Note 5 — Chapter IV · MYSTICISM AND QUIETISM.[4]

Even Spinoza said, “He that would love God aright must not seek to be loved in return;” and Goethe confessed himself haunted by this wonderful saying. It is fully in accord with the fact that the most chivalrous and generous friendship is never concerned about payment in kind, about what it shall get in return; it only asks the privilege of loving and of pouring itself out unstintedly for its beloved. Disinterestedness should not probably be pressed as a requirement upon minds not capable of such heights, but it has a grandeur that appeals sometimes to nearly all. This was especially the case in an age when Jesuit cheapjacks were accustomed to haggle with God for the price of the soul, and discuss whether it was necessary to love Him once in a week or once in a year, or whether salvation might not be purchased still more cheaply at the price of one act of love in a lifetime.