One of the aims of sexual union is procreation - the creation by reproduction of an image of itself, of the union.

Ultimately, we wish the joy of perfect union with the person we love.

Love wishes to perpetuate itself. Love wishes for immortality.

Conjugal love, or the friendship of spouses, can persist even after sexual desires have weakened, withered, and disappeared.

Freud's view is that all love is sexual in its origin or its basis. Even those loves which do not appear to be sexual or erotic have a sexual root or core. They are all sublimations of the sexual instinct.

I find the selectivity of erotic love - the choice of this man or this woman - much more intelligible if liking the person is the origin of sexual interest, rather than the other way.