Define “soul mate” and the meaning of “true love” :)?

~~PoEt~~ asked:

Many times, people come to me and ask me about the meaning of “soul mate” and what is “true love“? Ive decided to put together a thesis giving different ideas of what the meaning of soul mate and true love are from people like yourselves. Your opinions, whether you believe in true love or not, will help me put together what I feel will be a wonderful collection of the meaning of soul mate and true love. Thank you in advance for your time and opinions. I look forward to reading each and every thought you all have and how men and women view this topic.

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10 Responses to 'Define “soul mate” and the meaning of “true love” :)?'

Len Anders - June 18th, 2008 at 9:26 am
these are just words. Soul mate evaporates in heat and true love fade in heat also.
anonymous - June 19th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
all love is true for as long as it lasts. if you use the word love then it is true bc that is how you feeling at the time. it could be true love for five minutes of fifty yrs. however when you are in love with one person for fifty years then you can say that the person is your soul mate. soul mates cannot be predicted at. you only know if a person is ur soul mate after having lived with them long enough to be sure that they fully understand you and u fully understand them. Its really a beautiful feeling that knowledge and it makes time seem beautiful too. ur soul mate is the person who over time comes to fill your empty spaces. i dont want to say “completes you” because a complete person can have empty spaces too. being incomplete without somone only implies that you are dependent on the person…in the ideal relationship both individuals retain their independence yet rely on each other.
Joe L - June 20th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I never cared for the term “soul mate.” The phrase itself almost seems to exclude the physical body and mind. Technically, it could mean that my best friend and I are “soul mates” but physically not attracted to one another. Which would seem to contradict the popular intonation of “soul mate.”

True love is unconditional acceptance.
d4rkprincess84 - June 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 am
i believe that a soulmate and a true-love is two people together feel as though they known each other forever and love to hear each others stories over again as if they’ve never heard it before,the feeling of unconditional love and the feeling of knowing your going to be with each other forever.the fact that you can do and say anything without embaressment or regret in front of your partner and knowing he/she wont criticize you or put you down.and support you know matter what you do.and talking to each other about your future together and how both would imagine it to be, even as parents and even grandparents.thats how it is for me and my fiance,im an artist and some what of a psychic and before my love came into my life i drew pictures,now we look at my art and most of it resemble my love and he also had a dream of me before he met me.
sorry if it was a bit long..lol
Conway - June 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
One Love above all.
One love to reach for.
One love to touch.
One love to know,and be everywhere I go.
redunicorn - June 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
My husband and I have been together for 24 years. We have only had one minor quarrel in all that time. We still hold hands and kiss at red lights. We both married poorly the first time and wanted a soul mate the second time around.

We have similar educations, both come from a family of 3 kids, both love science fiction books and art, and have very similar tastes.

I thank God everyday for bringing us together.
Super Frog - June 26th, 2008 at 7:29 am
The part of love that determines whether or not it is “true” is its origin. Some people claim to “fall” in love. When people do this, I think it degrades the very nature of love. To me, a love is only true when it was a decision, and not an emotion. I say this because emotions fade; anger dies, jealousy subsides, frustration leaves, excitement mellows, and physical lust is only a temporary satisfaction. I am not at all saying that love has to be absent from emotions. And I’m not trying to demean the inherent joy that a good relationship can bring.

But to me, love is the most real or “true” when it is a decision. If I decide that I am going to spend the rest of my life with someone, then I have honored and respected them by not relying on inconsistent emotions, and prevented myself from leading them into something that may not be real. If your love is a decision based off of how you interact with that person, and a mutual desire to pursue an exclusive relationship with one another, then the love grows because it has a solid foundation. And since the love was based off of choice, the love itself is rendered unconditional. I love how that works.

As far as soul mates are concerned, I think that we may have them, but they are not predetermined for us. Our soulmates should not be a goal we struggle to obtain. Our soulmates are not decided for us, and our job is to find them. No. Our soulmates are whom we choose for them to be. They should be the love of our life because we CHOSE for them to be (there’s the decision thing again). Our soulmates should be the sole object of our affection. Through our lives (if we are spending them with the right person based off of the true love I already discussed), anyone who has love will discover the meaning of soulmate. You didn’t “find” your soulmate: your true love BECAME your soulmate. This is because the two of you, over time, became bonded together at your very centers: your very soul.

