The Fool Had Said In His Heart: There Is No Spoon !

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief. They are all mind-wrought.

If women are truly that irresistible...

1.

... why don't they fall in love with each other, or even with themselves ?
( Do not automatically silence your mind by truisms : think about it ! -- Could it be that our lust for women makes just as little sense as their desire for men ? -- After all... what sane person could ever desire a man !? We wouldn't ! Of course, we're glad to be desired by them, but -deep down inside- we all know that it's just plain ridiculous ! -- But we don't tell them that because we can't even bear the thought of a life without them, let alone actually live it... yet -according to Christ- this is precisely what Paradise will be like... )

2.

... why are their own brothers, parents, and children so utterly immune to their charm ?
( Out of the many stupidities that people say to themselves and to others when rejecting monasticism, the excuse I find the most hilarious is that they supposedly "love" their wives ! It's not their "wives" that they love, but rather the sensual feelings of eros, romance, and sexuality: If they would truly love their spouses, they would try to love them with the highest possible love: and what other kind of love can that be, if not the love that parents and grand-parents have for their children and grand-children ? What greater love is there, that's known to the average mortal man ? Please, do tell me, 'cause I'm just dying to know ! [ Pun very much intended ]. The true husband sacrifices pleasure for the sake of love, and attains engodment: That's why -of the two men that were taken up to Heaven- one was married, and the other was celibate; that's why both marriage and monasticism are valid paths to salvation; that's why Christ had both married and celibate men amongst His most trusted inner-circle of devoted Disciples... Blessed are those dumb enough to believe this, and crazy enough to put it into practice, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven ! )

3.

... why did Christ Himself never marry ?
( True, He came to suffer, but now that His earthly mission is over, and His suffering is in the past, what exactly is it that's stopping Him, and why ? )

4.

... why does God apparently 'punish' Himself by not having a beautiful woman as wife ?

( Just what exactly is it that's stopping Him, and why ? )

Just what exactly is it that we are missing ?

The things that chain us are unreal, but the chains that bind us to them are very real indeed.

Simone Weil, as quoted by Nicolae Steinhardt