Perennial Wisdom
Perennial Wisdom is a podcast for seekers and curious minds. Each episode explores philosophical and spiritual traditions for universal truths and enduring ideas to help you (and me) never stop learning how to live.
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Plato on Seeking the Good
Today, on this Sunday edition of Perennial Wisdom, we turn to one of the great pillars of Western philosophy—Plato—and his vision of the Good. Not just goodness in the moral sense but the ultimate source of truth, beauty, and being.
Plato held that each human soul is inherently attracted to something ultimate. Though we might not always be conscious of it, beneath our pursuits for success, pleasure, approval, or knowledge lies a deeper desire—a longing for what is most real, whole, and divine.
Writing in 4th-century BCE Athens, Plato watched his teacher Socrates face execution for asking questions and “corrupting the youth.” From this injustice, Plato dedicated his life to awakening the soul, proving that truth and goodness are more than mere ideals.
For Plato, the soul is similar to a chariot:
The charioteer of the human soul drives two horses, and one of the horses is noble and of noble breed, but the other is quite the opposite in breed and character.
The noble horse symbolizes our higher instincts, such as reason, justice, and love of beauty, while the ignoble horse is driven by desire, appetite, and indulgence. The charioteer, representing reason, must control the reins.
According to Plato, this isn't just a metaphor but reflects the core structure of every person. Our lives involve a constant struggle between rising and falling—between earthly attachments and the pull toward eternity.
In his dialogue Phaedrus, Plato writes:
The soul of man, when roused and raised up from the perishable world to the eternal, partakes of the life of the gods, and sees that which is most real and most divine.
But most of us are still in the cave.
We see only shadows.
We take appearances for reality and forget the source behind them.
In The Republic, Plato tells this story:
A group of people are born and raised inside a cave.
They’re chained in place, watching shadows on the wall. That’s all they know.
But one escapes. At first, he’s blinded by the sunlight. It hurts.
But slowly, he begins to see—not just objects—but the sun itself.
And Plato writes:
The Good is the cause of all that is right and beautiful... it is what gives truth to the things known and the power to know to the knower.
What does this mean for us?
It means that if we want to live wisely, we must orient ourselves accordingly.
We must stop confusing the desirable with the truly Good.
As Socrates says, the aim of education is not to fill the mind, but to turn the soul around. To teach it how to look toward the light.
Plato adds:
Everything that becomes beautiful and good becomes so through the presence of some Form of the Good.
This turning—this ascent—is the work of philosophy. It is the labor of the soul. Not to accumulate knowledge, but to refine desire.
To love what is lasting. To long for what is eternal.
As Robin Waterfield notes in Plato of Athens,
Plato’s concern is never abstract speculation for its own sake, but always the transformation of the soul through philosophy.
Philosophy is not escape, but return—a return to the soul’s highest aim. And again, Waterfield writes,
For Plato, the true philosopher is a lover—not of opinion, not of status, but of the Good itself, which is the source of all reality.
Seeking the Good is not merely a philosophical exercise—it is a transformation of the soul. However, Plato understood firsthand that this quest was a challenging one.
Every day, we are choosing.
Choosing to seek the Good (or something else).
Whether we are aware of it or not, our philosophy (our way of living) is shaping our soul.
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Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well.
J.W.
P.S. If you enjoyed it, consider leaving a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
May the philosophers guide us during this time in history! Well I think Plato was terribly extreme, but let me say MAY WISDOM GUIDE US IN OUR TIME OF NEED!
What a wonderful reminder!