Undated text written in Damascus, Syria between 1932 and 1934
I recall I told a friend the following during one of our discussions:
Man is able to jot down all that passes through his mind except in two situations that are difficult to put into writing: 1) when the thought he wishes to express is not clear in his own mind and 2) when the thought is one of brilliant clarity. In this first case he is unable to follow the course of his writing. In the second, because the idea is so clear and profound, he does not realize that words are insufficient to allow him to (accurately) express that which nevertheless is perceived quite well in his mind.
I remembered this observation as I was preparing to write a few lines about love and beauty in order to leave a footnote amongst those engraved in memory by others who addressed these two subjects. It is difficult for me to see this footnote (could come) from someone not close to me; someone who my mind does not behold for a period of time so he can (adequately) share his conceptions of love and beauty in the noble sense of these terms. My feelings led me to search in the books of great writers and geniuses andI found certain expressions that were but feeble echos of those ringing deep inside me whenever I encounter beauty or conceive true love.
What is beauty? What is love? We imagine these in a clear and precise manner and we know their impact on our feelings. But is it possible to jot down on paper this impact to make (in effect) a black and white mirror that (accurately) reflects to others the sacred, splendid and captivating character that we see in beauty and in love? What meaning can be given to beauty if it is globally indescribable and can only be felt? What meaning can be given to love if it is a harmonious force that sweeps us who knows where? Hence how can I write about these two themes when I am incapable of describing them? Yet that is why each time I think about them, they rise high in my esteem and add to their effect on me.
I could digress at length on the themes of love and beauty as well on what I feel when I am confronted by them. But this does not mean that I succeeded through what I have written to render the feelings and emotions that I actually experienced. Nor have I succeeded in relaying the phases through which my emotional momentum has carried me from the first impulse of desire and its mental conception to the rise provoked by absolute beauty which is not found enclosed with any tight circle of the physical world. Nonetheless this is not enough to convince the reader of the soundness of ideas I firmly believe in as long as it is true that all I can relay to him is not much more than (weak) echoes of the vibratory undulations of true feelings to which I attach a profound significance and which exert a decisive influence on me.
Now that I am in the grips of love for the second time, I recognize that I used to be convinced that physical science suffices to allow us to discover its virtues just as it would for beauty's secrets. By so doing it would lead us back to the origins of these two sensations and reenforce our conviction and ease of mind in this area. I nurtured this belief for a significant piece of my life without the understanding of love's talismans nor the discovery of beauty's secrets. I was able to distance myself from the theoretical explanations of science only after love settled deep in my heart and after a spiritual force called love took the place of my convictions.
(The author continues his analysis of the relations between love and beauty by citing his own experience which is not available for translation. He concludes his assertions as follows.)
Hence love is not based on beauty. Its secret and, with greater reason, its origin is to be found in the mutual harmony of the strengths and weaknesses of two people who love each other. This harmony can not be found using only physical criteria to evaluate these strengths and weaknesses. Instead one must add the strengths and weaknesses of the minds and the emotional feelings that exist between the interested parties. This explanation and justification of love lacks solidity in the sense that it is but a logical deduction whose existence one can only be conceived in pure imagination. Perhaps the best definition of love is one that states that it represents an infinite splendor. Deep love is a concept that is a reflection of the human soul whose vitality is a secret that modern science has yet to pierce or to grasp its essence.
