How To Stay In Love

by Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar

The family is the core of any society and a centre of its religious life. If the home is strong in values, is stable and healthy, then all of life and its institutions- religious, educational, cultural and social - will be alive and vibrant. And if the home is weak emotionally, morally and spirituality, all else will soon mirror that weakness. The religious laws pertaining to family life, therefore, occupy a major part of awareness. The laws in this area rest on the following foundation.

Respect for the integrity, individuality and feeling of each member of the family as a human being. Developing peaceful and harmonious relationships among all the members of a household. Recognition and acceptance of the different roles played by each member of a family. Maintainig a giving attitude in the sexual relationship between husband and wife.

When two persons get married they should reflect each other's light. That is love, which creates a third, empowering light. They should know that they need each other and that the good qualities that each represent should be reflected in each other's life. When a couple realizes that it needs each other's light, that together it can accomplish so much more than alone and that together it has added wisdom and a sense of well-being that allows it to go and do great things, then it will have a good married life.

Couples should not be upset if there are quarrels, disputes and arguments because both partners in a marriage are looking at the same problem from a different angle and, perhaps, they are both right. That is why it is said that the original Adam was created both male and female. God just split the first Adam in two and since then man has needed woman and woman has needed man, not only for physical fulfilment but also for spiritual and mental fulfillment.

People get divorced very fast today. But in fact, it may be that the problems of getting along with a spouse are much better than the problems of loneliness. The problems of raising children may be preferable to the problems of not having any. There will always be problems in life, but some sort of compromise will have to be worked out. The world has not been perfected yet. Let us hope that many young married couples realies that their life is going to be enhanced, enriched and beautified if they reflect each other's light.

Tamil Saying

Courtesy: Better Life Monthly Journal / Feb 2006

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