Bad in Bed
I suspect that a lot of the force for the Procrustean beds I discussed in the last post comes from good ol' Cartesian dualism--the drive to draw a line between the physical and the spiritual.
The logic goes like this: If you're attracted to (or repulsed by) someone for their superficial qualities, you're a superficial person. If you're attracted to someone for their inner qualities, you are a deep, soulful person.
The part of you that is drawn to people for qualities other than their moral or intellectual excellence is the lower, animal part. It is to be tamed, broken to harness, made to shut up, if our full potential as spiritual beings is achieved.
So if you find yourself drawn to (or repelled by) someone for superficial reasons, you have two choices: you can try to rework your desires by will and self-discipline, cutting your libido down to fit the bed of your ideology. Or you can devise a theory whereby the superficial qualities that so affect you actually reflect inner qualities, you can declare the appearance of superficiality an illusion; you can stretch your beliefs to fit the bed of your desires.
The logic goes like this: If you're attracted to (or repulsed by) someone for their superficial qualities, you're a superficial person. If you're attracted to someone for their inner qualities, you are a deep, soulful person.
The part of you that is drawn to people for qualities other than their moral or intellectual excellence is the lower, animal part. It is to be tamed, broken to harness, made to shut up, if our full potential as spiritual beings is achieved.
So if you find yourself drawn to (or repelled by) someone for superficial reasons, you have two choices: you can try to rework your desires by will and self-discipline, cutting your libido down to fit the bed of your ideology. Or you can devise a theory whereby the superficial qualities that so affect you actually reflect inner qualities, you can declare the appearance of superficiality an illusion; you can stretch your beliefs to fit the bed of your desires.