1 00:00:00,553 --> 00:00:04,894 OK, so today I want to talk about how we talk about love. 2 00:00:05,302 --> 00:00:06,411 And specifically, 3 00:00:06,411 --> 00:00:09,846 I want to talk about what's wrong with how we talk about love. 4 00:00:10,753 --> 00:00:15,762 Most of us will probably fall in love a few times over the course of our lives, 5 00:00:15,762 --> 00:00:17,834 and in the English language, 6 00:00:17,834 --> 00:00:18,970 this metaphor, 7 00:00:18,970 --> 00:00:20,060 falling, 8 00:00:20,060 --> 00:00:23,074 is really the main way that we talk about that experience. 9 00:00:23,642 --> 00:00:24,806 I don't know about you, 10 00:00:24,806 --> 00:00:26,954 but when I conceptualize this metaphor, 11 00:00:26,954 --> 00:00:29,832 what I picture is straight out of a cartoon. 12 00:00:30,196 --> 00:00:31,515 Like there's a man, 13 00:00:31,515 --> 00:00:33,419 he's walking down the sidewalk, 14 00:00:33,419 --> 00:00:36,554 without realizing it he crosses over an open manhole, 15 00:00:36,554 --> 00:00:39,946 and he just plummets into the sewer below. 16 00:00:40,238 --> 00:00:44,318 And I picture it this way because falling is not jumping. 17 00:00:44,825 --> 00:00:47,074 Falling is accidental, 18 00:00:47,074 --> 00:00:48,805 it's uncontrollable. 19 00:00:48,805 --> 00:00:52,077 It's something that happens to us without our consent. 20 00:00:52,380 --> 00:00:53,694 And this -- 21 00:00:53,694 --> 00:00:57,261 this is the main way we talk about starting a new relationship. 22 00:00:58,337 --> 00:01:02,225 I am a writer and I'm also and English teacher, 23 00:01:02,225 --> 00:01:04,533 which means I think about words for a living. 24 00:01:04,533 --> 00:01:08,706 You could say that I get paid to argue that the language we use matters, 25 00:01:08,706 --> 00:01:12,929 and I would like to argue that many of the metaphors we use 26 00:01:12,929 --> 00:01:14,519 to talk about love -- 27 00:01:14,519 --> 00:01:16,310 maybe even most of them -- 28 00:01:16,310 --> 00:01:17,879 are a problem. 29 00:01:18,717 --> 00:01:21,350 So, in love we fall. 30 00:01:21,766 --> 00:01:23,588 We're struck ... 31 00:01:23,588 --> 00:01:25,641 we are crushed ... 32 00:01:25,641 --> 00:01:27,353 we swoon ... 33 00:01:27,353 --> 00:01:29,150 we burn with passion. 34 00:01:29,849 --> 00:01:31,983 Love makes us crazy, 35 00:01:31,983 --> 00:01:33,596 and it makes us sick. 36 00:01:33,868 --> 00:01:35,429 Our hearts ache, 37 00:01:35,429 --> 00:01:37,435 and then they break. 38 00:01:38,417 --> 00:01:41,584 So our metaphors equate the experience of loving someone 39 00:01:41,584 --> 00:01:44,260 to extreme violence or illness. 40 00:01:44,260 --> 00:01:45,760 (Laughter) 41 00:01:47,159 --> 00:01:48,164 They do. 42 00:01:48,164 --> 00:01:50,542 And they position us as the victims 43 00:01:50,542 --> 00:01:53,797 of unforeseen and totally unavoidable circumstances. 44 00:01:54,642 --> 00:01:57,544 My favorite one of these is "smitten," 45 00:01:57,544 --> 00:02:00,366 which is the past participle of the word smite. 46 00:02:00,366 --> 00:02:03,628 And if you look this word up in the dictionary -- 47 00:02:03,628 --> 00:02:04,628 (Laughter) 48 00:02:04,628 --> 00:02:09,045 You will see that it can be defined as both grievous affliction 49 00:02:09,045 --> 00:02:11,896 and to be very much in love. 50 00:02:13,181 --> 00:02:17,084 So, I tend to associate the word smite with a very particular context, 51 00:02:17,084 --> 00:02:18,816 which is the Old Testament. 