Arzu 1 Maria Arzu Dr. John Salesses Seeking Wisdom 110 February 6, 2012 Love: An Eternal Gift from God to Humanity What is love? A question all humans will examine during their lifetime; a question human beings including scientists, psychologists, artists, etc. will never come to an agreement on its definition.
Whether love is a human need for caring and comfort, or a human strive for beautiful sensations, or a wish for giving and sharing goodness with others, love regulates and modifies human lives, defining all kinds of relationships between human beings.After reading and discussing Plato’s Symposium, Apology and Crito, my opinion and knowledge about love has broaden and strengthen because of a complementary understanding about how love is innate in humans, how beauty, goodness and love are all interrelated, and how God’s gift of the sexual aspect of love is much more than procreation. Arzu 2 Human beings are born with a natural or innate necessity for being and feeling loved, and to give and share love with others just like their Creator: God. God is self-existent, eternal, He has existed forever, He is the essence of life and time. Also, God is completely in Itself love.
Among other reasons, God created men to perpetuate His love, and to share His immense and infinite capacity to love with His creatures. Additionally, God created men in its own image and likeliness (Gen. 1:26-27). Therefore, humans share God’s ability to love by being created in its own image. Furthermore, God’s transcendence of His love to men implies to love Him back above all things with all heart, all soul, and all mind (Deuteronomy 6:5), to love their fellow brothers as themselves (Leviticus 19:18), and finally, to love in God’s language denotes a desire for the absolute good for all.
Plato suggests god and goddesses’ love is present in humans because in Socrate’s speech from the Symposium, Plato seems to give love a spiritual dimension. Plato suggests love is the fruit of the union of the god Poros and the goddess Penia Arzu 3 meaning that love has the properties of a god: good and beautiful, which are inherited in all humans (Symposium, 48). Other examples of the nature of love in humans and how the absolute good can be done to others are appreciated in Plato’s Apology and Crito.In the Apology, Socrates is defending himself from the charge of corrupting the youth to which he thinks is only doing good deeds by wanting youngsters to achieve the wisest human level. In the Crito, Socrates refuses Crito’s proposal to escape from prison and the death penalty because of love. It appears that Socrate’s love for his children, for his fellow students and for his fellow citizens of Athens is far deeper and more important than his own well being, therefore he rather die than to do the wrong by transgressing the law which has sentenced him to death.
Consequently, he will die setting a positive and remarkable example of what it means to be a reputable man and a responsible citizen (Crito, 112-113). Love requires goodness, and goodness evidence beauty. As previously mentioned, God represents the purest form of love and love is to wish for and to do the absolute best or good to Arzu 4 everyone. These facts lead the path to affirm that if one succeeds on producing an act of love or goodness for someone else, no unpleasant feelings can be felt or uncomfortable reactions can be obtained neither by the giver (lover) nor by the receiver (loved).As a consequence, beauty is obtained, which can be defined as feelings of harmony, ease, tranquility, peace, and happiness, which please the human senses.
Plato seems to agree with this statement in the Symposium because through Diotima’s speech he affirms that everyone loves nothing other than the good things and that love is the wanting to possess the good forever (Symposium, 52-205E, 206A). Besides procreation, God’s gift of the Eros of love grants humans the capability to perpetuate love until the end of time.Reflecting on the assertion of God’s infinite ability to love and human beings being created in God’s own image and likeliness, it appears to be the case of God’s desire to give humans the power to pass on to its offspring the privilege of experiencing love and being loved. Moreover, God is allowing human creatures from the beginning of earthly time to conceive Arzu 5 generations after generations until earth final days.
The fundamental reason for God’s gift of sexuality to humanity is to perpetuate the chance between generations of conquering their absolute best: to attain eternal happiness in heaven with Him, Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit. To conclude, all earthly relationships between humans are ignited by the innate need of happiness, the need of God. God is love; God wants humans to experience His love to reach Him at the end of times, hence He has given humans the resource of love and the prerogative of sexuality.It is in humans’ hands to make responsible decisions towards love and towards the use of sexuality for its fundamental purpose. Love is a gift, do not decline it.
Arzu 6 Works Cited Plato and Aristophanes, Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology and Crito, and Aristophanes’ Clouds, New York: Cornell University Press, 1998. Print. Plato, Symposium, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. , 1989.
Print. Biblia de Navarra. Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S. A. EUNSA. Pamplona, Navarra: 2008,2009.
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