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A soulmate (or soul mate) is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep or natural affinity, similarity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, or compatibility. A related concept is that of the twin flame or twin soul, which is thought to be the ultimate soulmate. In New Age spirituality, the ultimate soulmate is the one and only other half of one's soul. However, not everyone who uses these terms intends them to carry such mystical connotations.
Historical usage of the concept
[edit]Ancient Greece
[edit]Aristophanes presented a story about soulmates in The Symposium by Plato. It states that humans originally consisted of four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces, but Zeus feared their power and split them all in half, condemning them to spend their lives searching for the other half to complete them. ex: Pru And Pao soulmates [1]
Theosophy
[edit]According to Theosophy, whose claims were modified by Edgar Cayce, God created androgynous souls—equally male and female. Later theories postulate that the souls split into separate genders, perhaps because they incurred karma while playing around on the Earth, or "separation from God." Over a number of reincarnations, each half seeks the other. When all karmic debt is purged, the two will fuse back together and return to the ultimate.[2][3]
Bashert: Jewish view of soulmates
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Bashert, (Yiddish: באַשערט), is a Yiddish word that means "destiny".[4] It is often used in the context of one's divinely foreordained spouse or soulmate, who is called "basherte" (female) or "basherter" (male). It can also be used to express the seeming fate or destiny of an auspicious or important event, friendship, or happening.
The idea of soulmates comes from statements found in classical rabbinic literature. A proverb that "marriages are made in heaven" is illustrated by a story in a midrash collection:
A Roman matron, on being told by R. Jose ben Ḥalafta that God arranges all marriages, said that this was an easy matter, and boasted that she could do as much herself. Thereupon she assembled her male and female slaves and paired them off in couples; but on the morrow they all went to her with complaints. Then she admitted that divine intervention is necessary to suitable marriages
- (Genesis Rabba lxviii. 3-4).
Even God Himself finds it as difficult an undertaking as the dividing of the Red Sea. Forty days before a child is born its mate is determined upon (Genesis Rabba lxviii. 3-4; also Babylonian Talmud, tractates Soṭah 2a; Sanhedrin 22a; comp. M. Ḳ. 18b; "Sefer Hasidim," § 1128).
In modern usage, Jewish singles will say that they are looking for their bashert, meaning they are looking for that person who will complement them perfectly, and whom they will complement perfectly. Since it considered to have been foreordained by God whom one will marry, one's spouse is considered to be one's bashert by definition, independent of whether the couple's marital life works out well or not.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ The Internet Classics Archive|The Symposium by Plato
- ^ Krajenke, Robert W. (1972). Suddenly We Were!: a Story of Creation Based on the Edgar Cayce Readings. A.R.E. Press.
- ^ "What is a Twin Flame?". SoulEvolution.org. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
- ^ Yiddish Dictionary Online entry; retrieved December 29, 2006
Sources
[edit]- Segal, E. (ed) (1986). The Dialogues of Plato New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books. ISBN 055321327X.
[[Category:New Age]] [[Category:Love]] [[Category:Philosophy of love]] [[Category:Mating]] [[Category:New Age texts]] [[ca:Ànima bessona]] [[de:Seelenverwandtschaft]] [[es:Alma gemela]] [[fr:Âme sœur]] [[hr:Srodna duša]] [[it:Anima gemella]] [[nl:Soulmate]] [[ja:ソウルメイト]] [[sh:Srodna duša]] [[tl:Soulmate]] [[tr:Ruhsal eş]] [[zh:灵魂伴侣]]