When it comes to the discussion of the soul, the topic of soulmates eventually comes up. A lot of romantic people dream of finding their "soulmate." And I think most people would append the title of soulmate to any friend or partner that they can closely identify with on almost all levels.
Locally, Jaime Licauco tackles the subject through his book Soulmates, Karma & Reincarnation (he even conducts a regular seminar going by the same title). From here we can see that although most people are not aware of the philosophy behind the concept, the idea of a soulmate is engaging enough that it still captures the attention and imagination of a lot of people.
According to most esoteric philosophies, we are all sparks from the One Infinite Source, identified by different religions and peoples as the Supreme God, the Universal Mind, Parabrahman or whatever appellation that most closely fits the mental understanding of the culture or religion. These sparks are our souls, and just before incarnating, the soul is separated into two halves, one male and the other female. It's interesting that a part of this concept is seen in Genesis, where Eve is formed out of the rib of Adam.
Supposedly, once a person encounters his or her soulmate, both parties will experience a practically irresistible attraction towards each other. There will also be a feeling of intense joy whenever the two are together. It is these signs that make the idea of meeting a soulmate so attractive for most people. The Kabbalistic view extends this further, stating that as the two halves grow spiritually, they are increasingly drawn together no matter where in the world they may be, finally uniting when the time is right.
Although encounters with soulmates are supposed to be events of great joy, Kabbalistic belief also states that it is possible for one to encounter one's soulmate, albeit briefly, as a nemesis! This occurs if one needs to learn certain lessons important for one's soul development. Although this view runs counter to the romantic view of soulmates, it makes sense when looked at from the esoteric perspective. The more one needs to learn a lesson, the more one encounters situations that bring those lessons to the fore. Since encounters with soulmates are supposed to be intense, it is a definite way to impart the intensity of a particular life lesson.
And then I encountered The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav. In case the name of the author sounds familiar, it may be because he has made a few guest appearances in Oprah, though I wasn't aware of that fact before I bought the book. In any case, he states that the soul experiences physical reality through the personality. He further emphasizes that the soul is quite distinct from the personality, because the soul is eternal and pure, while the personality is transient and has a lot of imperfections. This is similar to other esoteric philosophies, but Gary Zukav goes further in saying that the soul can have several personalities existing and experiencing life at the same time. This certainly goes beyond the normal concept of soulmates, because there could be several aspects of your soul, in different personalities, existing in the world. I guess you could call this a group soulmate.
According to Gary Zukav, what happens to one personality impacts the lives and development of the other personalities. For example, if one personality lives a life of wanton slaughter and rapine, the consequences of this negative lifestyle will spill over to a certain extent to the other personalities. Conversely, a personality that takes on the spiritual path will also influence the other personalities into that positive direction.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out what path of spirituality Gary Zukav follows, so it's hard to cross check some of his statements. But curiously, the only other work where I encountered a similar concept is the Thiaoouba Prophecy, where it is mentioned that the Higher Soul divides itself into nine souls in order to experience incarnated life.
Despite the uncertainty of the statements above, theoretically it should be possible. After all, we are all from One Infinite Source despite apparent differences in form. And since the Hermetic principle states that "As above, so below" then if the One Infinite Source was able to emanate different sparks (human souls) from Itself, then these individual sparks should be able to emanate subdivisions of themselves.
If we take into account the different theories about parallel universes, then the concept of the existence of different personalities makes more sense. Perhaps those who suffer from multiple personality disorders had the veils between the different personalities torn asunder, either through a defect of birth or trauma, hence all personalities surface at one time or another in the same body. It's an intriguing thought.
Nevertheless, the concept of "one soul, several personalities" may give light to some of the questions I have regarding a past life reading I heard. Without divulging the details, different lives and events were described, but based on some of the descriptions of the events, some of the timelines should have intersected for all of it to have made any sense. If we look at reincarnation as purely linear where one personality life ends before another one can begin, then questions arise about the seeming inconsistencies of described events and places. But if the soul incarnates several personalities, or at least incarnates one personality before the death of the other, then one can see how it is possible for several timelines to intersect.
While the concept of somehow having lunch with oneself is intriguing, the important thing is that we should simply focus on spiritually developing ourselves. We may not know everything that happens in the inner world, but for sure we are always being guided by a higher power and everything happens for a reason. Perhaps one is meant to meet one's soulmate in this lifetime, or perhaps not, but either way, everything is happening as it should be.
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