It’s amazing how many different concepts of love there are. It was mentioned in a previous blog that there are numerous perspectives of the essence of a soul mate, and that arguing about it is not productive. I would agree up to a certain point. The fact that we all have different ideals for a soul mate is obviously one of the reasons why it is so difficult to find one. Eben was hungry. He had nothing and no one. Jennie was able to bring him inspiration and self-confidence. I wouldn’t mind having that in a soul mate, but some people would. But like Dr. C said in class today, try finding a happy artist. Something about starving or suffering gives an artist that extraordinary ability to express themselves in their work. Maybe the starving artist has such discontent with the world that they are more observant. So what could an artist create if he found that one type of person in the world meant for him? I say “type” because I don’t believe that there is only one person in the world meant for anyone.
As far as being romantic with your soul mate, why does the relationship have to become physical? Sharing your body with someone is a major part of most intimate relationships, but there are some people who you could connect with solely (pun intended) through conversations. This is very rare, though. Being a soul mate by definition is a destined relationship that transcends the physical. The physical part of a relationship is part of our biological instinct to reproduce. Our social ideal of fidelity is one of the things that spawned the concept of a soul mate. Jennie and Eben may have been destined for each other and God just messed up. He tried to make up for it by bending time. But a more interesting question to leave you with is why would God bother to cross their paths if they were not going to spend more than a few months together (in Eben’s time)?