What is Love?

Valentine’s day is almost upon us again, and while the shops are filled with heart shaped candy, balloons, teddies etc all adorned with hearts and declarations of love, it has made me stop and think.
This will be the first valentines’ in 7 years I have spent alone, the first in 7 years that I haven’t recieved a card whereby I am promised an eternity of love and affection “for ever and ever”. (Which of course, lasted all of 6 years ¬_¬)

So I’ve been thinking – What exactly is “Love” and why do we place such high value on it?!

Many people argue feverently that love is an emotion which is both pure and happy, it is something to be cherished, something wonderful. I tend to look at it as a bio-chemical response to stimuli. Nothing more than a hormone production inside our own bodies, aiming to facilitate the natural instinct to procreate. We mate with those who’s features compliment ours to ensure maximum percentage chance of successful copulation, ultimately culminating in the best possible permutation for our offspring in terms of looks (again – the appeal on others to procreate and continue the human species) and that of intelligence (ensuring the maximum chance of a successful, happy life, thus extending the quality of life, and in effect, the life expectancy of our offspring) We say we “love” this person, but it is merely just a physical connection, forged so that we can ensure they stay close to us. It is this bond, this closeness which all but guarantess our “claim” to their genes.

Are we destined to be with one person? Do each of us have one “soulmate” whom we are destined to be with for our entire lives? There was a time when I thought this to be true, however I cannot say that I support this theory anymore. As individuals, we are just too complex for just one person to be fully complimentary to us. We are many faceted, too complex for even ourselves to understand – how can we as individuals expect just one other person to equally match that? It is illogical to believe for a moment that we can settle for being with just one person. If this were to be true, then why would we fall in and out of love so easily and so flippantly as we do.