Everybody knows that humans are basically animals, there's no doubt about it anymore. But this hasn't stopped them from hoping that they're different from the rest of the animals and that their superior intelligence allows them to ascend to a higher position, and this is especially valid when it comes to love.

Although rated as a misogynist by his contemporaries, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer formulated in the 19th century a series of ideas regarding love and the women's role in society which seem to be confirmed by the latest studies on sexuality and reproduction.

Basically, the philosopher says that love is just a clever way to trick the human individuals into multiplying and therefore, contributing to the species' survival.

"The only true purpose, the real purpose of every communion in love is the procreation, the birth of a child, although people who are in love are unable to conceive the nature's treacherous way, casting over the actual act a shining veil ".

"The pleasure, the voluptuousness of mutual sexual possession, is nothing but a trap. Nature is filling the gaps with new individuals. Examine two beings who are seeking to satisfy this imperative instinct called love. One could see in their eyes, filled with lust, a new being taking shape; in their sexual joining, after which they crave, is the union of two beings into one."

Schopenhauer concludes: "Love is only the species' will for survival, the need to propagate de species and it's detrimental to illusions and passing joys the human feels ".

The first time I ran into Schopenhauer's ideas, I said to myself: "There might be some truth in what he says, but there's no way it can be all true, after all, even the enlightened say dumb things from time to time". And I put the book back in the shelf.

Unfortunately for us, for all of us who value love, not even the researchers seem to contradict him. Quite the contrary, it seems that this noble feeling, sung by poets and writers, is nothing more than the chemical effect of the NGF molecule (nerve growth factor), whose quantity varies. When the man and woman are in love, the quantity of NGF is high and it progressively decreases in time.

After approximately one year, the passionate love vanishes, only to make room to routine and monotony. For this reason, the two individuals should have more in common than just a relation based on sex, otherwise they're heading straight into the breaking-up wall.

Another study comes and says that contraceptive pills decrease the women's libido over long periods of time, of up to one year. It's like nature says: "Ok, do you want to mock me and trick me with the new inventions that prevent conception, no problem. Then what good is the sexual intercourse if nothing comes out of it, not a single individual? How about if you didn't feel a thing during the process? Perhaps you'll change your mind about those pills."

And that's not all. It's a well-known fact that just as men subconsciously judge a potential partner to bear his offspring by the width of the hips, women also judge a potential male partner by the features he could pass on to the children.

"The woman is not attracted by the man's face, but by his force and courage. These qualities are believed to provide the child with a vigorous protection. Women love the muscles' vigorousness, the broad shoulders. They don't care if the man is rude; it's enough if he's strong. […] Spiritual gifts do not influence sexual attraction, because they are not passed on to the child. That's why dumb, but well built men have a better way with women than spiritual ones. There are many love unions between rude, stupid, but robust man and gentle, educated and tasteful women," Arthur Schopenhauer writes.

I doubt that you've never noticed such cases, and most likely you've asked yourself: "Why is X, who is so gentle and nice, going out with that cad?". It's true that there are some exceptions, but they can be rated as errors, disturbances in the system.

If you're not convinced by the arguments presented above and if you think that this is ridiculous, a last study comes to top them all and to confirm Schopenhauer's theories.

When ovulating, a period of maximum fertility, women have sexual fantasies with other men and feel like cheating on their partner, and this is valid only for those partners who are less attractive than other men.
This doesn't mean that all women cheat on their partner when ovulating, because this would contradict the social norms, it's just that they're smothering an instinct nature came up with to ensure that strong and healthy individuals are born.

As the philosopher says, "During mating, nature is not concerned with the spiritual side, only with the procreation of robust children."

I don't know how I could end this article in an optimistic way, to prevent you from entering the holy monastery or from not getting involved in a long-term relationship. I don't even have a solution for this problem.
All I can do is to give you a quote from a Romanian movie: "Life is just a big pile of shit."