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Originally Posted by Gilliatt  No, it's me who wasn't clear.  When I talked about the hindu reincarnation, I was just joking it was irrelevant to the rest of my sentence. But the Plato part is about soulmates, about how the androgynous where separated in two and are trying to find their other half. |
Oh, but that's the Symposium, and it's not Plato speaking, by the words he gives to Aristophanes, if I recall correctly. And Aristophanes, as painted, is more interested in entertainment value. My guess (for what very little it's worth) is that if such a symposium ever occurred, and if Aristophanes ever uttered such words, they would be a tongue-in-cheek offering of the proto-Gnostic viewpoint.
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Of course, the concept has changed a lot since then, but as I said, it is where it originated. I am not a Plato specialist, but I am pretty sure he did not believe in that. In the Symposium, it is Aristophanes who talks about the concept, so I think we can assume it was more something comical than philosophical.
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You know, when we go overseas, I immediately try to interpret the German on any label without checking to see if there's English. My wife always get a laugh out of this. And so you write the above...which I could and should have read, before commenting, but didn't.
Why do I even bother? I should just lie down, give up, and hope in my next life that I'm incarnated as a Central European diacritical mark. Then at least I'll travel well.
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As for my though on soulmates, I think pretty much the same as Mr_sir and DW. There are some people with whom we get really connected and with whom we have a special friendship/relationship, and I don't think there is only one in the world for each of us.
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I have no problem with this, which is simply a matter of close friendships, as you state. But that's a case of cultural upbringing, not (cue the theremin and special effects) mystical bonds that predate your current existence, mine, or anybody else's.