Oh, and Michael, I just had another thought re: romantic love and emotional imbalance (or rather, a different way of explaining what I said above of not all romantic love coming out of a tumble)

I refer you back to our discussion of Oxytocin and walking.

Taking it as a given that romantic love is the result of hormone shifts:

A sudden shift would indeed lead to the emotional sensation of losing our balance falling, and bring us from point A (acquaintances) to point L (lovers) in the time it takes to get from vertical to horizontal. But couldn't you also be able to get from point A to point L with a gradual, rather than a sudden shift, using the walking, rather than the falling metaphor (ie that walking is losing your balance and catching yourself before you fall)?

Seems to me that this is one biological explanation for the phenomenon described by JenEllen earlier in this discussion:

I see it as more of an amnesiac episode. My best friends and dearest loves all have come through usual channels, and then one day you realize just how much you care for them and wonder 'when did this happen?'. I've, to this point in my life, been unable to pinpoint an exact moment of 'falling' in all cases save one.

~~~

Oh, and Amos can correct me if I'm wrong but I think his statement: "I urge you to review the actual evidence! :>)" was meant as a satirical comment, and not reffering to any labratory experiment, (note the smiley face emoticon with pointy nose), and that he was making the point that your argument of reducing all of love to brain chemicals doesn't stand up to the real life experience of love as a subjective, human endeavor; the "actual evidence" being what you feel when you are in love.

Translation: "I dare you to make that Oxytocin overdose statement again when you really are in love!"

Right, Amos? ;>)