Recently, I ran across this interesting piece from Joy Online written by John Boakye of The Mirror. It asks whether the reader believes in love at first sight. As a romance novelist, I find the question very intriguing. The author of the piece, Mr. Boakye, suggests that we express and experience love "based on our cultural background, age, sex, education and life experiences."
Mr. Boakye recounts his own experience of falling in love at first sight with the lady he later married. He says he was driving along a road when he saw a tall, beautiful lady standing by the side. It affected him so strongly that he drove into a ditch and amongst the people who came to help was the beautiful lady. She said that she'd felt the same sensation when she first saw him.
The piece describes love at first sight as feeling that you've met "the most romantic person on earth" and you'll do anything and everything to capture his attention. You see the person as "flawless," are full of happiness and joy when they're around and will follow him anywhere. This person came straight into your heart and stole it away.
The piece says that others are more inclined to accept the scientific explanation of the phenomenon.
According to scientists, when you see a person of the opposite sex, the brain stimulates a cocktail of chemicals like epinephrine into the nervous system. This gives you a pleasant outlook of life and makes you react romantically towards him or her.
The greater the stimulation, the greater your emotional feeling. People then react differently, depending on their age, sex and self control. What we call love at first sight is, therefore, nothing special because it could happen to anyone at any time.
The piece says that others don't believe in love at first sight and think the strong attraction to one special person is a "false sense of love because true love goes beneath the skin."
I've written a lot about love, but generally more in the "fated soul mate" sense than in the first sight sense. It's an interesting point to ponder -- Do you believe that love at first sight exists?