The Chariot of the Soul (Plato’s Phaedrus)

In this session, we’ll listen to Plato’s Chariot of the Soul passage from the Phaedrus (about 20 minutes), where Socrates describes the soul as a charioteer drawn by two horses, rising toward the divine vision and falling into embodied life.

This myth offers one of Plato’s most vivid accounts of the soul’s structure, its struggle between reason, spirit, and desire, and the role of beauty and love in restoring the soul’s wings.

Here's the text and audio if you’d like to check them out beforehand:

Text: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mow_CHiZTJqYg74RpfmaltCNJnQQbD4OxkM3L_cmrJc/edit?usp=sharing
Audio: https://ia801606.us.archive.org/25/items/phaedrus_1005_librivox/phaedrus_06_plato.mp3

After listening, we’ll open a discussion around questions like:

• What do the charioteer and the two horses represent within the soul?
• Why does the soul fall, and what allows it to rise again?
• How does beauty awaken memory of the divine?

No prior knowledge of Plato is required — just curiosity, goodwill, and a willingness to dialogue together.