Okay... time for a bit of a philosophical gripe. People have comepletely garbled the terms "platonic relationship" and "platonic love" into meaning a relationship with no romantic overtures.
Foolishness. Quick philosophy lesson:
Plato is know for the "Platonic World of Ideals". It works like this, the world is divided into three realms. The first is the representation of objects. Pictures, sculpture, words in a book, even our language are symbolic for actual objects (objects being defined as physical things or physical processes).
The second world consists of the objects themselves. Instead of a picture of a car, we actually have a car; instead of a souvineer statuette from the Statue of Liberty, we have the statue itself.
The third, and highest world is the world of ideals. This is where we can contemplate the essense of an object. The nature. It is a world of abstraction, where instead of being concerned with an individual car, we are concerned with the nature of "car-ness".
So, what does this mean for platonic love? It is a love of ideals. It is an interaction between individuals on a completely spiritual level.
How can you say that isn't romantic?
