I was on the couch doing some deep breathing to calm myself down. I was not feeling well, but there was nothing that I could do about it. My face was full of confusion and pain. What is this thing called love? This magic thing called love? I ask the Lord in Heaven above, what is this thing called love? The concept of love is biosocial and psychological: genuine love, in its non-erotic form, has a physical basis in attachment, and a social psychological basis in attunement (shared awareness and identity). Romantic love involves a second physical basis, which is sexual attraction. Each of these forms can lead to overwhelming feelings. We share in each other as we share in our feelings, whether in private contemplation or public ceremonial; what is shared belongs neither to professionals nor to masses, neither to ritual solemnities nor to casual delights, nether to past nor present, but embraces all. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

A body diversely incorporating the vision of non-erotic love is intense because it conjoins attachment emotions and genuine pride, a completing of ourselves, an awareness of transcendental forces in unexplained and irreducible images. The added experience of sexual desire in erotic love means a powerful confluence of these feelings, each intense alone.  These affect and their various combinations from different types of what is called love. Criticism exists because love is endlessly fascinating, and one of the aspects that is fascinating about love is the sense of the oracular that we get from it. The fascination that the fool or the madman had for primitive loved was based on the feeling that when the ordinary consciousness was disordered or put out of action, something mysterious, awful, perhaps divine could speak in its place. As we go about our daily activities, we have neither the interest nor the resources to investigate the thousands of assumptions that we make, and to a large extent, share with other members of our society, about ourselves and the World. Just getting our activities completed is usually quite enough or a challenge. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

Nowadays, we have a similar veneration for creative minds, the word creative being fossilized religious metaphor, and have developed psychological theories about the creative nature of the subconscious or unconscious parts of the mind. These parts are usually thought of as the lower depth of the mind, corresponding to the oracular caverns of Greek religion. Only eccentrics, artists or scientists have the time and inclination to challenge everyday assumption. Any objective investigation of the emotional/relational World is sure to challenge major institutions; not only the political and economic ones, but also those dealing with family, education, and religion. Our commonsense, the shared understanding we have in these societies tells of that individuals are good, they are connected to freedom, and relationships are bad, they are connected to restraint. Love can be experienced in different modes, some excruciatingly painful because of the loss of true intimacy and community in modern societies. However, love may seem like a mystery, especially those obsessed with it. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

Our conception of anger, fear, shame, grief, contempt, disgust, and joy may be unclear, but they are transparent enough so that we can communicate about. Love is supposed to be pleasurable, and it is also, in many ways, the most important thing in life. However, many people believe that love is a painful affliction or madness, an impairment. In autumn, caught by pains of menacing death, I falter, lost in the love trance. Romantic love is the work of the Devil—it is a disease. One is lost in obsession, as a person in love unremittingly and uninterruptedly occupied with the image of the beloved. Then you reach the final torment: utter despair poisoned still further by a shred of hope. Falling in love is kind of a sickness and craziness, an illusion, a blindness to what the loved person is really like. There is both an intense desire, but love also involves intimacy and commitment. Social relationships generate love as well as other emotions, in terms of status and power. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

And I was greatly in love, baptized in the life force, was a seer of visions and a dreamer of dreams, unconsciously charming and unfailingly kind, a suffering hunter of the night who thrived only on the blood of the damned, and the company of the loving and uplifting. (The loving and the uplifting??? Like me, for instance? So the kid makes mistake. Besides, I was so in love with him that I put on a damned good show for him. And can I be damned for loving people who bring out the love in me? Is that so awful for a full-time monster? You will shortly come to understand that I am always talking about my moral evolution!) I call “fall in love” with anybody—man, woman, child, upir, the Pope. It does not matter. I am the ultimate Christian. I see God’s gifts in everyone. However, almost anyone would love him. Loving people like him was easy. Attunement involves connectedness between people, deep and seemingly effortless understanding, and understanding that one is understood. There is a sense of oneness. However, humans can easily hide their feelings and intentions, communications in ordinary language. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5