The poor boy's transfer to the State Asylum has put an end to his search for the ideal love. That search was a disguised flight from women and love, his delusion was an effective measure of protection against temptation.
Nothing but the absolute could satisfy him in a woman. Relativity was abhorrent to him.
Every seeker for the ideal love has gone a few steps along the road which led my poor patient into the house of the living dead.
Higher Aspirations. Neurotics of that type are plausible for they compensate for their fear and their inferiority with a pride based upon "higher aspirations," "greater delicacy of feelings," "an aristocratic nature" or the tell-tale statement that "their mother's beautiful character," "their father's noble nature" makes every man or woman appear very inferior in their eyes.
Proud of certain characteristics of theirs which they cannot help having, they childishly display an egotism and selfishness which makes them at times very ridiculous, for it says indirectly: "Nobody is quite good enough for me."
When the search for ideal love results in nervous states due to egotistical starvation, psychoanalysis can help greatly by giving the neurotic insight into the fear of life or the parent-fixation which is at the bottom of his romantic aspirations.
CHAPTER XXVIII
The New Woman and Love
How will love fare at the hands of the new woman? The old forms of love will naturally be as unbearable to her as the steel corsets of a forgotten generation. Yet the problem is not so very pressing, for the truly new woman is still an almost insignificant factor, numerically speaking, in every community.