Only Human - Chapter Three
All we need is love, the Beatles assured us.
The star-studded 2003 film “Love Actually”, which has become a latter-day Christmas classic, informs us that love is actually all around us.
An older, lesser-known, and less-well-regarded movie, “Altered States” (1980), tracks the Faustian quest of Professor Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) for an inner self, a primal self, buried deep in our DNA. A parallel story winding through this film, directed by no less a light than Ken Russel, follows the relationship between Jessup and Emily (Blair Brown). They hook up at a party in New York, where she is working on a Ph.D. in anthropology at Columbia and he is involved in a post-doc research project on schizophrenia. After having sex for the first time, Eddie admits to Emily that he gets off fantasizing about crucifixions. He embellishes this revelation with a story from his childhood, when he had religious visions, that is, until his father died a protracted, painful death from cancer. “Horrible,” his dying dad whispers in his final moments. The young Eddie Jessup’s faith was shattered and the visions stopped.
Now Dr. Jessup --- the embodiment of the late-20th-century atheist --- is seeking the “god” within himself. He believes the other self is real, tangible, “And I’m going to find the fucker,” he declares. His quest takes him to South America, where an isolated tribe admits him into their psychedelic ritual. He brings the drug back to Harvard, where he’s now on the faculty. There he combines it with an isolation tank. The result of repeated experiments is an ever-more extreme regression that manifests physically as the temporary transformation of Eddie into a proto-human ape, and ultimately into “an amorphous mass of conscious primordial matter.”
Meanwhile, Eddie and Emily have gone the full cycle: married, had kids, and then separated, a divorce pending. Why would they divorce, Eddie’s once and future research associate, played by Bob Balaban, asks his wife. “Apparently she’s still crazy about him and he’s still crazy,” comes his spouse’s glib reply. Fact is, Eddie is unable to love, or to even comprehend what love is. When Emily, also Harvard-faculty bound, pressed him to get married, he granted that he was unlikely to find anybody half as interesting as he found her.
Fast forward about a decade. Following a climactic scene in which Eddie’s final physical devolution is reversed only due to Emily’s intervention, somehow --- through the power of her one-way love? --- rescuing him from becoming a noncorporeal “energy being.”
As the film winds toward its close, Emily and two of Eddie’s closest colleagues get him back to her place, where he informs her that he has fallen into a pit of hopeless despair, having learned from his repeated devolutions that life is absolutely meaningless. Suddenly, like Dr. Jekyll’s uncontrollable regression into Mr. Hyde, Eddie slips into another, uncontrolled devolution. When Emily grabs his hands, she is enveloped in his primordial energy. Eddie battles the devolution and returns to his human form. He embraces Emily, and thus returns her to normal. Naked, they embrace on the hallway floor. “I love you, Emily,” Eddie whispers. The camera is focused on Emily’s face. She smiles. Fade to black and go to the credits.
“The film garnered generally positive reviews,” Wikipedia tells us. These days Rotten Tomatoes gives it a respectable, if not fabulous, 85% on the “Tomatometer.” Not bad for an illogical, visual-mishmash of a movie, a non-fan might say. Variously classified as a “body horror” and/or sci-fi film, Russell’s cinematic interpretation of Paddy Chayefsky’s novel led the latter, who also wrote the screenplay, to take his name off the credits.
So why does this film fascinate me (which it does)?
To me, Dr. Eddie Jessup ---like Faust and Jekyll--- is the (slightly mad) scientist who risks everything ---his life, his soul, his identity, his chance for happiness --- in the compulsive pursuit of knowledge. Having lost faith in God, he seeks redemption in Truth, only to discover the Void. As unlikely as his various devolutions are, they embody (yes, pun intended) the very essence of the true scholar’s life. At this level, as an academic, I find the film inspirational.
But then, in the end, comes the cop-out. “I love you, Emily.” No Jekyll/Faust tragic finale for Eddie and Emily.
It’s the Beatles all over again: “All You Need Is Love”
While I don’t dispute that love actually is all around us, common sense tells us that it’s not all any of us needs. But “Altered States” poses a more profound proposition, albeit as a cliché. Is love enough to overcome the apparent meaningless of life?
I guess that question begs another. Is life meaningless? If the soul isn’t immortal… if death is the end of the individual, then how does each of us infuse our little life with meaning? Some find a sense of meaning in serving a higher cause. This might be a political movement. It might be history. It might be the family (ala Vito Corleone), or the nation (ala the MAGA movement), or the whole human race. It might be art for art’s sake. Devoting one’s life to any of these is as much an act of faith as is devotion to Catholicism or Islam. The hard part is believing that something of ourselves will remain, our contribution to the higher calling, even though we won’t be around or be aware of it. This, let me suggest, isn’t nearly as satisfying as anticipating our own immortal transformation, as promised by most religions.
That’s Eddie Jessup’s potential tragedy. Having penetrated the universe’s deepest secrets, he has learned that conscious life --- “the first thought” --- means nothing in the grand scheme. It’s only an interesting accident.
And, so, the cop out. Somehow, love fills this void. It’s all Emily ever wanted from Eddie, and at last she has it. And it’s enough… or so we come out of the theater thinking.
