"How do I love thee?" asked poet Elizabeth B. Browning to her husband, Robert. "Let me count the ways. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life! If God choose, I shall but love thee better after death."
As we celebrate the month of lovers, one of the things that come to mind are poems written by the smitten by the arrows of stupid cupid. Sir Walter Raleigh shares his sentiment through these words: "If all the world and love were young and truth in every shepherd’s tongue. These pretty pleasures might me move to live with thee, and be thy love."
In the past, lovers used to pen love letters. In these days of text messaging, love letters seem to be obsolete. But through love letters, history were made and recorded. Here’s one written by Edward VIII to his beloved: "But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."
Poems and love letters are just two of the symbols that are associated with this inscrutable thing called love. But perhaps the most transparent thing when it comes to love is heart. If someone sings, "I left my heart in…" he was referring to his inamorata. Or, the apple of his eyes may respond, "My love hath my heart and I have his."
In a normal person, the heart beats 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 40,000,000 times a year! During a single day, a ventricle pumps about 11,000 quarts or 265,000,000 quarts in a lifetime. If an elevator could be harnessed to this marvelous engine, you could ride from the ground floor to the fifth floor of a building in about an hour. No wonder, Leonardo da Vinci called it a "marvelous instrument."
Our heart is about 12 centimeters long, 8 centimeters wide at its broadest part, and 6 centimeters thick (just like the size of a fist). The weight of the heart in men averages between 280 and 340 grams and in women between 230 and 280 grams. The base of the heart is the portion of the heart opposite the tip. The base is tilted to the right side of the body. It lies just below the second rib.
Another symbol of love is rose. However, you call a rose, it is still a rose. It has always been valued for its beauty and has a long history of symbolism. The ancient Greeks and Romans identified the rose with their goddesses of love referred to as Aphrodite and Venus, respectively. In Rome, a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed. The phrase sub rosa, or "under the rose," means to keep a secret — derived from this ancient Roman practice. "Rose" means pink or red in a variety of languages.
With roses, chocolates can’t be far behind. Oftentimes, chocolates have been equated with love and romance. "Love," someone said, "is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time." John Milton wrote, "Love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate." Miranda Ingram argued, "It’s not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate. Chocolate is, let’s face it, far more reliable than a man."
Chemically speaking, "chocolate really is the world’s perfect food," to quote the words of Michael Levine, the author of The Emperors of Chocolate. As Geronimo Piperni puts it: "Chocolate is a divine, celestial drink, the sweat of the stars, the vital seed, divine nectar, the drink of the gods, panacea and universal medicine."
Actually, chocolate is considered an aphrodisiac, a substance which is used in the belief that it increases sexual desire. Small wonder why chocolates were banned from some monasteries centuries ago. The Aztecs referred to chocolate "nourishment of the gods."
Aside from chocolates, other common aphrodisiacs are asparagus (three courses of asparagus were served to 19th century bridegrooms due to its reputed aphrodisiacal powers), avocado, banana (some studies show its enzyme bromelain enhances male performance), carrot, coffee, garlic, oyster (raw oysters are very high in zinc which raises sperm and testosterone production), radish, and truffles.
Durian, that fruit which smells like hell but tastes like heaven, is also an aphrodisiac. In Indonesia, the Javanese impose a strict set of rules on what may or may not be consumed with it or shortly thereafter. A saying "Durian jatuh sarung naik" ("The durians fall and the sarungs come up) refers to this belief. The warnings against the supposed lecherous quality of this fruit soon spread to the West — the Swedenborgian philosopher Herman Vetterling commented on so-called "erotic properties" of the durian in the early 20th century.
Finally, a glass or two of wine can greatly enhance a romantic interlude. Wine relaxes and helps to stimulate our senses. Drinking wine can be an erotic experience. Let your eyes feast on the color of the liquid. Do remember that excessive alcohol will make you too drowsy for the after-dinner romance. A moderate amount of wine has been said to "arouse" but much more than that amount with have the reverse affect.
