One Love...

Now, I had a very interesting conversation yesterday...and I wanted to share it with you. The other half shall remain anonymous. I'm blue.

"[in reference to my blog]In deed, though I do disagree with some of it."

"Did you even read the whole thing?"

"Yes."

"Then explain how you disagree."

"While you are correct on "Love" being a feeling that God wants us to have equally to everyone (that is, as you said so eloquently, that the the love we have for our family "is the SAME LOVE that we should have for hobos.")
I agree with that part, but when you get to the butterflies I become wary. You see, the love between a newly wedded wife and husband if COMPLETELY different then the love of a couple on their 50th anniversary. But it is still love.
Do you get what I am saying?"

"kindof. But in essence, it is the same love. You're stereotyping. Just cuz you're old doesn't mean that you don't get the same butterflies. You've been through more."

"But it isn't the same love! A newly wed will have roaring chemicals of dopamine flying through their brain, but an elderly couple probably (unless they are lucky) won't, instead basing their relationship off oxy-something."

"Love isn't about the chemicals in your brain, silly. But I get what you're saying. But that wasn't even what I was talking about in my blog. Love changes with the situation, but only in the sense that it should get stronger. If it doesn't, you didn't really love the person in the first place. You were attracted to them, but you didn't LOVE them."

"yes it is..."

"Did you even LISTEN to my side of the argument?? Cuz you're not getting my side of it. You have to get that Love is NOT a feeling. It doesn't matter what the chems in your brain produce. It produces FEELINGS of love. It doesn't produce love. (if it did, don't you think some idiot would've bottled it and sold it in a store? Eau de Amor.)"

"I agree with you completely, love isn't a feeling but that doesn't mean it doesn't rely on the chemicals your brain produces. I would equate love to more of a "drive" just like being hungry or thirsty. Those two drives produces feelings, but they aren't in themselves. and yes, I can make a man fall out of love with his wife if you give me the proper drugs. Seriously. I can do it."

"...God put the chemicals there, no?"

"Well... God designed all the machinery that produced the chemicals there and it can be assumed that something such as the soul controls those machines that produce and react to the chemicals."

"Okay. God created the chemicals. God created the implementation of the chemicals. Therefore: God created love. He IS love. If you don't agree with that, then you are most definitely wrong and any argument that you had before loses its significance."

"Well of course I agree with that, but I still think you are wrong to condemn ALL "compartmentalization" of love...My argument is quite simple. The love between a man and his wife IS TOTALLY different then the love between a brother and a sister, but the love between a brother and a hobo should not be different from the love of a brother and sister. Ask the Greeks. They had at least 7 different words to describe it."

"Okay, well, last night, I thought about this message. The question was "What is the difference between the love between a man and his wife vs. a brother and a sister?" The answer? Romantic feelings. That's what you've been talking about this whole time. Romantic feelings is not love either. The chemicals in your brain create the romantic feelings that make you feel like you're "in love". We don't have romantic feelings for God...or our parents, or our brother/sister. You're associating romantic feelings with love, and that's not true. You can have romantic feelings for a person without actually loving them, and you can love someone without having romantic feelings for them."


Now, I'm really glad I had this conversation. It's exactly what I wanted when I wrote my last blog. I'm dedicating the month of July to follow up on my subject of "What is Love?"

I really don't have anything to add if you read and and fully understood the depth of the conversation.