Aug 8, 2011 -- 3:20PM, Beliefnet_jennifer wrote:

Do you believe in "soulmates"? Like, there's some perfect person out there made just for you? Did you marry yours or did they slip through your fingers?

I came across this article on the site and it got me thinking.
www.beliefnet.com/Love-Family/Relationsh...

I'm gonna say no. I think we could make a life with any number of people. And yeesh, what a frightening thought that you only get one shot...

In heaven, yes.  On earth, no.

Too many variables to interfere with perfect happiness---personality clashes, family, money, children, distribution of labor, etc.

Warmest regards-

Hatman

Aug 8, 2011 -- 3:20PM, Beliefnet_jennifer wrote:

Do you believe in "soulmates"? Like, there's some perfect person out there made just for you? Did you marry yours or did they slip through your fingers?

This is the common understanding of the term, but it's a much more specialized term than that among Western believers in reincarnation. In the latter context, it refers to a person from one's "soul group," signifying a specific group of entities that agree to associate for the purpose of working out together spiritual lessons that can be learned in physical bodies. In this sense, a soulmate can be your worst enemy--someone from your soul group who has chosen to help you learn an important spiritual lesson by providing a strong degree of resistance in your life. In short, soulmates aren't by any means always "the perfect, most compatible person" for a given individual. And they can be a neighbor, boss, teacher, child, child's friend, etc.--anyone who affects your life somewhat more than one would consider typical for that relationship. 

In the common sense, no, I don't believe there's only one person that can be the "love of your life." In fact, believing that you must find your "one and only" can close you off to satisfying longterm relationships with any number of very nice people, IMO. Feeling that you must find your "soulmate" can become a fixation likely to leave you alone and lonely.

I agree. After all, the person we are at 15-25 and onward changes as we move through our lives.so I believe that we can be attuned to other souls and perhaps recognize ones we've known before more than once in our lives. It would be very limited if it was only supposed to be eros, wouldn't it? but as for our 'perfect' soulmate--I agree it's more likely to be in Heaven than here.

Welcome to beliefnet! I'm truly happy that you and your husband found each other. We have a lot of coincidences on birthdays/anniversaries in our family. When I was growing up, my Grandpa used to have me help him blow out his candles because it was my "half" birthday. My husband proposed on August 15th; his parents were married on September 15. My son and my husband's father had the same birthday/half birthday relationship. My son was not onlly born on the same day as my older sister, he was born on the same day of the week. Since then my cousin's youngest daughter has also been born on that same day. It's also the same day of the month that we were married. One of my Grandma's great-granddaughters was born on her birthday.

My uncle and his wife were true partners and if any two people were soul-mates, they were. When she died unexpectedly last year, he sold their home because everywhere he looked he could see all the things she'd done to decorate it, all the little touches he'd watched her delight in making...but she wasn't there. She went from shoveling snow and laughing one morning to an organ donor the next day--massive stroke. She was only 68. He died just a few weeks ago from cancer--his prognosis went from 3 months to just days. At that point we all agreed if there was any time he was lucid, it belonged to his children and grandchildren. Fortunately he was alert for about 10 minutes the day he died, so his adult ids got to tell him how much they loved him. I was and am grateful to God that they had those moments, especially for his oldest daughter. She traveled the furthest, and I know how much she needed that time to be sure he knew she'd been there for him. I'm just sorry that they lost both parents in less than a year. They were both good people.