Marco
Milani
One of
the greatest sources of inspiration of this ludic concept is the Hermaphroditus
Myth. This Greek narrative tells about beings with two heads four arms and four
legs making up a third human gender both female and male. They were punished by
Zeus for rebelling against the gods and cut apart on their backs and theses
halves got lost and are always looking for their missing part.
To have
someone in particular that would satisfy us totally in all our affective wants
is an attractive idea. It creates expectations especially in those who consider
themselves solitary. What’s really worrying however is the fact that this idea
projects our own happiness onto another person.
As the “soulmates”
concept is part of the popular imagery, the literary works that use this poetic
figure can count with a good receptivity and reinforce the illusion that two
individuals could complete one another and find happiness when united. Even
admitting that the purpose of reading is not always that of enlightenment and
serious studying , it is fundamental that one should be wary with the content
of what one reads and transmits, to avoid being spreaders of fantasizing ideas.
This does
not mean that novels and poems are not welcome. On the contrary, they possess
valuable resources of people’s awareness and awakening, by expressing art and
beauty. They can be the “open door” to doctrinaire study. However, Spiritism --
whose strength and authority rely on the universal agreement of its
principles-- has clarity and objectivity as its essential qualities. Allan
Kardec himself made the following comment on his personal characteristics:
“I am not a poet by nature, what I mostly look for,
what pleases me most, what I most admire in others is clearness, neatness and
precision, and far from sacrificing these to poetry, I could be accused of
sacrificing poetic feeling to the rigidity of positive form. I have always
preferred what speaks to the intelligence than what hits the imagination”.
(Posthumous Works – 2nd part – The Spiritual Tiara).
Thus, if
one sets aside the lyrics and search for real understanding, we realize that “soulmates”
in its popular imagery would lead to some conceptual contradictions. If we
would depend on the other “half”, when we are separated and we would then be
incomplete and as such could not be considered as being individualities with
all the relative perfection potential inherent to ourselves. It should be
observed here that a particular and inevitable union between two souls does not
exist because these souls depend on their level of evolution. The more evolved
a Spirit is the more linked -- by similarity -- will it be to those who are in
the same level of elevation. (The Spirits' Book question # 298-302).
Kardec’s
lucid and rational attitude made him state that the “soulmates” theory should
not be interpreted literally and he explains that the Spirits who use it do not
belong to a high order of Spirits, but are only expressing their ideas
according to the language they spoke in their corporeal life. He is against the
hypothesis that two Spirits supposedly created one for the other should
inevitably be reunited in eternity after having been separated during a more or
less long period. (The Spirits' Book question #303a).
According
to Fénelon (The Spirits' Book, Chapter XI, #9), the soul’s natural tendency is
to look for affection and sympathy. Although usually crushed by selfishness,
true love develops with the moral sense and intelligence and becomes the source
of true and lasting affection. To practice the Law of Love as God wants it, it
is necessary that little by little we arrive at loving all our brothers
indistinctly.
Today we
are only making our first steps towards a real understanding and the practice
of love in its purest expression. Many are locked in the disrupting and
interfering feeling of ownership and control of the other being. Dissensions
and deceits spring up as a consequence of ill conducted desires of which we are
the greatest victims. Facing this situation we look for a refuge in the world
of illusions. We idealize. We delegate to others the responsibility of making
us happy.
Gradually
through our own self-knowledge we search the real happiness with greater
self-assurance and determination assuming the responsibility of our own
balance. To look at ourselves does not mean to adopt a selfish and proud
attitude; on the contrary, it means to wake up and rush to the “good struggle”
against our bad inclinations. Thinking things over make us understand that our
neighbor has the same problems and the same opportunities than us and
consequently those with whom we live cannot assume the responsibility of being
the cause of our own happiness. We try then to stop being dependent on others
and are then able to share our inner harmony with others.
The Earth
is a precious school that enables us to be in contact with numberless souls
with whom we have a greater or a lesser degree of sympathy and to learn from
them all. And we are thus certainly in contact with those who are relevant to
our advancement! And this is not destiny, it is attraction!
In the
future we will continue to be with those that we love, but this circle of
affections will increase proportionally with our level of evolution up to the
top degree in the condition of Pure Spirits, where we love everybody
indistinctly.
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