Thoughts on Marriage

After discussing marriage and relationships the past two nights and those thoughts are still fresh in my mind, I'll attempt to describe my views on relationships and marriage.

Before I begin let me argue that both men and women are wonderful beings in their own right, equally. When I think of other animals I realize I have no strong preference for male over female or vice versa when it comes to pets and those animals I care about.

I think marriage is an inherently flawed institution (like so many others) in that it condones man and woman living together in what is quite often anything but harmonious, forget about loving.

Second, when I think about how many friends I have that are in "happy" relationships with their partner, I have a hard time thinking of more than just one, out of about ten couples or so that I feel I can comment on. My parents divorced, my friends' parents divorced, and of the parents that didn't divorce I knew plenty that were much less than happy.

Third, I consider myself (at least at this time, and for the past 2 years or so) "happy" right now, and I'm pretty sure that if I keep doing the things I've been doing for the past 2 years (work, yoga, hiking) that I can continue to be happy.

10,000 years ago (500 years ago in the United States) we raised our children in tribes, where there was a much greater sense of unity among most people (i.e. because children had multiple caretakers that were part of the tribe). These parents thus raised their kids in what I believe was the most natural state to raise a child in, and more children were both mentally healthy as well as physically healthy than those today I would venture to guess.
No doubt the newborn mortality rate was much higher then, but then a lower newborn mortality rate doesn't equal a more healthy society.

However I understand and fully appreciate there must be some system (if not an institution) in place to raise our children. Perhaps marriage is the best that we can do today and for the immediate future, regarding out children.

Also I understand and fully appreciate that the world we live in today is far from perfect, and that it is very possible that our way of living contributes to the broken relationships we have today.

It is too bad that divorce is often the best, if not only, solution for dealing with a partner who is delusional in his or her expectation of the other (or delusional in any other number of ways for that matter). I sense many delusional expectations on either side, including a man who expects his partner to not suspect or not find out that he cheats on her with regularity, or a woman who uses her reproductive organs to control her man.

Perhaps a solution to today's marriage would be to have marriages with 3-4 levels of commitment, including the right to have sex outside the marriage, maintain fully independent bank accounts, etc. But that would surely get killed by our status quo.

Intro + First Post

I'm finding myself more and more attracted to truth and light/energy these days. I'm not quite sure how this will go (if it "goes" at all), but I'll at least take a stab at building something here, once I figure out just what it is I'm building.

Having said that, first I wish to say that I'm open to all forms of comments, advice, constructive criticism, etc. I am most interested in historical truth of events that have led the human "race" to where it is now, and the events today that are molding our future.

I'm beginning to suspect that there is at least some truth in the Bible, as well as in the Koran, Torah, etc. Until now I had been interested only in the Buddha, who said that no one should simply believe what he (the Buddha) said, but we should all think for ourselves and discover the truth through analytical mediation.

I still believe very strongly in the above statement, but now I hope to use this premise (we'll call it) for examining truth in places right in front of my eyes.



Here's the first "post" (I'll call it for now):

The New York Times (N.Y./Region)
"Aide Asked State Police to Contact His Accuser,"
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Published: February 26, 2010

This article describes how "David W. Johnson, a top aide to [NY] Gov. David A. Paterson, reached out to the commander of the governor’s State Police detail the day after an altercation with his girlfriend and asked the commander to call the woman, according to a person briefed on the commander’s actions....

Two days after the woman says Mr. Johnson choked her, ripped off her clothing and prevented her from calling for help, she went to Family Court in the Bronx to seek an order of protection. She complained under oath then, and in a court appearance two days later, that troopers had been pressuring and harassing her not to pursue charges or obtain the order of protection."

Just a quick comment on this one, I think the article justifies many questions for us all to ask of ourselves and those in a position of power, including "to what extent do those in public office abuse power?"
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It was after reading this article, combined with some deep conversation with a friend last night, that gave me the motivation to finally start a blog.