Thursday, 02 August 2012

  • Do You Believe In Soulmates?


    According to Japanese legend, you're born with an invisible red string tied to your pinky that connects you to your soulmate. You spend your life looking for this person and untangling the red string.

    I don't know if I believe in soulmates. Honestly, I think I'm a bit too cynical for that. Also, there's too many factors to consider.

    For example - can you have more than one soulmate? The word itself implies exclusivity. But people change so much throughout their lives, and it's been suggested to me that perhaps we have different soulmates for each stage of our lives.

    There's also the question of whether or not you'll ever meet this person. If you don't, can you be happy with whomever you do choose instead? I say absolutely, but many have a more fatalistic view of the matter.

    Furthermore, is it possible for Person A's soulmate to be Person B, and Person B's soulmate to be Person C? Again, an idea unsupported by the word itself, since 'mate' implies a pair. But some people think that way.

    Like I said, I don't know if I believe in soulmates. This has a lot to do with my ambivalent opinions of fate and destiny. I'd like to think that my life is based just on what I choose to make of it. But in actuality, I have NO idea.

    If my soulmate does exist, I think this person would be what the word implies. That is, it would be a single person throughout my entire life, and that we would be each other's soulmates. And I hope that I am destined to find him.

    But in the meantime, I'll just enjoy looking.

    Do you believe in soulmates? What kind?

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Comments (40)

  • QuantumStorm@xanga

    I believe that when you're married, you should take those vows seriously or don't say them at all. 


    That being said, no, I don't believe in soulmates. You make the best with what you have and adapt to the situations life throws at you. Balance the desire for that perfect person with - well, reality. 
  • Sammysosa76@xanga

    I do believe in soulmates, but maybe not in the way that you are implying. I believe a soulmate is not necessarily the person you are meant to spend you life with in an intense passionate, falling in love kind of way, but more so the one person in the world that can be, but does not have to be of the opposite sex that is the same "person" as you. You and that person share not only common interests, but goals, passions, and personality tendancies. My friend Nolan and I are a great example of this. He is the one person in the world that is exactly like me! Although he is a guy and I am a girl, we not only share common interests, but similar kinds of motivation, drives, and reactionary attitudes. We know how and when to push each other out of our comfort zones, because we know how we would react if the roles were reversed. However, we also know that sometimes that pushing results in passionate disagreements, agruments, hurt feelings, and ultimately a sincere apology. Soulmates are a beautiful thing even if they are not the one you are to love romatically.

  • SamEwing@xanga

    Not only do I not believe in soulmates but I find the concept morally reprehensible because it implies someone else owes you something based solely on their existence. 

  • ulvenNixie@xanga

    I believe in soul mates. I also believe that are different levels of the concept of soul mates. I think it's possible that you're meant to have more than one partner, even if your soul is attached to another soul.

  • P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga

    it is suppose to make you value the other person and maybe not cheat on them, verbally/physically abuse, and/or take the person for granted, because this other person is suppose to be your "other half," therefore, a reflection of you. I think soulmates is a quick way to say, "do unto others" or in this case, "do unto yourself" or in layman's terms, don't treat the other person like shit because that person is you and you wouldn't want to feel shitty either. or in other words, respect yourself

  • T3hZ10n@xanga

    @SamEwing@xanga - So what if they do?

    Would you feel uncomfortable owing someone something based solely on your existence if it is someone you love?

    Does a parent not owe a child their effort to keep the child fed and protected based solely on the existence of the child?

    In that sense, does a parent not then owe it to a child to keep themselves fed and protected based solely on the existence of the child?

    That is to say, so what if you owe someone you are destined to love (and you eventually do love) your love?

    Does that somehow detract from how much you value their love?

    If so, isn't that kind of selfish to value their love less because they owe it to you?

    Wouldn't that also be kind of selfish to value their love less because you owe them yours?

    If two people owe each other the same thing that kind of cancels out the "owing" don't ya think?

    I think it is morally reprehensible to look at love or the property of being soul mates or attachments of any kind between people as "owing" in the first place.

    Instead of seeing it as a debt in the long-term, why not look at it as an investment in the present?

  • SamEwing@xanga

    @T3hZ10n@xanga - Parents owe it to their children to feed and protect them because parents choose to bring children into the world on some level. I don't feel that either I owe anyone romantic love or anyone owes me romantic love. I think the worth of people should be judged on their behavior not some metaphysical concept. 

  • NeoPrimitive@xanga

    so glad I was never under the spell of the soulmate delusion...cuz what would that mean for everyone else that I've been, am, and will be intimate with?

    the delusion that I'm supposed to be looking for only a single soulmate would be belittling to every other relationship that enriches me.

  • milky_vampyre@xanga
    I do. To me it's a friend who understands you easily. It could be of either sex. I have a few of them.

    I'd say fate is what you make it, and truth is what you believe. In that sense I guess a soul mate could be anything, really. It depends on what you love,
  • thatkyliegirlx@xanga

    @milky_vampyre@xanga -
    I absolutely agree on the friend thing, and the posibilities of having multiples.

