Paper 83 Overview: The Marriage Institution

Marriage has evolved throughout human history from loose and promiscuous matings to the union of one man and one woman establishing a home of high social order. Though marriage has faced many challenges throughout history, it has been supported by both property considerations and religious influences, which have helped stabilize this core social institution over time. The innate biological connection between men and women has been the fundamental safeguard of marriage, transcending cultural and historical changes.

The instinctive sex urge serves an important civilizing function by compelling selfish humans to create something better than themselves. This self-regarding impulse automatically leads humans to think beyond themselves and eventually to love, transforming basic physical attraction into a foundation for home responsibilities that benefit the entire race. Marriage thus channels basic biological drives toward constructive social purposes.

This paper recounts the early beginnings of marriage, showing its steady progression from loose matings through many adaptations to the eventual emergence of standards that culminated in pair relationships between one man and one woman. Marriage has faced many threats throughout history but has been preserved through the support of property considerations and religious influences that have reinforced its stability.

The true foundation that consistently safeguards marriage is the simple biological fact that men and women fundamentally need each other for fulfillment. This reality transcends cultural variations and historical periods, ensuring marriage's continuity. Sex urge compels selfish humans to create something better than themselves, as the self-gratifying aspects of sexual relationships lead to self-denial and race-benefiting home responsibilities, making sex the unrecognized civilizer of primitive humanity.

Marriage functions as society's mechanism for regulating the many human relationships arising from the physical fact of bisexuality, serving two primary directions: regulating personal sex relations and managing matters of descent, inheritance, succession, and social order. The family that grows from marriage helps stabilize the marriage institution alongside property customs, while other factors supporting marriage include pride, vanity, chivalry, duty, and religious convictions.

Marriage is inherently a human institution that evolved through social processes rather than being divinely established. Early marriage was primarily industrial in nature, but through the influence of Andite bloodlines and advancing civilization, it gradually incorporated mutual, romantic, parental, poetical, affectionate, ethical, and idealistic elements. While selection and romantic love were minimal in primitive mating practices, husbands and wives in early times were not often together and developed fondness primarily through shared living and working rather than through romantic attraction.

Primitive marriages were planned by the parents of the boy and girl, and professional matchmakers (first barbers, later priests) served during the transition toward freedom of choice. Early marriage approaches involved coercion rather than attraction, as women had no sense of sexual exclusivity but rather a socially-enforced sense of inferiority. Some women would actually arrange to be captured by men of their own age from other tribes to escape the domination of older men in their own tribes.

Over time, the element of personal selection in marriage increased, especially in cultures influenced by the Andites. Women gained increasing freedom in courtship and marriage as civilization progressed, moving from arranged marriages toward partnerships based on love and romance. The betrothal (engagement) period was originally equivalent to marriage with accepted sexual relations, but later religious influences established taboos against sexual activity during the betrothal period.

Early peoples mistrusted love and promises as foundations for lasting relationships, believing that stable unions required tangible security in the form of property. The purchase price of a wife was considered a forfeit or deposit that would be lost if the husband abandoned or divorced her. After paying this bride price, some tribes allowed the husband to brand his wife, treating her as transferable property, though not quite as casually as other possessions.

As civilization progressed, fathers began giving the married couple valuable gifts approximately equal to the bride price, which developed into the dowry system. This custom was designed to convey the impression of the bride's independence and to move society beyond the era of slave wives and property companions. The dowry system also provided some economic protection for wives, as a man could not divorce a dowered wife without returning the full dowry.

The wedding ceremony evolved from the understanding that marriage was originally a community concern rather than merely a private decision between individuals. Mating was considered important to the entire group, not just to the couple involved, which is why community verification and approval became formalized in ceremonial practices. Early marriages were closely tied to property interests, requiring legal ceremonies, while the lack of written records necessitated many witnesses to the event.

Early wedding ceremonies were simple announcements of intended cohabitation, but they gradually grew more complex. Some practices like throwing grain on the newlyweds were meant to ensure fertility, while fire and water rituals were used to ward off evil spirits. Many modern wedding customs, such as wearing a bridal veil, carrying the bride over the threshold, and playing pranks on honeymooners, originated from ancient efforts to deceive or confuse malevolent spirits that might otherwise harm the couple or bring bad luck to their union.

In early human history, unmarried women were considered common property of tribal men, and the first step toward more organized family structure was the practice of one-man-at-a-time relationships. While this allowed women only one partner at a time, men could still end these temporary relationships whenever they wished. This represented humanity's first move away from herd-like promiscuity toward pair bonding, with children usually belonging to the mother during this transitional stage.

Marriage evolved through group marriage phases (including brother-sister marriages) before developing into various forms of polygamy—both polygyny (multiple wives) and polyandry (multiple husbands). The most common form was polygyny with different categories of wives: ceremonial or legal wives, wives of affection, contractual concubines, and slave wives. The status wife was not necessarily the love wife, as the concept of a love-based marriage partnership emerged only later with the blending of evolutionary tribes with Nodites and Adamites.

Monogamy represents a form of exclusive partnering that benefits children tremendously but can create hardship for those who cannot find suitable mates. Early monogamy was primarily driven by economic necessity rather than choice, as poverty limited the number of partners a person could support. While monogamy feels unnatural to evolutionary humans, it was entirely natural to the purer Nodites and Adamites and has provided great cultural value to advanced races.

Monogamy has always represented the idealistic goal of human sexual evolution, requiring self-denial and self-control from both partners. Though not necessarily biologic or natural in origin, monogamy is essential for maintaining and developing social civilization. It fosters a delicacy of sentiment, refinement of moral character, and spiritual growth that polygamy cannot provide, while creating the ideal environment for parental happiness, child welfare, and social efficiency.

In early marriage evolution, relationships were loose arrangements that could be terminated at will, with children always following the mother due to the instinctive mother-child bond. Only about half of primitive marriages proved satisfactory, with barrenness (blamed on the wife) being the most common cause for separation. Divorce was originally available only to men, and this standard persisted for many centuries in various cultures.

The introduction of wife purchase and dowry customs added a property penalty for marriage failure, helping reduce separation rates. While marriage has steadily advanced throughout history, it currently faces destabilization in progressive societies where the traditional property motive for marriage has been suddenly replaced by the more individualistic love motive. Modern societies generally fail to adequately prepare young people for marriage, leading to widespread disillusionment when romantic idealism confronts the practical realities of lifelong partnership.

Marriage that culminates in the establishment of a home represents humanity's most exalted institution, though it remains essentially human rather than divine in nature. The Sethite priests transformed marriage into a religious ritual, but for thousands of years after Eden, mating continued primarily as a social and civil arrangement rather than a religious sacrament. Comparing human marriage to divine associations has unfortunately created misconceptions about the nature and purpose of this fundamentally human institution.

Despite these misconceptions, marriage has always embodied humanity's highest temporal ideals, even though this beautiful dream is rarely realized completely. Young men and women should receive practical education about marriage before facing its demands, tempering youthful idealism with realistic expectations. Contemporary marriages have achieved remarkable progress compared to earlier eras, though the home institution now faces serious challenges from the rapid changes in social organization and the expansion of women's rights and freedoms.