Do you believe in love?

[Azuaron]

I could have a long rant about how love is rare, and hard, and takes a lot of effort. Or I could talk about my great grandpa who, after his wife died, was refused by the nursing home because he was too healthy, but died when he stopped eating because he just didn't care about life anymore. Or my wife's grandparents who usually win the "who's been married the longest" competitions and wouldn't know what to do without the other one.

Or I could follow Genericjim101's lead and let Dr. Cox do the talking for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V32g3CwDHzg John C McGinley as Dr Cox summed it up nicely : D. Love is often one of the great exceptions to most cynical people.

And to everyone using the immune system compatibility research to say that love is just a chemical reaction, you really need to understand something: there's a difference between "I like how you smell" and "I want to be with you every day for the rest of my life." If you like how the other person smells, living with them is a lot easier, but it's not a requirement, and liking the smell of someone is definitely not the same as loving them.

 

[titaniumChampion]

The bigger question is...

Humans require social interaction to feel complete, and this need can be fulfilled by friendships or more intimate relationships. Either way find joy by the people in your lives at present, forcing the existence of something just doesn't work.

 

[Yopaz]

No offense, but all these naive posts make me sick. Love is defined by humans to explain a feeling we think is unique to us. It's a result of chemical signals being secreted into our system telling us who to reproduce with. At some point we're all controlled by our chemicals and our genes.
Yeah, sometimes a friend of the same gender dies and we feel depressed over it. What is depression? A series of chemicals being secreted making us feel depressed.

Sure, the feeling is real just like any other feelings. It's what we got after countless years of evolution. The romantic idea of love is however just an idea.

 

[SageSteven]

A life without love is terrible.

Love is like oxygen!

Love is a many splendored thing!

Love lifts us up were we belong!

All you need is love!



On a personal note, you'll know when you find love as I have. His warming smile is contagious and his warm embrace is all the comfort I need no matter how bad the day gets.

 

[New Frontiersman]

I don't know if I do. I've never been in romantic love before, so I can't really be sure. One part of me does really believe in romantic love but another part tells the first one to stop being so silly. I guess I'll have to wait and find out.

I do know that I don't believe in love at first sight though, for two people to fall in love the have to spend time together and really get to know each other. Two people have to spend enough time together to grow close enough to want to spend the rest of their lives together. Love is cultivated, it doesn't just form out of nothing. I also don't believe in soul-mates, I don't think that any two people are "destined" for one another, a person should be able to find love anywhere, not just with one specific person.

It may just be chemical signals in our brains but why does that mean it's not still love?

 

[aldt]

I'm one of the most indefatigably cynical people on Earth, and even I accept that love exists. Is it a neurochemical reaction, which keeps a couple together long enough to raise their offspring to a point where it can fend for itself? Yes. Does that lessen its significance? No, of course not, don't be ridiculous. The Sun is just a gravitationally stable point of fusion, but watching it move from behind the horizon will still make you feel inspired each morning.

 

[Yopaz]

I could have a long rant about how love is rare, and hard, and takes a lot of effort. Or I could talk about my great grandpa who, after his wife died, was refused by the nursing home because he was too healthy, but died when he stopped eating because he just didn't care about life anymore. Or my wife's grandparents who usually win the "who's been married the longest" competitions and wouldn't know what to do without the other one.

Or I could follow Genericjim101's lead and let Dr. Cox do the talking for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V32g3CwDHzg John C McGinley as Dr Cox summed it up nicely : D. Love is often one of the great exceptions to most cynical people.

And to everyone using the immune system compatibility research to say that love is just a chemical reaction, you really need to understand something: there's a difference between "I like how you smell" and "I want to be with you every day for the rest of my life." If you like how the other person smells, living with them is a lot easier, but it's not a requirement, and liking the smell of someone is definitely not the same as loving them.

It's not as much as a smell that we can emulate with products such as deodorant. It's something subtle, something we don't notice ourselves. It's there and it determines a lot about who we actually end up loving. Recent research shows that some birth control pills can actually make women unable to feel the smell and will sometimes end up hating their spouse when they quit using them.

Now I am not sure if you know how smell works. There are molecules that will attach themselves to receptors that connects with your brain to give you a signal what it is. The more complex molecules causing smells are usually organic molecules that have different configurations. Such as E and Z, R and D and combinations of these two. The molecules wont always fit with out receptors since our receptors also have different configuration. I've 2 substances that were made of the same atoms and almost the same structure. However one of them were leaning the other way. I was able to smell a difference between the two, some were unable to tell them apart.
The substance in our sweat that we believe is there to help us pick who to mate with works in a similar fashion as normal molecules. However instead of activation the receptors and telling us what we smell it activates receptors that start secreting the chemicals that tell us we love the person with that particular substance in its sweat.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Love is a disgusting, malefic cankersore on the human species. It is among the most foul and horrific things imaginable, a punishment which gives one the mere illusion of happiness, when really, all that exists within the emotion is pain. I believe in it the same way I believe in war, chaos and death.

