Feeling brave

Normally, I write personal stuff here in my blog, because only my closest friends have access to it. But tonight I'm feeling a little braver and decided to open this up to my 300+ friends and acquaintances on Facebook, as well as blogger. I am interested to know what everyone thinks of this.

What is a soul mate? Wikipedia says a soulmate is "a person with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, and/or compatibility." The article goes on to discuss the ancient Greek myth that all humans were once constructed of two faces, four arms, and four legs. When they became too powerful, the gods split them in half, becoming one face, two arms, and two legs each. These new creatures ran around, perpetually looking for their other half.

I recently read about an ancient Native American belief about soul mates, which is the inspiration for this post. It was believed that every person has a soul mate. However, not every person is destined to meet that soul mate. Sometimes, a person will meet their soul mate, but it will be at the wrong time. For instance, if a person meets their soul mate when the two are still children, they will not comprehend the significance of what has happened. Or, if a person meets their soul mate after they are married to another person. According to this belief, only a small amount of very lucky people will actually marry their soul mate.

Some say there is no such thing as luck, that things are God-ordained or predestined or dictated by karma. I read a study once that suggested that those who feel "lucky" were actually more acutely aware of their surroundings than those who would describe themselves as "unlucky." I think that in some ways this ties into the Native American belief about soul mates. If you are "lucky" you are more aware of your relationships and are more capable of correctly identifying a soul mate.

But it also raises questions. If you believe you've met your soul mate, but are not capable of spending your life with that person, what then? Do you wait for the right time? What if the right time has already passed? If only a small percentage of people ever end up marrying their soul mate, what is the purpose of a soul mate? Why do they exist if so many of them never find completion? Does this mean that the Native Americans were wrong and that perhaps not everyone has a soul mate?

I have so many questions about things like this these days.