James Sexton

It gives a name to something, you know, like Wittgenstein said, you know, where understanding fails or where it comes to take its place.

I think marriage is like a name we give to a type of relationship we aspire to.

But really what marriage is, is a government creation.

It's a legal status.

That's all it is.

Like that happily married couple you know, the happily married couple I know,

If the government hadn't gotten involved, I think they'd actually still probably be really happy.

I don't think the marriage made them happy.

I definitely don't think that marriage and love have a causal relationship, and I don't even think they have a correlation that's particularly strong.

But I think we feel this connection to a person.

It's real.

There's no denying it.

And we want to hold on to it.

And that's, you know, I think the Buddhists aren't wrong.

Like I think that the great pain of our life is, you know, we feel joy and we go, I want this to last forever.

Or we feel pain and we go, I got to get away from this right away.

And in reality, you will never be able to hold on to joy forever.

Impermanence is everything.

Pain is temporary.

Joy is temporary.