I'm just in the mood for a bit of pseudo-philosophical waxing after reading the "do you have to be 18+ to know love" thread, so bear with me.

Love. Something that can feel so real and beautiful sometimes, and seem so contrived and completely foolish at other times. When you're in love with someone, you don't know what the fuck it is - think about it. Can you truly quantify with words that amazing feeling; can you really express the beauty of it? No. Well, at least I can't.

But when you've been burned, or you're just not looking, love seems to take on another form. A little reality check is in order first, before I extrapolate:

Humans are just animals. We're very intelligent animals. Many, if not all, of our modern behaviorisms, when given a little thought, have their counterparts in the animal kingdom, or in the behavior of our lesser-evolved ancestors. A few examples:

Why is it that women tend to be attracted to men who are big, well-toned and strong, and why do they find intelligence so attractive? Let's not kid ourselves here: There are very few women out there who will pick the fat, slovenly moron over the muscular, tall drink of water with the 140 IQ. Anyway, that is because the female animal seeks the protection from the male animal. She admires his strength; it gives her security. His height, strength, etc, were all factors in our early ancestor's mating. It's pure instinct. The modern woman has all these animal instincts deeply wired within her, whether she realizes it or not. Early woman would choose the man who could both outwit and outfight his game; modern woman is the very same, although not in the same survivalist way. She still seeks the protection of his strength, and the security that comes with knowing he can think his way around a problem instead of slog through it head-on. Though, on the other side of the token; should he have to slog through it head-on, she wants him to have the brawn too.

As for man: How come so many of us are so overtly sexual; why do so many of us like big breasts? More deeply-rooted instinctualisms. The male animal was the one with the charge, the dominant one; the one who was expected to carry on his lineage, and was programmed to do so. The women simply cared for the offspring. As sexist as this sounds, it's true. There was no National Organization of Women or women's television stations in those times. Everyone accepted their role and knew that they needed to cooperate to survive, but I digress. The male animal has so much sexual charge because of that god-given instinct to procreate. He's suppose to seek out more than one partner and have as many children as possible to better humankind's chance of survival. Now, why big breasts? This is a simple one: It was an early, instinctual indicator of how capable she was of caring for his young.

What the fuck is my point, and what does this have to do with love? Give me a second.

When you're with that special person, you feel secure, you feel passionate, you feel perfect, you feel beautiful. That's the best way it can be described. But what are you really feeling? Where does that security come from? I'm of the opinion that they are highly evolved versions of the same old instincts - that "I feel so safe in your arms" kind of talk is simply the instinctual security manifesting itself in a new form. That sexual passion you feel for your partner - that's your desire to procreate, and you're with your instinctually ideal mate; the one who's most capable all-around.

Again, what the fuck is my point? This is the hard, cold reality of it: Love is pure contrivance. Love is not an instinct; love is a nasty by-product of humankind's instinctual evolution. Man's desire to create young and care for them right has suddenly become this urge to find "The one" and live the American Dream. Woman's instinctual security in the presence of the male animal's height/strength/intelligence has become monogamy; the erroneous belief that you are morally corrupt if you seek/find this security in more than one person. It's rather sad, really, but it begs the question: How could something unreal become so goddamn ingrained in humankind's collective consciousness? How come love affects each and every human at one point or another in their lives? This now makes love both real and unreal; love is a paradox. How come love hurts us more deeply than anything else can, and also brings us higher than heaven itself? WHY does such a contrived thing as love end up so real in the end?

As I said, love is highly evolved instinct. Highly evolved and often flawed, but perhaps no less real, and yet very unreal. Like I said, a paradox. Perhaps the greatest paradox in the history of time.

Now, you the reader may be thinking I've given up on love - no. I love love, so to speak; it feels like nothing else. It hurts too, when it goes sour. Many times, I just want to say "Fuck it, no more relationship bullshit, I'm going to go find a sexy woman, form a basic, 'this is purely physical' understanding with her, and proceed to pick her up and fuck her hard against the wall until she's shaking, sweating, and crying out for more until she comes". There is a certain comforting simplicity in such a thing, but for some reason, it just doesn't feel right if you're not in love with the person, however unreal love may seem. That's not to say sex can't be great without being in love, but for those who have had the same amazing sex with the man/woman of their dreams will understand me when I say that you two will reach the stars, and beyond, together. No, you'll go past them. You'll taste heaven, and then you'll rise above it together.

And that's just when you're having sex - that's only a small part of the passion that is felt. And that is why I endure the intense drama of relationships.

Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic. Or a poet. Or an idiot. I'm not really sure, and it doesn't matter, either. I won't give up on love for those reasons. There are always fuck buddies, but I'm not going to give up on the chance of finding that one special woman. Love may be an evolved, oft-erroneous by-product of ancient human-animal instinct, but as I said, this makes it no less real in the end, no matter how unreal it may seem.

And that's the best I can describe it.

-Infrared

Love is normally a unique thing.

Some can't stop thinking about the object of their affection...Some are just happy not thinking about it too much because they are safe in the knowledge they are in love!

My look on love is as follows:

Love is for the weak...It is needing somebody else to make you happy...It sidetracks you from your true potential because you have another person's well-being to think of.

Fuck love!

I was thinking about what love is the other night and have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter. If you're happy with another person it doesn't matter if it's love. Stop thinking about it and learn to live it, because most likely it will end, and probably soon. So just enjoy it without caring what it is.

When I figure it the hell out, you guys will be the first to know.

Love is an emotion it is something you feel. Trying to understand love is like trying to understand why we have any other emotions. It is something we feel. Much like any other emotion or feeling. You can control love to an extent but you do not have control over wether or not you feel them. If that makes any sense. Pretty much you have no power over if you have feelings or not you just do. But you can learn how to keep them under control so as not to loose yourself to your emotions. An example that may help is Anger. You can not control if you feel anger but you can control how you act on it and handle it. The same goes for love.

Take Care,

Kangy

You feel what you feel. Does it really matter why?

Yes, because whoever can figure it out can figure out how to make it into a pill, and then we can all be in love all the time.

Just like soma...

Mmmm... soma...

Pure love cannot be truly explained.

It would take beyond many life times to even get a clue on what it is.

There is a love pill...It's called ecstacy...Too bad it has a load of other effects!!!

quote:orinally posted by infrared:

How could something unreal become so goddamn ingrained in humankind's collective consciousness?



enter hallmark.

I believe love (the romantic kind) is just when someone gives you something you need emotionally that no one else can. Pretty simple, really.

Pretty much all this has made sense too. In spite of the thread title, I wasn't exactly asking the question; more like trying to answer it somewhat. Of course I know I can't entirely, for the reasons Kangy, Spiff and other mentioned. All I pointed out are just base things in my opinion, but I do know there's something more, that's why this isn't a "fuck love" thread.

I'm just too analytical for my own good.

-Infrared

Yargh. I'm bitter and burned, so I am just going to leave it at "Be careful"

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all..

NO.

If you never watch TV, and someones like HEY! You can never watch TV again! You will be like, um ok?

If you love watching TV, and someones like haha no more TV for you! You will be like CMON MAN!!! Waht teh fux0rs?! (Your anger will bring out the newb inside)

So in conclusion:

Read the above. It's like a conclusion

quote:Originally posted by SephirothAngelus:

So in conclusion:

Read the above. It's like a conclusion

Can I use that? I like that...

LOVE WILL HURT YOU. PERIOD.

DO NOT LET YOUR WALL BE BROKEN DOWN. NEVER.

BECAUSE ONCE YOU LET SOMEONE BREAK THROUGH IT, YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO PUT IT BACK UP AGAIN.