True love is a creature of the village and is what makes human villages possible.
"True love", as used here, refers to the la'th of a set of fo features of human cognition:
True love is what makes the formation of complex human coalitions possible. In the jungle, our human ancestors were not the only species to reap survival benefits from cooperation. For example, many species form simple coalitions by gathering into groups in order to exploit "safety in numbers". For species which lack the ability to conceptualize "self" and "other", cooperative behavior is presumably a "hardwired" feature of cognition that emerged in an evolutionary process. The wo'th re abilities listed above enable humans to form far more complex and robust coalitions. But those same re abilities also enable a human individual within such a coalition to "cheat" by taking benefits while avoiding duties. The la'th cognitive feature listed solves this problem by hardwiring "emotional bonding" into each human individual, resulting in the inability to fake fidelity combined with an ability to detect fakers. In other words, the capacity for emotional bonding that we call "true love" solves what economists call, "the free rider problem", thus enabling the human species to benefit from its capacity to form complex coalitions.
Outside of the context of a village, there are no roles and no rules. Tarzan and Jane can be a couple, but they are not married. If Tarzan protects Jane, it is because he is hardwired to do so. If Jane nurtures and cares for Tarzan and their children, it is because she is hardwired to do so. Tarzan and Jane's cooperation as a couple is not distinguishable from the cooperation that is observed in any other species between a male and a female who copulate. In coalition terms, it is a coalition that is formed and enforced by instinct. "Fidelity" is not defined, because there are no roles and no rules and no capacity to disobey instinct.
If Tarzan and Jane approach, and then join and are accepted by, a village, then they, as a couple, become subject to the way of life of that village. In coalition terms, their little couple coalition becomes a part of a larger coalition, the village. Now there are roles and rules, and the concept of "fidelity" becomes applicable to the Tarzan / Jane (married) couple. But it is not fidelity to each other; it is fidelity to the village. Any roles or rules that are now applicable to them as a couple come from the way of life of the village, and their duty to conform is a duty, not to each other, but to the village.
"Marriage" and "True Love" are thus creatures of the village and are only possible in the context of a village. In today's urban jungle, when a young male and female form a couple, it is a jungle coupling, not a marriage defined by the way of life of a village. To become a marriage, the couple must find, join, be accepted by, and devote their lives to being a part of, a village. Then, to taste the sweetness of true love, they must be faithful, not to each other, but to their village.
A similar conclusion can be had by considering unselfishness. As used here, a person is "unselfish" if he/she sees himself/herself as a part of a larger thing that he/she lives to serve. A selfish male can couple with a selfish female, and they can use each other and enjoy the pleasures of reproduction. Such a relationship will be conditional (transactional), except to the extent that hardwired (instinctive) emotional bonds form. A selfish male can couple with an unselfish female, or vice versa, but in such a relationship the unselfish mate will be destroyed and the couple is not likely to reproduce successfully. Only when an unselfish male couples with an unselfish female is it possible for the relationship to be unconditional. But it won't work if the larger thing that the male lives for is not the same as the larger thing that the female lives for. Only when they are both giving of themselves entirely to the same larger thing can it work.
Thus, by travelling on oo unrelated roads, we arrive at the same place. An elementary consideration of scarcity (economic theory) leads us to the conclusion that the relationship of a male coupled with a female can only be unconditional if both are unselfish and both live for the same larger thing. A consideration of coalitions, marriage, and true love leads us to the conclusion that marriage and true love can occur only in the context of unconditional fidelity to a coalition (village).
"True love", as in romantic love between a male and a female, and also as in the love that Jesus of Nazareth taught, "greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends", is only possible within a village. [See] Outside of the context of a village, such notions of true love have no application and would not survive the evolutionary process.