52 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:24,720 In the Book of Exodus alone there are 16 references to smiting, 53 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,516 which is the word that the bible uses for the vengeance of an angry God. 54 00:02:29,874 --> 00:02:32,733 Here we are using the same word to talk about love 55 00:02:32,733 --> 00:02:35,379 that we use to explain a plague of locusts. 56 00:02:35,702 --> 00:02:36,703 (Laughter) 57 00:02:36,703 --> 00:02:37,695 Right? 58 00:02:37,695 --> 00:02:39,501 So, how did this happen? 59 00:02:39,501 --> 00:02:43,339 How have we come to associate love with great pain and suffering? 60 00:02:43,611 --> 00:02:47,674 And why do we talk about this ostensibly good experience 61 00:02:47,674 --> 00:02:49,778 as if we are victims? 62 00:02:50,556 --> 00:02:52,271 These are difficult questions, 63 00:02:52,271 --> 00:02:53,671 but I have some theories. 64 00:02:53,941 --> 00:02:55,199 And to think this through, 65 00:02:55,199 --> 00:02:58,043 I want to focus on one metaphor in particular, 66 00:02:58,043 --> 00:03:00,470 which is the idea of love is madness. 67 00:03:01,199 --> 00:03:04,028 When I first started researching romantic love, 68 00:03:04,028 --> 00:03:06,867 I found these madness metaphors everywhere. 69 00:03:06,867 --> 00:03:08,731 The history of Western culture 70 00:03:08,731 --> 00:03:12,942 is full of language that equates love to mental illness. 71 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:15,391 These are just a few examples. 72 00:03:15,391 --> 00:03:16,863 William Shakespeare: 73 00:03:16,863 --> 00:03:18,319 "Love is merely a madness," 74 00:03:18,319 --> 00:03:19,786 from "As You Like It." 75 00:03:20,164 --> 00:03:21,573 Friedrich Nietsche, 76 00:03:21,573 --> 00:03:24,370 "There is always some madness in love." 77 00:03:24,750 --> 00:03:27,639 "Got me looking, got me looking so crazy in love -- " 78 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,027 (Laughter) 79 00:03:29,648 --> 00:03:32,269 From the great philosopher, Beyoncé Knowles. 80 00:03:32,269 --> 00:03:33,622 (Laughter) 81 00:03:35,163 --> 00:03:38,020 I fell in love for the first time when I was 20, 82 00:03:38,020 --> 00:03:41,036 and it was a pretty turbulent relationship right from the start. 83 00:03:41,363 --> 00:03:44,874 And it was long distance for the first couple of years, 84 00:03:44,874 --> 00:03:49,470 so for me that meant very high highs and very low lows. 85 00:03:50,041 --> 00:03:52,742 I can remember one moment in particular; 86 00:03:52,742 --> 00:03:56,110 I was sitting on a bed in a hostel in South America, 87 00:03:56,110 --> 00:03:59,806 and I was watching the person I love walk out the door. 88 00:04:00,222 --> 00:04:02,045 And it was late, 89 00:04:02,045 --> 00:04:03,328 it was nearly midnight, 90 00:04:03,328 --> 00:04:05,328 we'd gotten into an argument over dinner, 91 00:04:05,328 --> 00:04:07,300 and when we got back to our room, 92 00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:10,380 he threw his things in the bag and stormed out. 93 00:04:11,308 --> 00:04:14,703 While I can no longer remember what that argument was about, 94 00:04:14,703 --> 00:04:18,758 I very clearly remember how I felt watching him leave. 95 00:04:19,122 --> 00:04:20,878 So I was 22, 96 00:04:20,878 --> 00:04:23,750 it was my first time in the developing world, 97 00:04:23,750 --> 00:04:25,971 and I was totally alone. 98 00:04:26,587 --> 00:04:30,134 I had another week until my flight home, 99 00:04:30,134 --> 00:04:32,525 and I knew the name of the town that I was in, 100 00:04:32,525 --> 00:04:36,131 and the name of the city that I needed to get to to fly out, 101 00:04:36,131 --> 00:04:40,057 but I had no idea how to get around, 102 00:04:40,057 --> 00:04:43,327 I had no guidebook and very little money, 103 00:04:43,327 --> 00:04:45,097 and I spoke no Spanish. 