Mystique #2:

Follow Your Heart

"Can you find love on the Internet?"

The human need for love, in all of its many forms, is the strongest need we have. A lot of people want to know if love can be found online, especially those who feel that they do not get enough of it.

Popular TV talk shows and authors of books and magazine articles advise people looking for love to "follow their hearts." Home may be where the heart is, as the saying goes, but increasing numbers of people are following their hearts onto the Internet and feeling quite at home there.

Listen to what some people have to say about finding love online:

I met a man on line, 1 yr ago, I've been to visit him, he is clear across the US from me....I fell in love with him, he says he says he loves me.

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I have been talking to this wonderful man for a year now...as soon as we met in chat...we clicked. We have forged a spiritual and mental bond, and communicate nearly everyday through ICQ, and once a month on the phone. 

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I have in the past few months been speaking to someone online. It started out platonic and steadily moved into something more personal. We talk on the phone regularly, and are so close that we have shared secrets with each other that we have chosen not to share with anyone else - including those closest to us. He is a wonderful, attentive, caring person.

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About 9 months ago I met my soulmate, never really believed in those things but this man has taken me placed where I have not been before, we are so strong together and so real at the same time...we feel in love.

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Many online relationships seem to start out as casual friendships, which then blossom into love relationships. They may start out slowly, but once people move beyond the friendship stage, things begin to happen quite rapidly.

Old romantic impulses return to people who thought they were long gone. Feelings of loneliness and despair disappear as the image of the person on the other end of the Internet is seen in a whole new light. People move from friendly exchanges to freely exchanging the most intimate details of their lives and forming such tight bonds with each other that only the pages of a romance novel could adequately describe them.

Suddenly, every letter sent by e-mail becomes a love letter and every online chat is filled with "sweet talk." So great is the experience of love online, that if a day or two goes by without someone getting an e-mail from their loved one, they may feel anxious and distraught.

The #2 Mystique of the Internet is that people can actually fall in love with someone they have never met in person. What could be wrong with that?