They typify vaguely to some, clearer to others, the strange, inner mystic fire which, unlike all other forms of Flame, has its origin in God, and its flow from within us, not from without; for passion rises in the mind when normal,—in the soul; not the body, save when our natures are inverted; and even then its fountain is in the unholy soul, before it leaps to the still more unholy body. Desire is always first metaphysical before it is material in human kind; but when the conscience and moral poles arc reversed, the spark that explodes the mental flame may be, and often is, sent from the body first to the soul. Thus certain foods or drinks generate an excess of caloric in the nervous ganglia of the reproductive system; a spark—spontaneous combustion—leaps thence to the brain, the soul catches fire, and hurls its masses of lurid flame through the cerebrum, cerebellum, spinal cord, ovaria, prostate gland, testes or vagina—and—draw the curtain o'er the dreadful scene!
XXI. Just as sex runs through all nature so does it obtain of nations, tribes, peoples and ages; some are entirely female or male in their genius, art, literature, and general specialties; and so plainly does this truth manifest itself that I do not care to occupy time in proving it. But this will I say: The most masculine nations tend greatest to feminine worship; and, per contra, the ideal of the feminine peoples is the masculine worship.
Finally, the most masculine man adores at the female shrine, and his god is far more she than he; while the most feminine woman worships the most masculine man. Thus here, there, and everywhere the two universal principles seek each other, blend, fuse, intermingle, and unwittingly obey the mighty dual law!
XXII. Love between human beings of opposite sexes is of two general kinds: 1st, that in which passion is not an integrant, such as the love between parent and child; that which is wholly amitive or purely friendly; that which is platonic or purely spiritual, ethereal, based upon affinities of taste, similitudes of soul; that which is founded upon gratitude; and, lastly, that which is wholly and absolutely mystical—the don't-know-why-but-it-is-so kind of feeling—and which, while it may be to a limited extent gratified on earth, yet its full fruition can only be achieved, felt and realized after
