ABSTRACT
The naturalistic theory is utterly oblivious to the fundamental fact that the 'real' world is always 'richer' than any 'given' one. Like naturalistic philosophy generally, it is essentially deflationary in its outlook. It approaches everything on the false assumption that whatever happens to be simplest and least valuable must also have the character of ontological priority and causal antecedence. The phenomenon of 'sacred love' is certainly rare—rarer, even, than intellectual genius of any kind; it is, moreover, absolutely uncontrollable and cannot be produced 'experimentally' or by education. The essential characteristics of sacred love are these: we may see how those imbued with it do not chafe and struggle against suffering and death, but embrace it willingly and gladly. The idea of 'monogamy' even, is simply incapable of derivation from naturalistic premisses. Sexual desire has an undiscriminating reference to the opposite sex, whereas sexual love is essentially selective, opting, in principle, for the 'superior' qualities of life.
