 Using the Augustinian concept of free consent as the kernel of his view of a chosen love attitude, Aelred argues that this love may be based on affect, reason, or both. Love arises from affect when the higher part of the soul gives consent to affect, and it arises from reason when the will joins itself to a representation of reason; in the third form of love, love, reason, and will are fused into one. “The first is pleasant but dangerous; the second is harsh but fruitful; the third having the advantages of the other is perfect” (Mirror 3.20, 48). He remarks that in loving what we ought to love, we love more intensely with the sweetness of affect than without it.