Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 191

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191. VI. THAT WITH MARRIED PARTNERS, THE STATES OF LIFE AFTER MARRIAGE ARE CHANGED, AND FOLLOW ONE AFTER THE OTHER ACCORDING TO THE CONJUNCTIONS OF THEIR MINDS BY CONJUGIAL LOVE. That with both man and wife the changes and successions of state after marriage are according to the conjugial love with them, and so are either conjunctive of their minds or disjunctive, is because, with married partners, conjugial love is not only varied but is also diverse. It is varied with those who inwardly love each other, for with these it has its alternate intermissions, though inwardly it remains continually in its heat. But the love is diverse with those partners who love each other only outwardly. With them, the alternations do not come from the same causes but from alternate cold and heat. [2] The reason of these differences is because, with the latter, the body plays the chief part and its ardor spreads around and forces the lower parts of the mind into communion with itself; but with the former who love each other inwardly, the mind plays the chief part and draws the body into communion with itself. It appears as though love ascends from the body into the soul; for as soon as the body seizes upon allurements, these enter through the eyes as doors into the mind, and so through sight as a court into the thoughts, and straightway into the love. Nevertheless, it descends from the mind and acts upon the parts below according to their disposition. Therefore, a lascivious mind acts lasciviously, and a chaste mind chastely; and the latter disposes the body, while the former is at the disposal of the body.


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