Paper 82 Overview: The Evolution of Marriage

Marriage, emerging from the biological reality of bisexuality, constitutes humanity's reactive adjustment to this foundational biological fact. While not intrinsic to biological evolution itself, marriage became the cornerstone of all social evolution, ensuring its continued existence in some form throughout human history. This institution has provided humankind with the home, the culminating achievement of humanity's arduous evolutionary struggle; an institution that transcends mere biological pairing to create the foundation upon which civilization itself rests.

The persistence and evolution of marriage through countless ages demonstrate its fundamental importance to human development, despite constant social and biological pressures. Though religious, social, and educational institutions all contribute essentially to cultural civilization's survival, the family functions as the master civilizer through which cultural transmission occurs most effectively. The profound reality that children acquire their most fundamental understanding of life through family relationships underscores why early civilizations, despite their relative simplicity, successfully transmitted their cultural heritage through generations with minimal institutional support beyond the family. The modern challenge lies in effectively transmitting our accumulated cultural and social inheritance to future generations through the educational institution of the family, preserving what has been gained through millennia of social evolution.

Marriage grows out of bisexuality. Marriage is man's reactional adjustment to such bisexuality, while family life is the sum total resulting from all such evolutionary and adaptative adjustments. Marriage is enduring; it is not inherent in biologic evolution, but it is the basis of all social evolution and is therefore certain of continued existence in some form. Marriage has given mankind the home, and the home is the crowning glory of the whole long and arduous evolutionary struggle.

While religious, social, and educational institutions are all essential to the survival of cultural civilization, the family is the master civilizer. A child learns most of the essentials of life from their family and the neighbors. The humans of olden times did not possess a very rich social civilization, but such as they had, they faithfully and effectively passed on to the next generation. And you should recognize that most of these civilizations of the past continued to evolve with a bare minimum of other institutional influences because the home was effectively functioning. Today the human races possess a rich social and cultural heritage, and it should be wisely and effectively passed on to succeeding generations. The family as an educational institution must be maintained.

Notwithstanding the personality gulf between men and women, the sex urge is sufficient to ensure their coming together for the reproduction of the species. This instinct operated effectively long before humans experienced much of what was later called love, devotion, and marital loyalty. Mating is an innate propensity, and marriage is its evolutionary social repercussion—a cultural solution to a biological imperative that transcends mere reproductive functions.

Sex interest and desire were not dominating passions in primitive peoples; they simply took them for granted without imaginative embellishment. The all-absorbing sex passion characteristic of highly civilized peoples primarily stems from race mixtures, particularly where evolutionary nature has been stimulated by the associative imagination and beauty appreciation inherited from Nodite and Adamite influences. This Andite inheritance, however, was absorbed by the evolutionary races in such limited quantities that it failed to provide sufficient self-control for the animal passions thus awakened by this enhanced sex consciousness and stronger mating urges. Among the evolutionary races, the red man developed the highest sexual code, demonstrating the most advanced regulation of this biological drive.

The regulation of sex in relation to marriage serves as an indicator of civilizational progress and reveals the degree of Andite genetic influence in a population. The Sangik races possessed normal animal passion but displayed little imagination or appreciation of the physical attractiveness of the opposite sex. What is now termed sex appeal is largely absent in primitive peoples. The mating instinct, while one of humanity's dominant physical drives, ingeniously tricks otherwise selfish individuals into prioritizing race welfare and perpetuation above personal comfort and freedom from responsibility.

The evolution of marriage essentially chronicles the history of sex control through social, religious, and civil restrictions. Nature, concerned solely with species reproduction rather than individual morality, creates an ongoing conflict for evolutionary mankind between basic biological imperatives and developing ethical standards. This social conflict manifests as the unending struggle between primal instincts and evolving moral codes that define civilizational progress.

Among early races, minimal regulation governed sexual relations, resulting in no institution of prostitution among truly primitive peoples like the present-day Pygmies, whose simple mating customs reflect those of primitive races. However, free love never achieved respected status beyond the level of rank savagery. As societal groups formed, marriage codes and restrictions emerged and developed. Mating progressed through numerous transitions from near-complete sexual license to relatively comprehensive sexual restriction in modern times.

In primitive tribal development, crude mores and restrictive taboos functioned to separate the sexes, promoting quietude, order, and industry, thus initiating the long evolution of marriage and home. Sex customs related to dress, adornment, and religious practices originated from these early taboos, which defined the boundaries of sexual liberties and eventually fostered concepts of vice, crime, and sin. Women consistently faced stricter taboos than men, though early mores granted unmarried women the same sexual freedoms as men while requiring strict fidelity from wives, a distinction that persisted through various cultural markers that set married women apart as a separate social class.

Marriage emerged as society's institutional response to humanity's persistent biological urge toward reproduction. Mating behavior occurs universally, and as societies evolved from simple to complex, marriage similarly evolved from rudimentary pairings to sophisticated social institutions. Wherever social evolution progressed to the stage of generating mores, marriage appeared as a developing institution to regulate reproductive behavior.

