WEDDING 131 



a point which is specially worth noting; — ^the desire 

 was entirely for spiritual union, for union of the 

 spirits of each. What each admired and loved in 

 the other was his or her capacity for love. He 

 realised what a wonderful love the other could give. 

 And he yearned with all his heart to have that love 

 directed towards himself. It was a purely spiritual 

 union that his heart was set on. The thougnt of 

 bodily union did not enter his head. But the need 

 for bodily touch as a means of expressing human 

 feeling is inherent in human nature, and becomes 

 more and more urgent as the feeling becomes 

 warmer. Friends have to shake hands with each 

 other and pat each other on the back in order to 

 show the warmth of their feeling for one another. 

 Women aflPectionately embrace one another. 

 Parents and children, brothers and sisters, kiss 

 one another. It is impossible adequately to express 

 aflFection without bodily touch. And in the case of 

 lovers, as the love deepens so also deepens the com- 

 pelling need to express this love in bodily union of 

 the closest possible. 



And so the supreme moment arrives when each 

 gives himself wholly, utterly, and for ever to the 

 other — body, soul, and spirit — and they twain are 

 one. And the remarkable result ensues that each 

 in giving himself to the other has become more 

 completely and truly himself than he has ever been 

 before. He strives to become more and more 

 closely wedded with the other. He yearns to give 

 himself more completely and longs that there was 

 more of himself to give. And he gives him- 

 self as completely as he can. Yet he has never 



