I recently came across this article on how Plato describes your ‘ideal life partner’, a pretty interesting one indeed:
That sounds weird if you think that love means finding someone who wants you just the way you are. In his play, the symposium, … Plato says true love is admiration. In other words, the person you need to get together with should have very good qualities, which you yourself lack. … By getting close to this person you can become a little like they are. The right person for us helps us grow to our full potential. … For Plato ‘a couple shouldn’t love each other exactly as they are right now,’ rather they should be committed to educating each other and enduring the stormy passages that inevitably involves. Each person should want to seduce the other into becoming a better version of themselves.
But, this view arises many questions in my mind.
What would happen if the other partner also develop those qualities with time – does the mutual love and admiration ends?
Is this the sufficient (or the most important) foundation of a relationship?
Should it be a combination of – accepting the way he/she is and working towards to improving he/she as per our view of the world?
A debatable topic indeed, it seems.