What Plato Actually Meant

Modern usage of "platonic" means non-sexual friendship. Plato would barely recognize this definition. His concept of love, described in the Symposium, was a powerful force that begins with physical attraction and ascends through stages toward understanding ultimate reality.

In Plato's framework, erotic desire is not something to suppress. It is the engine that drives the soul upward. Attraction to a beautiful body is the first step. But staying at that level is like reading only the first page of a book.