“I am human and I need to be loved,
Just like everybody else does”
– Morrissey

It is commonly accepted that love is a fundamental force in the world of humanity, that it is something that everyone is searching for and that brings happiness when it is found. But why is love such a dominant and overpowering force in the human consciousness?

The answer is, as usual, evolution. After all, what is the purpose of life? If you are a diligent reader of this blog, you may recall that survival is the purpose of life. However, there is a second and very closely related purpose that is shared by all species, and that is procreation. Humanity would die out very quickly as a species if we all became sterile, or (unthinkably) stopped doing, well, you know.

Thusly, love is in fact the main goal of life, a goal that is not so much passive (as is survival) as it is aggressive, by which I mean to say you have to get out there and make it happen. The development of the emotion of love behind the base instinct of sex is well in line with the development of all emotions. All emotions are derived from base instincts which have been evolved into a new form  by the complexity of the human brain until the initial reason for their existence is forgotten in many cases. It’s all very postmodern.

The emotion of love is beneficial to the survival of humanity because it gives people the feeling of a higher purpose, resultant from the happiness it brings. Chemically of course, love might as well be a drug so that’s no surprise. Love is also beneficial in that it (in it’s more advanced forms) promotes monogamy and stronger familial bonds, which lead to more stable lives and thus higher rates of survival, not mention faster evolution as common ideas are passed down from one generation to the next.

I suppose the question now becomes why doesn’t everyone love each other? My best answer is that evolution, which is driven by conflict, and procreation, which is aided by stability, are currently existing in a state of relative equilibrium which has allowed humanity to become the dominant species on the planet. My hope is that in time, the more base aspects of evolution will become transcended as conflict becomes an unnecessary component of change. For now, all I know is that I need to be loved.

Just like everybody else does.