Romantic love is not earned but it is conditional?

discussion

I want to try to understand the distinction between:

  • a)romantic love is conditional: is there mutual trust? respect? is there mutual attraction? are the life purposes complementary?

  • b)romantic love is not earned: there is no amount of money or effort that can force another person to romantically love us. Romantic love is a deeply biological process of oneness that cannot be switched on by external pressure.

So to be clear, I am specifically focusing on romantic love instead of other types of love such parental love, or universal love for humanity. I am specifically thinking of the romantic type love where each of the two people are deciding to think for two.

There seems to be some confusion on this topic. I read on some posts that romantic love needs to be unconditional. I don't think this is practical especially when it comes to trust. I understand that there needs to be forgiveness and that there is mutual effort for repair. But if the other person is not willing to even put the effort, then there can't be a romantic partnership.

I also agree that love is not earned. We cannot force another person to be attracted to us and wanting to partner with us.

Posted Jul 25, 2026, 7:50 PM UTC

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