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Soulmates: do they exist?

Ive had this idea floating around my head for a few days. At first thought the idea of soulmates or partners meant for one another doesn't inherently scream religion but then when I take a minute to think about it, isn't it religious based? Maybe this is a no brainier for some of you but I guess I never sat down and thought it through. I don't really believe in soulmates exactly but the idea of the right match being out there somewhere is nice. I know theirs science out there to base attraction, ect on but I guess I'm just curious to see if anyone else has put any thought into this. Soulmates would suggest divine intervention simply bc your prepartnered with someone and then later destined to meet them. I guess a part of my romantic side is dieing a little bit with this thought process, I'd just be interested to see what different people in our community to have to say about it.

Gypsy31771 6 June 24
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48 comments

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1

I believe that soul mates can happen. Not to be confused with the religious part. Some are just designed to be with each other. It happens. Same goes with do you believe in a love a first sight? It sometimes happens.

1

I think soul-mates can be made. I even have a word for this: "soul-twinning". It's a process, and I dare you to see how far you can take it...

Deveno Level 7 June 29, 2018
2

Well I don't necisarily believe in souls, so that throws a pretty big wrench in the idea of soulmates. And even if I did I'd still be extremely sceptical of the idea. I mean would the wold owe us a mate like that? Also do we assume you can only have one soulmate or that a soulmate has be a romantic relationship? It just doesn't make any sence to me.

Yarrow Level 2 June 27, 2018
1

I think they do, although not necessarily as a romantic partner. I think they are ppl in our lives who will have a significant impact on our growth.. some of the growth will be painful and perhaps caused by them, but that is their role. They are one of our greatest teachers!

1

It s a word thats commonly used and I never really thought about it till you said - I don't use it not because it has religious undertones but because i just call my bezzie mate my bezzie mate.I never grew up with a god so for a lot of the language I don't really 'get' that there is religious undertones.

Strangely I have lived in a lot of different places and it is accents that please me more than words - Newcastle-upon-Tyne is delicious- I hang around in shops just to hear people speak I love local dialects and mostly havent a baldie what they are saying . I am from the smallest borough in London, Lee Green, but my family were cockneys before they moved here before I was born. You have to be pretty on the ball to understand a cockney.

jacpod Level 8 June 27, 2018
2

The thought that there's only one person out there that you need to find out of a sea of 7.5 billion is a bit ridiculous, as that makes needles and haystacks look like child's play. What makes someone your match is the mutual commitment and caring that are built between you and someone that is sufficiently compatible to begin with. If there's some real compatibility there, and both are committed to similar goals with respect to each other, something great and unique is going to get built.

I agree it's just nonsense. And hell I've been married 34 years.

0

Soulmates have always appeared to me as a terrible burden on one's own growth and development as a person. The amount of effort that goes into keeping a relationship alive and valid is work wnough for me. I think of a soulmate as apiece of dovetail joinery. Both parts have to change and adjust to their environmentexactly the same way, to the same degree. or the perfect joint comes apart.

0

I think the pagans (Christian snob word) came up with it. It is simply a mechanism to be monogamous for life. It is what you make of it. But, for me, no there are no soul mates. Only people you feel close to.

xyz123 Level 7 June 25, 2018
2

I've adopted a more colloquial approach to the term 'soulmate' as meaning someone with whom you really click in many lifestyle/philosophical ways beyond just chemistry, without applying a higher power to the mix. While I believe the phenomenon of soulmates exists, I still contend that ultimately any relationship is still subject to the challenges of time and change and requires work to sustain itself and move forward, no matter how deep the initial connection is.

2

I certainly think that there are people who are more compatible as a couple than others. I also think that if you meet someone and the compatibility is there, it takes continued effort from both, to make the relationship work.
The idea of Soul Mates may be a nice thought. And while it may have religious overtones, I think it's used more to express a deep connection with a significant other, rather than admitting to some connection with God(s) or the presence of an actual soul.

scurry Level 9 June 25, 2018
1

Pretty sure you fabricate your own. I've got a partially assembled one right now that I'm working on!

2

It's a pretty idea but I have never seen it. I know of people who are extremely compatible. But it can be hard to determine the actually compatible from the delusional. I have also seen professed "soulmates" break up and have the divorce from hell. So, as a realist, I would say no. A girl just has to kiss a freakin' lot of frogs in order to find her prince.

Deb57 Level 8 June 25, 2018
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0

All the parts fitting together like a fine swiss watch,ticking along,requiring periodic tuneups,or another analogy,the high speed gearbox of a Formula 1 race car tremendous speeds,torque and horsepower, moving through life as partners.

