The Five Basic Formless Love Languages
What is love? Love is a group of feelings and behaviors typically characterized by intense intimacy, emotional passion, commitment, and caring. It often involves close connection, caring, protection, intimacy, and attraction. Love can range from being merely physical to being an emotional bond. Sometimes love is confused with lust or infatuation.
There are several areas of the brain that are related to romantic love. The mirror neuron system helps the human brain to remember connections between oneself and others. The limbic system is involved in emotions, motivation, nurturing, memory, behavior, and attitude. The periaqueductal gray matter is associated with feelings, memory, creativity, imagination, movement, spontaneity, and emotion. The orbitofucial motor systems and the frontal cortex control memory, judgment, perception, learning, and preference. Neuroendorphins are released when we are in love and have similar brain areas as those that are found in drug addicts.
One form of romantic love is attachment. Attachment is the most basic form of love and is based on feelings of security and care for the other person. Individuals who form deep attachments with another person develop a sense of responsibility. They take on the role of an individual caregiver and become responsible for their other needs such as safety, love and acceptance, security, a sense of well-being, and many other important things.
One of the highest quality time and space that can be given to someone in whom you feel very deeply is physical intimacy. Physical touch can create healing in the mind, body, and spirit. Physical intimacy is not the same as romance, but it can be considered a powerful substitute for it.
Attachment is often considered an emotion, but it is more than just emotions. Attachment is a conscious awareness of a shared reality or purpose. It includes an emotional reaction that can be positive (such as excitement) or negative (such as anxiety). Attachment is also involved in experiencing the reality of shared time and space and the associated positive emotions of safety, security, trust, safety, pleasure, belonging, pleasure, and joy.
When we are together with ourselves, with another person, with God, with all creation, yet without attachment our lives will be empty, our hearts will fail to fill with love, our achievements will be small and petty, our self-esteem will be low and our productivity will be low. Yet our emotional and spiritual well-being is tremendously high. When we give affection to another person, it is like giving love to ourselves. When we receive affection from another person, it is as if we were receiving love from another person.