I wrote this way back in October 2, 2014, but was inspired by Aizza to finally publish it today.
Triggered by some podcast I was listening to, I researched on various hormones that make up human responses. I put them together in my words, so that I could better understand how they worked. Here were my clumsy findings:
Dopamine
This is the feel-good hormone. It triggers the reward centers of the brain, as it is usually released when one experiences pleasurable things in life. It lightens one’s mood, and can also be called the happiness hormone.
Adrenaline
This is the energy hormone. It is like a burst of energy going through one’s body. This is what makes one want to jump up and down and run around. It translates the excitement into physical activity, making one want to do something about the attraction.
Serotonin
This is the addiction hormone. It is what makes one crave for more of whatever it is that one had when it was released in the brain. It makes memories play over and over again, and makes the brain want more of the same, in a seemingly never-ending cycle of want/need.
Oxytocin
This is the commitment hormone. It is released when the body is telling one to bond with someone. Sometimes called the “love hormone”, it somewhat ensures that the human race continues by making people feel good when they are together with others.
Endorphins
This is the emotion hormone. It is responsible for mental and emotional stability. Apart from that, it blocks pain, and also gives bursts of energy when needed.
All this just a very generalised overview. I wasn’t exactly going for medical journal levels of accuracy. The Internet is chock-full of information for all of these and so much more.
Just based on these, one would think that the human condition can then be explained away by each person’s hormone content, or lack thereof. Everyone can attain emotional wellness, mental stability, and peak physical performance, if all of their hormones are balanced and in control. What a finely tuned and well-adjusted world it would be.
But to quote a certain American pop group, where’s the love? Where, in all of these peptides and proteins and amino acids and such (disclaimer, IANAD)? Are we to consider then that a concept as elusive as time itself can be explained away by how much or how little of these chemical cocktails we have in our body?
The question is rhetorical of course. And seems even more ridiculous now that I’ve typed it out.
These hormones do not constitute the emotion that we know as love. Yes, they are an accurate scientific explanation for the physical changes we experience when we say we are feeling “love”. But they are not the source, nor the purpose, nor the reason, nor the meaning of love.
So. Where’s the love then? Here it is: God is love. Jesus is love. It is trite, but it is oh so true.
As with everything, God created these hormones, and allowed us to understand them. Because of the fall, and free will, and our desire for knowledge, we need to break things down in order to understand them.
But giving definitions to our scientific findings didn’t mean that we gave rise to them. Giving them names didn’t mean we fully understand them either. Distilling them in a test tube in a laboratory doesn’t give us total command over their full meaning and understanding.
God created the animals after all. Adam just gave them names.
Thank You Lord, for that dopamine-adrenaline-serotinin-oxytocin-combo fueled mix-of-emotion feel-good sugar-rush that we get from time to time. I’m sure it does wonders for our skin.