This is my opinion. I can’t prove that its right, but it makes sense to me. We as people are given an incredible capacity to think and reason. And since (to most of us) love is our most cherished attribute as humans, I believe that our minds should be our cornerstone of reason when it comes to love. Otherwise, a lot of people tend to get hurt for no reason.
Michael JENKINS - June 29th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Soul= Nefesh in Hebrew: meaning living-breathing body, Man (Later translated into Greek, Latin and into Old English where the translation was lost or obscured).
Mate= Mating or intercourse of two creatures male and female. The joining of two opposites.
(Gen 2:20) And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
(Gen 2:18) And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

It should read Soul Meet. For in Genesis He, God said nothing of a mate but a meet.

Ancient Israelite Concepts of Soul

IBLIOGRAPHY
Recommended books
about the body

The Bible gives few clues to the ancient Israelite idea of the soul or spirit. Three words which over time developed the meaning of “soul” are present in Tanakh: Neshamah, Nefesh, and Ruah. Tracing the evolution of these terms gives us some idea of the ancient Israelites’ beliefs regarding the soul.

In the Creation story, we read of God blowing a “breath of life” into the man of earth and dust (Genesis 2:7). The word used is a form of the Hebrew root indicating breath. Although this “neshamah” later becomes associated with the soul, the word here only describes the element that animates a body. This animating element is not, in early biblical tradition, separate from the body in life, nor does it possess any personality.

Similarly, ruah is the animating force from God. Most often used as “wind,” ruahmay also be used as “breath.” “God said, ‘My breath [ruhi] will not govern man forever, since he is flesh…’” (Genesis 6:3). Here, we see the added element of transience: The ruah ends its association with the mortal body at death.

The word nefesh is often used to mean “person” or “living being”. In the Torah, however, animals may also possess this life force–a “nefesh behemah.” The term nefesh is particularly associated with blood, as in “the life [nefesh] of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11).

Nefesh does reflect a personal dimension. It may be used in the sense of “self” (including “himself”). Nefesh is also associated with personal desire or attraction. One’s nefesh may cleave to someone (as in the case of Shehem’s yearning for Dinah, Jacob’s daughter), or to evil (see Proverbs 21:10). In a later example of this usage, a person of considerable appetite is called “ba’al [possessor of] nefesh” (Proverbs 23:2). In all of these usages, the nefesh is connected to the body and its material wants.

In later books of the Bible, the soul (using all three terms) is mentioned apart from the body and as more than just an animating spirit. This subtle evolution of meaning reflects the growth of the idea of what we call the soul–the unique, everlasting, intangible part of a person. In the stunning poem that serves as the centerpiece of the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, the death of a person is described as occurring when “… the dust returns to the ground where it had been and the ruah returns to the God who had given it” (12:7). While previously we saw the life-breath leaving the body at death, here we see it as a separate entity that returns to God, rather than simply disappearing.
(Gen 1:26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
(Gen 1:27) So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
(Gen 2:18) And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
(Gen 2:20 ) And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

Dictionary
mate1 /me?t/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[meyt] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, mat·ed, mat·ing.
–noun 1. husband or wife; spouse.
2. one member of a pair of mated animals.
3. one of a pair: I can’t find the mate to this glove.
4. a counterpart.
5. an associate; fellow worker; comrade; partner (often used in combination): classmate; roommate.
6. friend; buddy; pal (often used as an informal term of address): Let me give you a hand with that, mate.
7. Nautical. a. first mate.
b. any of a number of officers of varying degrees of rank subordinate to the master of a merchant ship.
c. an assistant to a warrant officer or other functionary on a ship.
8. an aide or helper, as to an artisan; factotum.
9. a gear, rack, or worm engaging with another gear or worm.
10. Archaic. an equal in reputation; peer; match.
–verb (used with object) 11. to join as a mate or as mates.
12. to bring (animals) together for breeding purposes.
13. to match or marry.
14. to join, fit, or associate suitably: to mate thought with daring action.
15. to connect or link: a telephone system mated to a computerized information service.
16. to treat as comparable.
–verb (used without object) 17. to associate as a mate or as mates.
18. (of animals) to copulate.
19. (of animals) to pair for the purpose of breeding.
20. to marry.
21. (of a gear, rack, or worm) to engage with another gear or worm; mesh.
22. Archaic. to consort; keep company.
23. Sexual Intercourse of a species
[Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English < Middle Latin Greek; r. Middle English mette, Old English gemetta messmate, guest.
ViRg() - July 1st, 2008 at 10:23 am
For me personally, ‘soul mate’ and ‘true love’ are actually just something perpetuated by the media, etc.
Relationships are work in progress, trial and error – you’ve to work at it constantly.
I don’t think it’s an immediate/ instant thing – it’s (love) something developed over a period of time.
moblade103 - July 4th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
simple….your hearts recognition of your significant other