Understanding Marriage!

Taught by There Are Wives: Barbara Allen, Meryl Nietsch-Cooperman, & Others

Through studying the opposites of contempt and respect in the history of marriage and in their own lives including yesterday’s incident at the breakfast table — wives learn how to use marriage and a husband to like the world. There is class discussion of such subjects as:

Real Trust in Marriage—How Can We Have It?

Is Understanding Your Husband Exciting?

How Can a Wife Feel Proud about Sex?

First Cupid, Then Quarrels—What’s the Cause?

2nd Saturday of each month, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Eastern Time (USA)

Note: For now, this class is being given as a semester course, four classes per semester.

The Winter 2021 semester of classes via video conference is now in session.

WINTER 2021

Jan 9 – “Meaning in Marriage: How Can It Be Fresh & Lasting?“

When meaning runs out, boredom begins. No person was ever bored with whom meaning was present.

Meaning is the possibility of a thing’s becoming more itself by having relation with other things. We have to see a person as representing more than that person. The enclosing way will not work—the possessive way. In making a thing just for us we take away its meaning. And that is the danger of possessiveness: it is the great destroyer of meaning.

You like a person when you can say definitely, “I like the whole world more because that person exists and because of how that person is.” Looking for meaning is the same as liking the world.

—Eli Siegel, from The Furious Aesthetics of Marriage and The Feminine Mind Is Magnificent & Exacting

Feb 13 – “The Mix-Up in Every Wife about Selfishness & Generosity—and the Aesthetic Answer!”

We are interested in another; we want to please that person. There is a desire to fetch unknown cups of water for unknown thirsts….[But] two married people find out very soon that with all the devotion, the selves uttering the devotion seem to be interested in themselves. No matter how many errands have been run, how many kind words have been said, self is still there, doing business in behalf of the central firm….There is an aesthetic mix-up, which means there is bad aesthetics, as to the business that marriage insists on: of being oneself and another self too.

—Eli Siegel, from The Furious Aesthetics of Marriage

Mar 13 (TBA)
Apr 10 (TBA)

Fee: $40 per semester (4 classes)

Auditing fee: $12

To audit:

Permission must be requested by telephone at least 2 days in advance of the date of the class.
Contact Registrar at 212.777.5055, between 2-6 PM Eastern Time (USA), Monday through Friday.

FACULTY BIOS: Barbara Allen, Meryl Nietsch-Cooperman

Women say–

“I had a lot of confusion and trouble in love. This class changed the direction of my life and taught me how to be successful caring for a man. I learned that a man is related to the whole world! I’m proud and grateful to be married to my dear husband and to be celebrating our 11th anniversary.” —Claudia Senatore, Nurse Practitioner

“I learned what true love is and it has made me feel integrated as a wife, teacher, daughter, and friend. I now really talk to my husband–and am really able to listen. Our conversations are now exciting! Not only do I love my husband more, but I care more for other people and the world itself. This class makes love possible and permanent.” —Monique Michael, Teacher

“After a failed marriage, I was able to learn about the mistakes I made in love. As a result, when my second husband and I exchanged marriage vows, it was one of the proudest days of my life because I knew I was getting married for the right reason! Six years later, our marriage is flourishing.” —Lori Colavito, Teacher

You can read these news articles:

1. “Learn How Marriage Can Succeed in a Failed Economy“
2. “How Should a Widow Cope with the Loss of Her Spouse?“