Love & Responsibility
CHAPTER I: The Person and the Sexual Urge
Interpretation of the Sexual Urge
In establishing the inalienable dignity of the person, as such, the concept of free will inevitably follows. Man has a natural aversion to that which impinges on his free will. We open this section by looking at the words 'instinct' and 'urge.' Both have a similar meaning in Merriam Webster: "a natural or inherent aptitude, impulse." In the sense that an urge is an uncontrollable response to one's surroundings, it is followed by negative connotations: that it impedes free will. When you think of animals, the word, 'instinct,' tends to step into the forefront.
"Man is by nature capable of rising above instinct in his actions." (Love & Responsibility) This elevation of man through is thought and intention directs the sexual urge to an orientation toward a naturally desired good. Being born into one of the two sexes, this orientation is determined at birth. The sexual urge ought not be left to its own devices, but must be raised to the level of intention. It has the potential to become an expression of man's freedom, through the responsibility taken for his choices and actions. As such, it is something, which can be developed and deepened over time.
That man is born to one of the two sexes, brings existential questions to the forefront. In the vocation of marriage, we see the fulfillment of this vocation working in cooperation with the sexual urge. "Hence although the sexual urge is there for man's use, it must never be used in absence of, or worse still, in a way which contradicts, love for the person." (Love & Responsibility) The responsibility for the sexual urge is that it always be elevated to the status of the dignity of the person and the good of the other; as it harbors the potential to destroy the other. The rights of each, taken to heart, breathes life into the sexual urge, allowing it to work in harmony with the "natural order of human existence."(Love & Responsibility)
If we examine the existence of man and the dignity of the person, we find its source in the Author of Life. Man is not the source or final destination of his own existence, the First Mover is the Lord who bestows life and allows us to participate in His creative work. "Love owes its fertility in the biological sense to the sexual urge but it must also possess a fertility of its own in the spiritual, moral and personal sphere."(Love & Responsibility) It is in the divine order, that man's procreative power is enriched by its co-creative aspect.
As with many philosophical truths, man has the ability to twist it to its polar ends in opposing views. Two such, in this instance, are the rigorist view and the libidinistic view. The rigorist interpretation condemns the sexual urge to the realm of a necessary evil in the propagation of the species. Followed to its conclusion, we find a utilitarian view wherein God Himself uses man's sexual urge to its procreative end. In the libidinistic view, we find architects of thought, such as Sigmund Freud, for whom pleasure is the reason for existence. Minimizing negative input and maximizing the positive, leads one to cast aside all else for the sake of this pursuit. This includes the dignity of the person, the object of this desire. Both views deprive the sexual urge of its capacity for authenticity. "The problem for ethics is how to use sex without treating the person as an object for use."(Love & Responsibility) The quality of love depends upon man's free choice in how he pursues it. "For the Creator, in giving men and women a rational nature and the capacity consciously to decide upon their own actions, thereby made it possible for them to choose freely the end to which sexual intercourse leads."(Love & Responsibility)
"Marriage, objectively considered, must provide first of all the means of continuing existence, secondly a conjugal life for man and woman, and thirdly a legitimate orientation for desire."(Love & Responsibility) Its the cooperation of the sexual urge with the personalistic norm through the active choice of the will. The lasting friendship between a man and a woman, in the sacrament of marriage; the free, total and faithful union of of two souls. It means sacrificing for the good of the other, in every circumstance. It is the life giving end of the sexual urge, to be the natural force that binds and strengthens the union of man and woman in marriage, elevated by the free will of the person.
