SIGNIFICANCE OF INVOLUTION 143 



men show that intense concentration is invariably ac- 

 companied by intense passion for the work. Do we 

 not say of the suitor that he is paying " attention " 

 to his lady ; and have not travel, change of scene, 

 that is, of attention, been ever the prescription for 

 an affaire du caeur? Propinquity is the basis of al- 

 most all marriages, said Jane Austen, and had she 

 known herself to be the great psychologist she was, 

 she would have added because it is conducive to at- 

 tention. 



The psychological characteristics of the love-state 

 are identical with those of attention. Each must 

 have an object for its focusing. In both there is 

 an inhibition ; also a turning of the mental flux to the 

 exclusive benefit of a single element. Note the old 

 adage: There is safety in numbers. It is this very 

 substitution of a relative unity of consciousness for 

 the normal plurality of thought that gives rise to the 

 sense of exaltation which comes with falling in love. 

 Since the psychological process fundamental to the 

 converging of attention is motor in its nature, the 

 object must have " captured the personality " after 

 the manner of love. In fact, to understand the 

 mechanism of attention is to understand the mechan- 

 ism of love. 



Like the power to attend, the capacity for loving 

 is a matter of will and directed effort. As we have 

 achieved the one through a concentration of our 

 thought, we shall attain the other by the further pro- 



