I have been in love, and taken ecstasy. (As it happens, I have also taken ecstasy with someone I was in love with.) I do think being in love is more complex than the feeling induced by those chemicals.
It seems to me that one of the biggest parts of being in love is the pervasive fixation on that one person. Those obsessive thought patterns that are like wanting to saturate yourself with that person’s essence. An ecstacy trip can’t really give you that, and of course by itself it can’t supply the person.
However, the feeling of being on X is somewhat similar to that of touching, or embracing, someone you’re in love with (perhaps even a little more intense?). Also, the feelings induced by X are of the sort that make you very well-disposed towards humanity, so that you might feel something like spontaneous love towards strangers you happened upon. (I have also experienced this kind of thing while in love.) So I would say that some of the visceral feelings are common to both, as would be expected if they involve the same/similar neurochemicals, but the experiences aren’t that similar. Certainly, chemical factors are very much in play when one is in love, but chemicals cannot synthesize the experience of exploring, absorbing, and integrating with another’s mind, emotions, personality, and life.
I have been in love, and taken ecstasy. (As it happens, I have also taken ecstasy with someone I was in love with.) I do think being in love is more complex than the feeling induced by those chemicals.
It seems to me that one of the biggest parts of being in love is the pervasive fixation on that one person. Those obsessive thought patterns that are like wanting to saturate yourself with that person’s essence. An ecstacy trip can’t really give you that, and of course by itself it can’t supply the person.
However, the feeling of being on X is somewhat similar to that of touching, or embracing, someone you’re in love with (perhaps even a little more intense?). Also, the feelings induced by X are of the sort that make you very well-disposed towards humanity, so that you might feel something like spontaneous love towards strangers you happened upon. (I have also experienced this kind of thing while in love.) So I would say that some of the visceral feelings are common to both, as would be expected if they involve the same/similar neurochemicals, but the experiences aren’t that similar. Certainly, chemical factors are very much in play when one is in love, but chemicals cannot synthesize the experience of exploring, absorbing, and integrating with another’s mind, emotions, personality, and life.