Conscious Human Action 17them and then receive them into their own realm. Pity
appears in my heart whenthe mental image of a person
who arouses pity in me enters my consciousness. The
way to the heart goes through the head.
Love is no exception here. If it is not a mere expression
of the sexual drive, then love is based on mental pictures
that we form of the beloved. And the more idealistic these
mental pictures are, the more blessed is the love. Here,
too, thought is the father of feeling. People say that love
makes us blind to the beloved’s flaws. But we can also
turn this around and claim that love opens our eyes to the
beloved’s strengths. Many pass by these good qualities
without noticing them. One person sees them and, just for
this reason, love awakens in the soul. What else has this
person done but make a mental picture of what a hundred
others have ignored? Love is not theirs because they lack
themental picture.
We can approach the matter however we like: it only
grows clearer that the question regarding the nature of hu-
man actions presupposes another, that of the origin of
thinking. I shall therefore turn to this question next.