though they do not nearly always want to talk to each other. They are
held by something they do not understand, but which moves them
profoundly.

Now by some mysterious and kindly providence I believe it usually
happens that this mutual attraction declares itself between two people
who as they do get to know each other find that they are also attracted
mentally and spiritually. Usually from this beginning a real fellowship
between the two persons will grow up which involves nearly their whole
personalities. Many people who fell in love at first sight have made
splendid marriages. But it does not always happen so. Sometimes this
physical attraction remains the only bond between two people. Sometimes
in the other departments of life they actually fret and annoy one
another. Sometimes a friendship refuses to grow up. Sometimes even
while the attraction still exists contempt lurks behind it. And that
means that it is entirely unsafe to get engaged on the basis of a mere
physical attraction. There is really something impersonal about mere
physical attraction. The individual as such is hardly an active agent
in it. He or she is the victim of some great life force that seems to
want to throw men and women together regardless of their mental and
spiritual qualities. Behind a mutual physical attraction there must be
some strange harmony between the two physical natures concerned. But
that may be the whole truth of the situation. And to become engaged or
married on that basis alone is just another instance of acting as if we
were merely bodies, when we are not. It constitutes another attempt to
forget mind, heart, and soul, and is therefore disastrous.

And that, of course, means that a man and a woman, if they want to find
their true life, must take care to get to know each other _before_ they
commit themselves, even though they are attracted. "Maggie" in _What