79. The Effects of Love: Union, Indwelling, Ecstasy, and Zeal

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Four Effects of Love #

Thomas presents love as having four principal effects:

1. Union (unio) - The lover becomes united with the beloved
2. Mutual Indwelling (mutua inhesio) - Reciprocal presence of lover and beloved to each other
3. Ecstasy (ecstasis) - Being placed outside oneself toward the beloved
4. Zeal (zelus) - Intensity of love that opposes what is repugnant to the beloved

Union as Effect of Love #

The Problem: How can union be an effect of love when absence is compatible with love? The Apostle Paul loves the Galatians even when physically absent (Gal 4).

Thomas’s Solution - Twofold Union:

• Real Union (secundum rem): Physical presence and togetherness that love causes as an efficient cause by moving us to seek the presence of the beloved
• Union of Affection (secundum affectionem): A bond created by love itself that exists even in absence; love constitutes this formally

Foundation in Two Loves:

• Love of Concupiscence (wanting): Lover apprehends the beloved as pertaining to his own well-being
• Love of Friendship (wishing well): Lover grasps the other as “another self” (alter ipse), wishing good to them as to oneself

Both proceed from a grasping of unity between lover and loved. Augustine states “A friend is half my soul” (Confessions IV).

Addressing Objections to Union #

Objection: Union requires essence, nature, substance, or likeness—none of which love causes. Knowledge unites more than love (sense in act is sensible in act; understanding in act is understood in act).

Response: Love tends to the thing as it is in itself, not merely according to the mode of the knower. This gives love a more intimate uniting power than knowledge, which receives the form of another while retaining its own form.

Objection: If absence is compatible with love, real union cannot be necessary.

Response: The objection concerns only real union. Affective union (the bond of love itself) exists in both absence and presence. Love in absence gives rise to desire; in presence, to delight.

Mutual Indwelling #

Mutual indwelling operates on multiple levels and is more than a mere effect—it is intrinsic to love’s nature:

On the Knowing Power:

• The beloved dwells in the lover through continuous remembrance and thinking upon the beloved
• The lover dwells in the beloved through penetrating knowledge—not superficial grasping but seeking to understand the beloved’s inward nature and excellence

On the Desiring Power:

• Through love of concupiscence: The beloved is in the lover’s affection as desired or delighted in
• Through love of friendship: The lover is in the beloved by regarding the friend’s goods and evils as his own, willing the friend’s will as his own

Through Mutual Love: When friends love each other in return, they achieve a distinctive form of mutual indwelling through reciprocal willing and acting for each other’s good.

Knowledge precedes and enables this indwelling—reason must penetrate and distinguish before affection can enter inwardly.

Ecstasy #

The Problem: Love seems to draw the beloved to oneself, not to send oneself out. How can going outside oneself be an effect of love?

Thomas’s Solution - Two Manifestations:

On the Knowing Power:

• Elevation: Being raised above natural knowledge (as St. Paul to the third heaven)
• Depression: Falling into fury or loss of mind

On the Desiring Power: The desire for something carries us outside ourselves toward it.

Critical Distinction Between the Two Loves:

• Love of Concupiscence: Produces only qualified ecstasy (secundum quid). The lover seeks external goods but intends ultimately to bring them back to himself. This is not true ecstasy.
• Love of Friendship: Produces true or unqualified ecstasy (simpliciter). The lover wills good to the friend and acts for that good as such, having care and providence over the other for the friend’s own sake. This is genuine ecstasy.

The distinction hinges on whether one goes outside oneself to bring something back, or goes outside oneself for another’s good as another self.

Zeal as Effect of Love #

The Problem: Zeal involves contention and jealousy, which appear repugnant to love. How can zeal be an effect of love?

Thomas’s Solution: Zeal arises from the intensity of love. The more powerfully a faculty tends toward something, the more it repels what is contrary or repugnant to it.

Two Forms of Zeal:

Zeal of Envy (from love of concupiscence):

• Arises when one intensely wants something and moves against those who impede its achievement
• Concerns limited goods that cannot be wholly possessed by many
• Exemplified in two potters competing for customers or two men pursuing the same woman
• Defective because it opposes the good itself in others

Zeal for the Beloved (from love of friendship):

• Arises when one intensely loves another’s good and moves against everything repugnant to that good
• Exemplified in zeal for God—opposing whatever dishonors God or violates His will
• Not concerned with exclusive possession but with the beloved’s welfare
• Our Lord’s cleansing of the temple exemplifies this: “The zeal of your house has eaten me up”

Important Distinction: Not all goods can be exclusively possessed. Truths and spiritual goods can be shared by many without diminishment. One should not envy another’s knowledge of truth; sharing it enhances rather than diminishes it. Envy properly concerns only limited goods.

