The Solemate Theory

Having watched Pixar's Inside Out this past weekend, my philosophical fire has been lit leaving me with an undying urge to flesh out an analogy.  I've been turning over the idea of soulmates ever since April's book club meeting as my friends and I sat around discussing our individual views.  "I don't buy in" was basically my view in a nutshell, citing General Authority advice that any two people living righteously can be happy together.  But the longer my thoughts have ruminated, the more I have been forced to acknowledge a few more variables.  So here they are, in what I am certain will end up being just a sample of the bizarre ways my mind demands that I make concrete from abstract.

First, before I can discuss soulmates, I'm going to have to break this compound word into its component parts.

Soul.  

A snapshot from Mirriam-Webster declares SOUL to be:

• the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever
• a person's deeply felt moral and emotional nature
• the ability of a person to feel kindness and sympathy for others, to appreciate beauty and art, etc.

LDS.org states that the scriptures speak of souls in three ways:

• spirit beings, both premortal and postmortal (Alma 40:11–14; Abr. 3:23)
• a spirit and a body united in mortality (Abr. 5:7)
• an immortal, resurrected person whose spirit and body have become inseparably connected (Alma 40:23; D&C 88:15–16).

But I have to go a bit rogue here and admit that this explanation is the most concrete to me, and therefore will have to be the basis of this particular mind-journey.  From an article outlining a Christian view on the difference between the soul and spirit:

• Our body functions to allow us to interact with the physical world and the things in it through our five senses.
• We can live our human lives in continuous contact with the Lord by using our spirit. (My own LDS views vary from this a bit, believing my spirit to be much more than a conduit for contact, but I'm not trying to define spirit here...)
• Our soul is basically who we are—our mind, our emotion, and our will. 

Mates.

Mirriam-Webster:

• either member of a couple and especially a married couple
• either member of a breeding pair of animals
• either of two matched objects

Hm... that one was a lot more simple, but I still have to decide which definition applies most.  For my theory, I'm going to go with two matched objects and introduce the linchpin of this analogy.  

The Analogy.

When I think of mates, I think of socks.  In theory, when the wash is done, each sock should have a mate, right?  

For some socks, this process is pretty easy.  Some socks were bought in a package of 10 identical pair of black socks with green Hanes across the toe, and their only goal is to find one of the 19 possible mates.

Other socks, however, would have a pretty tough job making sure they end up with the ONE sock meant for them.  I guess that's why I loved the fad that started 10 or so years ago with all the teenage girls wearing mismatched socks.  Yes!  I thought.  This is how socks should be.

Consider this sock:

I mean, this one has been given some pretty specific information about what kind of sock to look for.  Adidas brand.  Ankle sock.  Purple base.  Green stripes.  And yes, I guess technically this sock was in fact purchased with one EXACT mate, so I guess technically there's one SPECIFIC sock intended for this guy.  So for now, let's say he really does have a mate.  How many days is he supposed to hang out in the un-mated box waiting for purple-green-adida-ankle-mate?

Let's say he meets this sock instead.  Yeah!  If I was the purple striped sock, I would totally go out in public with that green sock.  And I'd feel all spunky and happy and unique and like I'd found a sock that didn't offer the exact same things I already had going for me.  I'd walk around thinking, "Wow, this green sock really brings out my green stripes!"  But I technically wouldn't be able to say, "I've found my mate."

In fact, I could end up instead with this sock.  We'd have tons in common, what with Adidas branded right across us both.  But I could have so much fun being purple where he was orange and green where he was purple.  Think of the discussions we could have knowing that we were so much the same and yet so totally different!

So maybe if I was a that cool purple sock, I'd have a few options.  And I really think I'd be a happy sock with any of them!

If I was a plain orange sock, I could see so many different possibilities.  So many great socks for me to choose to pair with.  (Please read that without innuendo!... Oh great, now you went back and read it with innuendo.)  I think that orange sock could live a pretty awesome orange sock life, even if it never, ever found its one-and-only orange solemate!

The Conclusion.

So do I believe in soulmates?  Sorta.  I guess I can buy into the idea that for every purple and green striped Adidas sock on the earth, there is at least one other purple and green striped Adidas sock.  I mean, I am not the only one that bought that pack of socks at Walmart.  So I guess I sorta believe they are out there.

But I think that if I was looking (definitely not... I already chose my sock), I would be looking for a SOUL mate, not a SPIRIT mate.  I'd be looking for someone who fits well with my mind, my emotion, and my will.

Do I believe that I was sent to earth to find the one SOUL that matches mine?  Nope.  I believe I was sent to BE the kind of sock that can match a lot of socks and with the AGENCY to choose what kind of sock I wanted to walk around with.

Do I believe that some green-and-purple-striped-Adidas find each other?  Sure do!  And I love to hear their stories.

So I guess maybe it's not that I don't believe in soulmates.

I just don't believe it's important to find 'em.

In fact, I think I'd be much more amused if someday I saw my purple-and-green-striped-Adidas-solemate walking around with the solemate of the sock I picked.

Yeah, I like that theory!

*No socks were harmed in the making of this blog, though as I found them by dumping the unmated box, many did find their solemates.*