Pheromones and the sixth sense could be the wave of the future, offering a glassy, high-tech alternative to the ancient and endlessly fascinating process of human mating.
But humans began mating a long time before the discovery of pheromones, and we obviously have some talent for it (witness a world population approaching 6 billion). Long before personals columns, long before internet dating, we humans relied on our own perceptions -- and on matchmakers.
Ossey screens clients and makes matches based on their likes, dislikes, background and interests. By the way, she does the matching using a "wet computer" (a brain), not a solid-state brain (a computer). Ossey says she gets information from her interviews with clients, and is expanding on her background as a licensed social worker. She also gained experience for the job in her role as a rabbi's wife -- where her tasks went beyond setting out bagels and lox to setting up people.
As far as her technique, it's a mixture of intuition and a knowledge of how relationships should work, blended with an ability to screen out zombies, losers and wombats.
One red flag in a pontential relationship, she says, is trying to fill an emotional hole from childhood with attention from a mate "and mistaking it for love." Much of the process of attraction, she says, reflects a response to our childhood. Thus an adult daughter of an alcoholic may be attracted to an alcoholic because she "knows how to deal with it, she has her mom as a role model."
Ossey doesn't guarantee success. But she does guarantee referrals to eight suitable matches. And if a preliminary phone convernsation between the eligibles turns sour, she says, the person is not counted among the eight eligibles.
Do you count chocolate among the cardinal virtues?