Key Arguments #

For Union Being an Effect of Love #

• Love causes real union as an efficient cause by moving us to seek the presence of the beloved
• Love constitutes union of affection formally through the bond itself
• Both forms of union are rooted in the lover’s grasping of unity with the beloved
• Love can exist in absence through union of affection, while still causing the pursuit of real union

Against Union Being an Effect of Love #

• Absence is compatible with love, but union requires presence
• Union occurs through essence, nature, substance, or likeness—none of which love directly causes
• Knowledge unites more than love (sense in act is sensible in act)

For Ecstasy Being an Effect of Love #

• The love of friendship produces true ecstasy when one wills good to another for their own sake
• Love disposes the soul for ecstasy through its intensity
• The lover choosing the friend’s good exemplifies going outside oneself simply, not to bring something back

Against Ecstasy Being an Effect of Love #

• Love does not always alienate the mind; lovers sometimes retain self-control
• Love draws the beloved to oneself rather than sending oneself out
• If the lover goes outside himself, he would love the beloved more than himself, which is false

For Zeal Being an Effect of Love #

• Zeal arises from love’s intensity moving against impediments to the beloved’s good
• Zeal for the beloved is not jealousy but protective opposition to harm
• Divine zeal exemplifies this—opposition to dishonor or violation of God’s will

Against Zeal Being an Effect of Love #

• Zeal causes contention, which is repugnant to love
• Zeal involves jealousy about exclusive possession, contrary to the communicability of good
• Zeal appears to involve hate as much as love

Important Definitions #

Union (unio): A twofold effect of love—real union through physical presence and union of affection through the bond of love itself, the latter existing even in absence.

Mutual Indwelling (mutua inhesio): The lover dwelling in the beloved and the beloved in the lover, occurring through knowledge (remembrance and penetrating understanding), affection (desire or delight), and reciprocal love.

Ecstasy (ecstasis): Being placed outside oneself, occurring on the knowing power (elevation or depression) and the desiring power. True ecstasy belongs to the love of friendship, not the love of concupiscence.

Zeal (zelus): The intensity of love moving against whatever is repugnant to the beloved’s good; distinguished from envious jealousy about exclusive possession.

Love of Concupiscence: Love of wanting; desiring something for oneself; produces qualified ecstasy and envious zeal.

Love of Friendship: Love of wishing well; desiring good to another as another self (alter ipse); produces true ecstasy and protective zeal.

Secundum Rem: According to the thing itself; real, objective union.

Secundum Affectionem: According to affection; union of will and heart.

Simpliciter: Simply, without qualification; absolutely (true ecstasy).

Secundum Quid: In a qualified sense; relatively (qualified ecstasy of concupiscence).

Vis Unitiva: A power that unites (used of love by Dionysius).

Examples & Illustrations #

Union #

• Romeo and Juliet: Though separated by exile, Romeo remains united to Juliet through love; his real union is sought through desire to be with her despite separation
• Mozart Collection: Berquist’s desire to possess a complete collection of Mozart’s works while in college exemplifies the love of concupiscence seeking real union with the beloved object
• Separated Brothers: Berquist’s brothers scattered across the country (West Coast, East Coast, Minnesota) remain united through familial love despite physical distance; one brother ended up in Navy but retained connection

Mutual Indwelling #

• Boswell and Johnson: Boswell’s mind is “infused with a greater mind” when with Johnson; he remains attached through thought and memory even when absent
• Teacher-Student Relationship: Charles Deconic’s penetrating way of explaining things causes students to become so attached that they desire to hear him regularly; the teacher dwells in the student’s mind through insight and affection
• Mozart’s Adaptation to Instruments: Mozart penetrates into each instrument’s nature, understanding how it should be played; this exemplifies how the lover penetrates the beloved’s inward nature
• Mozart and Johann Christian Bach: Young Mozart sitting on Bach’s lap playing piano together exemplifies mutual indwelling between artists with affinity; later Mozart adapts Bach’s sonatas into concertos, showing penetrating understanding

