d continually with that absolute beauty as one's aim." One's aim in life! The order is to begin with one beautiful form and from that to a couple of beautiful things to beautiful practices to beautiful notions then to one single form of knowledge, the knowledge of beauty. The last step in this chain of events however would be death, "While in company with the body, the soul cannot have pure knowledge, one of two things seems to follow - either knowledge is not attained at all, or, if at all, after death. For then, and not till then, the soul will be in herself alone and without the bodyAnd then the foolishness of the body will be cleared away and we shall be pure and hold converse with other pure souls." (Phaedo 66e-67a) This "beauty" is absolute, separate, and everlasting. It "is the region where a man's life should be spent, in contemplation of absolute beauty" (Symposium 211a). I think this explains quite well what a Platonist should be striving for when living out his life. Love is always of beauty, or the good. (They are the same to Plato) Accordingly, love is to be viewed as having no part in either goodness or beauty. It is between being mortal and immortal. Thus love is said never to be altogether in or out of need, halfway between wisdom and ignorance (i.e. Philosophers) Beauty and logos are closely linked, they aren't one and the same, as said before the logos is influenced by the changing world whereas beauty is untouchable. You can not change absolute beauty. " as we are always repeating, there is an absolute beauty, and goodness, and essence in general There can be no doubt that if these absolute ideas existed before we were born, then our souls must have existed before we were born, and if not the ideas, then not the souls." (Phaedo 76d)Our very birth is proof that we lack moral innocence. (The wheel of life in Platonic terms is for those who are too "impure" to be extricated from it). Plato considered that procreation...
