On the eve of Valentine's Day, The Takeaway brings you a story about a love potion—a magic method that can supposedly allow any two strangers to fall in love with each other.
Developed more than 20 years ago by a scientist named Arthur Aron, the method works like this:
- Get two people together who are open to the idea of falling in love
- Have the two participants answer these 36 questions openly and honestly
- And then, possibly the hardest part: Have the two participants stare into each other's eyes, without speaking, for exactly four minutes.
When Dr. Arthur Aron tried this out with two human guinea pigs, the method didn't just lead to sparks and intimacy, the study subjects actually married each other less than six months later.
Writer Mandy Len Catron decided to put this method to the test in her real love life with a man she barely knew—but who's now her boyfriend.
Mandy teaches writing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and is working on a book about the dangers of love stories. You can read her work at The Love Story Project.
On the eve of Valentine's Day, The Takeaway brings you a story about a love potion—a magic method that can supposedly allow any two strangers to fall in love with each other.