A Scientific Enquiry to Philosophical Concepts

Since gaining consciousness, humankind has made several leaps in its existence, with the development of language, understanding how things happen and why they happen, separating itself from all the other species on Earth. But even after all this, a vast majority of people have not been able to get out of this delusive state of existence. We humans, even after understanding how our survival instincts, defence mechanisms, and other tendencies have come into being after years and years of natural selection, still believe in ideas such as love being a logically inexplicable phenomenon, or the existence of a higher being, a so-called ‘supreme creator’.

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With developments in the field of neurochemistry, we have come to the understanding that the feelings of attraction are a result of some hormones such as norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain. When we have that cozy feeling of “love”, the same feeling that poets and writers have written in lengths about, all that is due to some particular hormones, oxytocin being the most famous one, going haywire in the brain. When thought about logically, exposure to any kind of secretion from another being is generally considered flagrant, just imagine someone’s spit in your hand, or someone’s sweaty arm rubbing through yours. Yet, sexual gratification is a basic human desire.

Everyone has felt lonely at some point in their lives and it is totally normal. However, in recent times, the problem of ‘chronic loneliness’ is emerging. People feel that they do not have anyone to share their feelings or thoughts with. This leads to many negative emotional as well as physical consequences. But what is the root cause behind this feeling? Our ancestors lived in groups which functioned as a unit, which helped in their survival. In earlier times, being alone in the woods reduced the chances of survival. So our brains developed a mechanism, the feeling of loneliness, which would act as a positive punishment for loneliness.

This is in no sense floccinaucinihilipilification of the feelings of an individual, but the motive is to develop a clearer understanding on the topic, so the reader can have a broader understanding about his/her feelings.