It is funny, because for all this talk about "soulmates," I do not think I have ever actually witnessed something even remotely like it. True, I have seen a few couples that have seemed reasonably happy and quite a few ones that have lasted. But they have all had their moments of crisis, and it is clear that in those cases both parties have had incentives besides love to stay in that partnership.
Marriage was an invention of human culture; when we were still in our animal state, everyone had many partners during his lifetime. Look at other animals, they will go for anything within reach, even switching between the sexes. So in many ways it is probably very contrary to our natures to be tied to one another in these alliances, but it is also exactly such forms of bondage that make us civilized. But as with many other things pertaining to civilized society, it is not necessarily pleasurable, and so it is sometimes tempting to indulge in Romantic fantasies that help to gloss over more prosaic realities. Especially if one has too much time on one's hands.
