" 'Plato tells a story-I guess what most people would call a myth, but I'm not sure if I agree-that the sexes were not originally two, as they are now. There used to be three: man, woman, and Androgynous, the union of the two. These sexes were round and had four hands and four feet and one head with two faces. To curb what he felt was the growing arrogance and might of the human race, Zeus cut each of these three sexes in half. And from then on, the two severed parts desired their other half. They threw their arms around one another at every opportunity and longed more than anything to be one again.'
"Then Cecilia says, 'Wait, I want to read this part of the passage verbatim, because it's so beautiful.' She retrieves from her purse a copy of Plato's dialogues that is beyond dog-eared. She quickly thumbs to the page she's looking for and reads, 'And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself... the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and will not be out of the other's sight, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole lives together.' She stops reading there, even though the speech continues. She eventually closes the book and puts it away. She looks downward as she smooths the folds of her dress. The she looks at me with a smile that I can only describe as wonderfully disturbing and mysterious.
"I believe that it is at this point in out long conversation that it dawns on me that I want to ask her, 'How do you know when you're in love?'
"But I do not ask her. Not then. I wait nearly two years later, after we're already married."
Awwwww, isn't that adorable? I would highly, highly recommend the book to anyone!
Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy by Christopher Phillips, W. W. Norton & Company, 2002, page 144
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