One of the best, or should I say worst, irrational belief has to do with “soul mate”, the idea that there is only one person in the world with whom we are completely connected. No one can substitute for a soul mate — it is with that person alone that we have a special sense of relatedness and understanding.
Unfortunately, soul mate is a dubious proposition. The reality is the vast majority of us marry someone who comes from our own neighborhoods. In fact, propinquity — the tendency to marry someone who lives near us — has more to do with who we end up with than anything else. If that’s the case, we have to consider the astronomical odds that we will find our soul mate right in our own back yards. And if you decide to venture out beyond your neighborhood, the odds of actually meeting that one person are greater than 1 in 3 billion, and he or she might not even speak your language.
