"
To adduce more historical evidence of modern love would serve no
purpose; in the next chapter I shall discuss its metaphysical
consummation, the love-death. But I will briefly point out the not quite
obvious difference between synthetic love and sexuality projected on a
specific individual. In several of the higher animals the sexual
instinct is to some extent individualised, but nevertheless it is no
more than instinct, seeking a suitable mate for its gratification. All
the well-known theories of "sexual attraction," from Schopenhauer to
Weininger, accounting love as nothing but a mutual supplementing of two
individuals for the purpose of the best possible reproduction of the
species, do not apply to love in the modern sense, but to the sexual
impulse; they completely disregard the individual, and are only aware of
the species; they apprehend individualisation as an instrument in the
service of the race. But genuine personal love is not kindled by
instinct; it is not differentiated sexual impulse; it embraces the
psycho-physical unity of the beloved without being conscious of sexual
desire.
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