LOVE IS A DRUG BY SAMI HASSAN

LOVE IS A DRUG 

BY SAMI HASSAN

I don't care what people say

The rush is worth the price I pay

I get so high when you're with me

But crash and crave you when you leave me 

Those are the lyrics of the song” Your Love Is My Drug”, but here are some scientific fun facts: 

1. Falling in love is similar to taking a dose of cocaine, both experiences affect the brain similarly and trigger a similar sensation of euphoria. 

2. Love can lead to serious infatuations. The same levels of serotonin that brings about the infatuations are found in those with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is an anxiety disorder. What are you afraid of? There is practically a phobia for everything and believe it or not love is no exception, it is called Philophobia and it is the fear of falling in love. 

3. Cuddling triggers the same neurological reaction as taking painkillers. If you have a slight headache, it might be worth to just cuddle with your significant other for a while, the reason being that when you cuddle or simply embraced in any way by someone you love, the hormone, oxytocin, is released and acts as a sort of natural painkiller. Even looking at a picture of loved one can be enough to relieve the pain. 

4. Couples who are in love synchronise their heart rate after gazing into each other’s’ eyes for three minute also their brain patterns. Those stomach-flipping butterflies you feel when you see someone you love is the body’s physical stress response, caused by the release of adrenalin. 

5. When you fall in love you lose two close friends, romantic partners usually absorb the time that would otherwise be spent with friends and thus friendships have a tendency to slowly fade away. 

       So is love anything like a drug? Well biologically speaking love is a powerful neurological condition much like hunger or thirst only more permanent, when you are truly in love the brain releases a whole set of chemicals like pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. What is interesting about this though is that love is more or less like a drug and it’s exactly like a drug when you are going through a breakup. 

       Researchers have found that for heartbroken men and women looking at photographs of former loved ones activated regions in the brain associated with physical pain and intense cocaine addiction. In fact the withdrawal symptoms can be so bad that your body releases chemicals that significantly weakens your heart to the point where you could have a heart attack, you could actually die just by losing someone you love, it is something called broken heart syndrome. So be aware that heartbreak is real for intense or traumatic events, such as break ups, divorce, physical distance, or the loss of a loved one. 

       For as long as I can remember, I have had a soft spot for love and melancholy. And I think those two things are intimately interrelated. Love and sadness exists in the same space, there is a reason the film maker Cameron Crow use the term ‘happy-sad” to describe those moments that moves us that swell us that we become engorged with emotions. And Roland Barthes explored this beautifully in his book, “A Lover’s Discourse” there are a couple of lines that goes like this “the first thing we love is a scene, which is seen for the first time, a curtain parts, and what have been seen is devoured by the eyes. It is distinct, abrupt, framed, it is already a memory”. There is a reason Roland cites love as “the romantic solution to the problem of death”. As Jason Silva explains it “our lover act as stand-ins in a staged, managed resurrection where the pilgrim without faith can die and live again. These death and reborn simulation allows us to be saved by our loved ones”. And as Albert Camus says “life should be lived to the point of tears”. So I say to you my dears “fall in love or die trying”. 

       I think we talked around what "Love" is and more about how we feel it. But there's a deeper application of the concept that we missed completely. It's the difference that changes how people will live in the world and the future. I wonder how many people will know where this is quoted from, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, and does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury." Clearly, Love is identified by personal behaviour. It is an intent. An expression, action, that inspires the feelings of trust and or adoration that leads to all the feelings that we feel. But it's not about what "I" feels. It's about what "I" expresses. Love is something we do...show. Not something to get. When we Love, then we feel all the feelings of intense affection, bliss, and trust/faith, emotional and physical security.When everyone is showing Love everyone experiences a piece of mind and success. However, in the world we live in people have many different ideas of what they want to feel, and when they have that feeling they call it Love. 

       People "Love" objects, though objects are unable to express Love. But here's something to think about. The concept of Love is connected to purpose and a superior understanding of human existence. And what I mean by that is, that Love has everything to do with why we are here and how we came into existence in the first place. Philosophers meander about what Love is, because it's not a natural idea for humans and it's elusive in circles that rely on their limited human perspective for answers about who we are. Their conclusions are wordy, confident and enthusiastic, and sound good. But upon deeper consideration and examination, are actually convoluted in their parts. 

       Understanding the truth about Love will change the world. Because God is Love and he tells us the Truth about himself. When we're connected to him we are connected to everything. When we are not connected to him we are not "kind", we are jealous, we boast and brag and get puffed up with pride; we behave indecently, we look out for ourselves first and our own interests. When we are disconnected from him we become provoked, resentful and vengeful. The only "Love" that exists in a human environment without God, is the philosophical delusion of it. And when we don't have accurate knowledge about the Truth about Love, we behave contrary and cause ourselves pain and grief. 

       Although it makes me feel like love is the ultimate goal of humanity, as one who has only once known romantic love it does leave me with a sense of melancholy. My body and mind act as if in withdrawal from a drug I've never tried. My arms ache to hold someone, my heart yearns to beat in rhythm with another, my mind silently screams to hear anything other than the echoes of my own lonely thoughts. Desperate for a fix of kindness, caring and comfort I sink into the mesmer of media. Reading, internet, YouTube, movies, television but in the end all ultimately unsatisfying. All this hardware can do nothing, where a simple touch executed by millions, billions each and every day would be the cure to my ailment. 

       Love may be a drug but I don't see it equivalent to cocaine, more like a vaccine for the disease of loneliness.