Explain in detail what distinguishes true romantic love?

Question

from "love" of say, children, parents, siblings, friends, God (if you believe)?
What does true romantic love mean?
Why do we have such a high divorce rate in our country?...is there something we are misunderstanding about romantic love, sex and marriage?

Answer 1

People are not perfect, the people who think they`re perfect give up trying to please there spouse and cheat on them! I could tell you a whole lot more but I am not fully awake yet!

Answer 2

LOVE
Well lets see, love is an alchemy of emotions; a force
with incomprehensible purpose, an enigma which forces
one to do very strange things. Romance is the games one
plays to enrich the link between two hearts, for sex & or the continuation of life, for closeness and care..
To say TRUE love is an illusion, because truth is only perception of our senses and our senses can transform this energy of love into, art, song, poetry & music, anger, jealousy, murder and symbols of other diverse corners of impulse desires .... Love manifest most of the creativity from humanity..
Love may be the most powerful emotion, but the difference is not in love but in the human condition, dying for love, killing for love, giving all for love, building temples for love, having special days for love, assigning planets to love, etc.etc.etc.
Love is like an ice cream bar, the essence is the outer layer while the stick is the phalic symbol of need, and need is lust, lust which does not need love, yet still be part of love, Does one need romance to be in love?
Romance is a game, the reason for divorce should be obvious,
when sex is absent or the beauty is malformed into old age
or sloppy ways then love seems to lose its ground.... True romantic love is nothing more than the games one plays to attract another person to fullfill ones needs, when needs are forsaken the love is moved from the inner self out toward the outer reaches of desires ... Ture love exist, but only in two people who understand feelings, who understand that love should mean partnership, not one way streets .......

Answer 3

Personally, I think that there is a high divorce rate because people jump in to quick.. They don't wait for that "honeymoon phase" to blow over to see if that's really the person they want to spend the rest of their life with... I was engaged when I was 19, thankfully, it didn't work out. We never got married, and we are much happier as friends. I now am with the man that I want to spend the rest of my life with. There is a long story behind our relationship, but to make it short. We've been best friends for years, feelings grew, then something happened, we spent 2 yrs apart, and now we're together again. I know that I want to be with him forever, because nothing makes me happier then falling asleep in his arms, and waking up in them. When he smiles, it makes me smile. When he puts his hand on my back to guide me through a door, our hands fit perfectly together, and when he comes up behind me and holds me, I feel whole. We love each other unconditionally, faults and all. Of course, there is the physical attraction but that is small compared to all of the other wonderful things there are between us. Basically, what everyone else told me is, you'll know, when you know and it'll hit you like a ton of bricks. However, I still believe you have to wait until the honeymoon phase is over. I mean, for us, it's not completely over, but it's not that phase where we talk 5 times a day, can't eat, can't sleep, anymore. Now, we have the honeymoon phase and there's no uncertainty of what's to come. We know, we just want to be with eachother.

Answer 4

Psychologists today believe that there are different types of "love."

And it's really a personal value judgement as to whether this is a "true" type of love.

Social psychologists do a lot of research into relationships and love. That's not my area of specialization, but here is an excellent article on this:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Love

an excerpt:

Biological models of love tend to see it as a mammalian drive, just like hunger or thirst. Psychology sees love as more of a social and cultural phenomenon. There are probably elements of truth in both views — certainly love is influenced by hormones (such as oxytocin) and pheromones, and how people think and behave in love is influenced by their conceptions of love.
Attraction and attachment
The conventional view in biology is that there are two major drives in love — sexual attraction and attachment. Attachment between adults is presumed to work on the same principles that lead an infant to become attached to its mother.
Companionate vs. passionate
The traditional psychological view sees love as being a combination of companionate love and passionate love. Passionate love is intense longing, and is often accompanied by physiological arousal (shortness of breath, rapid heart rate). Companionate love is affection and a feeling of intimacy not accompanied by physiological arousal.
Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love
In the triangular theory of love, love is characterized by three elements: intimacy, passion and commitment. Each of these elements can be present in a relationship, producing the following combinations:




1. Liking includes only one of the love components - intimacy. In this case, liking is not used in a trivial sense. Sternberg says that this intimate liking characterizes true friendships, in which a person feels a bondedness, a warmth, and a closeness with another but not intense passion or long-term commitment.
2. Infatuated love consists solely of passion and is often what is felt as "love at first sight." But without the intimacy and the commitment components of love, infatuated love may disappear suddenly.
3. Empty love consists of the commitment component without intimacy or passion. Sometimes, a stronger love deteriorates into empty love, in which the commitment remains, but the intimacy and passion have died. In cultures in which arranged marriages are common, relationships often begin as empty love.
4. Romantic love is a combination of intimacy and passion. Romantic lovers are bonded emotionally (as in liking) and physically through passionate arousal.
5. Companionate love consists of intimacy and commitment. This type of love is often found in marriages in which the passion has gone out of the relationship, but a deep affection and commitment remain.
6. Fatuous love has the passion and the commitment components but not the intimacy component. This type of love can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage in which a commitment is motivated largely by passion, without the stabilizing influence of intimacy.
7. Consummate love is the only type of love that includes all three components--intimacy, passion and commitment. Consummate love is the most complete form of love, and it represents the ideal love relationship for which many people strive but which apparently few achieve. Sternberg cautions that maintaining a consummate love may be even harder than achieving it. He stresses the importance of translating the components of love into action. "Without expression," he warns, "even the greatest of loves can die" (1987, p.341). Sternberg is currently married to his third wife.

Answer 5

romantic love is just a better term for sexual attraction.and the ones which lasts years, thats true love....