If the message of “Altered States,” and “Love Actually” for that matter, is that love makes life bearable, I can buy that. Love soothes. It supports. But is it an end in itself? Is it really all we need? I don’t think so.
What is love… actually?
Merriam Webster tells us love is “a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties,” “attraction based on sexual desire; affection and tenderness felt by lovers”; “warm attachment, enthusiasm or devotion.” This just doesn’t suffice, not for Eddie Jessup’s purposes.
Here’s the Google AI Overview of love, based upon my query “scientific definition of love”:
Love, from a scientific perspective, is a multifaceted experience involving complex biological and psychological processes. It's characterized by strong feelings of affection, tenderness, and attachment, and is linked to the activation of specific brain regions and the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin. These neurochemicals contribute to feelings of pleasure, bonding, and well-being associated with love.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Love is deeply intertwined with the brain's reward system. Neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine play a crucial role in the initial stages of attraction and infatuation, contributing to feelings of pleasure and excitement. Later, oxytocin and vasopressin become more prominent, fostering feelings of attachment and bonding, particularly in long-term relationships.
Specific brain areas, such as the ventral tegmental area, are activated during experiences of love. This area is associated with motivation, reward, and emotional regulation.
Psychologists have proposed various theories to understand love, including the triangular theory of love, which identifies intimacy, passion, and commitment as key components, according to the American Psychological Association (APA).
Social and Evolutionary Perspectives:
Love also has social and evolutionary implications. It plays a vital role in forming social bonds, promoting cooperation, and facilitating reproduction. From an evolutionary standpoint, love can be seen as a set of behaviors that increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction.
Love is more than just a simple emotion; it's a complex interplay of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that can vary in intensity and expression.
All very interesting. But none of this advances our inquiry. None of this explains why love for Dr. Eddie Jessup can fill the abyss.
I chose to discuss “Altered States,” not because it’s unique. Quite the contrary. I chose it as a good example of the new “faith” that artists and writers seem most frequently to have offered as a replacement for all the old “Faiths.” While Marx and Lenin offered us “History,” and Hitler and Mussolini offer us “the State,” and science offers us “Knowledge,” the arts offer us “Love.”
Let’s unpack the Beatles song a little further. We’re told by McCartney and Lennon:
· There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
· Nothing you can make that can’t be made
· Nothing you can know that isn’t known
Striving to make history, or in service to the state, or to contribute to scientific knowledge… all are meaningless endeavors. That’s the profound implication of this simple song, I think. Striving is hard work. We don’t need to be told that. But if love is all we need, then it’s the short cut to happiness. No need for education. No need for hard work. No need for the risky business of making history. It’s the easy answer. Just as it was the cheesy cop-out in “Altered States.”
Another example, another variation on this ubiquitous theme, this one from “A Little Bit of Everything” by the band Dawes (2011):
“I think that love is so much easier than you realize
If you can give yourself to someone, then you should.”
and
“All these psychics and these doctors
They're all right and they're all wrong
It's like trying to make out every word
When they should simply hum along.”
Fair enough. But is love the means or the end? Is love all I need, the end game of life? Or is love all I need to arrive at the end game of life?
Let me personalize this inquiry. I married a girl who had been a friend in high school and who became my college sweetheart. I knew my Joanne for no fewer than 60 years and was her husband for 54 of those years. Whatever love is, we experienced love. Of that I’mcertain.
Joanne died on October 10, 2024… my 77th birthday. As she lay dying in a hospital bed in our sunroom, we texted when I wasn’t with her. Her text message dated July 29th, which I have never deleted from my phone, is “Loved you since debate team at Marian [High] – word ‘Backlash’.”
New love… young love… felt like the end game. When we were parted by my military service, being reunited was the end game.
Later, love was more a means… a means of making our way through life’s challenges: careers, kids, etc.
Later still, it (again) was an end in itself. Old, empty nesters, having one another (and, incidentally, having no more career or money issues) sufficed.
And, then, Joanne died. She died of an incurable disease, metastatic carcinoid syndrome, that she had staved off with the help of modern medicine for a dozen years. I couldn’t save her. Our savings couldn’t save her. The doctors couldn’t save. Our love couldn’t save her.
Ten months later, the worst of the grief and guilt behind me, I ask myself, “What is love now?”
Love could be a curse. Had we grown apart across a half century of marriage. Had we come to dislike, or perhaps even despise one another. Then the parting would have been so much easier for me. Thanks a lot, love. Thanks a lot, My Love.
Friends and family advise that keeping our love alive, keeping My Love alive, in my heart will prove to be a great comfort. I’m working hard at that.
But love isn’t all I need. If it were, I wouldn’t be writing this damned book. Would I?
Love actually is all around me. My children. My brother. A few dear, old friends. That helps. It helps a lot.
It’s not all I need.
I need to explore what Eddie Jessup found to be meaningless. I hope that, before embracing my own oblivion, my explorations ---of my memories and the artifacts that evidence our 60 years together --- will lead me to a sense of meaningfulness. It might not matter a second after my last breath. But it matters to me now.