2

It is only a commonly used term, whatever the etiology, describing a bond so apparently compatible that those experiencing it feel as though 'fate has taken a hand'. Sometimes others call especially compatible people soul mates. Given the size of populations, there must be many people who, under the right circumstances, would qualify.

I think the way people bond is similar to how chemicals bond. An atom or compound will have what we used to call (possibly still) an 'outer orbit'. The right number of electrons in that outer orbit was thought to determine the presence or absence of attraction in forming chemical bonds; some more and less complicated and some more and less stable.

In living and observing life while also aware that we literally are walking chemistry sets, I see functional similarities in how some people attract for solid bonds and others weaker. Soul mates seem to be the optimal situation but not perfect; there really being no such thing.

0

Just grab a willing partner who looks good to you. After making love a few times you’ll begin to feel like soulmates.

1

I would not refer to someone as a soulmate because that would lead to some ethereal belief that somehow in the ether you were separated and that is too much religious connotation for me. A monogamous magnanimous lifetime companion would be more suitable. Have not come across such an individual in all of my adventures.

azzow2 Level 9 June 25, 2018
1

I had forgotten about this scene. Thanks for the giggle.

0

Soulmates? Wouldn’t you need a soul? Is a soul inconsistent with being atheistic/agnostic?
I think that what we’re talking about is inherently compatible personalities. Sometimes that not what we want. Sometimes we want a person or type that’s inherently destructive us. For example, the guy who wants the brain dead trophy wife. It’s nice when everything works. You get everything you want in a single package, but the chance of that happening is obviously small. Perhaps what we should be talking about is the kind of person, personality type, that will help ensure a peaceful satisfying life. I doubt very many people would readily agree with that.

1

I have built a few structures out of natural stone. They don't cut it so much as somewhat broken up to fit on a pallet. You have to find 'natural' pairings, especially for important spots. Sometimes you find a natural set of 3 or 4.

Some people happen to work seamlessly early on. It is probably more like complimentary personalities and common culture or values than it is intelligent coupling design.

0

Not necessarily soulmates, but more compatibility. The idea of soulmates sounds like a bunch of arguments and bullshit. Don't get me wrong, or I could be also, just saying

Qiru Level 6 June 25, 2018
2

I don't use the term soul mate, but I know what you mean. I had mine for 38 years. See... people get into relationships for themselves. That's why they don't work. When you open yourself and let someone in, whatever the start maybe. You find you love each other, the relationship becomes the other person. In our case.... the other was more important then self. As long as both think/feel this way.

0

There are many definitions of soul mates in mystical teachings, including the idea that two people inhabited the same soul, then the soul split at conception, in a past life.

Then when the two halves meet each other in a later reincarnation, they recognize each other, even if they don't know from where, and they are almost identical in their outlooks, preferences and mind sets.

I studied reincarnation research for awhile, since I was born remembering one past life, and later remembered at least seven more. I googled a couple of the more major incidents I remembered from those past lives, and my memory of the details was eerily correct.

In one book, The Laughing Cherub Guide to Past-life Regression: A Handbook for Real People, by Mary Elizabeth Raines, the author was a hypnotherapist, but some people didn't get well despite her best efforts. One day a patient began regressing under hypnotism and remembering past lives where the original trauma occurred.

Dr. Raines learned that when people were healed of their memories in the past lives where the trauma happened, they instantly recovered and never had the problem again.

I had some weird and stubborn phobias and fears I'd not been able to shake all my life, so I did a shortened version of her complicated technique. I simply decided to see the past life where the problem originated, and when I saw what happened back then, I'd re-magine the scene as it SHOULD have happened, without the trauma.

Instant success!
And I didn't even believe in it, and was just trying it out.

One trauma I was trying to heal was intense grieving for my daughter-and a feeling of desperation to be with her. It was a problem since she's in her 30s, and living in the US, and I've been in Thailand since 2010.

I saw that the problem was that we had originally been one soul that split when we became red-haired warrior twins, who were killed in battle when we were 17 years old. I remembered the battle, location, etc., and googled it, and the memory details were accurate.

I still didn't believe it, as all this stuff was just in my head, like an imagined event. Yet, it worked. I stopped grieving for my daughter was able to live happily in Thailand after that.

All the other memory re-imaginings worked as well and I was free of many problems I'd had all my life.

2

I think most of us think of soulmates as being religious based. But most of us also use terms and turn of phases that also have their roots in religion. For example if I'm frustrated at something I might say "god damnit". In a similar way I have been know to talk about someone's "soul" but when referring to it I am only talking about someone's essence, their behavioral makeup. So if you wanted to use the term soulmates in that context I think you could without being hypocritical to your lack of religious belief.

0

No, because there's no such thing as a soul. And, if that's not what you really meant, then still no, because people are multi-faceted and we change everyday.

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