A question about love

[Kiouni]

I got into an argument the other day with a co-worker about this and thought I would get a general consensus on the mater.

Do you believe in a "soul mate" or universal love?

[lvx35]

1. I believe in universal love, not sure about soul mate.

I mean, I am willing to believe in it, but I think the belief can be dangerous...I don't want spend my life waiting for somebody...Better to think of the person I'm with now as my soul mate for the time being.

[flordehinojos]

2. romeo and juliet were "soul mates" -- had their "love" not been so short lived, they might have

ended up throwing dishes at each other. i am not sure what you mean by "universal love" but people can identify with great love stories precisely because of the "universality of love".

(just my two cents worth).

[Kiouni]

3. Universal love =

ever notice how a monk, a priest or even the very enlightened can look at everyone equally and be patient and supportive? Expand that idea to include love, when you look at sunset you can see the whole world changing but are still able to focus in on one flower. Universal love is loving everyone equally or holding them in the same potential to be loved as your spouse, sig other etc. You can be married yadada and still see the potential but others contend that your soul mate is it you can love nobody as much as them.

according to me of course, opinions may differ

[hfojvt]

6. not sure why those contradict

Thus, I can love anyone and be happy with anyone, but nothing would compare to a soul mate. The question would be, is it better to marry somebody really good when you are 23, or potentially spend the rest of your life trying to find your soul mate.

Of course, part of the whole soul mate BS is that soul mates are drawn to each other by kismet or some other cosmic force.

I get a little bit cynical because couples often loudly declare "we are soulmates" and then 5 years later they both say "I cannot stand that mofo!" Tell me about your soulmate at your 50th anniversary, NOT in your 2nd week of courtship/romance. As George Eliot wrote in "Adam Bede" - "If a man is to love a woman without ever looking back at his love as folly, she must die while he is courting her."

[foreigncorrespondent]

4. Depends on what you mean...

...by universal love. As for soul mate, absolutely. People who have never actually met their soul mate will always have doubts about it. But once you meet that person, you know.

[Norrin Radd]

5. Love is being lovable and loving.

The concept of a "soul mate" is a scary prospect. What if one is destined to be with a jerk, or worse? "Mate soulfully" is a better term.

[wulfwolf]

7. ....

I believe that there 'is' a single person that is your "sould mate," in that they are the best match for you, and are like...well, your "other half."


Still, I also believe there are lesser -no offense- (seemingly) perfect matches to any singel person. (No humor intended)

I agree with the 1st reply. Focusing on it, can be bad.

~L

[Mythsaje]

8. I honestly thought I found my soul mate once...

The experience was so painful that I'd hesitate to repeat it.

We're nearly 400 miles apart, she has custody of the kids, and we are, at long last, at least friendly again. And we can STILL finish each other's sentences.

For whatever that's worth.

[lildreamer316]

24. Sounds like

the two of you set some serious life lessons this time around (from my point of view of course).
As bittersweet as I'm sure it is, at least you know you have/had one, eh?
Oh, what do I know.

[The Straight Story]

9. yeah, I have several of em. (nt)

[Porcupine]

10. Romantic love is a lie. Marraige vows mean nothing.

Children will spit in their parents eyes for the love of trinkets.

The only form of love seems to be the universal type.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. Yes

I have found both.

[tomreedtoon]

12. I don't believe in any kind of love.

Anybody who talks about love is either writing for Hallmark or trying to push some kind of agenda.

I care for people and causes. I help them. But I don't go about "loving" them. There is no reward for doing this, aside from the understanding that you did the right thing. It does not ennoble you to help people, in fact sometimes it hurts and reduces you a hell of a lot. But it's your obligation to do it as a human being.

And especially bad is when someone YAKS about "love." That's self-aggrandizing egotism, or someone trying to enlist you in their private war.

It was said best on "Red Dwarf." Love is just something the baby carriage manufacturers talked up to improve their business.

