Probably you will open this chapter as a believer in romantic love.
But if the magic of historical investigation and philosophical argument
convinces you that your feelings were programmed into you,
then you might initially be quite upset
—because you put so much
trust in that artificial emotion.
Some people make the mistake
of getting married
while still under the influence of romantic illusions.
After a period of anger and disillusionment, however,
you can put your new understanding
into immediate action in your loving relationships.
If romantic feelings are make-believe,
can you build loving relationships on more solid foundations?
If you abandon your early romantic illusions,
you can build your relationships based on real information
rather than projected fantasies you learned at the movies.
Your new relationships can emerge from
mutual respect and understanding
rather than culturally-prescribed feelings.
You might even begin the long process of becoming more Authentic,
which is the basic theme of this whole book,
New
Ways of
Loving: How Authenticity Transforms Relationships.
Revised 6-7-2007; 8-4-2007;
2-13-2014; 2-24-2017;
If you would like to read the first two pages of
this chapter, click this title:
"Romantic
Love is
a Hoax! Emotional Programming to 'Fall in Love' "
.
The first page includes the table of contents for this chapter.
And here is a secular sermon (3 pages), using the
same name:
Romantic
Love
is a Hoax! Emotional Programming to 'Fall in Love' .