104 00:04:45,547 --> 00:04:47,893 So, someone more adventurous than me 105 00:04:47,893 --> 00:04:50,429 might have seen this as a moment of opportunity, 106 00:04:50,429 --> 00:04:52,259 but I just froze. 107 00:04:52,581 --> 00:04:54,818 I just sat there. 108 00:04:54,818 --> 00:04:56,974 And then I burst into tears. 109 00:04:57,556 --> 00:04:59,950 But despite my panic, 110 00:04:59,950 --> 00:05:02,543 some small voice in my head thought, 111 00:05:02,543 --> 00:05:04,956 "Wow, that was dramatic. 112 00:05:04,956 --> 00:05:07,654 I must really be doing this love thing right." 113 00:05:07,988 --> 00:05:09,207 (Laughter) 114 00:05:09,417 --> 00:05:14,084 Because some part of me wanted to feel miserable in love. 115 00:05:14,337 --> 00:05:16,313 And it sounds so strange to me now, 116 00:05:16,313 --> 00:05:17,800 but at 22, 117 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,275 I longed to have dramatic experiences, 118 00:05:21,275 --> 00:05:26,216 and in that moment I was irrational and furious and devastated, 119 00:05:26,216 --> 00:05:27,463 and weirdly enough, 120 00:05:27,463 --> 00:05:30,862 I thought that this somehow legitimized the feelings I had 121 00:05:30,862 --> 00:05:32,907 for the guy who had just left me. 122 00:05:34,354 --> 00:05:38,740 I think on some level I wanted to feel a little bit crazy, 123 00:05:38,740 --> 00:05:42,600 because I thought that that was how loved worked. 124 00:05:43,332 --> 00:05:45,355 This really should not be surpsising 125 00:05:45,355 --> 00:05:47,697 considering that according to Wikipedia, 126 00:05:47,697 --> 00:05:49,953 there are eight films, 127 00:05:49,953 --> 00:05:51,973 14 songs, 128 00:05:51,973 --> 00:05:55,399 two albums and one novel with the title "Crazy Love." 129 00:05:56,020 --> 00:05:57,616 About half-an-hour later, 130 00:05:57,616 --> 00:05:59,059 he came back to our room. 131 00:05:59,059 --> 00:06:00,055 We made up, 132 00:06:00,055 --> 00:06:03,235 we spent another mostly happy week travelling together, 133 00:06:03,235 --> 00:06:04,690 and then when I got home, 134 00:06:04,690 --> 00:06:10,133 I thought, "That was so terrible and so great, 135 00:06:10,133 --> 00:06:12,546 this must be a real romance." 136 00:06:13,261 --> 00:06:15,984 I expected my first love to feel like madness, 137 00:06:15,984 --> 00:06:19,697 and of course it met that expectation very well. 138 00:06:20,116 --> 00:06:21,830 But loving someone like that -- 139 00:06:21,830 --> 00:06:25,978 as if my entire well-being depended on him loving me back -- 140 00:06:25,978 --> 00:06:28,177 was not very good for me, 141 00:06:28,177 --> 00:06:29,234 or for him. 142 00:06:29,985 --> 00:06:33,686 But I suspect this experience of love is not that unusual. 143 00:06:34,137 --> 00:06:38,477 Most of us do feel a bit mad in the early stages of romantic love. 144 00:06:38,863 --> 00:06:43,367 In fact there is research to confirm that this is somewhat normal, 145 00:06:43,367 --> 00:06:45,276 because neurochemically speaking, 146 00:06:45,276 --> 00:06:50,008 romantic love and mental illness are not that easily distinguished. 147 00:06:51,172 --> 00:06:52,292 This is true. 148 00:06:52,292 --> 00:06:56,874 So, this study from 1999 used blood tests 149 00:06:56,874 --> 00:07:00,071 to confirm that the serotonin levels of the newly in love 150 00:07:00,071 --> 00:07:02,743 very closely resemembeled the serotonin levels 151 00:07:02,743 --> 00:07:06,206 of people who had been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. 