[BoneDaddy]

15. Sounds

like someone was never hugged as a child.
What bitterness.

[tomreedtoon]

29. I ain't the only one, bubbie.

It's a good thing when children aren't hugged. It makes them easier prey for child molesters.

You call me bitter? I call you naive. Nyah. Go ahead, eat this. It really IS a Baby Ruth. (snicker)

[H2O Man]

13. Yes.

I have found my Yoko Only,

[GeorgeGist]

14. A soul mate can be...

the beginning of universal love.

[seabeyond]

16. i believe there

are many soul mates for us. and universal love? sure why not. a good example would be right after 911

[LWolf]

17. I'm not sure I understand the question.

Are you asking an either/or question, or?

I don't believe in a "soul mate." I do believe in multiple "soul mates." Of course, that depends on your definition of "soul mate." Mine is another soul that I've interacted with closely over more than one lifetime. Do I think that there is one "soul" out there somewhere that is the other "half" of ourselves, our perfect "mate?" No. I've read with interest some spiritual speculations, but can't really say that I "believe" anything one way or the other. The only true "soulmate" of this sort that I can conceive of would involve splitting one whole soul into two entities. :shrug:

I do believe in universal, unconditional love. I think love just is. It doesn't grow or diminish according to events, and it doesn't withhold itself or expand itself according in judgement. Feelings that do that aren't love, in my opinion, but other feelings like attraction, approval, and need.

That means that I still love my ex even though the other feelings needed to sustain a marriage, which are not universal or unconditional, have died.

[WinkyDink]

18. I don't understand the question. "Soul mate" would be an individual.

Are you postualting "loving all of humanity" as its opposite?

[Orsino]

19. "Soul mate" is as good a term as any...

...for the apparently magical connection that some of us are lucky enough to experience. My wife and i are agreed that it would be possible to love other people, but we doubt that we could find such incredible harmony, and in any case aren't looking.

[Annces]

20. Soul mate - maybe in the sense of a partner

that helps you become a whole in realizing your true path in life. I think some people change drastically and what worked with one person, no longer works, though the first person helped them at the first part of their lives.

I remember as a child thinking there was 1 or 2 persons out there in the world specifically for you, and I wondered how you were supposed to find them.

[hunter]

21. I've got a Soul Mate and True Love.

But it's not magic, and sometimes it's a lot of work.

Whatever "universal love" is, I think my relationship with my wife gives me a firmer foundation from which to love my fellow man than I might otherwise have, as my heart is somewhat scarred and my mind somewhat shadowed by cyinicism.

[lildreamer316]

22. I believe in a soulmate BUT

I know there can be more than one.

I believe that since we are all part of one unversal soul, therefore we are compatible with all of its' parts at some point. It follows on the universal love part, I think.

[BarenakedLady]

23. No

[Lady Freedom]

25. love...

STINKS!!

[Deep13]

26. No I don't.

[caty]

27. I don't believe that there is just one "soul mate" in the world

waiting to find you or be found. I believe that there may be a lot of people that you could fall in love with and have that connection with and that chemistry. The test is commitment. Are you willing to spend the rest of your life with that someone, even though there may be others out there that you could have something special with? If you leave one person every time you find someone else, you will never get a chance to have a meaningful history with just one person. Someone that you can share all the good things in life with. Someone who you can face all of life's problems and tragedies with. Someone you would stand by and who would stand by you no matter what happens.

[ironflange]

28. I'm sure that everyone has many soul mates

But it can be hard to find one. I'm lucky, I did. :loveya:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

30. Universal love, perhaps.

I do not believe in a "soul mate." There are 6 billion people on the planet, and you're egotistical enough to think that there's just ONE who's right for you? Baloney. Life is largely chance. There may be someone you get along really well with, but more than likely there are several people who "could have been" your "true loves," and simply, because of random chance, were not. Good loves can be few or they can be many, and good love is not always romantic love. Whatever the case, I certainly don't believe that there is one person out there earmarked for me.