Do soulmates truly exist as we were told or maybe the more better question, is there someone specifically for you, predestined before you were even born?

When I was in primary school, it was said that culture is the way of life of a people. At that age, the definition sounded simple, almost harmless, like something that lived in textbooks and exam questions.

But by way of life, I believed back then that it encompassed their thoughts, opinions, morals, what was acceptable or not and that was culture.

So when next you actually hear the word culture don’t just think regalia, festivals or practices, it is deeply rooted in the smallest behaviours of daily life.

Culture exists in what we believe without questioning. It exists in what we accept as truth long before we ever test it.

It exists in the invisible scripts handed down quietly through generations.

Now you are probably wondering what culture has to do with my question of soulmates.

Well, there are people who believe that there might be someone specifically made for them and if they miss out it will affect their lives.

The other interesting part is that they try to pass this belief to others who don't fully understand the concept and others who just accept the ideology blindly.

According to wikipedia, A soulmate is a person with whom one feels a deep or natural affinity. This connection is often associated with love, romance, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, or compatibility, and may also involve trust and comfort

In contemporary usage, the term soulmate typically refers to a romantic or platonic partner with whom one shares a particularly strong bond. It is frequently used to suggest the closest relationship a person can have, and is sometimes understood as an exclusive or lifelong connection.

The earliest recorded use of the term soulmate in English appears in a letter by Samuel Taylor Coleridge dated 1822.

This belief about this whole concept is that it does not announce itself loudly. It appears subtly in conversations, in stories, in films, in religious teachings, and in casual remarks like, “You will find your own person one day.”

It sounds reassuring, intentional and more like destiny has a blueprint.

Now this is not to dispute whether soulmates exist or not, that is your duty to find out, mine is to ask the question from a social perspective.

Because sometimes, the most powerful beliefs are not the ones we prove. They are the ones we inherit and do not question at all.

Marriage, Destiny, and the Cultural Architecture of “The One”

Across cultures, religions, and societies, the idea of marriage has always carried weight beyond companionship.

It has been seen as alignment, continuity, and sometimes, divine orchestration in most cases.

There are arranged marriages, betrothment and alignment of families through marital ties, all of these are pre planned and we all know that, so are soulmates also pre planned?

In many societies, marriage was never originally about emotional discovery. It was about stability, survival, alliances, and continuity.

Families arranged unions not because two individuals had found each other spiritually or intuitively, but because their families, values, and futures aligned structurally. Also marriages were planned for access to power and influence which in the most logical form was normal at that time.

Yet over time, especially in modern society, the narrative shifted. Marriage became less about arrangement and more about discovery. Less about alignment and more about destiny.

If all of this were true, it is possible to be matched with the entirely different person, because we are humans and we have our different metrics for assessing people, especially in the context of marriage.

This is where the idea becomes both comforting and complicated if you ponder on it long enough.

There is a belief that marriage determines the trajectory of someone’s life, which I agree with to some degree, because your partner's decision indirectly affects you no doubt and even the family you eventually raise.

Marriage influences geography, finances, emotional health, and legacy. It shapes the kind of home that exists after you. It shapes the children who may grow up watching you.

So since this is a class, I am still going to ask my question countless times, is there someone for you or maybe the “one” that you have to look for in the billions of people on earth.

Because you can have a spec for someone you like; that specifications and requirements can be seen in 1 percent of the world’s population and now if you’re thinking that number is small because I mentioned 1 percent.

1 percent of the world’s population is 80 million, that is 3 to 4 times the population of the city you’re in or maybe even more and if we think about it imagine if all the men or women in your immediate environment matches the specs that you want, would you marry all of them?

The question reveals something deeper and very glaring; Compatibility is not scarcity, it is abundance filtered by proximity, timing, and circumstance.

And if you miss out on your alleged soulmate would you not have a happy married life?

The answer, based on observable reality, appears to be no. Many people live fulfilled lives without ever believing they found “the one.” Others believe they did, and still experienced difficulty and wished they met another partner.

Which suggests that perhaps the idea of soulmates is less about finding and more about meaning.

Belief, Social Engineering, and the Illusion of Original Thought

It is important to know that the content of the article is objective and tries to understand the whole narration of this concept and also this matter cuts across different religions and cultural backgrounds with varying beliefs and doctrines.

In some religions, there is the belief that God has prepared a partner for each individual.

In others, marriage is seen as a conscious decision guided by wisdom, not destiny.

In some cultures, emotional compatibility is prioritized. In others, structural compatibility is more important.

Yet despite these differences, one pattern remains consistent and that is belief.

These beliefs, patterns have been socially engineered before time that we are not even aware of. Because anything you believe now, is that you were either told, you saw it, made assumptions or was subtly fed into your subconscious mind by your environment.

This does not make belief false but it makes belief inherited and I think you should know that.

The human mind absorbs patterns from its surroundings long before it develops the ability to question them. Stories heard in childhood become emotional truths in adulthood whether you agree or not.

For instance:

Some people believe that sweeping in the night is not good, but the fact about this belief is that they were told and not that they did any analysis as to why they shouldn't do it.

The belief persists not because it was tested, but because it was transferred and was accepted without question.

In psychology, this phenomenon relates to social conditioning — the process through which societies shape perceptions of reality.

Cultural anthropologists have long observed that many human beliefs feel natural not because they are universal, but because they are repeated and imbibed across generations.

This explains why two people from different cultures can hold completely different beliefs about love, marriage, and destiny, yet both feel equally certain and think they are both right.

Which brings us back to the central question not whether soulmates exist.

But why we need them to exist? Because if you ask me I think, we need them to exist in the context of hope.

Unarguably the idea of soulmates offers structure in a world governed largely by chance. It gives emotional certainty in a universe defined by unpredictability and makes the heart of anyone long for the fulfillment that the concept of marriage brings.

It makes randomness feel intentional and the uncertainty brings the best.

Perhaps It Is Not a Predestined Person, But a Predestined Pattern

After everything has been said and examined which you might not entirely agree with or maybe satisfy your curiosity, the question still remains open.

Do soulmates truly exist? There may never be a universal answer.

Because belief exists at the intersection of culture, psychology, religion, and personal experience. Two people can live entirely different lives and arrive at entirely different conclusions, both convinced by their own evidence and outcomes.

But one possibility emerges clearly.

Perhaps there is not a single predestined person waiting somewhere in the world.

Perhaps there is a predestined personality that you are drawn to.

And even that personality may not be predestined in a cosmic sense, but shaped by your experiences, your environment, your upbringing, and the people you have interacted with.

Your preferences did not emerge in isolation. They were built gradually through exposure, memory, and emotional association.

Which means what feels like destiny may actually be familiarity and what feels like fate may actually be recognition in your subconscious mind.

And what feels like finding “the one” may simply be finding someone whose existence aligns with the patterns your life has already written.

Not myth or certainty, just human meaning, created in real time.

See you on the next one!