Where a true love exists two souls are drawn together by love and not by passion, as it is love that endures and passion that fades. Also there is a soul longing that sex will not satisfy or sustain. True love is a spiritual experience and not an exercise in eroticism. Where there is true love sex becomes an extension of love, or a complete fulfillment of that love above the level of sheer passion. When there is a complete surrender to love the heart thrills and one then sees oneself mirrored in the beloved. Love is a need for the fulfillment of the very purpose of creation itself. One always carries in their heart and mind the image of the loved one they long for. Often such is an ancient memory and sometimes, out of desperation, one settles for a poor substitute and they do not find the happiness they had hoped for. Also, in some cases one marries because of karma that has to be worked out in this life.

The so-called search for a soul mate is the search for a loved one who was known in a past life and who is nowhere to be found in this life. The perfect relationship hardly exists because this is a lesson world and we are here to learn from each other for our mutual growth.

If a couple falls madly in love with each other and, because of circumstances beyond their control, they are separated and marry someone else, the image of each other always remains in their hearts and never dies. They carry this all of their lives and when they think of each other a great sadness comes over them. However, as nothing can separate one from a true love forever, often in the next life they meet each other in their youth and nothing will ever separate them as long as they live, and they live usually for each other.

Love is the motivating force of creation and those who live with love in their heart will live in happiness and peace. Love means not to use others. It means that we should treat everyone as we in turn would like to be treated. This is what the world is turning to in the New Age.

Where there is love things go along smoothly and not in jerks, stops and starts; life goes along ever so smoothly. When there is a constant effort exerted by a couple trying to live together this is usually a karmic arrangement and certain things must be worked out. Then generally, when the karma has been worked out the two part as friends and not where one or the other suffers as a result of the separation. Otherwise, the karma is not concluded and must be picked up again in a later life, or a series of lives until it is finally worked out.

Couples who truly love each other desire to have children. However, couples in a karmic marriage, usually do not care to have children and if they do, it generally becomes an extension of their karma to be worked out.

In a true marriage there must be an affinity in the physical, mental and spiritual, otherwise the marriage suffers. If the physical affinity is missing there is frustration and dryness in life. If the mental is missing there is a lack of communication and interpretation. If the spiritual is missing there is a lack of harmony, inner peace and happiness because each is going a different direction and not moving through life side by side as they should.

Love must be at the very heart of any marriage. Infatuations are usually where one is attracted to another by one or more facets of their personality, generally because one sees a resemblance to the one they are really seeking. And when they find that there is something missing that they need, they fall away from that person and go on seeking, and sometimes they never find them; hence the old maid and old bachelor.

Also, there are certain astrological signs that we are compatible with and some that we are not so compatible with. Generally, this is important, but on the spiritual level, for an initiate, it is not so important since an initiate is guided by the soul and no longer by the stars.

In the days when convention dictated that there should be a two year engagement period, this had very much merit, because in those two years each would get to know if they were really meant for each other. We have an affinity for some people and little or none for others and this is the nature of life. So we seek out people we are comfortable with and leave others alone as much as it is possible, only contacting them when there is some karma to be worked out.

Love is the highest vibration one is capable of. However, there are different qualities of love, from total selfishness to pure unselfishness. At all levels love is very fragile and it can be destroyed if it is abused. Yet, if one handles it with care, it will sustain one all through life.

Marriage is a state of life where two are meant to go through life somewhat as co-equals and not as dictator and a slave, or as a mental giant and a mental midget. In marriage both step into the same boat (usually thought of as the same bed) and both should pull their own oar, or the boat named marriage will go around in circles and finally sink. Love is always the common denominator and when this is kept in mind all goes well and if this is forgotten chaos ensues.

A true soul mate, however, is really one's higher Self. And we are that higher Self; we are that immortal soul that was never born and that will never die. We yearn to be rejoined with the higher Self; one's real soul mate.