• The desire for Love as a Fantasy

Sexual desire, also known as the desire for sex, mating, or the sensation of 'lust,' is a natural reward or appetite that is fueled by the neurochemical dopamine. Dopamine stimulates the 'anticipation' of reward, desire, and wanting in this context. Its primary function is to encourage us to have babies while we are making love, whether we want to or not.

Nature has a very specific and powerful goal in mind: to pass those genes down to the next generation. It thrives on the diversity of its genetic make-up. The goal is to increase the gene pool's diversity. Because of disease or other drastic changes in living conditions, some people are more likely to have a gene mix that allows them to survive.

Orgasm, the intense feeling of pleasure that many people associate with sexual activity, triggers a cascade of neurochemicals known as opioids, which we experience as euphoria. Dopamine is no longer pumped into the reward pathway at this point. Any leftover is recycled back into the system, ready for the next chance to drive us to a survival goal, since the current one has been met.

We repeat the act because we want to feel the sensation of intense pleasure again and again. Orgasm is the natural reward that causes the most dopamine to be released and the sensation of pleasure in the brain's reward system. It is the primary strategy used by nature to keep us fertile and producing. However, there is a flaw in the system; otherwise, we'd all fall in love and live happily ever after, and divorce lawyers would be less in demand.