Can love be logical?

Love is many things none of them logical.
~William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Kaylene at Quotography chose Bride as this week’s theme. Unfortunately, this come two weeks too early for me as I won’t have any good pics of a bride until the June 15th wedding I’m attending. So, I’ve improvised….yet again…and chose a quote from the cult movie, Princess Bride.

What exactly is love? Really, when you think about it, it’s almost impossible to explain with any real success. It’s a feeling; an emotion. Well, yeah. But why? How? Logic is never really part of the equation when it comes to love. Yet, as humans, we all experience this illogical state of heart mind.

What makes us feel this sensory overload for one person and not another?
Why do we love someone despite them not loving us?
Why do we love the wrong sort of person?
Why do we feel different types of love?

For some, love is explained as a chemical reaction. Neurobiological research on romantic love discovered an increase dopamine and other specific chemicals, which plays a role in the stimulus/reward system of the brain. So, love can be explained as a chemical process built on trust, belief, pleasure, and reward, involving chemicals like oxytocin, vasopressin, dopamine, and serotonergic signaling.

Simple. Glad we can put that question to rest.

Or can we?

Yes, we humans are part of the animal kingdom, and we display many animal-type behaviors. We’re all born by the same physiological process; all must eat to survive; seek warmth or coolness for comfort; procreate to ensure future generations; display flight or fight tendencies; feel nurturing responses towards our young. But can we say we are just like animals in all respects?

The fact is that there are cultural phenomena in human beings that have no counterparts in lower animal behavior; mainly right-brain activities. Creativity is one of them. Love is another. After all, there are so many types of love….Eros (romantic), Phileo (friendship), storage (affection) and agape (unconditional). Can they all be explained in simple, physiological, neurological terminology?

The heart has reasons that reason doesn’t know. ~Blaise Pascal

 

It’s logical to want to be loved. But that’s where the logic ends.

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