Is there such a thing as true happiness? Can one live their life to the fullest without feeling a single ounce of regret? In today’s society, one is told constantly that living with happiness is a dream. They are ridiculed if they believe in that notion and are teased if they express it. The cruelty of human nature becomes evident when this comes into play. In Plato’s Phaedrus, the difference between a lover and non lover is discussed. Lysias’ speech discusses the relationship between a boy and his mentor. He argues that in a pederastic relationship, a boy should give his love to the mentor that is not in love. Lysias states that the lover will become blindsided by love, and give into unhealthy tendencies that will only bring down the
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The divine madness is split into four areas and are derived from Apollo, Dionysus, the Muses, and Aphrodite. Aphrodite encompasses eros. Socrates makes the comparison of the soul to a chariot with two horses and a charioteer. This examples exemplifies and helps one to understand that love is divine and a beneficial madness. The best thing for the soul to do is to grow wings and fly through the heavens with the gods. If the soul is strong enough and is able to control its horses then it catches sight of true ideas: beauty and self-knowledge beyond the heavens. Human souls, have a dark horse that emcompasses their sins and lack of knowledge. The souls will fall back down to earth as a result. The sight of a beautiful boy on earth, reminds the soul of the vision of beauty that was seen beyond the heavens. The yearning that results is eros. If a soul is able to control the yearning, then they are granted the philosopher’s boon which is an early return to heaven. They will only have to wait three thousand years instead of ten thousand years. Socrates’ argument helps Phaedrus understand that choosing Happiness will result in a better life than choosing the non lover (power). The madness that comes is not negative, but rather a body experience that brings about change. It is believed that all of life’s greatest blessings come from madness. Socrates …show more content…
The narrator of Ecclesiastes is someone who is known as a “Teacher,” and identifies himself as the current king of Israel and a son of King David. He believes that life is never ending and meaningless. The Teacher is the wisest man in Jerusalem, and is burdened with the task of discerning wisdom for he has seen “all the deeds that are done under the sun” (1:14, Ecclesiastes). He notes that there is always time for everything since there is a natural balance in place. The good things in life, birth and love, are balanced by the bad, death and hate. The line between both is difficult for many to understand, but God is able to distinguish between the two. Human labor is full of competition, envy and oppression. They are blinded by power, that they fail to recognize what can come about with cooperation. There is true advantage when there is more than one individual at work. The Teacher discusses the foolish actions that human partake in such as gluttony, greed and excessive talking. He states that there is a set of rules that one can follow to avoid foolhardiness. The rules cancel each other such as the rule of mourning rather than feasting, the end is better than the beginning. He believes that one should be neither be righteous nor wicked, but rather be moderate and average. In a sense, he thinks that instead of doing anything too radical that one should be
The divine madness is split into four areas and are derived from Apollo, Dionysus, the Muses, and Aphrodite. Aphrodite encompasses eros. Socrates makes the comparison of the soul to a chariot with two horses and a charioteer. This examples exemplifies and helps one to understand that love is divine and a beneficial madness. The best thing for the soul to do is to grow wings and fly through the heavens with the gods. If the soul is strong enough and is able to control its horses then it catches sight of true ideas: beauty and self-knowledge beyond the heavens. Human souls, have a dark horse that emcompasses their sins and lack of knowledge. The souls will fall back down to earth as a result. The sight of a beautiful boy on earth, reminds the soul of the vision of beauty that was seen beyond the heavens. The yearning that results is eros. If a soul is able to control the yearning, then they are granted the philosopher’s boon which is an early return to heaven. They will only have to wait three thousand years instead of ten thousand years. Socrates’ argument helps Phaedrus understand that choosing Happiness will result in a better life than choosing the non lover (power). The madness that comes is not negative, but rather a body experience that brings about change. It is believed that all of life’s greatest blessings come from madness. Socrates …show more content…
The narrator of Ecclesiastes is someone who is known as a “Teacher,” and identifies himself as the current king of Israel and a son of King David. He believes that life is never ending and meaningless. The Teacher is the wisest man in Jerusalem, and is burdened with the task of discerning wisdom for he has seen “all the deeds that are done under the sun” (1:14, Ecclesiastes). He notes that there is always time for everything since there is a natural balance in place. The good things in life, birth and love, are balanced by the bad, death and hate. The line between both is difficult for many to understand, but God is able to distinguish between the two. Human labor is full of competition, envy and oppression. They are blinded by power, that they fail to recognize what can come about with cooperation. There is true advantage when there is more than one individual at work. The Teacher discusses the foolish actions that human partake in such as gluttony, greed and excessive talking. He states that there is a set of rules that one can follow to avoid foolhardiness. The rules cancel each other such as the rule of mourning rather than feasting, the end is better than the beginning. He believes that one should be neither be righteous nor wicked, but rather be moderate and average. In a sense, he thinks that instead of doing anything too radical that one should be