Page:Fielding - Sex and the Love Life.pdf/39

 The complexity of the problem has been mentioned. In the human relationship, the love-life has its manifestations that extend outside of the borderline of apparent sexual motivation—although it is undoubtedly a sublimated variation of the primal motive. In other words, the basic instincts which dominate the sexual sphere also contribute to the characteristic form of the sublimated variation, which is a product of the individual's personal life-history. For instance, it is no rare thing for a man to risk his life when a fellow man's life is in jeopardy, as is evident every day in industry, in the field of adventure, in accidents on the street, and in every channel of human activity.

There are Damon-Pythias friendships as well as Romeo-Juliet loves; and there are men and women, and children, too, who have not hesitated to imperil their lives to save a household pet.

Such a tremendous theme is the love impulse that it has always been the principal motif of the poet, the novelist, the artist, and it has been studied and analyzed by philosophers, seers and metaphysicians in all ages. It is responsible for much of the imperishable beauty, ecstasy and sublimity of life, art and literature; and, in its perverted, corrupted and misguided forms, it is equally responsible for some of the greatest tragedies that have scourged the heart of mankind.

Notwithstanding all the age-old philosophizing, romancing and effusions in poetry, prose and art, modern science is teaching us things about the love impulse that are more far-reaching and wonderful than the greatest sages and bards ever dreamed.

Sexual Instincts Manifest From Birth. In order to understand the constitution of our sexual nature, upon which