Differences Between Friendship And Love

There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature. Jane Austen Maybe sometimes our minds get confused, or be influenced by the need to experience the emotion of romantic love. But friendship and love have distinct differences. Psychologists, cool observers, people who are not emotionally involved, can easily distinguish the signs. An interpretation of romantic love is characterized by the great intensity of emotions and the absoluteness that the couple wants to be alone together. On the contrary, Friendship is a relationship of love and support that is more characterized by play, mutual respect and freedom. Real friends do not limit each other. Friends connect to each other with the aim of playing and supporting. Encourage each other to evolve. Friendship must be pure, devoted and not shaken by others, all kinds of “ephemeral” feelings, such as love, jealousy, competition. There are limitations in love. Love is a feeling that leads you to want to conquer the other, to make it your domain. Friendship, according to Aristotle, is one of the basic concepts of human intelligence and activity, a kind of virtue or at least intertwined with virtue. But besides, friendship is also a very necessary thing in the life of man because no one would prefer to live without friends even if he has all the other goods in his possession. Friends help young people to prevent them from making mistakes, and, in the case of older people, they take care of and replenish their missing forces. Love,on the other hand, is some passion or some form of desire that needs to be reduced or mitigated. Aristotle points out that romantic love can influence our judgment of the person who is the object of our desire and make us see it in other ways than what this is. He also connects pleasant feelings about the person we love erotically with his memory, arguing that some delightful feeling is associated with most of our wishes. Someone who is in love enjoys talking or writing about him with whom he is in love or doing any small thing associated with him because all of this reminds him as if he was present. It looks like Aristotle said everything that was to be said. Centuries later, people find hard to distinguish the feelings. There is a reason for that. Sexuality, Friendship and Love on Individual Lives Sexuality, friendship, and love are intense human social relationships that have tremendous impact on individual lives. As Freud pointed out: “The positive energies of human personality (what he called eros) are found in constructive activities of all types: the creativity of the artist, the investigations of the scientist, and the formation of rewarding friendships, love relationships, marriages, and families. What they all have in common is perpetuation of life, carrying the spark forward despite the hardships and setbacks, restoring hope and faith in the goodness of humankind”. Well, another reason is that we can’t hear our body. When we are in love, our body knows. When we meet up with a friend, we are probably excited. However, we probably won’t experience any major physical changes when we see them or give them a hug. With someone we love, we might not be able to control the way our body reacts. Dopamine is the brain’s pleasure chemical. It plays a role in gambling, drug use, and, well, love. When we fall in love, dopamine is released, making couples feel elated and energetic about each other. What Hellen Fisher believes “That someone takes on special meaning to you and you focus on this individual because the dopamine system has been activated. It is what triggers very goal oriented behavior, where no one else matters but your new partner” , says Helen Fisher, PhD, a biological anthropologist. As she explains, “Dopamine is a rewarding chemical which is very active in those who suffer from addiction. So someone who is suffering from a gambling addiction, a drug addiction, a food addiction or any addiction are actually addicted to the release of dopamine. Meaning that when you fall in love you are actually addicted to the person of your desire. Serotonin levels are also depleted in people who suffer with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Both states (while very different in nature) give feelings of anxiety and intrusive thinking. So in the early stages of romance it would be fair to say you become obsessed with the person of your desire, while being a huge ball of uncertainty and anxiety”. So unpleasant!

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