by
Syed Ibrahim Rizvi
Perhaps the most wonderful sounding sentence in human language is ‘I love you’. Boys yearn to say this and girls swoon to hear these three words.
Why indeed is love such an exhilarating feeling that a mere mention of this emotion makes the heart beat faster and one is overwhelmed with a strange sense of joy?
Scientists have explored the physiological reactions that take place in the brains of the two sexes when they feel the emotion of romantic love.
It is now known that the feeling of ‘love’ is dictated by the chemical reactions which take place in the brain of two individuals.
According to science, the feeling of romantic love is due to the effect of a chemical cocktail that surges in the brain of two individuals who are in the process of making a lifelong bond, this chemical cocktail makes the brain experience a feeling of happiness and pleasure.
The pleasure part of love starts with the excitation of the part of the human brain known as the ‘reward center’.
All pleasurable things including good food, music, a company of friends, and success, act by exciting the reward center which makes the brain secrete a chemical known as dopamine. This release of dopamine is the beginning of the feeling of happiness.
The initial release of dopamine is followed by several other chemicals such as adrenaline which makes the heart beat faster.
The increase in the heartbeat causes blushing which is the result of more blood reaching the cheeks.
The eyes dilate and the brain loses its power of logic. The cumulative effect of these surreal physiological changes is perhaps the reason why it is said that ‘love is blind’.
Another hormone named oxytocin then takes over the brain and acts to create a bond between the two individuals who are in love.
Romantic love is the beginning of the cycle of reproduction and for humans, it invariably culminates in marriage which in all cultures is a precondition for the reproductive event.
It is indeed true that after the act of reproduction has been accomplished, the feeling of premarital romantic love gives way to a relationship categorized by a bond that is different than ‘romantic love’.
This, albeit jokingly, explains the difference between a girlfriend and a wife!
Surprisingly the emotion of love so beautifully explains the eternal question: what is the purpose of life? Since the time humans have started to think and contemplate, this question has always fascinated mankind. What indeed is the purpose of life? As one goes deep into this question, there are innumerable explanations.
All religions provide some answer to this question, some talk about the glorification of God while others reason that it is a means to break the cycle of reincarnation.
Philosophers also have answers but always in abstract terms. Socrates believed that the ultimate goal of human existence is not just to live but to live a good, meaningful, and virtuous life.
A careful examination of these definitions of life does not fully answer what is the purpose of life. Why does every organism take birth, attain your,h, and then become old?
We must fallback on the biological point of view. Biologically the basic purpose of life, as explained by Charles Darwin, is the basic need oforgenetic survival, or explained in basic terms, it is the continuity of life.
Darwin said that living organisms are wired to reproduce, and nature has provided basic mechanisms whereby the act of reproduction is instinctive and pleasurable in humans! The most important thing is the aspect of pleasure.
Imagine a condition if there had been no pleasure in the act of reproduction. The human race would have perished long back.
Talking of love, and not mentioning the vast literature of poetry and prose focused on romantic love would be considered no less than a sin. History is replete with anecdotes of romantic love stories. If love had been any less exciting, the tales of Laila-Majnoo, Romeo-Juliet, and Shirin-Farhad would not have survived the test of time.
It is interesting that while romantic love is entirely a creation of the human brain, poets have always used the heart to explain this beautiful emotion. The use of the word ‘dil’ concerning ‘romantic love’ in Urdu poetry has indeed evoked infinite meanings. To give one’s ‘dil’ to someone is too well accepted to be a synonym for being in love. Aa broken heart is an accepted acronym for a romantic break. Who can forget K L Saigal’s immortal song ‘Jab dil hi toot gaya, hum jeeke kya karenge’.
It is thus of extreme importance that humans should not classify the emotion of love as some kind of guilt. The joy of being in love is a cherished feeling. Life will indeed be extremely boring without romantic love. New research has shown that the ‘pleasure’ chemical in the brain, dopamine, maintains cognitive function in the brain and also acts as an anti-aging compound. Within the accepted limits of culture, the expression of love remains the most beautiful emotion for mankind.
(The author is Professor of Biochemistry at University of Allahabad)
