Does true love exist? (Have you found it? And if so, how?)

No, I don't believe so.

"True love" is a romantic phrase for what's essentially pair bonding behavior. Pair bonding is essentially your brain getting you mildly high so that love-seeking (and therefore reproductive) behaviors become the order of the day. Why do we need to get high in order to do it? Because there are only a few practical benefits to love and reproduction. There is nothing rational about the need to keep our genes alive; it's strictly an emotional imperative. There are also cultural factors to consider; would you really want someone to love if we lived in a culture that placed no value on it? I question it all.

If you ask me, many people who tell you about their true love are just backwards-rationalizing a number of things, including 1) their brains getting them high in exchange for reproducing 2) justifying the intensive emotional and time investment that relationships inherently require and 3) if applicable, providing giant emotional rationalizations for the costly investment that is child-rearing in the 21st century.

I don't believe happiness comes from ignoring these biological needs of ours, but I do believe that there is a certain inherent contentedness when you let go of the need for "true love." There are no women perfect for you or me. There are instead some women more compatible than others, for various reasons. Discovering which women these are is pointless, because for the most part men have to "choose a woman that chooses them," as David Deida roughly puts it. And given the ridiculous investment of time, emotions, wealth, and labor inherent to long-term relationships, I think that anyone who wants a relationship with me is going to have to convince me that what I get out of it--feeling warm and fuzzy once in a while--is worth these investments.

Have a nice day.

/r/AskWomen Thread