Marriage used to be about survival. Two people together making more (food, shelter, money, whatever material) than two people separately, thus increasing the ch

Marriage used to be about survival. Two people together making more (food, shelter, money, whatever material) than two people separately, thus increasing the chances of surviving. However, no later than maybe the 60's or 70's marriage seems to represent the need for a person to grow in life, personally and psychologically. It's about two people being together not because they couldn't survive alone but because they want to learn about life together and through each other. That is, loving the other person by showing them their weaknesses and being loved by letting the other do the same. Rather than physical survival, the process of growing in life won't necessarily benefit for a life-time commitment. This is reflected in the divorce rates. People tolerate each other to the extent they are willing to grow. There's no other reason for marriage any more than to artificially keep the people together a bit longer, should one or both of them decide that they just met their extent sooner than they thought. * * * Disclaimer: I'm married. For me, it's good, I want to be married rather than just in a long-term relationship. We have a prenuptial agreement (for the case of a divorce only) to dissociate our marriage from our individual and financial lives. Most of our current spending and money is joint while we live together, which hopefully is a long time.