The method of science has slowly become the perfect weapon by whose aid
Europe has attained the mastery of the world; it rests on the
fundamental feeling for the material, and is capable of confronting the
"I" with the whole system of natural phenomena, the "not-I," and
expresses the final victory of comprehending spirit over matter.
CHAPTER II
THE DEIFICATION OF WOMAN
(THE FIRST FORM OF METAPHYSICAL EROTICISM)
_(a) The Love of the Troubadours_
In the long chapter on the Birth of Europe, I have attempted to bring
corroborative evidence from all sides in support of my contention that
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries witnessed the birth and gradual
development of a new value of the highest importance: the value of
individuality, impersonated by the citizen of Europe. We are now
prepared to realise the psychological importance and the importance for
progress of one of the greatest results of this new development--the
spiritual love of man for woman. From this subject, the specific subject
of my book, I shall not again digress.
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