Déjà vu. Love at first sight. It all leads to one thing – kindred spirits. If you’re wondering what the concept really means, you’ve landed at the right place.
“…and when one of them meets the other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other’s sight, as I may say, even for a moment…”
―Plato
So entrenched are our lives in the skepticism of modern times, that a verse like this makes us go ROFL, if not completely gagged. The response is perfectly acceptable, predictable even. After all, who has the time for going spirit-mate hunting, when there’s the rather un-kindred boss baying for our blood through the working week, along with a long list of household chores to make merry with over the weekend.
Reality is cold-hearted, and is paradoxically comforting too. We tend to find peace in the confines of our routine lives, when suddenly out of nowhere, a meeting with a kindred spirit changes it all. Well, kindred spirits are not always romantic partners―they could be relatives, friends, colleagues, or someone you take a subway ride with. Delving into the history of this weird-yet-wonderful concept would require a lot of time, and not to mention, snubbing more than a few religious beliefs. But something as sublimely marvelous as this needs to be felt, rather than understood. So keep your realistic pinch of salt aside for a bit, and ready yourself for an Alice in Wonderland-kind of a trip.
“What do you think my chances might be of finding a soulmate in the group of you? I’ll be lucky if I can just find someone who’ll be able to stand me for the rest of our lives. What if I’ve already sent her home because I was relying on some sort of spark I didn’t feel? What if she’s waiting to leave me at the first sign of adversity? What if I don’t find anyone at all?”
―Kiera Cass
Okay, first things first, there aren’t any “what ifs” involved when it comes to a soulmate, seeing as the concept transcends the realms of everyday logic. Your kindred spirit is someone you acknowledge without a semblance of doubt. What’s more, nature has an uncanny way of setting them before us when we least expect it. And no, meeting a kindred spirit need not have romantic connotations each time. The focus here is on the bond itself, rather than a definition acceptable to societal norms.
You may spend your life along with your kindred spirit, or may spend your life fruitlessly searching for them. But one thing stands true―you invariably open up to their presence in your life. How, you ask? Our next quote explains it all.
“I recognized you instantly. All of our lives flashed through my mind in a split second. I felt a pull so strongly towards you that I almost couldn’t stop it.”
―J. Sterling
You may think that things like these are best reserved for Hollywood movies, but really, where do you think they draw their inspiration from? Your real life soulmate may not meet you under a starlit sky in Paris―the smelly subway stands a better chance for the bourgeois, you see.
Whatever the setting may be, it will seem immaterial in due course, once the relationship begins to develop. This will seem to be more and more like a rediscovery, rather than a discovery. Because yes, you have met them before; lived with them, laughed with them, and journeyed through lifetimes with them.
“What’s the difference?” I asked him. “Between the love of your life, and your soulmate?”
“One is a choice, and one is not.”
―Tarryn Fisher
It would be juvenile to confine the definition of a soulmate to relationships involving romance and marriages. We are partnered with a soul in order to surge ahead on the path of spiritual learning. The presence of a soulmate enhances our perspectives, acting as a catalyst to get rid of the negatives. It is also possible to have more than one soulmate, each one who helps us learn valuable life lessons, taking us to a state of higher moral ground.
We do not go around “choosing” a mate in the conventional sense―they always find us only when the time is right.
“I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.”
―Rabindranath Tagore
The feeling is said to be indescribable. To reacquaint oneself with a soulmate is one of life’s most precious gifts.
Soulmates bring about a sense of completeness to our lives, fill up the blanks we didn’t even know existed. And mind you, we do the same for them.
“It’s a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. You can actually see old lobster couples walking around their tank, holding claws.”
“See? He’s her lobster!”
―Phoebe Buffay, F.R.I.E.N.D.S
For the uninitiated, the character of Phoebe here is drawing a weird analogy between lobsters and the pairing of Ross and Rachel, he being her lobster and all. No, I’m not drawing parallels between a romantic relationship and the spiritual union of soulmates, but here’s the thing. Anyone who’s been through the 10 seasons of Friends will know how Ross and Rachel have had some pretty violent ups and downs, but their destiny somehow winds them up together for their betterment. Through the course of their lives they were friends, lovers, haters, parents, then friends again, and finally, together again. Who knows if their relationship went the whole way, but they did have a few lessons to learn from each other. Meeting a soulmate is not always rosy, and certainly not always happy either. But it just feels right, you know.
Before you dismiss this to be a fluff piece on unsubstantiated theories, here’s another line from another quirky fictional character, and a personal favorite, Richard Castle, “Because if you don’t believe in even the possibility of magic you’ll never ever find it.” Let’s just leave it at that, shall we?
