Love can be the best thing in the world, but it can also be the worst. While the two are often associated with the same thing – the bliss of being young – the lines between love and hate are sometimes thin. Both of these strong emotions reside in the same part of the brain. Nevertheless, they can switch at the drop of a hat. The reality is that love is a natural phenomenon that persists in every part of the world.
The English language recognizes seven different kinds of implicit bonds in the word love. For example, love can refer to the satisfaction of basic appetite, a desire to develop a close relationship, or an emotional attachment formed over extended contact. Love can also refer to objects. A fourth conception of love describes an intentionally chosen attitude or disposition to act in a beneficial way. This idea is formally expressed in marriage ceremonies as the commitment to love one another. If you’re not in a relationship with someone, love is a feeling you have for someone you want to be with.
Psychologist Lee identifies three different types of love. The first is erotic love, which emphasizes the physical attraction and intense intimacy, while the second, pragma, is more self-sacrificing. In pragma love, the other person’s needs and feelings come first. Despite the difference in these love styles, both partners are still in a relationship – and that’s a sign of unconditional love.
When people are in love, they show pictures of their loved ones to activate the same brain areas. The same thing happens for people addicted to drugs. When the person they love is adversified, they begin to withdraw and relapse. The effects of adversity on the person you love is heightened by the stress of being in love. This may also explain why love and addiction are often linked. There is evidence to support this theory.
What is love? Love is an emotion accompanied by many feelings and behaviors. It is an experience of happiness experienced at the level of the mind. When we feel love, we feel at one with the Universe. It is a blissful feeling without worry, pain, or time. Those who experience love will know what it is when they experience it. The question is, why do we love? The answer lies in how we perceive our partner. Love is the most powerful feeling in the world.
While it may seem obvious that love is an emotion that should be pursued for its benefits, it is only recently that the subject of love has been studied. Although Sigmund Freud and others argued that it should be studied, most of the early explorations of love were met with considerable criticism. For example, U.S. Senator William Proxmire mocked the research as a waste of taxpayer dollars. But the benefits of love research cannot be ignored.