The eternal halves or “the twin souls”

Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > May > The Eternal Halves

The letter addressed to the Spiritist Magazine

The following passage is taken from a letter from one of our subscribers.

“…I lost, a few years ago, a good and virtuous wife and, although she had left me six children, I felt completely isolated when I heard about spiritual manifestations. Soon I found myself in a small group of good friends, who every night occupied themselves with this subject. I learned, then, through the communications obtained, that true life is not on Earth, but in the world of Spirits; that my Clemency there was happy and that, like others, she worked for the happiness of those she had met here.

“Now, here is a point on which I ardently desire you to enlighten me.

“One night I said to my Clemency: My dear friend, why, in spite of our love, it happens that we do not always have the same point of view in the different circumstances of our common life, and why are we so often obliged to reciprocate concessions? in order to live in good harmony? “She replied:

─ “My friend, we were good and honest; we lived together and, as best we could say, in this Land of trials, but we were not our eternal halves. Such unions are rare on Earth. Although they can be found, they represent a great favor from God. Those who enjoy this happiness experience joys that you do not know.

─ “Can you tell me if you see your eternal half?

─ “Yes, she replied. He is a poor devil who lives in Asia; you won't be able to join me until 175 years from now, according to your way of counting.

─ “Will your union be on Earth or in another world?

─ “On Earth. But listen: I cannot describe to you well the happiness of the beings thus gathered. I will ask Heloísa and Abelardo to come and inform you.

“So, sir, these happy ones have come to tell us about this unspeakable happiness.

─ “As we wish”, they said, “two do not make more than one. We travel through space; we enjoy everything; we love each other with an endless love, above which there is only the love of God and of perfect beings. Your greatest joys are not worth a single glance of ours and our handshakes.”
“The thought of eternal halves makes me happy. It seems that God, creating Humanity, made it double and, separating the two halves of the same soul, said to them: Go through this world and seek incarnations. If you do good, the journey will be short and I will allow your union. Otherwise, centuries will pass before you can enjoy that happiness. Such, it seems to me, is the first cause of the instinctive movement that drags Humanity in search of happiness, that happiness that people neither understand nor strive to understand.

“I ardently desire, sir, clarification on this theory of eternal moieties and I would be happy if I had an explanation on the subject in one of your next issues…”

The counter-argument of the letter

When asked about the matter, Abelardo and Heloísa gave us the following answers:

1. ─ Were the souls created double?

─ If doubles had been created, singles would have been imperfect.

2. ─ Is it possible for two souls to be reunited in eternity, forming a whole?

─ No.

3. Do you and your Heloísa form, from the beginning, two perfectly distinct souls?

─ Yes.

4. ─ Are you still two distinct souls?

─ Yes, but always together.

5. ─ Are all men in the same conditions?

─ As they are more or less perfect.

6. ─ Are all souls destined to unite, one day, with another soul?

─ Each spirit tends to look for another spirit that is similar to it. It is what you call sympathy.

7. ─ Is there a condition of sex in this union?

─ Souls do not have sex.

São Luís opines on eternal halves

Both to satisfy our subscriber's wish and for our own instruction, we address the following questions to Espírito de São Luís:

1 - The souls that must unite are predestined, from the beginning, to this union and each one of us has, in any part of the Universe, the your half, to which one day it will fatally unite itself?

─ No. There is no particular and fatal union of two souls. There is union between all spirits, but in different degrees, according to the position they occupy, that is, according to the perfection acquired: the more perfect, the more united. From discord all human ills spring; from concord comes complete happiness.

2 - In what sense should we understand the word half, what do some spirits sometimes use to designate sympathetic spirits?

─ The expression is inaccurate. If a Spirit were half of another, separated from it, it would be incomplete.

3 – Once united, do two perfectly sympathetic Spirits remain united for eternity or can they separate and unite with other Spirits?

─ All spirits are united among themselves. I speak of those who have reached perfection. In the lower spheres, when a Spirit rises, it is no longer sympathetic to those it has left.

4 ─ Are two sympathetic spirits the complement of each other or is this sympathy the result of a perfect identity?

─ The sympathy that attracts one Spirit to another results from the perfect agreement of their inclinations and their instincts. If one were to complete the other, it would lose its individuality.

5 ─ Would the identity necessary for perfect sympathy consist only in the similarity of thoughts and feelings, or also in the uniformity of acquired knowledge?

─ In the equality of the degree of elevation.

6 ─ Will the spirits who are not friendly today be able to be so later?

─ Yes, everyone will be. Thus, the spirit that today is in an inferior sphere will reach, through perfection, the sphere where another one resides. His meeting will take place more readily if the higher Spirit, having barely endured the trials to which he has submitted himself, remains in the same state.

7 ─ Could two sympathetic spirits cease to be sympathetic?

─ Certainly, if one of them is lazy.

These answers perfectly solve the question.

The theory of eternal halves is a figure referring to the union of two sympathetic Spirits; it is an expression used even in common language, in the case of spouses, and which should not be taken literally. The spirits who used it certainly do not belong to the highest order. The sphere of their knowledge is necessarily limited. They expressed their thought in the words they would have used in corporeal life. It is therefore necessary to reject this idea that two Spirits, created for each other, will one day have to unite in eternity, after having been separated for a more or less long period of time.