As the height of our intelligence, so is the depth of our love or passion; the higher, _i.e._ the more comprehensive, the object of knowledge, the more absorbed become feelings and emotions in its contemplation.[521] The most complete absorption is that of the heroic mind in its infinite and all-comprehensive object. That is not perfect divine heroic love which feels the spur or the bridle, or regret or grief for any other love; but that which is entirely without sense or feeling of other passions. It is so deep in its delight that nothing can displease or divert it or cause it to stumble in the least, and this is to reach the highest blessedness in our present state--to have pleasure without any sense of pain.[522] The loss of sense is caused by the absorption of the whole being in virtue, in the truly good, and in felicity. Regulus, Lucretia, Socrates, Anaxarchus, Scaevola, Cocles, are instanced as noble human beings who had no feeling or sense of the greatest tortures, or what would be such to baser human natures.[523] "A keener joy, or fear, or hope, faith, or indignation, or contempt, turns the mind away from any present, less vivid, passion." "One who is more deeply moved by the sight of some other thing, does not suffer the pangs of death. The truly wise and virtuous man, not feeling pain, is perfectly happy, so far as the present life admits, at least in the eye of reason." [Sidenote: Aspiration.] In its aspiration the soul need not go beyond itself, need only enter into the depths of its own mind (_mens_); "for this it is unnecessary to open the eyes wide upon the heavens, to raise aloft the hands, to wend one's way to the temple, to intone to the ears of idols, that one may best be heard; rather we should enter into the innermost heart of ourselves, for God is near to us, with us, within us, more truly than we are in ourselves; being soul of souls, life of lives, essence of essences." Divinity is not more nor less present in the other worlds than in our own or in ourselves.[524] Therefore the heroic soul withdraws from the many, neither hating them nor seeking to be like them, associating only with those whom it may make better, or who may make it better; but aiming ever to be self-sufficient in its own wisdom. "The soul must come to the point when it no longer regards but despises fatigue, and the more the contest of passions and vices rages within, the struggle of vicious enemies without, the more it must aspire and rise, and pass, with one breath (if it may be) over this mountain of difficulty. Here there is no need for other arms or shield than the grandeur of an invincible mind, the endurance of a spirit which maintains the even tenor of its life, proceeds from knowledge, and is regulated by the art of speculating upon things high and low, divine and human, in which its highest good consists."[525] [Sidenote: Love of God.]