214 Ideals in the Modern World
someone who is in love with love a Romantic is in some ways closer
to the truth about Romanticism than the most esteemed professors
of the subject generally are. The academy is often disposed to take
the most humanly intimate and provocative works and make them
as abstract as possi ble. It is part of the university’s function, no
doubt, as a protector of social mores. But in this case it is particu-
larly debilitating. Those who are in love with love— whose erotic
lives have become their spiritual lives— have a great deal to learn,
and of a practical nature from the close study of the poets.
Western culture seems to have displaced or denigrated the an-
cient ideals: courage, contemplation, and compassion. But the cul-
ture does not seem to know quite what to make of the Romantic
faith. Though many people, if not most, will at least for some pe-
riod allow their lives to revolve around the quest for love, we still
do not know how to value this quest. Wise therapists and bureau-
crats of the imagination know that they cannot erase the Romantic
strain from current culture. Instead they attempt to contain it. They
declare that head- over- heels love is a passing stage in normal life.
They say that, after the initial thrill, matters should calm down and
the individuals involved learn that the hope for a Soulmate was a
false one. Res pect must replace fi erce desire, maturity reign. Ro-
mantic lovers have in time to become friends, allies, and business
partners, to navigate the rapids of middle- class life. The best of mar-
riages are not ecstatic conjunctions but prudent mergers.
But many people will not have it so— and not all who dissent are
young. People leave stable lives and stable marriage all the time,
seeking that great love that will fi nally bring them joy. The quest
for true love fi res the teenager’s life, but the man or woman passing
into a sixth or seventh de cade had best not assume immunity.
Few who take on the Romantic quest can readily claim triumph.
It may be that the quest is contaminated from the start by being in-
tertwined with desire and accordingly with Self. The thinker and