All these new creations had their origin in the strange craving of the
period for something novel and romantic, something hitherto unknown.
This longing begot the ideal of chivalry and a wealth of half human,
half preter-human conceptions, such as the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy
Grail. And all at once, something unprecedented, something of which the
race had as yet no experience, had come to pass: love, which had nothing
in common with sensuality, which was even deliberately hostile to it,
love which welled up in one soul and flowed into the other--presupposing
personality--love was there! If, therefore, I have gone into detail, I
hope that it has served to elucidate the principal theme of this part of
my book, namely, the spiritual part of man for woman aspiring to the
metaphysical, which is so alien to our modern feeling.
It is necessary to begin by sketching a background which shall set off
the new phenomenon. The spiritual achievement of the first millenary was
the construction of the Christian system of the universe the Church had
complete knowledge of all things in heaven and earth--symbols merely of
the eternal verities; her wisdom almost equalled divine wisdom, for the
secrets of life and death had been revealed and surrendered to her; St.
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