Understanding Marriage!

Taught by Aesthetic Realism consultants Barbara Allen, Meryl Nietsch-Cooperman, & Devorah Tarrow

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)

Spring-Summer 2023 classes via video conference are now in session.

SPRING-SUMMER 2023

May 13 Coldness & Warmth in Marriage—How Can They Make Sense?

“While people are looking for serenity in love, they want excitement. This is another way of saying we want to be cool and hot at the same time. The relation of coolness to warmth, cold to heat, is a relation in every person. It is a big thing in love. We can get too excited, or we can become cold, and most people are doing one or the other or a bad mingling of both. In this way, our love is incomplete, and we don’t like it; and our selves are likewise incomplete.”

—Eli Siegel, from Poetry and Love

Jun 10 What’s More Important in Marriage: To Be Adored, or to Appreciate the World Rightly?

“To appreciate something means to like it by seeing it as it is. In all true appreciation there must be knowledge….It is very easy not to appreciate something. What people don’t see is that in the process of being unfair to the thing that could be appreciated, they are also unfair to themselves. To appreciate rightly is success in life. The purpose of life is to like the world, and that is another way of saying to appreciate the world.”

—Eli Siegel, from Aesthetic Realism and Appreciation

Jul 8 A Wife’s Tumult about Sureness & Unsureness—& What to Do about Those Opposites

“Every doubt is lovely once it becomes an object and is known. Then, there are the doubts which, not being objects, make for peevishness….There’s hardly a woman who doesn’t condemn herself at times and ask of herself bitterly, ‘Why did I do this? Why do I feel this way? Why can’t I stop doing this?’ …The uncertainty of a wife begins with those two permanent things which have to be understood: what the world is, and what the self is.”

—Eli Siegel, The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, #1355

Aug 12 Domesticity & the Large World Outside—Do We Need to Be Fair to Both?

“Love is most often seen as a kind of compact security. It is not seen, as it should be, as an agreement to know. Most women who are interested in their minds nevertheless think that being with their spouse is a time to be contracted and limited. Where love does not mean the knowing and love for other things too, Aesthetic Realism definitely says it’s a fake. A love for a person is a love for persons, a love for humanity, a love for reality.”

—Eli Siegel, from Aesthetic Realism and Love

Want to audit a class?

Contact the registrar at 212.777.5055, between 2-6 PM Eastern Time (USA), Monday through Friday.
Be sure to make your request at least 2 days in advance of the class.

Once you receive permission to audit a class, click on the “AUDIT” button to pay the fee:

Fee: $40 per semester (4 classes)

Auditing fee: $12

FACULTY BIOS:
Barbara Allen, Meryl Nietsch-Cooperman, Devorah Tarrow

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?“

Aesthetic Realism Foundation