can intellectual intimacy be enough?

[u/Federal_Plankton1142]

lately, i’ve been craving intellectual intimacy more than anything. the kind where you genuinely want to know how someone thinks, why they see things the way they do, what shaped their opinions, and how their mind works.

i want conversations that make me think. conversations that go beyond small talk, where you can disagree without feeling threatened, challenge each other without turning it into a competition, and somehow keep discovering new layers of each other.

and maybe that’s why i’ve been wondering: if you feel deeply connected to someone’s mind, can that eventually replace physical desire?

or are they just two completely different things?

because i know i crave intellectual intimacy deeply. but i also wonder if, no matter how fascinating someone's mind is, there still needs to be some physical pull for it to become romantic.

[u/sluttykiton]

Like a lot of things all sides are true and the nuance of experiencing someone and learning things about yourself can be very layered and individual. Maybe some people could have that pull without romance on you but that’s also something about your attraction towards them that has to do with other factors maybe regarding your past, genes and everything in between but some people might just be attractive mentally like they could just be so attractive mentally that nothing else matters. To want to be curious about this topic is a great way to connect with people but finding the specific answer is endless and vast. I think even taking a census date experiment wouldn’t even answer this question.