That got me thinking about soul mates and Greek Mythology. So I looked up some stuff online about Soul Mates and found this information on WikiPedia.
Ancient Greece
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]
[edit] Theosophy
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]
I think that these concepts are very interesting. There is another section to the article that talks about Soul Mates in Judaism. I thought that was interesting as well.
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.
The concept here is that although a marriage may not work out well, the person you are married to is your soul mate. I see a difference here in that in Greek mythology and in Theosophy, a soul mate is someone you once shared a soul with, making them quite literally a soul mate. I do not see that here in this segment about Judaism. Perhaps it is an incomplete article.... I would like to know more! Does anyone have more information?
Any thoughts?? Comment or message me as you see fit and let me know what you think.
As always,
Best--
Heather B.
