I used to think that love was this spark, an instant or developing connection, but now I'm quite unsure if there's even such thing as true love. I'm starting to realize from my personal experience and from FDS that having a connection doesn't necessarily equate love.

After analysing the whole dating scene, it seems to me that attaining love and maintaining it is pretty much based on strategy and technique than an emotion we are expected have intuitively and naturally. The emotions we have mistaken for love and are taught about in popular culture (soulmate, soultie, spark, instant connection, etc.) are perhaps nothing more than a chemical reaction in response to touch, sense of security, familiarity, and attractiveness.

This realization from my analysis of the dating scene has led me to feel quite jaded. Does love even exist since with the right strategies you can basically manipulate anyone into loving you (and thus, loving them back for their good efforts) instead of the love coming naturally as a result of God knows what (fate, "writren in the stars", destiny... blah blah)?

It seems to me that true love is more mechanical and strategical as opposed to the temporary, low quality love based solely on intuition and "spark".