Psychopathia sexualis: With especial reference to contrary sexual instinct / A medico-legal study

by R. von Krafft-Ebing

In religion the primary element is a feeling of dependence,—a fact which Schleiermacher recognized long before the later studies in anthropology and ethnography, founded on the observation of primitive conditions, had led to the same conclusion. It is only at a higher stage of culture that the second and essentially ethical element—love of God—enters into religious feeling. In the place of the evil spirits of the primitive peoples came the two-faced—now kind, now angry—creations of the more complicated mythologies, until, finally, the God of love, as the giver of eternal happiness, is reverenced, whether this be hoped for from Jehovah, as a blessing on earth; from Allah, as a physical blessing in Paradise; from Christ, as eternal bliss in heaven; or as the Nirvana of the Buddhists.

In sexual desire, love, the expectation of unbounded happiness is the primary element. The feeling of dependence is of secondary development. The nucleus of this feeling exists in both parties, but it may remain undeveloped in one. As a rule, owing to her passive part in procreation and social conditions, it is more pronounced in woman; but exceptionally this is true of men having minds that approach the feminine type.

In both the religious and sexual spheres love is mystical, transcendental. In sexual love the real purpose of the instinct, the propagation of the species, does not enter into consciousness; and the strength of the desire is greater than any that consciousness of purpose could create. In religion, however, the good sought and the object of devotion are of such nature that they cannot become a part of empirical knowledge. Therefore, both mental processes give unlimited range to the imagination.

But both have an immortal object, in as far as the bliss which the sexual sentiment creates in fancy seems incomparable and infinite in contrast with all other pleasurable feelings; and the same is true of the promised blessings of faith, which are conceived to be eternal and supreme.

From the correspondence between the two states of consciousness, with reference to the commanding importance of their objects, it follows that they both often attain an intensity that is irresistible, and which overcomes all opposing motives. Owing to their similarity in that their objects cannot be attained, it follows that both easily degenerate into silly enthusiasm, in which the intensity of feeling far surpasses the clearness and constancy of the ideas. In both cases, in this enthusiasm, with the expectation of a happiness that cannot be attained, the necessity of unconditional submission plays a part.

Owing to the correspondence in many points between these two emotional states, it is clear that when they are very intense the one may take the place of the other; or one may appear by the side of the other, since every intensification of one element of mental life also intensifies its associations. The constant emotion thus calls into consciousness now one and now the other of the two series of ideas with which it is connected. Either of these mental states may become transformed into the impulse to cruelty (actively exercised or passively suffered).

In the religious life this is expressed by sacrifice. Primarily this is done with the idea that the victim is materially enjoyed by the deity; then, in reverence, as a sign of submission, as a tribute; and, finally, with the belief that sins and transgressions against the deity are thus atoned for and blessing obtained. If, however, the offering consist of self-punishment, which occurs in all religions, in individuals of very excitable religious nature, it serves not only as a symbol of submission and as an equivalent in the exchange of present pain for future bliss, but everything that is thought to come from the deity, all that happens in obedience to divine mandate or to the honor of the godhead, is felt directly as pleasure. Thus religious enthusiasm leads to ecstasy, to a condition in which consciousness is so preoccupied with feelings of mental pleasure that the concept of suffering endured can only be apperceived without its painful quality.

The exaltation of religious enthusiasm may lead actively to pleasure in the sacrifice of another, if pity be overcompensated by feelings of religious pleasure.

Sadism, and particularly masochism (v. infra), show that in the sphere of the sexual life there may be similar phenomena. Thus the well-established relations between religion, lust, and cruelty[^[14]] may be comprehended in the following formula: States of religious and sexual excitement, at the acme of their development, may correspond in the amount and quality of excitement, and, therefore, under favoring circumstances, one may take the place of the other. Both, in pathological conditions, may become transformed into cruelty.

The sexual factor proves to be no less influential in awakening æsthetic feelings. What would poetry and art be without a sexual foundation? In (sensual) love is gained that warmth of fancy without which a true creation of art is impossible; and in the fire of sensual feelings its glow and warmth are preserved. It may thus be understood why great poets and artists have sensual natures.