The soul mate

Something in Plato’s Symposium that I found very interesting was the part when Aristophanes tells his speech. Where he explains one of his idea on how different sexualities begin. At first everyone have two heads, four arms and legs, everything was doubled. Humans started out as a blob, neither male nor female. The gods were threatened by these creatures and it was Zeus who finally made the decision. Zeus decided to split them in half, making them weaker and increase in numbers. Once Zeus had cut them in half, humans were made. Each had one head, two arms, two legs and feet, walking up straight on two feet. Aristophanes is able to explain everything from the bellybutton and wrinkles to hair.

Two different types of humans were created through this process, the male and female. After being cut in half and made into their own, they each desired to be reconnected with their other half. When cut in half, sometimes two males were made, two females, or and sometimes a male and a female were made. This belief creates the idea of a “soul mate”. It explains that each human is out there seeking another, their other half, no matter if they are of the same sex or a different one. The story or belief that Aristophanes creates becomes a modern myth on the soul mate. He explains that there is no right or wrong partner and your other half can come in any shape, size or sex.

I though this idea was amazing and really intelligent for the time period, that he thought of a way to explain the soul mate. Many people even in today’s society cannot even understand the concept that you’re searching for your other half no matter what sex they are. Today society has defined what is right and wrong and here Aristophanes explains that sex does not matter. I think its pretty amazing that someone so far into the past can realize in put into terms what many people today cannot understand or grasp.