Return to Human Bondage

I've been thinking a bit more about "Of Human Bondage" the past few days, and want to comment on a couple of points.  The first is on Philip's obsessive, crazy love for Mildred.  As someone with an advanced degree in biology, I have wondered what exactly love is on a biochemical level.  Why do we fall in love with someone?  Are there chemicals released in our brains that act like drugs, which get released and give us that lovin' feeling?  After all, as greater philosophers than myself have already said, love is a drug.  You get too much, you get too high, not enough and you're gonna die.  Or something like that.  It makes you feel crazy, giddy, excited, high.  And if it's withdrawn, it hurts like hell, and it takes a long time to "dry out".  Do some people get addicted to that drug?  Philip continues to seek out Mildred even though intellectually he realizes she's bad, she doesn't return his feelings, she uses him for money, she annoys him, and they have nothing in common.  Yet he still keeps coming back for more.  Isn't this like a drug addict?  So does that mean there really is a drug released in the brain?  We know the brain has natural opiate compounds, similar to heroin and morphine, which cause, among other things, "runner's high".  Does the brain have opiates involved in the feeling of love?  Yet opiates also dull pain, and my pain response to injury does not seem to be affected by whether I'm in love or not.  I'm sure some scientist somewhere has studied love and it's effect on the brain.  I'll have to see what I can find.

And second, I have been thinking about how Philip goes from career to career before he finds something that (1) he can tolerate and (2) he's good at.  Fortunately he finds both.  But how many of us never do?  How many people are just mediocre at our jobs?  Or are good at their jobs but either don't like it, or like it for awhile and then grow bored.  How many people are just mediocre at everything they've tried?  Does everyone have at least one talent?  And no, "totally rocking out" does not count as a talent.

Ah well, just some random thoughts, generated by literature and a nightcap of rye.  Now it's on to book #3...The Portrait of Dorian Gray!