Frankl lays down a principle of psycho-sexual maturity: the merging of the physical with the spiritual in a partner relationship. What begins as an instinct and an aimless urge is later directed toward a specific person. The process of maturity leads to a single partner that the person loves, wherein the sexual relationship is an expression of that love.
He lists three types of men who fail to make this synthesis. One type, resentful of women because of disappointment in the past, is focused only on pleasure for its own sake. Another never developed a caring and loving relationship and doesn’t believe in the possibility of love. A third type, remaining isolated, relates to women neither as loving partners nor as sex objects. They don’t exist for him at all.
As in other areas of life, turning pleasure into the goal leads to disappointment. When the aim is striving for pleasure and happiness, there is no immediacy of intention in the relationship. The person is an object, a means to the end of pleasure.
In contrast, maturity in relationships is characterized by immediacy and genuineness. What people want is a reason to be happy, a relationship with someone that they feel spiritually connected to.
At the end of this section Frankl discusses the need for a three-pronged trusting relationship when educating young people toward maturity in their relationships. The young person has to trust in his educator, the educator has to trust in him and the young person has to trust in himself. I imagine that these three aspects of trust are intertwined. (p. 160-175)