Opinion (Dmitry Zhukov, biologist): “In the Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, it is written that love is “aiming at another person, human community, or idea.” The form of love that is most interesting for the wide masses is love between two biologically unrelated people.

“This kind of love can be characterized as a mental disorder, typified by an overvalued idea in the form of another person’s attention, accompanied by a constantly changing, unstable effect. According to the International Classification of Diseases, in subsection F63.9, love often can belong to the following subgroup: ‘Disorders of habits and interests, unspecified.’

“A person in love unconsciously satisfies a range of needs. It is important to emphasize that different people can have a completely different range. Obviously, people’s desire is to satisfy a hedonistic need, that is, the need to obtain pleasure, which is in this case is often called sexual.

“Besides hedonistic love, people in love satisfy many other needs, primarily in increasing self-esteem. We often love more those people who allow us to demonstrate our merits – physical and mental. It is easy to see the fulfillment of need in the possession of a prestigious object that causes the envy of others and again increases a person’s self-esteem.

“The need for leadership, in the desire to control a situation underlies the love of mature women for young men. Often love is formed on the basis of the opposite need, in the need for submission, to follow the leader. Typically, the basis of love is the need for emotions.

“This need triggers many forms of human behaviour, but love is the most pleasant, although very expensive way to satisfy it. Among other requirements, satisfied in a state of love, we can note the need for stable social contacts. Note, that not all people have this need. This form of love is closely connected with the concept of ‘friendship.’

“As to the physiological mechanisms in love, they are unknown. More precisely, there are many descriptions of changes in the work in various systems that take place in the subjects, who claim that they are currently in a state of ‘romantic love.’ The activity of many regions of the brain, hormones, the work of the cardiovascular, digestive and other systems also change. But the mechanisms that trigger love are completely unknown. More precisely, they are purely psychological (the presence of needs) and are not studied in physiology.”

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, there is no love: there is a desire to receive pleasure. This is not only so for the human being, but all of nature: still, vegetative, and animate. The most developed part of the animate nature is the human being. Love can be only spiritual, i.e., only based on the selfless desire to give, to fulfill others. And such a property may occur in a person only under the influence of the Upper Light, the property of bestowal. The implementation of the wisdom of Kabbalah allows us to attract its influence on us.
[130144]

Related Material:
Evolutionary Biology Of Love
Love: A Habit And Impulse Disorder?
True Love Is Expressed Through Bestowal

Filed under: Man and Woman | Add Comment →