LOVE: Reasoning vs. Senses

Having been married for 35 years, I was intrigued by the wisdom of Castiglione in The Courtier. He concludes that “it is not reasonable to argue that the old can love blamelessly and more happily than the young….” 

Anyone who is young and in love would most likely be quick to argue this statement. He explains the fight within each of us between our senses and our reasoning. I think most of us would agree that when we are young, “the senses…are in full strength in youth” as Castiglione says. He explains that in our youth “the soul cannot of itself clearly perceive the truth when it is carrying out the duties of governing the body.” Therefore, the soul “must appeal to the senses for its first notions.” And as a result, young men are “rebellious against reason.” 

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/search/?l=commderiv&q=love

He argues that “lovers who are more mature in age experience the contrary; for in their case the soul is no longer weighed down by the body.” He says that “they are not deceived and they possess completely the beauty they love.” He finishes by saying that “the true love of beauty is good and holy and always benefits those in whose souls the bridle of reason restrains the iniquity of the senses; and that is something the old can do far more easily than the young.” 

I have now lived long enough to realize that although young love is normal for all, and will never change its ways, relying mostly on senses, it is the reasoning of enduring love that is more precious. Love that endures overcomes all that we never believed would happen to us. The old achieve this reasoning love through much heartache and endurance. Ironically, that achievement is the beauty of love. 

As is normal in this earth life of ours, it is usually through our tribulations that we achieve true joy and happiness; the joy and happiness that cannot be found in our youth because time has not yet been given to us.

It's Only a Kiss...

In "The Courtier," Pietro Bembo states: "...Love is simply a certain longing to possess beauty; and since this longing can only be for things are known already, knowledge must always of necessity precede desire..." In relation to the printing press and other inventions circa the Renaissance era, the mass production of rhetoric (knowledge) changed the desire (mindset) of every society; however, this was only possible if the governing force of that society allowed the production of that rhetorical knowledge.

For example, Peter the Great of Russia created a precedent of strict control over the country and forbade customs that deviated from the vision of Russia he had of Russia (Drogin). Meanwhile, the American colonies were based on a free-for-all society, where if a religious or financial institution attempted strict control, there was plenty of other space to create one’s own institution. Therefore, while Russian leaders filtered more undesirable rhetoric out of their society, American ideals were based on freedom of speech and expression, creating drastically different pools of perspective and opinion.

Joey Franklin’s essay “The Lifespan of a Kiss” further exemplifies how rhetoric creates differing desires in different societies. In the 20^th century, France offered to display the now world famous sculpture from French sculptor Augeste Rodin aptly named “The Kiss” in Tokyo but Japan refused the offer, not because of the nakedness but the gesture of kissing. Japan told the French that they would put the sculpture on display if a cloth was placed solely over the faces of the kissing couple. France refused: “morally, the French just couldn’t allow it” (Franklin).

The reason for this denial from Japan, as Franklin writes, is that the Japanese don’t kiss in the open, their romance novels and soap operas never portray kissing, meanwhile France is stereo-typically known for their vehement displays and literature of romance and expressions of the body.; essentially, varying rhetoric creates differing, collective desires for an entire country. 

 Image Credits: "The Kiss by Auguste Rodin" (public domain images via Wikimedia Commons) 

Looking Past the Mark

In Castiglione's book on The Cortier, Pietro Bembo takes a classic rhetorical approach to portray love and beauty as divine qualities, distinct from the body. The most fundamental tools he uses to display his argument is definition and division. Pietro says he will "make it clear" exactly what love is, and how we experience it. He goes on to divide our perception and understanding of the world into the senses, rational thought and intellect. He defines love as an ardent desire for beauty,  which cannot be satisfied by sensual love, but by cherishing your partner, serving them, and rationally enjoying their divine beauty. While Pietro is correct that beauty cannot be enjoyed through sensual desires, he misses the mark of the true reasons behind love.

Portrait of a Young Man- Bronzino (1530's)

Beauty and love cannot only be enjoyed through rational thought and intellect. In Bronzinos' Portrait of a Young Man renaissance thinkers humanist ideas can be seen. As n Haughtan points out in her thesis, "Portrait of a Young Man not only depicts his subject's idealized appearance but also his scholarship, background and potential. " The book cracked in his right hand suggests that reading was so normal that he would have been caught in the act, not wanting to stop when the painter came. Bronzino does not simply add the book as an afterthought, but the ornate background furniture, and the book as a symbol of knowledge, class, and wealth at the time add to the viewers concept of beauty. This idea however falls as flat as the painting itself. To love only through looking or listening to someones thoughts and ideas is as futile as trying to understand the Young mans true character by simply looking at the painting. 

Pietro concedes that a kiss may be appropriate at certain times because the rational lover can mingle his soul with that of his lover. He contends that beauty is supernatural, and loses its nobility when fused with our bodies, but what he doesn't realize, is that by expressing our natural desires in love, we take part in the supernatural and divine. What Pietro thinks of as only sensual and evil, is a part of and a symbol of the divine creation of all mankind. The mingling of souls in a kiss is amplified and completed as are dedicated to each other, and become like the Ultimate Creator. While beauty is divine, and cannot be only fulfilled in the body, trying to exclude all physicality from love is looking past the mark of what love is.

Bronzino - Portrait of a Young Man, (1530's)- public domain

Haughton, Neil. “Perceptions of Beauty in Renaissance Art.” Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, vol. 3, no. 4, 2004, pp. 229–233., doi:10.1111/j.1473-2130.2004.00142.x.