Devorah Tarrow, Aesthetic Realism consultant, writes,

What can have marriages be successful, kind, and truly romantic?  Women will learn the answer as the Saturday, September 8th, Understanding Marriage! class looks at the subject most essential for marital happiness: “What, Really, Is Good Will in Marriage?” The event, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, and open to all women, is taught by consultants Barbara Allen, Anne Fielding, and Meryl Nietsch‑Cooperman.

The class will be about this important fact, described by Aesthetic Realism: good will is not the thing people have taken it to be—a donation, or luxury, or something for holiday cards. Rather, it is strong, practical, smart, urgently necessary: the purpose a wife needs in order to respect herself and care truly for the best in her husband! And it’s also the height of romance. Good will is “the desire to have something else stronger and more beautiful, for this desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful.” In the following great sentences, which the class will take up and discuss, Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism, explained:

Good will itself is an aesthetic thing: the ability to be just to oneself, and to all—near and far—that is not oneself….Aesthetic Realism sees all the pain of love as having arisen from the absence or deficiency of good will.

We want to care for people; we want to encourage them. But we also, if we are really friendly, hope to see their weakness less and their faults decreasingly powerful. This means that both love and criticism are aspects of good will, and we have to find a way of relating them so that we are pleased with ourselves.

Women are going to have a lively, deep time learning what good will is and how to have it in the many situations of married life, at this cultural, marriage-renewing event!

The fee for the class is $10. For more information, call 212.777.4490.