Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 5, sect. 1825

1825. If we observe civilised human beings we will see that among the greatest creative artists, film stars, writers, sculptors and painters of both sexes who are financially independent of their spouses, very many marriages end in divorce. It is naturally a matter of course that there would be more divorces among the general public than there are if couples were not financially dependent on one another. The financial dependence of most married women on their husbands is a great obstacle for many women who would like to apply for a divorce they wish for. Such a divorce often of course means that the woman, who is sometimes getting on in years, has to look for work, apply for a job, become a being of subordinate rank, a cleaning lady, a factory worker or office worker depending on what qualifications she may or may not have. And things are even more uncertain and problematic since the spectre of unemployment looms perpetually in times of peace, which results in beings of the older generations naturally not having any real chance of getting work as long as there are enough young people to fill the vacancies. In such a situation many married women would probably prefer to stay married, even if their life together, when considered as a marriage, has long since become a ruin. It may safely be assumed to be a universal fact that within the so highly praised modern civilisation and culture there are thousands of such marriages that are actually only a ruin of something that once existed. It must also be a universal fact that in many situations the husband's obligation to continue wholly or partially maintaining his ex-wife so hinders him from applying for a divorce he desires, that he prefers, or is simply compelled to remain in the marriage. One thus understands here that the number of divorces that statistics show to be the norm does not include all the marriages that mentally or spiritually have actually already been dissolved but are kept together only because of compulsory financial arrangements and out of regard for children of the marriage.