    I beleive that a soul mate doesn't have to be a romatic partner, which I think is what the traditionally thought meaning of the word is. I think Grey's Anatomy explains how I feel about it best. It kind of blew my mind when it all played out, because I never realized how I felt until I saw it play out on screen. I am Meredith, my best friend is Christina, and (as far as I know!) my boyfrend is Derek. My boyfriend is the love of my life, but my best friend is my soul mate. She's going to be there until one of us dies, who knows what'll happen to my boyfriend. We fit together so well, we have the same feelings, the same sense of humour, the same practicality and reasoning. We can go forever without ever talking and there never be a problem, we are inheriently comfortable with each other. We can be so mad that we'd say we actually hate one another, but she's my soulmate and that's that.
    I've met a couple other girls who I have weird connections with, too. Have the same thought process about something that I never thought anyone else would have, and I feel that if I pursued it more that they could possibly fit into the soulmate category, too.
     But I have a hard time maintaining my best friend and boyfriend, lead alone other friends.

  • T3hZ10n@xanga

    I believe every time I go to YouTube over half of the videos on the list of recommended videos are videos of Corgis.

    I can tell you without a doubt I have no desire to watch them when YouTube recommends them.

  • Keeping__Karma@xanga

    I definitely believe we have multiple soulmates; I have, without a doubt, met two of them.  I truly believe it. And consider myself very lucky.
    I hope you find yours someday to disprove any cynicism.

  • angelwingfive@xanga

    I believe in soulmates, but at the same time the concept infuriates me. I've seen too many couples ruin their relationships because they thought they were "soulmates" and thought that was an excuse to not put any work into their relationship, as they thought God would carry them along. They were dead wrong. One couple in particular had a nasty divorce after the wife decided she didn't like sex after they got married, and wanted her husband to respect that. He didn't, and cheated on her. If they'd simply said, we are in a relationship, and we are in love, and we are going to make this work, they would have been fine. But they put too much faith in the power of fate, and thought that they didn't have to work anything out, that they'd be taken care of.

  • sasha

    @T3hZ10n@xanga - lol um, what? i think you commented on the wrong post...


    and @thatkyliegirlx@xanga - i like the grey's anatomy analogy :) although i'm still not so sure about the whole platonic soulmate thing, it's very interesting!
  • milky_vampyre@xanga
    @thatkyliegirlx@xanga -  for sure! I do whatever I feel like and what makes my friends happy. I don't really care much for rules or other peeps ideas, unless they make sense to me.
  • Kiwiaczek@xanga

    I believe we can meet our soulmates in different areas of life. The soulmate can be our best friend, our colleague at work or school/uni, someone who shares our passion or our partner. Some of the soulmates remain with us throughout our life, some of them simply vanish at one point or another, some of them we meet in the childhood, some whe we are adolescents, some in the elderly... but what connects all of them is this special feeling, link, connection - this magic that is between you and your soulmate.

    Think about your soulmates/partners/best friends and give them a call/text them - remind them that they are important :)

    Have a good day All :) Thanks God it's Friday :)

  • PocketfulOfDreams@xanga

    I think you can become someone's best friend and once you are really close maintain this close friendship.
    With some people it's easier than with others, and I think it makes more sense to work through troubles with someone you already know and understand really well and seek suppor in this person, that's why we tend to stay together with one person.

    If you see a really happy couple that would do anything for each other and never doubts the relationship, they are probabaly soulmates because they learned from each other, were open minded and worked through some problems too.

  • Living_just_2_breathe@xanga
    I don't believe in soul mates. I believe that the notion of soul mates and true love contributes to so many people just giving up on their relationships. I believe in love but I don't believe in Fairy Tale love.
  • oneLBcloser@xanga

    @T3hZ10n@xanga - Agreed with you on a all counts, except that you took the time to respond to that guy. He is clearly lacking.

  • oneLBcloser@xanga

    I want to believe in soul mates. But I'm constantly suprised by humans' general lack of soul.

  • sliceoflife_surveys@xanga

    How can the string be invisible and red at the same time?

  • SamEwing@xanga

    @oneLBcloser@xanga - 

    Look there are a lot of spiritual concepts that I disagree  with I merely find silly, (I.E. astrology, Nostradamus, and Taro cards). 

    I really think though that for not all but a lot of people believing in soulmates actually does cause harm. Whether it's someone who ignores a person they would be perfectly happy with, a spouse that on some level accepts abuse and or bad behavior or a spouse trying to manipulate their partner by saying their partners owes something to them they don't. The facts is these things do happen whether you like them or not and they are logical conclusions to believing that specific people exist as an extension of yourself.  

    Most people don't need metaphysical concepts to evaluate friends, family colleagues or virtually anyone else in their live. Why do people need to use this sort of concept to evaluate romantic partners?  Or maybe to ask it a different way how if you believe in soul mates is your life enhanced or enriched?     
  • wing_stock@xanga

    Yes, there can be more than one soulmate.

  • wing_stock@xanga

    @sliceoflife_surveys@xanga - lol, it's red but invisible to the human eye

  • manUfan420@xanga

    I mean, logically speaking, however compatibility is measured or defined everyone has one other person who they are "most compatible" with.  Who that person is may change over time, but you could average out the scores and see who would be most compatible over your entire lifetime.  And since things like common language, cultural, and shared history factor into compatibility, odds are the person you're most compatible with lives somewhere near you, not in China.

    Is that a soulmate?  You tell me.

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