Fate And Soul Mates (2nd part, One Year in the Making)

Last year, I wrote an article (well, half of it) about the concept of fate and soul mates in relation to the Hollywood blockbuster, Serendipity. I’ve seen the movie fifty times already that I’ve almost memorized Sarah Tomas’ lines. Years ago, I’ve always thought the message was simple: that there is [just] one person out there who is meant for you and when the time is right, everything in the universe will conspire to bring you two together. But after much speculation, introspection, and comparison I began to see the movie bearing different theories:

• Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
• Law of Attraction: You attract in your life whatever you think about. Dominant thoughts will always find a way to manifest themselves in due time. (Similar to Paulo Coelho’s central theme in The Alchemist.)

These theories helped justify my friend’s stake on the concept of soul mates. He said that each of us has at least three or five compatible souls in a lifetime. External forces and serendipitous circumstances lead us to believe that the universe is, in fact, leading us to “one” compatible soul. In the movie, most people failed to see that the concept of free will/choice is also present, which leads me to argument #2.

Pre-Destination v. Free Will
If there is such a thing called “destiny” and we are all bound to reach our own destiny in due time, then what is free will for? Of course, you may contest that you can defy pre-destination by making a “choice” to alter it. But what if you are destined to make that choice or alteration? Given that, it makes the choice pre-destined.

Overwork, I had the chance to engage in an intellectual conversation with one of my officemates. She argued that in a vacuum (void of external factors), free will might exist. However, reality itself is filled with external factors—people, influence, chance, and higher power. Ergo, we have yet to conclude the debate.

The sci-fi TV series Kyle XY is a good example of pre-destination v. free will. Kyle Trager is stuck between two female leads: Amanda Bloom (free-will) and Jesse (pre-destination). Kyle meets Amanda first (by chance) and falls in love; he has always believed that she is the one. Enters Jesse, who shares the same history as Kyle (they are both the products of cloning). Their biological (DNA) parents used to share a romantic past. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Kyle and Jesse are created (and meant) to be together.

A series of episodes continuously reveal the concept of soul mates. In one episode, Kyle was adamant in believing that Amanda is his only soul mate. The dialogue tells us that sometimes, people think with their minds what they want their hearts to feel. And yet, the discovery of one’s compatible soul (with whom you can communicate even without the use of written or oral communication) is effortlessly beautiful.

The series ends with Kyle stuck between the two, just like all of us who can’t conclude the debate between predestination and free will.


The Verdict, For Now
Personally, I believe in higher power. There is a specific external factor so powerful it affects our actions through signs. There are times when we may feel that the world is revealing us something or someone. The operative word is revealing, ergo, it doesn’t mean that the signs are leading us to that path or person.

I believe in pre-destination, but I still believe that we create our own destiny. Free will is exercised when we interpret the signs the universe throws at us. Free will is also present when we face a fork road. But what if you are destined to make that choice? Well, just like what I have written a few paragraphs back, sometimes, humans decide with their minds what they want their hearts to feel.

Furthermore, as the law of attraction states, if your dominant thought is that of stressing your free will in a world filled with wonderful coincidence, then so be it.