152 00:07:06,206 --> 00:07:07,207 (Laughter) 153 00:07:07,207 --> 00:07:08,205 Yes, 154 00:07:08,205 --> 00:07:10,116 and low levels of serotonin 155 00:07:10,116 --> 00:07:13,650 are also associated with Seasonal affective disorder 156 00:07:13,650 --> 00:07:15,107 and Depression. 157 00:07:15,687 --> 00:07:18,137 So, there is some evidence 158 00:07:18,137 --> 00:07:22,430 that love is associated with changes to our moods and our behaviors, 159 00:07:22,430 --> 00:07:25,388 and there are other studies 160 00:07:25,388 --> 00:07:30,150 to confirm that most relationships begin this way. 161 00:07:30,806 --> 00:07:34,992 Researchers believe that the low levels of serotonin 162 00:07:34,992 --> 00:07:39,225 is correlated with obsessive thinking about the object of love, 163 00:07:39,225 --> 00:07:43,155 which is like this feeling that someone has set up camp in your brain. 164 00:07:43,155 --> 00:07:46,109 And most of us feel this way when we first fall in love, 165 00:07:46,109 --> 00:07:49,370 but the good news is that it doesn't always last that long -- 166 00:07:49,370 --> 00:07:52,480 usually from a few months to a couple of years. 167 00:07:53,590 --> 00:07:56,332 When I got back from my trip to South America, 168 00:07:56,332 --> 00:07:59,932 I spent a lot of time alone in my room, 169 00:07:59,932 --> 00:08:01,318 checking my email, 170 00:08:01,318 --> 00:08:03,989 desperate to hear from the guy I loved. 171 00:08:04,744 --> 00:08:10,052 I decided that if my friends could not understand my grievous affliction, 172 00:08:10,052 --> 00:08:12,074 then I did not need their friendship. 173 00:08:12,074 --> 00:08:14,459 So, I stopped hanging out with most of them. 174 00:08:14,459 --> 00:08:19,341 And it was probably the most unhappy year of my life, 175 00:08:19,341 --> 00:08:23,905 but I think I felt like it was my job to be miserable, 176 00:08:23,905 --> 00:08:25,720 because if I could be miserable, 177 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,595 then I would prove how much I loved him, 178 00:08:28,595 --> 00:08:30,503 and if I could prove it, 179 00:08:30,503 --> 00:08:33,868 then we would have to end up together eventually. 180 00:08:34,265 --> 00:08:36,376 This is the real madness, 181 00:08:36,376 --> 00:08:38,794 because there is no cosmic rule 182 00:08:38,794 --> 00:08:42,581 that says that great suffering equals great reward, 183 00:08:42,581 --> 00:08:46,485 but we talk about love as if this is true. 184 00:08:47,742 --> 00:08:51,481 Our experiences of love are both biological and cultural. 185 00:08:51,774 --> 00:08:54,477 Our biology tells us that love is good 186 00:08:54,477 --> 00:08:57,654 by activating these reward circuits in our brain, 187 00:08:57,654 --> 00:09:02,297 and it tells us that love is painful when after a fight or a breakup 188 00:09:02,297 --> 00:09:04,876 that neurochemical reward is withdrawn. 189 00:09:05,332 --> 00:09:06,329 And in fact -- 190 00:09:06,329 --> 00:09:07,848 and maybe you've heard this -- 191 00:09:07,848 --> 00:09:09,715 neurochemically speaking, 192 00:09:09,715 --> 00:09:13,866 going through a breakup is a lot like going through cocaine withdrawal, 193 00:09:13,866 --> 00:09:15,525 which I find reassuring -- 194 00:09:15,525 --> 00:09:16,534 (Laughter) 195 00:09:17,241 --> 00:09:20,096 And then our culture uses language 196 00:09:20,096 --> 00:09:22,900 to shape and reinforce these ideas about love. 197 00:09:22,900 --> 00:09:23,895 In this case, 198 00:09:23,895 --> 00:09:27,509 we're talking about metaphors about pain, and addiction, and madness. 199 00:09:27,826 --> 00:09:30,641 It's kind of an interesting feedback loop. 200 00:09:30,641 --> 00:09:34,181 Love is powerful and at times painful, 201 00:09:34,181 --> 00:09:37,325 and we express this in our words and stories, 202 00:09:37,325 --> 00:09:43,433 but then our words and stories prime us to expect love to be powerful and painful. 