That's the Beauty of it

"That [which] is connected with something always the same, immortal and true" (585c) is that which is more and is above all else. Here, the simplicity and beauty of the learning-loving life comes to light. It lies within the single possession of that which cannot and will not be changed because it simply is.

While all three levels, the gaining-loving, the victory-loving, and the wisdom-loving souls have all tasted pleasures of different kinds of pleasure, the lover of wisdom alone encompasses all three. It is this soul alone that can connect itself with the “vision of what is” (582c). All three have the evidence of gain, all three have the experience of honor, but the man who takes the greater, riskier leap is the only one that can possibly taste the true pleasure of what is. The further we step away from learning, one of humans’ greatest functions, the further we step down the political ladder. We take a step back from what is and from truth and into the not only shadows but into loneliness and fear. Slowly we depreciate and decimate our being until we are the tyrant, feeling the false sense of pleasure, being only master or slave, fearing for every moment, “killing each other because [we] are insatiable; for [we would not be] filling the part of [ourselves] that is, or can contain anything, with things that are” ( 586b), and living with the phantoms of pleasure.


In all respects, the life of the wisdom lovers rises above honor and gain and asserts itself, much like calculation, to be the greatest of the three; however, the distinct problem arises from its singularity and brilliance: so rigorous and challenging the path to this particular soul that few dare or simply can find themselves with the curious, strengthened souls required of this regime. In addition, the lover of learning isn’t used in the same context as we might possibly consider it today. It isn’t someone learning the facts or memorizing for the moment; instead, it’s the understanding of what is and will always be; the unchanging forms that don’t fade in and out of existence. This is the true beauty of learning: the grasp of the lasting through the world of the ephemeral.