Diotima says that love is a spirit, something that is in between gods and mortals. In this way it can serve as a bridge between the two. The spirits that held the world together as a whole, the force that relayed messages and prayers between the gods and man, is what love is. .
At this point Diotima discusses the origin of love, as everything must have a beginning. She claims that love was born at the birthday party for Aphrodite. At the party, she explains, there was a feast held by the gods, and among them was Plenty. Since this was a party of the gods, this was to be expected. Poverty came begging since it was seeking what it did not have. Plenty got drunk off the nectar and Poverty met him at the park and conceived love. Thus they created a being that has neither plenty nor nothing at all, once again lying in the gray area. Since love was created at Aphrodite's birthday party, he is by nature a lover in pursuit of beautiful things, as Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. Being conceived by his mother Poverty, love is possessed with such traits as being poor, hard, rough, living on the streets and always dwelling with want. However, he also has his father's traits, which are derived from good and beautiful things. These traits once again place him in the gray area between lack and plenty. She expands to say that love is "neither mortal nor immortal; but on the same day, sometimes he is blooming and alive, when he has plenty sometimes he is dying." Again, love is between wisdom and ignorance. He does not seek these things either, "because he does not think he is lacking in what he does not think he needs.".
This is how Diotima begins her evolutionary process of her views on love. She begins with the creation of love, and its initial obsession with good and beautiful things. As is the case when a person first begins to love. The first thing to attract a person is physical beauty; seldom does a person date another whom they are not physically attracted to.
