Love of beauty
byMieke Mosmuller
02-09-2015
2 comments
In Plato’s Symposion Socrates speaks of this ideal of love of beauty, quoting the wise Diotima as follows:
“...he who would proceed aright in this matter should begin in youth to watch beautiful forms; and first, if he be guided by his instructor aright, to love one such form only-out of that he should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another; and then if beauty of form in general is his pursuit, how foolish would he be not to recognise that the beauty in every form is and the same! And when he perceives this he will abate his violent love of the one, which he will despise and deem a small thing, and will become a lover of all beautiful forms; in the next stage he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than the beauty of the outward form. So that if a virtuous soul have but a little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of aspirations and laws, and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that personal beauty is a trifle; and after laws and aspirations he will go on to the sciences, that he may see their beauty, being not like a servant in love with the beauty of one youth or man or aspiration, himself a slave mean and narrow-minded, but drawing towards and contemplating the vast sea of beauty, he will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong, and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the science of beauty everywhere. To this I will proceed; please to give me your very best attention:
He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.”
From 'Seek the Light that Rises in the West', Occident 1994
Love of beauty by Mieke Mosmuller
“...he who would proceed aright in this matter should begin in youth to watch beautiful forms; and first, if he be guided by his instructor aright, to love one such form only-out of that he should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another; and then if beauty of form in general is his pursuit, how foolish would he be not to recognise that the beauty in every form is and the same! And when he perceives this he will abate his violent love of the one, which he will despise and deem a small thing, and will become a lover of all beautiful forms; in the next stage he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than the beauty of the outward form. So that if a virtuous soul have but a little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of aspirations and laws, and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that personal beauty is a trifle; and after laws and aspirations he will go on to the sciences, that he may see their beauty, being not like a servant in love with the beauty of one youth or man or aspiration, himself a slave mean and narrow-minded, but drawing towards and contemplating the vast sea of beauty, he will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong, and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the science of beauty everywhere. To this I will proceed; please to give me your very best attention:
He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils) - a nature which in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and-foul to others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven or in earth, or in any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things.
He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.”
From 'Seek the Light that Rises in the West', Occident 1994
Love of beauty by Mieke Mosmuller
Comments
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From Per Hallström @Schöne Gedanken!
Per H -
From Machteld Rippen-Veenker @Lieve Mieke, ja h e l e m o o i e g e d a c h t e n. Hoewel mijn leven nu niet bepaald een voorbeeld is van Platonische liefdeskunst en ik het dus eigenlijk niet mag zeggen, is die liefde zo hier beschreven wel altijd mijn streven geweest. De jacht op die ene mens is geproefd en beproeft en heeft zo de richting gewezen hoe ik het niet wil. Zoals Mieke het nu beschrijft, als citaat uit ‘Zoek het licht..’, komt er weer een gang bovendrijven die zo m o o i is en die ik zo door en door zou willen kennen en leven. Een begin is gemaakt ten eerste door het weten hoe het niet te willen en verder door gestaag te lezen in de Anthroposofie en te leren begrijpen en het dan in de praktijk te brengen. Dit beleef ik als de enige weg naar die liefde. De weg die niet ziek of angstig hoeft te maken. Wat wel gebeurt, maar dat valt dan weer onder het eerste, hoe het niet te willen. Zo gaan we stap voor stap op de logische en navolgbare weg. Dank Mieke voor steeds weer je rustige logische wijze woorden, die zo veelzijdig zijn en toch, zo ontdekken we, zo ontdek ik, ook steeds weer vanuit vele uiteenlopende toegangswegen bij eenzelfde uitkomen - de weg van het willen, voelen en denken door en door leren kennen, er liefde voor leren hebben, want die liefde wordt groter en groter bij het doen. En andersom. Deze liefde laat mij mijzelf beleven, als ik dat zo mag zeggen, als een communie op het plateau van de geesteswetenschap en is daarmee de wijzer naar de ander en dat kan niet andersom. Deze dankbaarheid kent geen grenzen, tenminste ik zie hem niet .
Wel zie ik nieuwsgierigheid naar Diotima, want die ken ik niet.