Love, soulmates, destiny.. Three words that have been passed through the mind of every human around the earth. Love, the word that has been praised the most in every culture. From ancient Greece with "Paris and Helen" that lead to the Trojan war.. To the famous William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet".
But really, is there such a thing, as soulmates.?
In Plato's symposium, Aristophanes tries to explain the cause and purpose of love. Aristophanes story for love starts with the belief that our primal existence had two heads, four arms and legs, but one soul. These creatures were very powerful and tried to attack gods. For this disobedience, Zeus decided to split them down in the middle in order to weaken them. This action resulted in the creation of humans, who have two hands and legs but a half soul.
Aristophanes concludes that our punishment is that we are condemned to spend our lives searching for our other half.. our soulmates..
Nevertheless, this myth isn't the only describing that couples are made from each other. Similar stories existed in the ancient Egypt (Heliopolis creation myth) and in the most famous story of all in the western civilization, "Adam and Eve".
The similarities in the original sin of Adam and Eve towards the theory of Aristophanes is more than obvious. Both myths, have a couple that was made from each other, in both stories the couples raised the anger of the god and finally in both stories god punished them but not eliminated them. Isn't it very similar.? Yes..! but with one major difference.. In Aristophanes version for our primal existence, there were three sexes: the all male, the all female, and the "androgynous," (Greek word that means "men and woman" ) who was half male and half female.
So, when Zeus punished them by cutting them in the middle, he created the "homosexuals" from the all male, the "lesbians" from the all female and the "heterosexual" from the androgynous.
Probably, ancient Greeks were better in understanding the nature of human, without censorship of thoughts and feelings. The next time you will look yourself in the mirror, find your navel, and remember that at this spot we were attached with our other half.. And this is the mark that was left behind to remind us, our nature.. Go find your soulmate, no matter you are a man, woman, homo or heterosexual.. Aristophanes proved that our soulmate exists and it is somewhere outside searching the same thing as you do..
“The intense yearning which lovers have toward each other does not appear to be the desire for sexual intercourse, but for something else which the soul of each desires and cannot tell, and of which he or she has only a dark and doubtful presentiment.”
— Aristophanes (c.380BC), in Plato’s Symposium
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