Reflections on the Symposium: Eryximachus
Posted by P.Dan on October 11, 2008
Eryximachus sees Love as a unifying or balancing agent. Just as medicine seeks to create balance within the body (e.g., hot and cold, hard and soft, wet and dry, etc.), Love creates balance within this world. Another example he uses is that of a musical instrument. Although each note is composed of opposites such as the base and the treble, Love binds them together so that they can form a beautiful chord. In this case, Love is more of an instrument that brings harmony from dissonance – much like an Eastern Yin-Yang sign.
So according to this theory, anything that brings about union or harmony could be rightfully identified as Love. Harmony within the body, harmony within the soul, harmony within our society, and harmony within all aspects of human knowledge are all products of Love. And by default, all discord in our bodies, in our souls, in our societies, and in our knowledge are from lack of Love.
Do you think human disease, obesity, deformity could be healed or better yet eradicated through realizing Love? Could our souls be at peace and be fulfilled through realizing Love? Could we have a perfectly harmonious society through realizing Love? Could we have perfectly true and reliable knowledge of this world through realizing Love? Is Love really the solution to every problem and by negation, is the lack of Love really at the bottom of every problem in this world? According to Eryximachus, it seems to be so.