Two distinct realms have always characterized marriage: the mores governing external aspects of mating, and the private personal relationships between partners. Individuals have consistently rebelled against socially imposed sexual regulations, creating the perennial sex problem in human society: self-maintenance remains individual though carried on by the group, while self-perpetuation is social but secured through individual impulse. When respected, the mores have demonstrated sufficient power to control the sex urge, with marriage standards reliably indicating the current strength of customs and the functional integrity of civil government.

Marriage has assumed various social significances throughout history, from a price of social standing and badge of distinction, to a social duty, religious obligation, or political requirement. Many early tribes required feats of stealing or athletic contests as qualification for marriage, with winners awarded the season's brides. As civilization advanced, certain tribes placed severe marriage tests of male endurance under female control, enabling women to favor their preferred candidates. Wife qualifications typically centered on the ability to perform hard work and bear children, with premarital fertility often considered a valuable asset rather than a liability. This reflected the ancient belief that remaining unmarried was a disgrace or sin, which helps explain the prevalence of child marriages and various matchmaking practices, including arrangements made for deceased individuals.

Marriage has been inextricably linked with both property and religion throughout human history. Property has functioned as the stabilizer of the marriage institution, while religion has served as its moralizing influence. Primitive marriage represented primarily an economic investment and business transaction rather than a romantic relationship, planned and arranged by the group, parents, and elders for collective welfare rather than individual preference or attraction.

The effectiveness of property customs in stabilizing marriage is evident in its greater permanence among early tribes compared to many modern societies. As civilization advanced and private property gained wider recognition in social customs, theft became the paramount crime. Adultery was conceptualized as a form of theft, an infringement upon the husband's property rights, and therefore wasn't specifically addressed in early legal codes. Woman started as her father's property, with ownership transferred to her husband, and all legalized sexual relations developed from these pre-existing property rights.

Modern sexual jealousy is not innate but rather a product of evolving social customs. Primitive man exhibited no jealousy toward his wife but merely guarded his property. The rationale for holding women to stricter sexual standards than men stemmed from concerns about descent and inheritance, as a wife's marital infidelity complicated lineage determination. As chastity became increasingly valued, it transformed into a commercial asset, with fathers receiving bride payments in recognition of properly raising a chaste bride—a practice that eventually led to extreme measures to ensure female virginity and subsequently created a class of professional prostitutes from rejected marriage candidates.

Early in human development, primitive peoples observed that race mixture improved offspring quality. While inbreeding wasn't universally detrimental, outbreeding consistently yielded comparatively superior results. Social customs consequently crystallized around restrictions on sexual relations among close relatives, recognizing that outbreeding significantly enhanced opportunities for evolutionary variation and advancement. Outbred individuals demonstrated greater versatility and survival capacity in hostile environments, while inbreeders and their restrictive practices gradually disappeared through natural selection.

Later advancing peoples consciously acknowledged what earlier generations had unconsciously practiced, noting that excessive inbreeding occasionally resulted in general weakness. While selective inbreeding of superior stock sometimes strengthened tribes, the dramatic negative consequences of inbreeding among those with hereditary defects made a stronger impression on primitive consciousness, reinforcing taboos against close-relative marriages.

Religion frequently functioned as an effective barrier to outmarriage, with many religious teachings prohibiting marriage outside the faith. Women typically favored in-marriage practices, while men preferred outmarriage. Property considerations also influenced marriage patterns, sometimes compelling women to choose husbands within their fathers' tribes, resulting in increased cousin marriages. In-mating was also practiced to preserve craft secrets, with skilled workers attempting to maintain specialized knowledge within family lines. When isolated, superior groups inevitably reverted to consanguineous mating, exemplified by the Nodites who practiced in-marriage for over 150,000 years. The traditions of the violet race, initially forced into brother-sister marriages, significantly influenced later in-marriage customs across numerous cultures.

Contemporary humanity lacks pure races, with only two representative original evolutionary colored peoples persisting, the yellow and black races, both significantly admixed with extinct colored peoples. The nominally "white" race, though predominantly descended from the ancient blue man, contains genetic material from all other races, as does the red race of the Americas. Of the six colored Sangik races, three were primary (red, yellow, and blue) and three secondary (orange, green, and indigo), with the primary races demonstrating superior characteristics that would have enhanced the secondary peoples had their better strains been absorbed.

Present-day discomfort with mixed-race populations often arises from the fact that much modern interbreeding tends to occur among groups with historically disadvantaged or marginalized traits. Similarly, when individuals with serious hereditary or social challenges marry within the same population, the outcomes are often less favorable. If modern societies were able to reduce the impact of persistent social and genetic disadvantage, there would be fewer concerns about the thoughtful blending of racial groups, especially when such integration involves individuals who represent the healthiest and most capable qualities of their respective backgrounds.

The blending of diverse, well-developed genetic lineages has long been a key factor in producing stronger and more adaptable populations. This principle holds true across plants, animals, and humans. Cross-cultural and genetic integration can increase creative and adaptive potential, as seen in the broadly diverse population of North America, while blending among deeply disadvantaged groups has sometimes resulted in less desirable outcomes, as illustrated in certain historical contexts. Such integration can give rise to new and beneficial traits when it occurs among the strongest lineages. The real concern today lies less in the mixing of strong and complementary groups, and more in the unchecked perpetuation of chronic disadvantage within segments of advanced societies.