Cause Principle Unity

A general account of bonding
person more than anything else? A general explanation is useless in a case
like this, because such an account does not distinguish between things
which belong to the same genus or species, for example, between female
and female, or male and female, as well as between other human conditions
like being old or young. And what would you say about the love of things
known only by hearsay, which is usually called ‘devotion’? Are not humans
bonded to higher and immaterial things, as well as to imaginary things, and
especially to things beyond experience? I will pass over here any discussion
of the specific types of binding powers, and especially of the power to bind
through incantations. It is not true, as some have said, that the power of
bonding is derived from what is good rather than from an opinion about
what is good; nor is it derived from a known rather than from a hidden
cause. We have already spoken above about the different types and species
of goods.
24. The diligence of the bonding agent. Just as dull people are bound more
easily by a shrewd flatterer than by a true friend, likewise, bonds and bonding
powers are established and maintained in skillful ways. For example, a
timid man recommends against joining the army; a strongly godless person
recommends against becoming a priest; a cruel person recommends against
caring for others. Things move more easily towards that to which they are
inclined, just as someone who wishes to pick up something cylindrical
attends to surfaces which are round rather than flat or angular.
25. The weapons of the bonding agent. The bonding agent has three types of
tools. The first type is located within him and is two-fold: those which are
essential or natural, i.e., those which belong to the nature of his species;
and those which are accidental and acquired, which follow from the nature
of his species, for example, sagacity, wisdom and art. The second type is
located in his environment, for example, chance, good fortune, opportunity,
encounters and arranged meetings. The third type is located above
him, for example, fate, nature and the favour of the gods.
26. The vicissitudes of the bonding agent. The kind of proportionality which
we regularly experience in eating and in sexual intercourse is found in every
act of bonding. For we are not attracted and bonded by these desires
and loves at all times, or in the same way, or in the same degree, or with the
same variations of time. The reason is that our physical constitution and
all of its consequences fluctuate and change with time. Therefore, the
moment for bonding must be predicted ahead of time, with careful and
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