They emerge from the church in processions, with all the sparkling pageantry of a Hollywood film. On Tuesday, one hundred couples tied the knot at the historic Marylebone Town Hall in central London, to celebrate the venue's 100th birthday.

It is a rare celebration of romance in an age of cynicismBelieving that people are only motivated by self-interest and not a good intentions.. It is rare to find people who still believe in the visionary power of love; even fewer still believe in marriage. This year, the proportion of adults in England and Wales who are married or in a civil partnership fell below 50% for the first time.¹ The number of single women is rising in every age range under 70.²

What is missing? Love is supposed to be sacred. After all, it is our path to meaning: we look to others to help us understand ourselves, to behold the deepest parts of ourselves mirrored in them. In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, she writes "whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same".

This idea is a constant in stories of love and passion. In Jane Eyre, Mr Rochester describes Jane as "my equal and my likeness". In the Book of GenesisThe first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. , it is written that a man shall "be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh". Finding love in another makes us whole.

It is no wonder we feel this way. The Greek philosopher PlatoOne of the most important Ancient Greek philosophers.  wrote that humans once had four arms, four legs, and two faces, before we were split in half by ZeusThe king of the gods, known to the Romans as Jupiter. as a punishment for our pride. Now, we are forever doomed to walk the Earth seeking our other halves.

But some say love can be what prevents us from finding ourselves. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther tells the story of a young man desperately in love with a woman betrothedEngaged to be married. to another. He writes "I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing."

In fact, many of literature's disillusionedDisappointed after finding out something is less good than you once thought. heroes and heroines feel even more isolated when they are around those they should love. Kafka's Gregor Samsa, who wakes up to find himself transformed into a huge insect in his family home in The Metamorphosis, is reviledHated and condemned. by his loved ones. He writes, "I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself."

It is a horrible idea: that we might be completely alone, eluding the understanding of everyone around us. But psychiatristsDoctors who specialise in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses. say we might not even understand ourselves. Some studies have shown that even our coworkers are better at rating parts of our own personality than we are.³

Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote that "the only journey is the one within". We hope desperately to be known by love, when perhaps we should be focused on knowing ourselves.

Does anyone really know you?

Yes: We should keep the belief in soulmates. Some people find others who completely understand them, who they can be completely comfortable with. It will not happen for all of us, but true love is still possible.

No: It is the ultimate curse of humankind. We live in constant existential terror, desperately hoping to find meaning in another. But there is none to be found, and we remain in solitude.

Or... We can never hope to be entirely understood, head to toe. Some of our feelings are inexplicable even to ourselves. But as humans, we have more in common than we take into account. Every single one of our feelings has been understood by somebody else in history.