Eros, for the Greeks, was not merely sexual attraction but the deep force of longing that pulls the soul toward what it needs to become whole. Plato's Socrates traced it from desire for beautiful bodies toward desire for beautiful souls toward desire for Beauty itself — a philosophical ascent grounded in the body's reality. Understanding Eros is to understand something true about why we reach toward beauty and what that reaching is actually for.
Each step builds on the last.