Clayton Cacurak
HNRC UNIT D
Dr. Caraway
17 April 2016
Development of Soul mates
The idea of soul mates is deeply rooted in ancient history and is still relevant today.
Theories behind the process of soul mates, however, are greatly debated. Every person has an
innate desire to feel loved and therefore has an opinion on having a soul mate. The Oxford
English Dictionary defines soul mates as, “A person ideally suited to another as a close friend
or romantic partner.” (Oxford). This definition can create more confusion because it gives the
broad sense that a soul mate can just be someone who would “fit” romantically with another
person. I think of soul mates in a much more serious way, as a person who makes another
person feel whole, or is the missing piece from another’s life. I shall argue that, as a couple,
together by mutual choosing, grows in their relationship they develop into each other’s soul
mates, this theory can allow a person to have multiple soul mates over the span of a lifetime.
In Plato’s Symposium, Aristophanes provides an alternative view to the idea of soul
mates. He explains that “the shape of each human being was completely round, with back and
sides in a circle; they had four hands each, as many legs as hands, and two faces, exactly
alike, on a rounded neck. Between the two faces, which were on opposite sides, was one head
with four ears.” (Plato, Symposium, Speech of Aristophanes pp.1). The beings were split in
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two and destined to search the world to find their “other half”. Aristophanes presents the
theory that every person has a soul mate that completes him or her. One of the reasons that
this is a popular theory is because of the optimistic viewpoints. Aristophanes’ idea gives
people hope that no matter what, there is a person out there for everyone, someone who will
love them unconditionally and without hesitation. Unfortunately, there are over 8 billion
people in the world and the time it would take to travel all over the globe to find the single
person who is your soul mate would be a realistically impossible task to undertake. (Plato,
Symposium, Speech of Aristophanes)
The philosopher Stendhal, supported this idea because he explained how love was
born. A person goes through a process of admirations, has internal thoughts about advances,
and hope. He explains that crystallization is a theory where the best qualities of the person
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