Ecstasy #

• Our Lord on the Cross: His ecstasy—going outside Himself for our salvation, not to bring something back to Himself; exemplifies true ecstasy of friendship
• Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration: Speaking with Christ about His coming exodos (exodus/departure)—His ecstasy in facing death for humanity
• Military Service: A soldier giving his life for another exemplifies ecstasy of friendship—going outside himself for the friend’s good
• Intense Meditation: The body becomes almost stiff when one meditates intensely on something loved, showing how love disposes for ecstasy

Zeal #

• Cleansing the Temple: Our Lord’s zeal against those making His Father’s house a den of thieves; opposition not to possession but to dishonor of God
• Protective Zeal in Literature: In Much Ado About Nothing, a father is so identified with his daughter that when she appears disgraced, it is as if he is attacked; his zeal arises from love for her
• Envious Zeal: Two potters competing for customers; two professors competing for positions; two men pursuing the same woman—all exemplifying zeal of envy over limited goods
• Political Zeal: Supporting a candidate for office and opposing those attacking him exemplifies zeal for the beloved

Other Examples #

• Salmon and Food Preferences: Berquist’s aversion to salmon versus his wife’s love of fresh Maine lobster illustrates how one loves only what one finds good; desire presupposes love
• Freshwater vs. Seafood: Growing up in Minnesota with walleye pike versus wife’s Massachusetts upbringing with seafood illustrates how experience shapes what one loves

Notable Quotes #

“Love is a power that unites” (Dionysius, Divine Names IV) - Foundational claim that love has vis unitiva

“A friend is another self” (Aristotle; Augustine: “half of my soul”) - Definition central to understanding the love of friendship

“The zeal of your house has eaten me up” (Our Lord, John 2) - Exemplifying zeal for the beloved’s good

“Love is as a life joining two” (Augustine) - Description of love’s unifying power

“Those desiring or loving desire from both to become one” (Aristophanes, cited by Aristotle) - Ancient source for understanding ecstasy in love

“The sense in act is the sensible in act; the understanding in act is the understood in act” (Aristotle) - Principle used to argue against union being effect of love

“If you love disgusting things, you are disgusting; if you know disgusting things, that does not make you disgusting” (formulation based on Augustine) - Principle showing love unites more intimately than knowledge

Questions Addressed #

Article 1: Is Union an Effect of Love? #

Resolution: Yes, in two ways. Real union (secundum rem) is caused by love as an efficient cause, moving us to seek presence of the beloved. Union of affection (secundum affectionem) is constituted by love formally—the bond of love itself that exists in both presence and absence. Both loves (concupiscence and friendship) produce these unions, though in different ways grounded in the grasping of unity with the beloved.

Key Insight: Love tends to the thing as it is in itself, making it more uniting than knowledge, which receives the form of another merely according to the mode of the knower.

Article 2: Is Mutual Indwelling an Effect of Love? #

Answer: Discussed but not fully resolved in this lecture. The lecture introduces the concept that mutual indwelling occurs on the knowing power (through remembrance and penetrating knowledge) and the desiring power (through desire and affection), with a third form arising through mutual love. Knowledge precedes and enables this indwelling.

Article 3: Is Ecstasy an Effect of Love? #

Resolution: Yes, but with crucial distinction. True ecstasy (simpliciter) belongs to the love of friendship, where one goes outside oneself for the beloved’s good as another self. The love of concupiscence produces only qualified ecstasy (secundum quid), where one seeks external goods but intends to bring them back to oneself. Ecstasy manifests on the knowing power (elevation or depression) and the desiring power (being carried toward the beloved).

Key Principle: The distinction depends on whether one’s going outside oneself aims at bringing something back to oneself (qualified ecstasy) or at another’s good as such (true ecstasy).

Article 4: Is Zeal an Effect of Love? #

Resolution: Yes. Zeal arises from the intensity of love moving against what is repugnant to the beloved. Two forms must be distinguished: zeal of envy (from love of limited goods, where one opposes the good in others) and zeal for the beloved (from love of friendship, where one opposes impediments to the beloved’s good). Only limited goods generate envious zeal; universal goods like truth generate no envy because they can be shared by many without diminishment.

Key Distinction: Zeal for the beloved opposes what threatens the beloved’s welfare, not the good itself or its possession by others.