What are the chief attributes of a soulmate?
A soulmate completes you, making one soul in two bodies. Think Cathy crying out: “I am Heathcliff!” At a less tempestuous level, see 1 Corinthians 13, 4-7, for attributes such as kindness, patience and trust.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Respect, love, understanding, harmony, thoughtfulness, compassion.
Edward Black, Church Point, NSW, Australia
• Trust, affection and lastingness.
Nicholas Albrecht, Paris, France
• Unfailing love and a wicked sense of humour!
Avril Nicholas, Crafers, South Australia
• The poet Rilke writes of soulmates that they are “two solitudes [who] protect and touch and greet each other”.
Margaret Wilkes, Perth, Western Australia
Let’s dunk it in the pond
How does one tell truth from propaganda?
Propaganda demands gullible followers and believers. Truth demands that you independently bear the burden of proof, logic and facts, and make up your own mind.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Ask those on the margins of our societies, because they are the witnesses of the former and the victims of the latter.
Neil Johnson, Birmingham, UK
• Dunk it three times in the village pond: if the ink runs it’s propaganda.
Richard Crane, Vallon Pont d’Arc, France
• Reverse any statement: this facilitates identification of the lie underlying propaganda.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• If our folks say it, it is the truth. If their folks say it, it is propaganda.
Heiner Zok, Schiffdorf, Germany
• The truth is what you get others to believe; propaganda is the attempt.
Peter Ansley, New Plymouth, New Zealand
• Try scepticism; if that doesn’t work, cynicism.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• Watch my lips.
Harvey Mitchell, Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
• With a grain of salt.
Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• My truth, their propaganda – are you with me so far?
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Swap hindsight for foresight.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• By looking at the quality of the mouthpiece.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
That sounds very expensive
If people could choose immortality, would they? Should they?
First tell me how much it costs, then I’ll tell you if we have a deal.
John H Perkins, Kensington, California, US
• Absolutely – how else can a non-native speaker ever realistically have enough time to learn German?
Adam Lippiett, Munich, Germany
• Not if they already find that they have too much time on their hands.
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Any answers?
If you could pick an age to be for the rest of your life, what would it be? Why?
Donna Samoyloff, Toronto, Canada
On the scale of sin, where would you place forgetting?
E Slack, L’Isle Jourdain, France
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
