plato on love: sketches on my theory of love

my former theory:
to say that cross-gender interactions cannot be platonic is to say that you cannot give beauty the respect it deserves. you are saying you must always consume beauty. perfect love in heaven will be as c.s. lewis describes it in the four loves, with the beauty of one person passing through the beauty of another without need. but now we need (lewis describes the core of our being as desperate). and what to do with that need? certainly not to consume beauty, but first to respect it for what is and then to accept it's role as a satisfier when it is gifted in portion; it's role as satisfier is limited. being sustained with beauty is much like eating food, which we don't consume on sight, but appreciate with gratitude as we are gifted with portions a bit at a time. therefore, cross-gender interactions can be platonic. (note: it might be more accurate to describe these interactions as operationally platonic, since there always exists a sea of sexuality that we must chose not to act on in order to maintain platonic interaction.)

my new and improved theory of love:
though it is possible, platonic love is not what i seek. instead, it is a selfless love i'm theorizing. that is, i'm looking for a love which acts with pure motives. details of motivations aren't left out nor are they embellished. instead, this love takes on a concern for another's best interests. dredge your motives and come up with what means the most, that's what i say.