se of surpassing beauty it is considered to be partaking in ugliness. Some objects partake in so much of an attribute that they can not, in any comparison, partake in their opposite. That is an opposite itself can not become an opposite to itself. Fire can not remain in the presence of cold with out ceasing to exist. Likewise the soul, which is life itself, can not partake in its opposite, dying, or it shall cease to exist. For living and dying are opposites. If a soul can not partake in dying it must be not only partaking in the attribute of living, it must be life itself, therefore the very opposite of death. If an opposite can not become an opposite to itself, and life and are death are opposites, then the must be immortal. The cyclic nature of the soul, is an example of the cyclic nature of the universe. To illustrate this Socrates gives his interpretation of how there are many different layers to the earth and how they coexist in a cyclic pattern. For rivers cycle into the ocean which cycles into a great cavern, called Tartarus, that dissects the Earth allowing all water to circulate throughout the world. This cyclic pattern also applies to the levels of beauty and divinity. For the gems and metals that we hold precious are in fact just pebbles descended from a reality that exists above us. For we live in hollows of the earth, that are filled with the dregs of the celestial ether that fills the universe. This ether flows down filling them with air, mists, and water. Where to the reality above us, what we call air to them is like our water, and the celestial ether, in it’s pure form is their air. Likewise if there where people living at the bottom of the ocean they would in turn treat the water as air. This is all very metaphoric, and colorful, but describes the different levels of understanding and perspective associated with knowledge. If the soul is immortal then it is living itself. By means of recollection we attribute th...
