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If civilization ended tomorrow, mankind would not. We would revert to whatever level of animal-ism was necessary for survival -- and rebuild civilization from there. Our opposable thumbs and prefontal cortex (or something brain-wise. Dammit Jim, I'm an animist, not an anatomist!) would demand no less.
But love is the emotional oil that makes the frustration and pain of childbirth and rearing, ultimately life's sweetest reward - and not a necessary chore to ensure the future.
If love stopped, procreating would drastically decline, death would drastically increase and mankind would become extinct.
So how would love not be the core of human existence?
Won't get much outta me ...I think it is a simple and a direct statement of an observation...which I can follow.
It could be said differently and more complicated....I like the simplicity.
I have three children, love them dearly, and wouldn't change having had them. That said, I am an animal and I can clearly see basic instincts operating in my actions, either overtly or below the surface.
Love is an evolutionary adaptation. Really, that word encompasses two different types of bonding - romantic love, which results in children, and parental love, which promotes the nurturing of one's children. In both cases, this bond is a mechanism for making copies of our genes. Both of these types of love are particularly important in Homo sapiens, because the more self-aware a creature is, the more it can game the evolutionary system, so to speak. An oak is unthinking. A fish is an instinctual automaton capable of some very simple learning. Only in a minority of mammal and avian species is there any degree of self-awareness, and even then the abstract thought necessary to overcome evolutionary impulses is all but impossible.
However, a human being has the capacity to reason out the disadvantages of having children. The come with a variety of costs. A human can rationally observe that without children they are less encumbered and can enjoy for themselves more of the resources that they somehow have to acquire (because they don't have to spend the better part of two decades sharing their time and those resources with a child).
In comes love. We seek sex. We seek romantic love, which results in sex. We see another's child and wistfully want one of our own. That's evolution's way of enticing us to make genetic copies of ourselves. Augmenting the sex drive, love brings together a potentially procreating couple. It also helps create the bonds that keep that pair together during the time required for the resulting child to become independent and that result in the nurturing of the child.
We like to think of love being a special, altruistic human attribute. But really, it's just a way for us to perpetuate our genetic legacy.
Interesting. I think sex is a primal instinct but not sure I agree with love. Love seems broader and more psychological to me than a primal instinct. I think we could all increase the amount of love we give and receive if we put in effort. Could sins driven by ego be primary instincts that prevent us from something greater?
I have kids but have never factored in genetic legacy. If its just about genetic legacy wouldn't more people donate sperm and eggs. Genetic legacy to me, seems driven more by ego and not by love.
It seems to me that lust and the desire physical pleasure are sufficient to ensure procreation.
I was originally thinking there's plenty of ways for people to prevent the procreating part, but just looked up unintended pregnancy rates in the US and it is surprisingly high - almost half of all pregnancies. So it seems like a pretty valid point.
Not if you just consider a creator. I just added my opinion of who that is.
Okay.
Thanks for leaving out us Buddhists.
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...I think it is a simple and a direct statement of an observation...which I can follow.
