On Love, Marriage and Polygamy

 

As with every other aspect of life, issues concerning love and marriage are largely based on personal convictions. Whether you believe there is one person alive who is your forever person or you believe in spreading the love, the fact remains that as human beings we are designed as creatures of association. We associate with other members of the society, church, school or family in order to get care, mentorship, approval for our actions etc.

Marriage can be viewed as one of such associations specifically designed to kickstart the family which is the smallest single unit of society. Marriage in many regions symbolizes the agreement between two persons who have resolved to merge their interests in such a way that makes it easier for each of them to achieve their life goals. This agreement extends to other members of the both families and is usually consummated to produce offspring in an organized manner.

In some traditions, it is common to find men with multiple wives or life partners. This is sometimes as a result of prevailing circumstances such as farming or warfare that may necessitate the need to have many children. Some religions have strict instructions regarding marriage. Most of them condemn polygamy and encourage monogamy. Some believe that a marriage continues even after physical death on earth. One could write long epistles about marriage, but I believe there are other volumes that have treated the subject very extensively. 

The purpose of this diary entry is to address my opinion on having multiple life partners. I think it is impossible and a wearying of self and spirit for anyone to try to complicate his life any further than life already is by choosing to build more than one family in a lifetime. I will explain why I think so in the summary below.

1. Do one thing, do it well, expect no mercy

2. Economic weariness

3. Emotional stress

4. Psychological mix-ups

5. Lack of total commitment on neither sides

6.  Human health limitations

7. Sexual stress

8. Chances of unwanted infiltration

9. No assurance of health status of multiple partners

10. Poor attention to all the kids from numerous wives

11. Possibility of religious dichotomy

12. Multiple distractions 

13. May breed jealousy and envy amongst co-wives and siblings

14. Favoritism will naturally creep in.

I will expand each of the points mentioned here in a future post, but suffice it to say here that none of the points mentioned above are necessarily religious based  or influenced. These to me, are simply logical reasons why I would not be opting for a polygamous marital arrangement. There are several religious backed points that could be added here, but at the end of the day, I think polygamy may also have its benefits and should a situation arise where one finds himself arm-twisted, it is not a completely terrible thing to enjoy the beauties of family living with multiple women in one life-time.

Let me know what you think about this topic and be sure to keep it civil and logical.