We must consider as the origin of a new individual and true punctum saliens of its life the moment when the parents begin to love each other—­to fancy each other, as the English appropriately express it.  And, as has been said, in the meeting of their longing glances originates the first germ of a new being, which, indeed, like all germs, is generally crushed out.  This new individual is to a certain extent a new (Platonic) Idea; now, as all Ideas strive with the greatest vehemence to enter the phenomenal sphere, and to do this, ardently seize upon the matter which the law of causality distributes among them all, so this particular Idea of a human individuality struggles with the greatest eagerness and vehemence for its realisation in the phenomenal.  It is precisely this vehement desire which is the passion of the future parents for one another.  Love has countless degrees, and its two extremes may be indicated as [Greek:  Aphroditae pandaemos] and [Greek:  ourania]; nevertheless, in essentials it is the same everywhere.

According to the degree, on the other hand, it will be the more powerful the more individualised it is—­that is to say, the more the loved individual, by virtue of all her qualities, is exclusively fit to satisfy the lover’s desire and needs determined by her own individuality.  If we investigate further we shall understand more clearly what this involves.  All amorous feeling immediately and essentially concentrates itself on health, strength, and beauty, and consequently on youth; because the will above all wishes to exhibit the specific character of the human species as the basis of all individuality.  The same applies pretty well to everyday courtship ([Greek:  Aphroditae pandaemos]).  With this are bound up more special requirements, which we will consider individually later on, and with which, if there is any prospect of gratification, there is an increase of passion.  Intense love, however, springs from a fitness of both individualities for each other; so that the will, that is to say the father’s character and the mother’s intellect combined, exactly complete that individual for which the will to live in general (which exhibits itself in the whole species) has a longing—­a longing proportionate to this its greatness, and therefore surpassing the measure of a mortal heart; its motives being in a like manner beyond the sphere of the individual intellect.  This, then, is the soul of a really great passion.  The more perfectly two individuals are fitted for each other in the various respects which we shall consider further on, the stronger will be their passion for each other.  As there are not two individuals exactly alike, a particular kind of woman must perfectly correspond with a particular kind of man—­always in view of the child that is to be born.  Real, passionate love is as rare as the meeting of two people exactly fitted for each other.  By the way, it is because there is a possibility of real passionate love in us all that we understand why poets have depicted it in their works.