203 00:09:44,075 --> 00:09:45,577 What's interesting to me 204 00:09:45,577 --> 00:09:50,105 is that all of this happens in a culture that values lifelong monogamy. 205 00:09:50,810 --> 00:09:53,013 It seems like we want it both ways: 206 00:09:53,013 --> 00:09:55,838 we want love to feel like madness, 207 00:09:55,838 --> 00:09:58,984 and we want it to last an entire lifetime. 208 00:09:59,617 --> 00:10:01,179 That sounds terrible. 209 00:10:01,538 --> 00:10:03,067 (Laughter) 210 00:10:04,051 --> 00:10:05,670 To reconcile this, 211 00:10:05,670 --> 00:10:10,695 we need to either change our culture or change our expectations. 212 00:10:11,543 --> 00:10:15,438 So, imagine if we were all less passive in love. 213 00:10:15,786 --> 00:10:20,085 If we were more assertive, more open-mined, more generous, 214 00:10:20,085 --> 00:10:23,352 and instead of falling in love, 215 00:10:23,352 --> 00:10:25,503 we stepped into love. 216 00:10:26,326 --> 00:10:28,393 I know that this is asking a lot, 217 00:10:28,393 --> 00:10:32,158 but I'm not actually the first person to suggest this. 218 00:10:33,179 --> 00:10:35,764 In their book "Metaphors We Live By," 219 00:10:35,764 --> 00:10:40,683 linguists Mark Johnson and George Lakoff suggest a really interesting solution 220 00:10:40,683 --> 00:10:42,587 to this dilemna, 221 00:10:42,587 --> 00:10:45,374 which is to change our metaphors. 222 00:10:45,930 --> 00:10:51,238 They argue that metaphors really do shape the way we experience the world, 223 00:10:51,238 --> 00:10:54,815 and that they can even act as a guide for future actions, 224 00:10:54,815 --> 00:10:56,973 like self-fulfilling prophecies. 225 00:10:57,609 --> 00:11:02,113 Johnson and Lakoff suggest a new metaphor for love: 226 00:11:02,113 --> 00:11:04,553 love is a collaborative work of art. 227 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,050 I really like this way of thinking about love. 228 00:11:09,171 --> 00:11:12,797 Linguists talk about metaphors as having entailments, 229 00:11:12,797 --> 00:11:16,616 which is essentially a way of considering all the implications of, 230 00:11:16,616 --> 00:11:19,546 or ideas contained within a given metaphor. 231 00:11:19,546 --> 00:11:22,347 And Johnson and Lakoff talk about everything 232 00:11:22,347 --> 00:11:25,048 that collaborating on a work of art entails: 233 00:11:25,048 --> 00:11:29,203 effort, compromise, patience, shared goals. 234 00:11:29,735 --> 00:11:33,698 These ideas align nicely with our cultural investment 235 00:11:33,698 --> 00:11:35,876 in long-term romantic commitment, 236 00:11:35,876 --> 00:11:40,211 but they also work well for other kinds of relationships -- 237 00:11:40,211 --> 00:11:45,774 short-term, casual, polyamorous, non-monogamous, asexual -- 238 00:11:45,774 --> 00:11:49,724 because this metaphor brings much more complex ideas 239 00:11:49,724 --> 00:11:51,895 to the experience of loving someone. 240 00:11:52,670 --> 00:11:57,295 So if love is a collaborative work of art, 241 00:11:57,295 --> 00:12:01,012 then love is an aesthetic experience. 242 00:12:01,676 --> 00:12:04,264 Love is unpredictable, 243 00:12:04,264 --> 00:12:07,089 love is creative, 244 00:12:07,089 --> 00:12:11,245 love requires communication and discipline, 245 00:12:11,245 --> 00:12:14,979 it is frustrating and emotionally demanding, 246 00:12:14,979 --> 00:12:18,418 and love involves both joy and pain. 247 00:12:18,988 --> 00:12:22,823 Ultimately, each experience of love is different. 