37
In matters of love, Knights seek to follow the example of pure, chaste Galahad. For Knights, love is fraught with peril. Many Knights believe the desires of the heart must be guarded against because the heart is not trustworthy to lead one down the right path.
For religious Knights, following one’s heart might mean abandoning God’s will in favor of one’s own selfish desires. Passions are dangerous, and must be defended against, because they come from the wiles of Satan rather than the will of God. Knights may even say that they pursue “not what I want, but what God wants.”
Knights struggle against their passions to preserve their integrity.
- Like Galahad, who resisted the temptations of beautiful nymphs in the forest that sought to entice him away from his quest for the Grail.
- Like Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, whose love was pure in the Koran’s telling, who sacrifice their relationship out of devotion to God. In the Old Testament’s telling, Joseph flees her efforts to seduce him out of his devotion to God.
- Like Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, who turned his love Brigid O’Shaughnessy over to the police for the murder of his private detective partner Miles Archer rather than running away with her.
Knights view Jesus or other divine figures as the ultimate Knight—the ultimate example of obedience to divine principle. For Knights, correctness trumps love.