Marriage Has Become a Battlefield

“Marriage has failed because you could not rise to the standard that you were expecting
of marriage, of the concept of marriage. You were brutal, you were, you were full of
jealousies, you were full of lust; you had never known really what love is. In the name of
love, you tried everything which is just the opposite of love: possessiveness,
domination, power.

“Marriage has become a battlefield where two persons are fighting for supremacy. Of
course, the man has his own way: rough and more primitive. The woman has her own
way: feminine, softer, a little more civilized, more subdued. But the situation is the
same. Now psychologists are talking about marriage as an intimate enmity. And that’s
what it has proved to be. Two enemies are living together pretending to be in love,
expecting the other to give love; and the same is being expected by the other. Nobody
is ready to give – nobody has it. How can you give love if you don’t have it?”

Osho, The New Dawn, Talk #20