How does Ethical Culture approach marriage?
Adler, in his most famous book, “Reconstruction of the Spiritual Ideal,” wrote that the main purpose of marriage was to be a nest for the future. It was to be a spiritual place, where you developed your character and values. And since the basic unit of any ethical question is two–two people–Ethical Culture lends itself to the question of marriage, which begins with two people and draws all these other people in. What are the eight commitments that you delineate in your book and how did they come out of Ethical Culture? Centering, Choosing, Honoring, Caring, Abiding, Repairing, Listening and Celebrating. These came out of a 14-year study, a grass-roots level conversation we conducted within Ethical Culture. We asked, what are the most basic values without which you don’t have civilization at all? These were the commitments we came up with. We felt they were important for the cultivation of ethical cultures, small “e” and small “c.” And after the study was confirmed by our national cou
