Love and Chemistry

Consider the frog.

I am a homo sapiens, but 7 million years ago, I wasn't too far from a frog, blissfully croaking in the primordial soup. It's a wonder to think how I've evolved, from that simple life, to the teeming stew of hormones and electronic impulses that stands before you today. Consider what those hormones and impulses in the Homo Sapiens have wrought: civilizations, armies, architecture. Symphonies and operas. Oceans of love and hate, desire, envy, pain, euphoria.

Is any of it really "real" ? Or is it all just perception created by chemistry? For example, when I feel emotional pain, can I not ease it by telling myself it's just a reaction to stimuli? By recognizing the reaction can I not control it? I think that's pretty much the foundation of modern psychology.

I vote for the hypothesis of time being just a theory, and emotion just a synaptic byproduct. I don't think Love is "real". And it's not divine. Just as Bi-Polar disorder is no longer considered a satanic possession, rather a recognized and proven imbalance of brain chemicals. That's all love is. A bodily function and nothing more.

Sometimes I wonder if the emotions are even worth having to begin with. Love, Hate. Yes I have experienced both. But why bother? No one ever knows how they're going to respond to them anyway. It's most inefficient if you think about it, and must certainly be counter-productive to the advancement of our race- Love definitely doesn't fit with Natural Selection. Few people can completely suppress their emotions. The vast majority are, instead, controlled by them.

So if it's all just in the chemistry, then why can't they invent a drug to make us feel like we're in love, or one to help you fall out of love without the pain of withdrawal? I think it would make the world a better place. Those who want love could have it, and those who don't, won't. Instead of being ruled by your endocrine system, you could truly be master of your emotions.

I know, I know...I can hear the romantics from here, crying for the loss of humanity.

Would that really be a bad thing? I think I have some "humanity" to spare.

If I were to suppress my feelings would I really suppress my humanity? I am flesh and blood. I still bleed. I got here the usual way, and I will go the same as everyone before me. That's humanity enough. I can do without the rest.

After all is said and done...it might not be so bad to just be a frog.