debunking the myth of soulmates

i happened across a very interesting article the other day on relevant magazine's website. if you'd like to read it, here is a link to it. LINK and now for my thoughts on it.

i think this article made a really good point. i think the idea of soulmate's or "the one" becomes a scapegoat in our society. how many people say something to the effect of "they just weren't the one" or "we fell out of love" when things get hard and they get divorced. wasn't that what the wedding was supposed to be about, declaring to the world that that person was your "one" for the rest of your life? apparently not though. or what about someone who remarries after their spouse passes away? did that person draw the good straw in life, and have two "ones"? i find that a bit of a stretch. and the other thing to think about is that people are imperfect and make bad decisions sometimes. so what if my "one" happens to marry someone else? am i supposed to wait around for them to figure out they aren't meant to be together or do i just find someone else, how may not be my specific one, and then cause trouble for someone else? i think there are just too many factors in the whole scheme of relationships and marriage to try and pin it down that definitively.

don't get me wrong, i think God knows what's going on with all of it. and that there is some sort of plan going on. but as the article i previously linked states, the only case of a specific man and woman being set aside for each other are adam and eve. and frankly i think that was supposed to be rather metaphorical for us. eve was created as a companion for adam, or a little more generally, woman was created so that man would have a compainion, someone to share life with. (as a quick note, i don't mean that in a man dominant sort of way, just in a "man life would be really lonely without women" sort of way). looking through the rest of the bible, the rest of the relationships are a bit looser in their designs. isaac's servant wasn't told to go find rebekah, just the woman who first watered his camels, or hosea was told to take a prostitute as a wife, not necessarily gomer. or how about jacob? he worked for seven years to get rachel as his wife and ended up with leah. then he worked another seven for rachel. or how many of the kings of israel had multiple wives?

so for jacob, was leah his "one", or rachel? or how about the kings, did they have 300 some "ones"? and i doubt hosea spent his teens thinking, "one day, when i want to start a family, i would really like to have a prostitute mother my children."

maybe i'm just being cynical, but i think that there might be some validity to this. i'd encourage you to think about it. let me know what you think.