Soulmates

I’ve been a member of Goodreads for some time now and I enjoy reading the reviews of readers on various books. It’s interesting to see how a single book raises different reactions from different people. Some people just love the concept on which a book is based, while some find it difficult to accept the author’s ideas and beliefs. ‘The Bridge Across Forever’ and ‘Brida’ are two of my favorite books and both of them are roughly based on the same subject, that of ‘Soulmates’. I don’t know how many of you actually believe in this theory, but these books got me thinking about it.

I’ve had many friends tell me that they instantly recognized their partners the very first time they saw them, while others tell me that things don’t work that way. It’s just physical attraction when you like a person the first time you see them. In Paulo Coelho’s ‘Brida’ the writer emphasizes on the former concept, The Magus knows that Brida is his soulmate at the very moment he sees her, while in Richard Bach’s book, the author who’s himself the protagonist of the story, takes a very long time to realize that his lover is actually his soulmate. It takes a lot of fights and separations between them to make them understand what exists between them is true love. This was a more realistic approach to the concept of soulmates than Paulo’s in ‘Brida’, she is a witch anyway, and it requires a lot of imagination on our part to understand the ethereal kind of love portrayed in the book.

I have always wondered how two people with different mindsets, opinions and viewpoints begin to like each other and finally decide to live their lives together. The idea of an arranged marriage is all the more intriguing because the partners are placing the responsibility of choosing their soul mate in another person’s hands. In love marriage, at least the couples know the person they are going to marry. There is no warranty of either marriages working out however. Each has its own advantages and pitfalls, but I’m not going into that right now.

What does the concept of ‘soulmates’ exactly mean? Does it mean a perfect relationship between two individuals, with no disagreements and disputes whatsoever? Or does it mean an invisible cord binding two individuals together, never allowing them to get away from each other despite everything? If it represents the first kind of relationship, then life would be monotonous and boring and it would mean that at least 90% of us, married or in a relationship, haven’t found our soulmates. If it means the latter,then, I have another question. Why should one soulmate cause pain and sorrow to another? After all he/she is supposed to be sharing a part of your own soul, pain caused to you must affect them equally. Also, what about people who get into a relationship more than once??

Ah……I have many many questions whirring in my head! Would anybody care to explain??