Hi, I'm curious as to why marriage has to be a legal state of co-existing between two people?...this site doesn't seem to address that issue, unless I've just read and searched in all the wrong places thus far. So what gives? Why is living together and having committed yourself openly in front of your family and friends(or your chosen God/Goddesses/etc...) not the same as being married in our culture? What is it about that piece of paper that marks someone as married or unmarried? I think some of the advice on this site fails to recognize that we all have different ideas of what marriage really is. For some, it is a rock on a finger or a piece of paper, for yet others it is a shared committment between friend/lover regardless of the legality. Truthfully the case studies and percentages may show one thing about ppl living together before marriage, but then there are always exceptions. One example of the top of my head is Sting and his wife Trudy. They even had school-aged children together before they married and they are still married. I'm sure there are others in similar partnerships. It's unfortunate that as ppl we base so much on what others think and do not listen to our own inner hum. Before we take any of the advice from this or any other forum(including my words here), we should consider that we all have a different truth and are on a different path, and it will only follow suit that the way to what is true and right is not One Size Fits All.<p>~peace ppl!~=)

Hmmm, I see what you mean.
On the other hand, it's a level of commitment that can't be beat. It says to the partner and the world that you plan to stay with this person. Long term.
I guess it's just the way the culture evolved and the society sanctioned this family form. In order to secure the possession of property and so on. But does it's history make it any less meaningful in the original sense?<p>I think the problem with marriages is weddings. They're so flippin expensive, and so romanticised, that they get your expectations so high that real life just can't compare.