Love as Procedural Memory

In class this week I compared love to procedural memory.

Procedural memory, to copy from Wikipedia, is:

Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory (unconscious memory) and long-term memory which aids the performance of particular types of tasks without conscious awareness of these previous experiences.

Procedural memory guides the processes we perform and most frequently resides below the level of conscious awareness. When needed, procedural memories are automatically retrieved and utilized for the execution of the integrated procedures involved in both cognitive and motor skills, from tying shoes to flying an airplane to reading. Procedural memories are accessed and used without the need for conscious control or attention.

Virtue is like procedural memory. Virtue is moral skill and habit, the ability to automatically and unconsciously act in morally virtuous ways.

Consequently, love is a skilled, practiced capacity. Love is less like choice than procedural memory. Love is the routinized and automatic ability to consistently treat people as Jesus would.