Is romance a biological need?
Romantic love, researchers said today, is a biological urge distinct from sexual arousal.Its neural profile appears more similar to drives like hunger, thirst or drug craving than to emotional states like excitement or affection.
Falling in love seems to activate portions of the brain involved in longing, desire and the unexplainable tug that people feel toward one person out of many possible partners.
The emotional highs and lows of new love--including the "expansion of the self" that occurs as a person incorporates the new lover into his or her internal sense of being--appears biologically given, a part of our created nature.
One could argue, if so inclined, that God wants us to feel crazy when we fall in love . . . and wants us to want someone so badly.
There's a lot to chew on here in terms of anthropology, imago Dei, and the purpose of romantic relationships . . . lots more than I've got time for at the moment!
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Tuesday, May 31, 2005
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