248 00:12:23,854 --> 00:12:25,635 When I was younger, 249 00:12:25,635 --> 00:12:27,087 it never occurred to me 250 00:12:27,087 --> 00:12:30,385 that I was allowed to demand more from love, 251 00:12:30,385 --> 00:12:34,078 that I didn't have to just accept whatever love offered. 252 00:12:34,998 --> 00:12:38,725 When 14-year-old Juliet first meets -- 253 00:12:38,725 --> 00:12:42,395 when 14-year-old Juliet cannot be with Romeo, 254 00:12:42,395 --> 00:12:44,969 whom she has met four days ago, 255 00:12:44,969 --> 00:12:49,078 she does not feel disappointed or angsty -- 256 00:12:49,078 --> 00:12:50,527 where is she? 257 00:12:50,527 --> 00:12:52,334 She wants to die. 258 00:12:52,334 --> 00:12:53,333 Right? 259 00:12:53,333 --> 00:12:54,618 And just as a refesher, 260 00:12:54,618 --> 00:12:55,904 at this point in the play 261 00:12:55,904 --> 00:12:57,317 act three of five, 262 00:12:57,317 --> 00:12:59,745 Romeo is not dead. 263 00:12:59,745 --> 00:13:01,194 He's alive, 264 00:13:01,194 --> 00:13:02,753 he's healthy, 265 00:13:02,753 --> 00:13:05,193 he's just been banished from the city. 266 00:13:06,028 --> 00:13:12,115 I understand that sixteenth-century Verona is unlike contemporary North America, 267 00:13:12,115 --> 00:13:15,010 and yet when I first read this play -- 268 00:13:15,010 --> 00:13:17,514 also at age 14 -- 269 00:13:17,514 --> 00:13:20,700 Juliet's suffering made sense to me. 270 00:13:21,542 --> 00:13:26,907 Reframing love as something I get to create with someone I admire, 271 00:13:26,907 --> 00:13:31,896 rather than something that just happens to me without my conrol or consent, 272 00:13:31,896 --> 00:13:33,501 is empowering. 273 00:13:33,986 --> 00:13:35,627 It's still hard. 274 00:13:35,627 --> 00:13:41,073 Love still feels totally maddening and crushing some days, 275 00:13:41,073 --> 00:13:43,211 and when I feel really frustrated, 276 00:13:43,211 --> 00:13:45,146 I have to remind myself 277 00:13:45,146 --> 00:13:48,513 my job in this relationship is to talk to my partner 278 00:13:48,513 --> 00:13:50,694 about what I want to make together. 279 00:13:52,082 --> 00:13:55,098 This isn't easy either, 280 00:13:55,098 --> 00:13:58,728 but it's just so much better than the alternative, 281 00:13:58,728 --> 00:14:01,883 which is that thing that feels like madness. 282 00:14:02,958 --> 00:14:08,315 This version of love is not about winning of losing someone's affection. 283 00:14:08,992 --> 00:14:12,613 Instead, it requires that you trust your partner, 284 00:14:12,613 --> 00:14:15,826 and talk about things when trusting feels difficult, 285 00:14:15,826 --> 00:14:18,295 which sound so simple, 286 00:14:18,295 --> 00:14:22,791 but is actually a kind of revolutionary, radical act. 287 00:14:23,253 --> 00:14:27,397 This is because you get to stop thinking about yourself, 288 00:14:27,397 --> 00:14:30,656 and what you're gaining or losing in your relationship, 289 00:14:30,656 --> 00:14:34,417 and you get to start thinking about what you have to offer. 290 00:14:35,010 --> 00:14:38,438 This version of love allows us to say things like, 291 00:14:38,438 --> 00:14:41,768 "Hey, we're not very good collaborators, 292 00:14:41,768 --> 00:14:43,892 maybe this isn't for us," 293 00:14:43,892 --> 00:14:47,866 or, "That relationship was shorter than I had planned, 294 00:14:47,866 --> 00:14:50,362 but it was still kind of beautiful." 295 00:14:51,075 --> 00:14:53,888 The beautiful thing about the collaborative work of art 296 00:14:53,888 --> 00:14:56,911 is that it will not paint or draw or sculpt itself. 297 00:14:57,274 --> 00:15:01,033 This version of love allows us to decide what it looks like. 298 00:15:01,033 --> 00:15:02,079 Thank you. 299 00:15:02,079 --> 00:15:03,057 (Applause)