The divorce rate in America today is hovering around 50%. Clearly many people have a difficult time in making their marriages work.
There are a number of factors involved in marriage difficulties, but in this article we are going to discuss a hidden factor that can steer a marriage towards and onto the rocks.
L. Ron Hubbard discovered a fundamental law that can affect all relationships, from marriages to families to partnerships to friendships. He called this the “Third Party Law.”
“A THIRD PARTY MUST BE PRESENT AND UNKNOWN IN EVERY QUARREL FOR A CONFLICT TO EXIST.
“or
“FOR A QUARREL TO OCCUR, AN UNKNOWN THIRD PARTY MUST BE ACTIVE IN PRODUCING IT BETWEEN TWO POTENTIAL OPPONENTS.
“or
“WHILE IT IS COMMONLY BELIEVED TO TAKE TWO TO MAKE A FIGHT, A THIRD PARTY MUST EXIST AND MUST DEVELOP IT FOR ACTUAL CONFLICT TO OCCUR.
“It is very easy to see that two in conflict are fighting. They are very visible. What is harder to see or suspect is that a third party existed and actively promoted the quarrel.
“The usually unsuspected and ‘reasonable’ third party, the bystander who denies any part of it, is the one that brought the conflict into existence in the first place.
“In marital quarrels the correct approach of anyone counseling is to get both parties to carefully search out the third party. They may come to many reasons at first. These reasons are not people. One is looking for a third party, an actual person. When we find the third party and establish proof, that will be the end of the quarrel.”
If a married couple is having continual upsets that will not resolve despite efforts at good communication, then, knowing the above “third party law,” they should try to find out WHO has been criticizing each partner to the other. Sometimes this is very easy to do, but sometimes the hidden Third Party is hard to locate. Fortunately Mr. Hubbard designed a very precise procedure for locating a Third Party.
Copyright © 2001 Workable Solutions. All Rights Reserved. Quoted material by L. Ron Hubbard: © 1968, 1969 L. Ron Hubbard Library. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.
This article was written by Stan Dubin. Additional information can be found at the blog: Marriage Success and in the book: When the Thrill Is Gone. You may republish this article in your newsletter or at your web site or blog providing the entire article is kept intact, including the contact links.