A lot of us have heard of a soulmate and have a general idea of the concept. Your soulmate is “the one”, the person who completes you, your other half. But many of today’s spiritualists believe that there’s another “one” for you out there. One that’s similar to a soulmate but different. This person isn’t your soul’s mate but your soul’s mirror. This person is your twin flame.
The idea of a twin flame has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks. Plato wrote about it in his play Symposium. According to the story he used to illustrate the idea, humans were originally beings with four arms, four legs, and a single head with two faces. But Zeus (the king of the Gods for those of you who are unfamiliar) saw these creatures as a threat, and split them in two. As you can imagine, this made the humans pretty miserable. These split beings, humans, us, were now doomed to roam the world forever longing for their other half. But all hope wasn’t lost. As Plato explained:
“This, then, is the source of our desire to love each other. Love is born into every human being: it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature. Each of us, then, is a ‘matching half’ of a human whole… and each of us is always seeking the half that matches him.”
Spiritualists believe that your twin flame is someone you connect with on all levels—physical, mental, emotional but also, perhaps more importantly, spiritual. As a result, it’s a relationship unlike any other. For some, the idea may seem like a stretch. But regardless of whether or not you believe in a twin flame, the concept introduces interesting ideas about what the ideal romantic relationship can be.
Here are some characteristics of a twin flame relationship:
Twin flames are mirrors of each other.
When you meet your twin flame it’s not the same as meeting someone who’s your perfect match. Instead, the person is a mirror or a reflection of yourself. Think yin and yang, dark and light, the sun and the moon. You’re similar and yet opposite, but together you create a harmony. It is your equal and opposing spirits that create the dynamics of this unique relationship.
Twin flames challenge each other.
If you think meeting your other half is going to be an easy, comfortable experience, think again. Twin flame relationships are described as tumultuous and challenging, and it’s thought that the two people often break up and get back together, move apart from each other and then drift back again and again.
Consider the idea of a mirror for a moment—When you see yourself reflected there, it’s not just the good things you see but the bad as well. Twin flames reflect back your hidden fears, weaknesses, and the dark places in yourself as well as your strength and beauty. You feel attracted to each other, but also fear what you see and this causes many people to run away.
Twin flames help eachother grow and evolve as individuals.
The idea of a mirrored self gives the twin flame relationship its strength. It’s thought that before you can grow and evolve as a person, you need to see yourself as you truly are. Your twin flame gives you a vehicle to do this. By watching your twin flame struggle with their issues, you better understand your own. By watching them learn about themselves, you learn more about yourself. And, ultimately, spiritualists believe that you’ll gain an even greater understanding of not just yourself, but of all of humanity and the world.
Phew, pretty heavy stuff right?
Well, regardless of whether or not you believe in the idea of a twin flame, the underlying ideas about relationships the concept introduces are something everyone can relate to. We’ve all had relationships—be they romantic or platonic, with a family member or a teacher, a lover or a friend—where the person we were with elevated us somehow or made us realize something we weren’t cable of getting to on our own.
A strong relationship with another person allows you learn about yourself, it can force you to face the uncomfortable truths about who you are. It can also take you outside of yourself to help you see things from another’s point of view. The best relationships awaken us to so many new things—new things within ourselves, within others, and within the world around us. There is an odd kind of magic to getting close to people and getting to know them. Perhaps that magic is a twin flame, or a soulmate, or some other spiritual or human connection we haven’t yet put into words. Whatever it is, it’s worth looking into.
