>>The Oxford dictionary defines love as a strong feeling of affection, which whilst

being one of the attributes- is incredibly vague.

>>You can love something but don’t have to feel an overbearing affinity towards it.

>>I mean I love drinking and playstation but it doesn’t mean I’m in love with them.

>>Or does it?

>>So- what does it mean to be in love? Well The Guardian did a great article on this

in December 2012, and at the time of writing ‘What Is Love?’ was the most popular search

on google. Who knew Haddaway had such an extensive fan

base.

>>They asked 5 people what their definition of love was including a psychotherapist, a

physicist and a nun.

>>The psychotherapist deconstructed the variants of love and found you can’t find the emotional

resonance with one significant other. For example- philautia. Self-love.

Not- not- self-love. You know, like an emotional resonance with

yourself. The great philosopher aristotle found that

if you can’t care for yourself, then your not going to be able to care for others.

>>So if you’re feeling down on yourself, give yourself a break because- you deserve

it.

>>We all deserve a bit of philautia.

>>Am I the only one realising it sounds like fellatio?

>>The nun took a sweeter approach, describing love as life’s greatest blessing.

More easily experienced than described. Easier said than done.

>>Theoretical physicist Jim Alkalili shed a little bit more light on the process and

I ran out of costumes.

>>He explained love as chemistry, a neurological condition like hunger or thirst.

Wow! That’s a little bit daunting.

But there’s a little bit of truth to it. Let’s look at the biology of love.

>>Studies in neuroscience have took a look at the chemicals active in the brain during

love such as testosterone, oestrogen, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin.

>>The neuroscience looks at love as a game of two halves including sexual attraction

and attachment. Well guys- we already know what happens when

you get sexually aroused. We produce high levels of testosterone which

is pivotal to sperm development, so let’s take a look at attachment.

>>Butterflies in your stomach? That might be serotonin.

>>And that might not be your stomach doing somersaults. Approximately 90% of your bodies

serotonin is located in enterochromaffin cells in the alimentary canal better known as the

gut.

>>So you’ve gone with your gut and decided you are attached to this guy or girl and you

just can’t get them out of your head. Well- serotonin.

>>During attachment, higher levels of serotonin are produced creating a similar chemical process

in the brain to that of obsessive compulsive disorder.

>>This may explain why when you fall madly in love with somebody you can’t think of

anyone but them. Deep.

>>But- let’s not bog down one of life’s rawest emotions with too much science.

Some of the greatest musings on love have come from philosophers, novelists and playwrights.

You don’t think love- you feel it.

>>I’ve gone ahead and put a link in the doobly-doo to a great website which has over

200 literary definitions of love throughout time.

Some of them are really quite poignant and really highlight just how important love is.

>>Me? I think love is that transitionary period between no longer being able to think for

somebody, only feel. Where your feelings for your object of affection

grow existentially and become a part of you.

>>No-one knows for sure exactly what love is, it varies from person to person.

All I know is in this crazy fucked up world of ours, we need a lot more of it.

>>I’m Josh James and I love you. Thanks for watching.