A few weeks ago I started reading Why We Love by anthropologist Helen Fisher. In this book the chemistry and biology involved in the feeling of romantic love are measured and explained scientifically. It has been interesting to examine these physical aspects, but it made me consider the deeper meaning and desire for romance. What do we really want from a significant other? Maybe its
security. A hand to hold when we are
scared or lonely, someone in our bed to save us from our nightmares, a trophy
to hold up to the world and declare our worth. Maybe we want companionship.
Someone who will walk with us to class, a body to fill the plus one on that
wedding invitation, a person to laugh with when Tyra Banks tries to sound
intelligent. Or maybe we want relationships simply because we do. Because we
are drawn to people for reasons that we might never understand, because the
sound of that one person’s name erases all other thought, because your life has
a gravity all its own when the pull of love starts to win over the pull of
everything else. Of course there are chemicals and hormones and raging mood swings involved, but I also think there is something bigger than biology. The myth of love pervades these simple explanations and reveals to us that the body does not rule the soul.
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