Evolution is not an exact process. By this I mean that evolution
doesn't do things by design, it's inherently random and
disorganized. Things don't always have a reason for happening. As
well, evolution is a valid theory if you believe that the things we
experience are the result of the environment in which we live. A
belief in God (or gods, but I'll employ a western religion bias for
simplicity) and in evolution can be reconciled if you think of God as
the guy who setup the Universe and is watching the it run. You might
even choose to believe that God pokes around with the works once in a
while, miracles, for example.
If you believe that you are more than the sum of your parts, you
probably won't even be able to completely believe in evolution. For
someone who thinks that they are more than the sum of their parts,
questions about love, beauty, and so on will never be answerable,
except through religion or philosophy.
Its pretty difficult to believe that conscience and sentience are
the results of some mechanical process. Even if science hasn't even
explored the appropriate areas yet, it might be a possibility. Do you
think you're entire thought process could ever be described
mathematically?
There is good evidence that personality traits and behaviors are
evolved. Sort of a social Darwinism, in that traits that help you in
society are reinforced, and other, less productive tendencies are
suppressed. Everyone has probably experienced this. Think about what
you were like a couple of year ago. I bet you've changed right?
Probably for the better right?
In this vein, one can discuss romantic love as a something used to
create stable families. Love gives children a Mom and a Dad, role
models from both sexes (note unfair bias toward traditional family,
other models are equally valid), people who will cooperate in order to
raise children. This is simply perpetuating the species. I've read
somewhere, probably here, that romantic love is a fairly modern
notion. In the past, arranged marriages have been used to ensure that
good mates for offspring are found. Romantic love has probably mostly
replaced this practice, but the results are still the same. Romantic
love is used to find and keep suitable mates.
For point four, I'll point out that people with drive and
determination contribute to society. These are the people who get
things done. Hopefully, they make society better. In the early days of
Humankind, these were the people that kept their children fed and safe
from danger. These were people that became leaders. In today's
society, we have people driven to attain fame, which is probably more
of a learned personality trait. Larger than life role models lead
people who want to "be like them."
As for the rest, I'm going to chalk that up to the randomness
inherent to the evolutionary process, both in biology and in
society. Things don't always happen for a reason. I'm going to go out
on a limb and say that biological (at least) evolution doesn't really
affect middle of the road traits. Its the extremely good or bad things
that evolution operates on.
This opens up a huge can of philosophical worms, especially
as far as perception and how our brains operate. How do you know that
being in love isn't some trick your subconscious is playing on you?
Its a good trick though, it helps create stable families. Is your love
for someone any less valid if it is a subconscious trick? Nope, because
as far as you know, you are in love, and that's all that matters.