Does Lust Without Love Make Us Lose Our Rationality?
“See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.” —Robin Williams
Have you ever allowed your intense physical attraction to someone blind you from your rationality? Despite being overly-rational a majority of the time, I’ve been guilty of this (let’s see a show of hands for those who share the same guilt- I know it’s AT LEAST half of you all).
We all have our mishaps, our downfalls and those raw moments where we let our emotions overturn any ounce of caution we had/have. I underwent a recent experience that I instantly wanted to share with you dear readers. Here are the general deets (that I am willing to reveal): I recently met this extremely attractive man-he possess that bad boy meets southern boy irresistible charm. Being a former Shia Labeuf obsessed total girl fan, my eyes found him very pleasing. I recently let my strong attraction for him override my intellectual reasoning. I let my lust place myself in a very dangerous situation.
And the absurd thing is that even after that dangerous encounter, I was still yearning to be near him. Irrational, I know. But that’s the thing: lust is such a strong strong strong feeling.
Is lust fierce enough to make us lose our logic?
Lust is a very intense and sudden attraction to someone from a purely physical angle. It was clearly evident that he and I both lusted for one another- he admitted that his temptation led him to mistreating me and I take responsibility for placing myself in a situation in which I could’ve been easily taken advantage of. Did I care in that exact moment if I was in danger? No. Why? Because I wasn’t thinking logically (like I do 99.99% of the time).
According to psychologist Mary C. Lamia, lust commonly has the effect of minimizing the reasoning capacity in humans: “People who are in the throes of lust may lose their sensibilities, since lust seems unable to recognize the reality of a situation or motivates one to neglect it“.
It appears as if lust makes us lose a chunk of our “Is this right? Should I do this? Would I feel guilty after this?” thoughts. “Lust is an octane for the relentless pursuit of another person in spite of intellectual reason and sometimes regardless of emotional barriers such as guilt or shame” further explains Lamia.
Lust is like a famished stomach-something we must suppress almost instantly, because that attraction is so vivid that it can almost always demolish our self-control. There’s a common joke that our brain is stationed in two areas: one in our heads and the other below our belts (aka your penis or vagina); this is more specifically true for men since they’re commonly more sex driven.
In one study, Canadian researchers from McMaster University showed men pictures of attractive and not so attractive women.These men were then informed that they would be given $15 or $75 for free. What’s the catch? The $15 would be given to them the next day, while the $75 would be given to them a few days afterward. Men who saw the pictures of the prettier women chose the $15 instead of $75. Yes, it’s only a $50 difference but all in all, the study proves that lust causes us to think short termly, and forget what long-term even is. Lustful people make urgent decisions in which they are willing to forfeit actions that seem smarter. Researchers concluded that lust launches up a man’s limbic system while his prefrontal cortex heads south, leaving the judgment area of the brain unattended.
Las Vegas isn’t called the city of sin for no reason-it’s full of lustful peeps who are dying for some touching. Hotel owners are strategic enough to fill their positions with incredibly sexy people, with the knowledge that it will stir up feelings of lust and customers will be more prone to dropping the bills. Tipping that stripper more than $1 bills…buying more drinks than your liver should be in taking just so you can sit with the hot bartender… gambling until the wee hours of the morning to check out the hot women passing by in the lobby…it’s all too common.
With that said, do you think if you were overtaken by strong physical attraction, would you be able to resist temptation? Or would you find yourself engaging in unwise actions, in exchange for the pure physical pleasure?
Xoxo,
Chrissy
http://www.nonverbal-magazine.com/the-secrets-behind-your-lips/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2010/04/05/fox-on-sex-it-fact-sex-makes-us-dumb/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/intense-emotions-and-strong-feelings/201210/deconstructing-lust
http://fitnessrxformen.com/lifestyle/sex/vegas-strip-clubs/
http://www.cardsclubhouse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11967
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