Who has never heard: I found my soul mate! What does that mean? Where did we, humans, individuals, have or share our soul with another being? Soul mate means they were born together?
In fact, the myth of the soul mate was created by Plato who in his book The Feast tries to define what love is. And in this quest, many guests at a party, each one at a time, praise the god Eros (god of love).
However, one of the most fascinating moments in the text is when the comediographer Aristophanes speaks. He makes a beautiful speech that has immortalized itself as the soul mate theory.
Aristophanes begins by saying that at the beginning of time men were complete beings, with two heads, four legs, four arms, which allowed them a very quick circular movement to get move. However, considering beings so well developed, men decided to ascend to the skies and fight the gods, dethroning them and taking their places. However, the gods won the battle and Zeus decided to punish the men for their rebellion. He took a sword in his hand and split all the men, dividing them in half. Zeus even asked the god Apollo to heal the wound (the navel) and turn the men's faces to the side of the cleft so that they could observe Zeus' power.
In this way, men fell to earth again and, in desperation, each went out in search of their other half, without which they would not live. Having assumed the form we have today, men seek their other half, for longing is nothing more than the feeling that something is missing from us, something that was ours before. Therefore, men live in society, as they develop the work to seek, in this loving relationship, to maintain their survival. In this way, the being that before was complete man-man generated the male homosexual couple; the being woman-woman, the female homosexual couple. And the androgynous (part man, part woman) generated the heterosexual couple. And the strength that unites everyone is what protects us, since Zeus promised to split men again (we would have one leg and one arm!) if we did not fulfill what was designated by the deity.
It is worth noting that Plato will use a poetic-imagery language to be able to refute this theory, but deep down, the plasticity of the text is what remained in the tradition as the most beautiful work that explains about the love. This inspired romantic movements in all their phases in modernity.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Philosophy - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/mito-alma-gemea.htm
