[Buddha-l] FW: Soteriology of universals

[Katherine Masis]

More on Plato and Beauty (as presented in his
*Phaedrus*) from a pretty good article at
http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/Div_conf/Papers/Voss.pdf:

"For Socrates, it is through the contemplation of
Beauty that the inner realization of the soul’s
immortality may be achieved, and the path of love
becomes the soul’s *katabasis*, another way of
entering the underworld of the trapped soul and
learning how to free it. The states of mystery
initiation become a metaphor, in the *Phaedrus*, for
the purification of the soul through the yearnings of
erotic love and its final realization of divinity. 
The pain and difficulty of the immortal soul trapped
in a mortal body and forced to shed its wings is one
of Plato’s most powerful images, and he describes the
initiation process as the re-growth of the wings which
enables the soul to fly back to its true home 'beyond
the heavens' where true being dwells.  This higher
sphere is the dwelling place of the stars, and in the
*Timaeus* Plato speaks of each soul being assigned to
a star, furthermore 'the one who lived his appointed
time well would travel again to dwell in his proper
star, and live a blessed life according to his true
nature.'  We may recall that the etymology of the word
'desire' is de-sidere, or from the star, and desire
for union with Beauty is the underlying force
propelling Plato's philosophical lover towards the
Good."

Katherine Masis



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Shape Yahoo! in your own image.  Join our Network Research Panel today!   http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7