Atheists: Does she/he know this?

I respectfully disagree with the premise of your question. While attraction may be chemical, love is not. Why? Well, love is a verb. I’m a behaviorist when it comes to love. If all you have is a feeling that is infatuation. Love is at least partially a choice. When I see my husband sleeping, I do feel that tight feeling in my chest that is associated with love. When he walks into a room unexpectedly, my pulse speeds up and my pupils dilate ever so slightly. I smile. I can’t help it. Those responses are automatic and chemical. However, I do not stay with him through thick and thin just for the gratification of a little chemistry. (It ain’t all wine and roses.) I am dedicated to him because he is my friend and my ally. I respect him and enjoy his company. Through time I have noticed that the chemistry has waves and troughs. When I say I love him, I am not only talking about a "feeling". I am talking about an action. I am vowing to treat him lovingly and never take him for granted. I think too often this distinction is lost.

*drink*

Please understand that atheism JUST means I have no belief in god. It does NOT mean I have no belief in anything other than purely physical phenomena. There are plenty of spiritual pathways (Buddhism being the most well-known) which do not depend on belief in any entity which deserves the term "god," except perhaps as a myth and metaphor.

Love is a major force in human existence. The Beatles sang that it was all we need; others have claimed that it is all there is. Having been a philosophy major all those years ago, I could make a case for either one. It would be a darn sight easier than making a case for strict materialism.

*I need another drink.*

It's a chemical reaction in the brain, and that's is okay with me-- there's no "and nothing more" there, as it's a pretty serious reaction. It's not as simple as cause and effect, either, it's a continuous reaction and a familial bond that is created for both survival and happiness.

I don't need to pretend magic is involved for it to be meaningful.

I don't know why you're bothering to play dumb and asking us why your question is bothering us when you're clearly being passive aggressive. The "and nothing more" made that more that abundantly clear

So is addiction.

I would tell my wife, but to be blunt she probably wouldn't comprehend what goes on inside the Human mind.

*sigh* I have chemical reactions for my wife. (kind of like an addict has chemical reactions at the thought of their substance of choice. )

And to answer your question I consider love to be the effect.

EDIT: Actually there are plenty of evidence for neurotransmitters in the brain being the cause of emotions. Why else would prescription pills for depression that aid the release of serotonin work, and when one stops taking them, ends up even more depressed even suicidal?

Every feeling that we feel is thanks to our developed brains. I'm sure you've heard of lobotomies. They have shown that by cutting off the frontal lobes from the rest of the brain that it alters personality, so much for that whole romantic idea of a soul...

Here is an article that explains a bit about love and the chemicals involved. Make sure to read the last paragraph.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0602/feature...

Does it matter why you do loving things so long as you do them?

Love is a choice in the end. There is no chemical reaction that is going to make you do any one thing. You may be more prone to certain feelings than others and you may be more prone to certain actions based on those feelings via past decisions...but at the end of the day it's all about what you CHOSE to do to demonstrate your love because you CHOSE to love that person, place or thing.

do you know all the implicatiions of this chemical reaction? ...how intricate yet powerful it is? ...from courtship to family?

you think because there's nothing supernatural involved, it must be narrow. ...but its the "god did it" belief that is narrow

read up on evoltionary anthropology.

it is really really beautiful and awsome. way more huge and cool and intricate than a mythical god

Whats better, having to make something incomprehensible by attributing it to some invisible soul or the product of millions of neurons all working to perpetuate something nearly as esoteric called a consciousness?

Why does biology automatically devalue things? Because its less romantic? Because its a slave to evalution (in reallity freedom is the only product of evolution)?

Yes, Markyyy knows I'm a science geek. ;)

But you are incorrect in your assumption that I'd consider love to be a chemical reaction in my brain and nothing more. Of course there's more to it than than that.

How sad - yet more intolerance and ignorance!!!

Why do people insist on posting questions designed to provide ammunition to the anti christsians?!!!

did you ever know the god of love and forgiveness because you sure as heck are not preaching for him now!!!!

Hold on, according to you

atheists cant love? because they dont beleive in a god.

That doesnt sound right

You dont have to beleive in some supernatural devine body to be able to process emotions and beleive in love