What, according to Phaedrus, is the greatest good for a lover? they would do nothing shameful, but would always do what was honorable in each others’ eyes.

Plato was a philosopher during the 5th century BCE. He was a student of Socrates and later taught Aristotle. He founded the Academy, an academic program which many consider to be the first Western university. Plato wrote many philosophical texts—at least 25.

Platonic love as devised by Plato concerns rising through levels of closeness to wisdom and true beauty from carnal attraction to individual bodies to attraction to souls, and eventually, union with the truth. This is the ancient, philosophical interpretation.

Pausanias argues that loving is in itself neither a good nor a bad activity. If it is done properly, it is good, and if not, it is bad. Common Love, according to Pausanias, is bad because its attraction is indiscriminating, directed toward bodies rather than toward minds.

Eryximachus concludes that Love is ever-present and all-powerful in our lives, as it is the cause of all self-control, happiness, and justice, and it produces good actions.

“Love” is the name that we give to our desire for wholeness, to be restored to our original nature. Aristophanes observes that if we are disobedient or disorderly toward the gods, Zeus might split us in two once more, so we must strive ourselves, and encourage others, to behave well toward the gods.

A symposium in Greek, literally means a drinking party. But Plato’s Symposium takes the occasion of a drinking party first to praise Love and then to define it. It is a philosophical dialogue, in which meaning is created in the exchange of words between the participants. Each person in turn makes a speech.

Illusions are, by definition, mismatches between physical reality and perception. Love, as with all emotions, has no external physical reality: it may be driven by neural events, but it is nonetheless a purely subjective experience.

Living without love in your life is painful to say the least. It involves living with feelings of loss and disappointment. Most of us want to realize the romantic ideal of falling in love with someone we would call a “soulmate.” Realistically however, there are many things that can complicate that outcome.

1. Cut contact. Before you do anything, and I mean anything else, you need to cut contact with the person.
2. Be with what you’re feeling.
3. Stop fantasizing.
4. Practice forgiveness.
5. Understand the grieving process.
6. Reach out for support.
7. Take all the time you need.
8. Ask yourself what you’re really looking for in a relationship.

Even if you are romantically alone, no one can ever truly be alone forever. Unless their mind makes them believe they are. “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” You can have a thriving social life with a close-knit circle of friends who love you and have your back.

The need for affection solidifies our desire to know we are compatible with another human being, even if the relationship is on the friendship or familial level. It creates a sense of harmony in a relationship, especially when it is an intimate one, according to about.com.

Yes. It may seem like everyone is obsessed with dating all the time, but you have something much more important to focus on right now—yourself. Even without the anxiety and depression, there is a lot more to life and some people find their gratification in other pursuits. It’s normal to not want to date.

Love is a Basic Human Need Once one’s physiological needs such as breathing, water, food, etc. and the feeling of security and safety are met, a person needs to feel love and belonging in order to grow.

All of us have an intense desire to be loved and nurtured. The need to be loved, as experiments by Bowlby and others have shown, could be considered one of our most basic and fundamental needs. One of the forms that this need takes is contact comfort—the desire to be held and touched.

Here are seven things you can do if you don’t feel loved enough:

• Figure Out Your Own Love Language. Different people have different ways of demonstrating — and receiving love.
• 2. And Your Partner’s.
• Talk To Your Partner.
• Go Back To Square One.
• Invest Time.
• Keep Making Yourself Happy.
• Admit When It’s Just Not Working.

Sometimes the reasons for being unable to love as much we want to stem from things that have nothing to do with the relationship or the other person. Other times, it’s all about the relationship — not being with the right person, too many irreconcilable differences or too many problems (arguments, fights, drama etc).

One reason may be that even if people are unable to love, they need intimacy. They don’t consciously feel that they need it. They also know that it is going to be hard to get into a new relationship because of how they behave. There is another reason people who are unable to love may want their lover to stay.