How we fell in love with ourselves
The second in a series on the history of our ideas of love. Previously we briefly reviewed the Hebrew, Greek and Christian influence. Next we move to medieval ideas through Spinoza and on to Romanticism and the falling in love with love.
Love: A History by British philosopher Simon May offers a kind of roller coaster ride through our ideas about love, that most basic and confounding of human emotions. In the first post we followed as May traced the Hebrew influence on our ideas, then the Greeks, and following that Christianity including the teachings of Jesus. He strongly noted how at variance Christian concepts of love were from the Teacher who is in name at least the originator of those teachings.
The strange emergence of courtly love
The roller coaster ride becomes clear when we move into the medieval period. Within Christendom the ideas about love seemed nearly universal. Love for God and neighbor were the ultimate commands, sex belonged within the sacred institution of marriage, the desire for earthly goods was a grave danger, love for others was in reality an expression of love for God. Then there is the strange appearance of what was called “courtly love.” It elevated the passionate, sex-oriented love for a woman worthy of everything a man has to offer providing that woman is not his wife. May…