I know it's awful, but I always find your comments on this kind of thread vaguely amusing. Thank you.

As for me... Sure, I believe in love, but it's not necessary to like someone in order to love them (as evidenced by 80% + of familial love). And, as ever, it annoys me that English has more words for whore than it does love. Makes it remarkably hard to describe.

 

[Blow_Pop]

I don't like the idea of love and don't believe it. I've been hurt too much by guys who have said they "loved" me. I believe the idea exists but that's all it is. An idea

 

[The Funslinger]

Love is device invented by bank managers to make us spend all our money.

If you havn't experienced; don't judge.

That's like asking a blind man if colour is beautiful or not. Some say, nah, it's overrated, I'm happy as it is. And others say they imagine colour as being beautiful.


Love is a powerful thing. It can change lives for the better, or the worse. It's so powerful that many people fear it, but even through their fears embrace it because it's an unstoppable thing.

I can't blame you for not agreeing if you've never loved. Loving must look and sound pretty silly in your eyes.

This is well put, and in all seriousness, I do believe in it.

I don't like the idea of love and don't believe it. I've been hurt too much by guys who have said they "loved" me. I believe the idea exists but that's all it is. An idea

To be fair, guys using expressions of "love" as a way into someone's pants doesn't disprove it. It's something you would want deeply, and so it's only natural that some lesser people would use the idea of it as bait.

I'm in the "don't knock it 'til you've tried it" type, personally. What irks me is people who have only been going out for a short time claiming to love each other. "Love at first sight" is definitely just a powerful infatuation. Once you know someone deeply and intimately, then I'll take that love seriously.

 

[sivlin]

Love is an idea that you have about a person. If ever that idea proves incorrect, that is when you see people divorce and start hating their partners. Many people mistake infatuation for love and once the novelty dies they have nothing left.

I think love is a more gradual occasion than most people assume. Love at first sight just doesn't work. You have to grow as a person with someone and see their flaws and forgive them of those flaws. If you can't do that, then you should probably find someone else.

 

[Godhead]

Well seeing how nobody has posted it yet I'm going to go with Geoff Tate on this one. (Especially if you're a brainwashed junkie who is falling for a prostitute turned into nun)

 

[Korolev]

Oh it exists alright. It's just rare. Very rare. Most relationships are NOT founded on real love for each other, and of course, love is not permanent. Love exists, but it is not an all-conquering, all-powerful human emotion - it's just one of our emotions and probably not even the most powerful (I honestly think blind rage is more powerful than love as a motivator.)

Hollywood style love probably doesn't exist. A lot of the "love" that you find in songs is shallow. I can't adequately explain what love is.... and there are different types of love as well. There's the love one can have for their family members (I love my siblings and my parents very much). There's romantic love for your spouse, and then there's the love you can have for close friends. All exist, but it is important to realize that 1) it's rare 2) It's never certain and 3) It's impossible to tell 100% if someone loves you as much as you love them.

 

[KaosuHamoni]

-Le snip-

Know what I think? I think you're trollin'

 

[Madara XIII]

Love exits in the form of chemical reactions. When you meet someone you 'love', the chemicals in their sweat matches yours in the right way. You have alternating immune systems, meaning that your children will likely be healthier.
No matter how love feels, it's chemicals in you're brain doing that. Don't dismiss it, remember tah everything you feel is the result of brain chemicals.
Of course, this doesn't bring it down. Since being with someone you love makes you, and hopefully them, happy, it makes sense to pursue it and stuff.

Love exists in the form of Chemicals Reactions and in the form of CHER!!!!!

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[darkorion69]

I believe love exists. I caution lovers to always remember that it is temporary. Do not buy into the 'illusion of forever'...because when it is over...the loss of that love can break something inside of you. Those wounds take years (if ever) to heal. I want to believe (as Shakespeare said) that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. But in my darker moments I feel like the pleasures of love are not worth the pain when it is over.

 

[Madara XIII]

If you havn't experienced; don't judge.

That's like asking a blind man if colour is beautiful or not. Some say, nah, it's overrated, I'm happy as it is. And others say they imagine colour as being beautiful.


Love is a powerful thing. It can change lives for the better, or the worse. It's so powerful that many people fear it, but even through their fears embrace it because it's an unstoppable thing.

I can't blame you for not agreeing if you've never loved. Loving must look and sound pretty silly in your eyes.

"'Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all"

Sappy I know, but appropriate yes

 

[Madara XIII]

I believe in love, but not love at first sight. Love is something that has to be earned.

It is something one must cherish and constantly fight for. Like happiness it is something that must be defended.

So yeah. Love at first sight is nothing more than mere infatuation.

 

[Zaverexus]

As much as it contradicts my usual cynicism I do believe that love exists in some form.
I cede that it is an evolutionary development to promote sex and attachment for the sake of the future generation, etc. But I don't understand why that means we can't enjoy it and have a rich relationship with another person for whom you have sincere affection.