. It is often treated as a mental concept not found in real life.
However, Platonic love is not utopian nor a mystique. It existed in earlier times and also exist today. There were lovers in all ages and all eras who were in love in this manner. Their love is beyond body and physical charm which is devoid of seer lure of flesh. It is above and beyond sex and beyond sex and sensuality. It is all about loving someone and remaining nonphysical.
Love is the most exalted of all human emotions. Often it is desecrated by carnality and lust. When people look at a man -woman relationship they could only imagine that the end result of it is sex. It may not be true always.
True love has no place of physical bonding or enjoyment of cardinal desire to fulfill sexual urge. Love is the togetherness of souls and spirits. It is not about bodily pleasure. Everyone is capable of being much spiritual not being sensual. Gratification of sexual urge may not be the prime motive of Love.
The pristine purity of love need not be adulterated by the involvement in sex and fulfill one’s mundane desires. It may be above all these crude bodily desires. It may be a mental communion and nothing more.
But bodily love is not condemnable. It is the ultimate expression of love. Lust is, however, a defilement of the body as expressed by many poets and philosophers.
Let us come back to our focus. Was the famous Greek philosopher Plato ever in love? It is believed that he was in love with someone else who was a young mother and the elder sister of one of his students. They loved each other but were never involved physically. They both had tremendous admiration for each other. In the mental level they were in another world. Never ever they thought of physical bonding or sexual gratification. It was beyond and above all these crude activities of real life.
Plato often mentioned this type of love. Since then this concept of Platonic Love became popular after his name.
Platonic love cannot be equated with one sided love nor can be a Crush either. Both of them who are in love know about it. It is in their heart. A sublime feeling, an emotional belongingness between them. There may be telepathy between them. Many of us might have experienced it in real life. Two hearts emotionally weeded without ever becoming or thinking to become physically connected. Many poets and philosophers have explained this sublime feeling in a very lucid manner. Hope this might be with some of us which lasts till the end of our life.
(Santosh Rath taught sociology in various government colleges in India for more than 25 years. Mr. Rath, who studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University, is author of several text books.)
