Languor

119. Languor

Languor is a condition characterized by relaxation and lack of movement, felt throughout the body.

Like trembling, it arises from an insufficient flow of spirits into the nerves, but in a different way.

The cause of trembling is that there are not enough spirits in the brain to obey the determinations of the gland when it directs them toward a muscle.

In contrast, languor occurs because the gland does not direct the spirits toward any particular muscles.

120. How Languor is Caused by Love and Desire.

The passion that most often causes this effect is love, combined with the desire for something whose acquisition is not imagined to be possible in the present moment.

Love so fully occupies the soul with the contemplation of the beloved object that it uses all the spirits in the brain to:

• represent its image and
• halt all movements of the gland that do not serve this purpose.

Desire makes the body more active. This applies only when the desired object is imagined to be such that one can presently do something to acquire it.

If, on the contrary, it is imagined that nothing useful can currently be done to obtain the object, all the agitation of desire remains in the brain, without passing into the nerves.

This agitation is entirely employed in reinforcing the idea of the desired object, leaving the rest of the body languid.

121. How Languor May Also Be Caused by Other Passions

Hatred, sadness, and joy can also cause languor when they are very intense.

This is because they entirely occupy the soul with the contemplation of their object.

This is particularly the case when these passions are combined with the desire for something whose acquisition is currently impossible.

However, because one dwells much more on objects willingly joined to oneself than on those separated from oneself or unrelated, and because languor does not result from surprise but requires time to form, it is found far more often in love than in any other passion.

122. Fainting

Fainting is not far removed from death, for one dies when the fire in the heart is completely extinguished. Fainting occurs when this fire is so smothered that only a trace of heat remains, which can later rekindle it.

There are many bodily conditions that can lead to fainting, but among the passions, only extreme joy is observed to have this power.

The way I believe it causes this effect is by extraordinarily opening the heart’s orifices, allowing the blood from the veins to rush in suddenly and in such large quantities that it cannot be sufficiently rarefied by the heat in time to lift the small membranes that close the entrances to these veins.

As a result, the blood smothers the fire, which it normally sustains when it enters the heart in a more measured way.

123. Why Don’t We Faint from Sadness?

Profound unexpected sadness tightly constricts the heart’s openings that it could even extinguish its fire.

However, this happens only very rarely.

This is because there is always blood in the heart that can maintain warmth when its openings are nearly closed.