This is something I have thought a lot about recently -
Is it the permission slip obtained from the government?
Is it found in the permissions to have sex granted through religious rites which are conducted?
Is it the people involved?
Is it all of those things?
When I got married we did not wander into the nearest government office and obtain a permission slip to do so - which I suppose means we are not "legally married." Not being "legally married" does not prevent us from being married... it merely prevents us from taking advantage of the governmental benefits one acquires when one is "legally married."
We did not go searching for the nearest Jewish-Catholic-Buddhist-Protestant-Muslim-Shaman-High Priestess either... We were united "Between Mother Earth and Father Sky" in the way our people have gotten married since before the arrival of the first European on the continent.
Before "Christians" arrived to "civilize" us we were united between Mother Earth and Father Sky in the eyes of Wakan Tanka. That is the way my husband and I chose to get married and we are just as married as someone who possesses a permission slip from the government. You see, we know that marriage is much more than a piece of paper. Marriage is much more than sex, much more than children, much more than feelings.
Marriage is what happens when we remember there is more to "US" than there is to "ME"...
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Comments
Phyllis... I don't need that piece of paper. We have made sure that all of our children are protected in the event of one of us meeting an untimely end. We have made sure that we are both protected in the event of the untimely demise of the other.
For me, it's the principle of the matter... or rather principles. It is STUPID that there is a segment of our society who is not treated equally under the law. It is also STUPID that anyone has to acquire a permission slip from the government to do anything. Even more STUPID is that we no longer see marriage as being something which is there as a protection for children but rather see children as possessions which can be shoved back and forth like so many chess pieces.
And to Amy: We are going to Win This Fight.
r.
Kalispera Stathi. Thank you.
Britney... it is not the permission slip which "makes" the relationship because a truly healthy relationship does not require permission from any but the participants.
Thanks Cathy, I prefer to call it "common sense." "Wisdom" makes me feel like an owl sitting on a tree branch somewhere and frankly I am afraid of heights. :)
Amy... marriage pre-dates all of the major religions on Earth today and no particular religion has a patent or trademark on use of the word. From my perspective a couple (regardless of gender) who lives together and builds a LIFE together (with or without children) is just as married as someone who went to the nearest government office and obtained that permission slip.
I'm weird though and we both know it. ;)
Willet, you hit the nail on the head... that permission slip IS another revenue stream as is the destruction of that permission slip (divorce).
Matt... do you really think so? I struggled with this one and it still seems a bit "choppy" to me.
Jon... YES we are. Sooner rather than later I suspect.
Becky... In 1993 I needed permission to have one...
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I'm not intending to play word games with you- surely you acknowledge that what you feel/felt for your partner/spouse was of the heart and not the mind. "Religion" is a mind game, a game of symbolic logic. Spirit is a thing of intuition and feeling. Call it what you will- Love is not of the mind, it is of the spirit. Marry by your own intent, or have Richard Dawkins seal your union. it is NOT a thing to be sanctioned ( note again - Sanctus- sacred) by a secular government except as an incorporation by individuals. Separation of spirit and state.
Rated.