As we celebrate the month of lovers, one of the things that come to mind are poems written by the smitten by the arrows of stupid cupid. Sir Walter Raleigh shares his sentiment through these words: "If all the world and love were young and truth in every shepherd’s tongue. These pretty pleasures might me move to live with thee, and be thy love."
In the past, lovers used to pen love letters. In these days of text messaging, love letters seem to be obsolete. But through love letters, history were made and recorded. Here’s one written by Edward VIII to his beloved: "But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."
Poems and love letters are just two of the symbols that are associated with this inscrutable thing called love. But perhaps the most transparent thing when it comes to love is heart. If someone sings, "I left my heart in…" he was referring to his inamorata. Or, the apple of his eyes may respond, "My love hath my heart and I have his."
In a normal person, the heart beats 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 40,000,000 times a year! During a single day, a ventricle pumps about 11,000 quarts or 265,000,000 quarts in a lifetime. If an elevator could be harnessed to this marvelous engine, you could ride from the ground floor to the fifth floor of a building in about an hour. No wonder, Leonardo da Vinci called it a "marvelous instrument."
Our heart is about 12 centimeters long, 8 centimeters wide at its broadest part, and 6 centimeters thick (just like the size of a fist). The weight of the heart in men averages between 280 and 340 grams and in women between 230 and 280 grams. The base of the heart is the portion of the heart opposite the tip. The base is tilted to the right side of the body. It lies just below the second rib.
Another symbol of love is rose. However, you call a rose, it is still a rose. It has always been valued for its beauty and has a long history of symbolism. The ancient Greeks and Romans identified the rose with their goddesses of love referred to as Aphrodite and Venus, respectively. In Rome, a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed. The phrase sub rosa, or "under the rose," means to keep a secret — derived from this ancient Roman practice. "Rose" means pink or red in a variety of languages.
With roses, chocolates can’t be far behind. Oftentimes, chocolates have been equated with love and romance. "Love," someone said, "is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time." John Milton wrote, "Love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate." Miranda Ingram argued, "It’s not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate. Chocolate is, let’s face it, far more reliable than a man."
Chemically speaking, "chocolate really is the world’s perfect food," to quote the words of Michael Levine, the author of The Emperors of Chocolate. As Geronimo Piperni puts it: "Chocolate is a divine, celestial drink, the sweat of the stars, the vital seed, divine nectar, the drink of the gods, panacea and universal medicine."
Actually, chocolate is considered an aphrodisiac, a substance which is used in the belief that it increases sexual desire. Small wonder why chocolates were banned from some monasteries centuries ago. The Aztecs referred to chocolate "nourishment of the gods."
Aside from chocolates, other common aphrodisiacs are asparagus (three courses of asparagus were served to 19th century bridegrooms due to its reputed aphrodisiacal powers), avocado, banana (some studies show its enzyme bromelain enhances male performance), carrot, coffee, garlic, oyster (raw oysters are very high in zinc which raises sperm and testosterone production), radish, and truffles.
Durian, that fruit which smells like hell but tastes like heaven, is also an aphrodisiac. In Indonesia, the Javanese impose a strict set of rules on what may or may not be consumed with it or shortly thereafter. A saying "Durian jatuh sarung naik" ("The durians fall and the sarungs come up) refers to this belief. The warnings against the supposed lecherous quality of this fruit soon spread to the West — the Swedenborgian philosopher Herman Vetterling commented on so-called "erotic properties" of the durian in the early 20th century.
Finally, a glass or two of wine can greatly enhance a romantic interlude. Wine relaxes and helps to stimulate our senses. Drinking wine can be an erotic experience. Let your eyes feast on the color of the liquid. Do remember that excessive alcohol will make you too drowsy for the after-dinner romance. A moderate amount of wine has been said to "arouse" but much more than that amount with have the reverse affect.
