有人問：「對於一個變心的男人，用什麼東西形容他最恰當呢？」她說：「是洋蔥……因為，你會想去了解這個男人，而一層層的去剝開他；剝到最後，發現，洋蔥是沒有心的。而剝的過程中，還不斷地讓你流眼淚……」

Phase 2 Progress

Throughout the last little bit, I've been thinking about the the concepts I've chosen and developing each individually. I've noticed that there are components to each that overlap with one another.

For each concept I've thought about possible ways of execution from examining preexisting content. From moodboards to infographics to textbooks to self-help books, the plethora of material available that are relevant to my concepts is overwhelming. Having examined the possibilities, I am now in a filtering process; I'm trying to take what I've gathered and observed and see how it can be relevant to my concepts and finally, be relevant to my thesis.

I've managed to decide on some approaches to each concept, which I will being sketching and further developing.

Will upload images and links shortly.

My Immortal Beloved

One of my favourite love letters written by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Good morning, on July 7
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, not and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can only live wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the lands of spirits - Yes unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - at my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in out connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes everyday - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once. - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve out purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. -Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of you beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

3 Possible Paths

From the multiple concepts that I've brainstormed, I've narrowed down to my top 3 that I think would be effective in conveying my thesis.

My concepts fall into two methods: injecting science into love and injecting love into science.

Injecting Science into Love
1) Analysis of the forms in which love is articulated:
- looking at how love is articulated in various popular mediums such as letters, poems, stories, visual art, photography etc. in contemporary and traditional contexts
- deconstructing and dissecting preexisting content and providing a scientific analysis that offers a different perspective at looking at material we are familiar with and love in its entirety

2) Self-Help/Situational Advice:
- derived from observing love advice columns and love self-help books currently available
- creating situational incidents that are common in every relationship and offering a scientific analysis/scientific advice therefore content is more relatable
- rationalizing human behaviour in these incidents
- self-gathered and self-authored content

Injecting Love into Science
3) Anatomical Map:
- mapping out the human body, with particular emphasis on the human brain and showing the chemical process in the brain related to love
- then provide an emotional perspective, one that is outside the realm of science, more irrational and "romantic"
- outlining biological processes/behaviour and linking it to the feelings and actions behind love that we sometimes fail to understand

Initial Concepts

1) self-help
2) love letter/poem/visual analysis
3) situational explorations
4) narrative
5) map of the human mind
6) educational
7) science experiments

Love changes who we are and who we become.

The Thesis

I've finally formulated a working thesis for this project.

Although the feeling of love is unique to every individual who experiences it and the behaviour is provokes often seems beyond reasoning, the chemical process that occurs in the human brain that manifests this feeling is similar in all human beings. With the aid of science, love can be rationalized. As such, understanding the neuroscience behind love will help human beings engage in a more fulfilling romantic experience.

So I've Been Thinking...

Love is a universal emotion that is often easy to experience yet extremely difficult to fully comprehend and explain. It’s complexity and ability to influence and control behaviour is beyond the rationality of the human mind. Love can be felt on numerous levels, ranging from generic pleasure to interpersonal attachment such as romantic love, sexual love, familial love, and platonic love.

Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist has dedicated over 30 years of study to the biology of love and attraction. Dr. Fisher believes that romantic love is the most fascinating and phenomenal out of the numerous forms of love. The proof for this is ubiquitous. Romantic love has the capability of inflicting paradoxical behaviour on human beings; when in love, an individual can feel sheer joy in one instance and undiminishing sadness the next. Even with the instability of emotions and agony that comes with being in love, human beings can never stop themselves from loving. Anthropologists have found evidence of romantic love in 170 societies around the world, yet its secrets remain locked deep within the human soul. It was not up until the leap into the study of the human brain did scientists begin to ever so slightly understand human emotions and make progress in demystifying the feeling of love.

The human brain, the centre of the nervous system, is composed of a network of neurons where its function can be summarized in one word: survival. The brain controls all the other parts of the human body, making it the most complex and intriguing of all the organs. It only makes sense that love originates within the brain.

When humans try to express and understand love, their attempts are commonly manifested through the arts. Love songs, poems, and prose are ubiquitous in any culture as they have always been a way for humans to vent their frustration with love. It was with the advent of neuroscience that began to form a relationship between the intangible enigmas of love with the tangible bodies of science. Though seemingly contrasting entities, love and science have been proven to have close ties. Science, always associated with the coldness of facts and figures has made the breakthrough of making the irrational feeling of love somewhat transparent.

The question I wish to investigate is what can the structure and design of the brain tell us about the nature of love? Although the feeling of love is unique to every individual who experiences it and the behaviour it provokes often seems beyond reasoning, there is a common biological basis for love where different types of neurochemicals contribute to the existence of this emotion in human beings.

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I know these questions are general, but help me out here...

How do you express love?
How does being in love make you feel?
What does it mean to love?
What is love?