ETHICS
Et le vent furibond de la concupiscence
Fait claquer votre chair ainsi qu'un vieux drapeau.
Loin des peuples vivants^ errantes, condamnees,
A H-avers les deserts coure^ comme des loups;
Faites votre destin, ames desordonnees^
Etfuye^ rinfini que vous porte^ en vous.
The last line irresistibly recalls Royce's phrase to the
effect that * finite beings are always such as they are by
virtue of an inattention which at present blinds them to
their actual relations to God and to one another/ The
addict is blinded by his addiction to 'the infinite that he
carries within him/ to "his actual relations to God* and
other beings. At the same time, he is generally aware, if
only by a kind of nostalgia, by a hopeless longing for what
he lacks, that 'the infinite* exists within him and that his
cactual relations to God* are those of a part to its proper
whole. He is aware of the fact and he suffers from it; and
at the same time the demon he has conjured up, that it may
possess him, deliberately increases his suffering by forcing
him 'to fly from the infinite within him,* to refuse, con-
sciously and deliberately, to pay attention-to 'his actual
relations with God.*
It is not only when it takes the form of physical addiction
that sex is evil. It is also evil when it manifests itself as a
way of satisfying the lust for power or the climber's
craving for position and social distinction. Love—and
this is true not only of sexual, but also of maternal love—
may be merely a device for imposing the lover's will upon
the beloved. Between the Marquis de Sade, with his whips
and penknives, and the doting but tyrannous mother, who
slaves for her son in order that she may the more effectively
dominate him^ there are obvious differences in method and
degree, but not a fundamental difference in kind. In such
cases, the active party, by insisting on the right to bully,
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