[Public]

[hiccup_ninja]

Why do people feel the need to love? To forge bonds and friendships with other human beings?

...I'm still trying to understand this. I want to know.

Comments

[windsofdaytime]

I don't know.

[hiccup_ninja]

That is of no help to me.

[windsofdaytime]

I don't care. You asked.

[murcielago]

Any form of social interaction between humans is either to promote closeness for protection, due to there being 'safety in numbers', or as a precursor to breeding.

If you are strong enough to survive, there is little need, or point, in forging bonds of love or friendship.

[hiccup_ninja]

Hm. I see. That still does not help me very much though. I agree that I find little point in social interactions, but still I feel a morbid curiousity about it that will not leave me alone. It's...rather frustrating.

[murcielago]

You asked the reason, I gave it to you.

If you need the empirical proof, try it for yourself and stop asking other people ridiculous questions. If all you wished was agreement or more confusion in kind, you should have stated such.

[Ulquiorra | unhackable] I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. /smacked

[scaredbrilliant]

What, then, causes one who is more than strong enough to survive alone to protect one who isn't?

The answer seems unlikely to involve breeding, though by all means correct me if I'm wrong.

[son_of_the_lake]

I'm still working on that myself. I was very much alone as a child, and it's taken a long time to begin to trust others. I thought I was strongest in isolation, but I wasn't. It was simply that I had nothing to lose. In the end, I unlocked the door. It has not been easy. But I will never go back to trying to be my own fortress.

[hiccup_ninja]

...It would seem that we are quite similar then.

So...having bonds with others makes you stronger? But doesn't that mean that you also have something precious to lose?

[son_of_the_lake]

I get the feeling we are.

I think it does. For me there's a paradox, though. I don't feel strong most of the time. It's only when I stop and think about it that I know that I am. I take more risks. I understand more. I go beyond myself. I wouldn't be doing that except for the bonds and the possible bonds that are at stake.

And yes, loss is the price, sometimes. Everybody who loves, pays it.

[hiccup_ninja]

...It sounds like a very heavy price to pay.

Is it worth it though?

[Gaara|Hard to Hack]

[fallingjunkyard]

Do you feel the need to love?

[Joshua|Hard to Hack]

[hiccup_ninja]

....I believe so.

[Gaara|Hard to Hack]

[fallingjunkyard]

For some, it's simply their nature to love. For others, there are many other reasons. A dream based upon a romanticised idea of love. A need to feel wanted, a need to feel special. People can be rather self-centered like that. What's your reason?

[Joshua|Hard to Hack]

[hiccup_ninja]

...All my life love has been one of those things I had heard of, but never felt for myself. I had been doomed to live as an unfeeling, unwanted demon and I've never believed I was anything different. I had simply resigned myself to the idea of just living until I died, and never knowing things like love or bonds or friendship.

But now...I have the opprotunity to feel love, and I even have someone who is willing to love me in return. In fact, he already does. But I doubt my own capabilities. I don't want to hurt him anymore than I already have.

[scaredbrilliant]

There is no real "why" behind it, because we're not purely rational creatures to begin with. I could give you some of the neurological or sociological explanations (though all of them are still full of holes), but I don't think that's what you're asking.

The point is that the need is there, and it makes us happier and more mentally healthy to have it fulfilled. How much that's worth compared to other considerations, and how to do it relatively safely, are more complicated questions.