This is a response to some great questions I received from a reader on Thoughts on God: Ending Religion’s ‘Eminant Domain’on the Idea. Turned into a treatise on a treatise. For ease of reading and reflection, it is presented in four entries.
Greetings Rev. M.
Thank you for your questions and comments. They touch on many other concepts, all of which are related and interconnected, which makes sense because that’s what we all are. I’ve indented your questions and displayed them in blue.
I believe that balance we seek is not in legislation, or perhaps as you say eradication; but in the treatment and value of the human condition so great that the concept of selling our bodies to survive is no longer possible.
I agree with your point that the balance we seek — and I’ll paraphrase or reinterpret — is to build up the sense of honor and regard within ourselves for what it means to be human, and appreciate the power we posses as a natural function of that status alone. However, doing so to make the “selling of our bodies to survive no longer possible,” implies that we (1) have an agenda, and (2) have negative judgment about the behavior and the people who engage in it.
If we can impart to an individual that they have the power within them to pursue different avenues, but still respect their choice as well as who they are, then we should do so instead of assuming that “no ‘decent’ human being would do that” (whatever “that” happens to be). Isn’t “indecency” the crux of our problem with pornography anyway? How is the sexual act “indecent” when every single one of us owes our existence on this planet, in part, to a sexual union between a man and woman? Sexual union is a sacred act, not an indecent one. Exploitation is indecent. But exploitation is not limited to sexual expression. Exploitation and fear go hand-in-hand as human indecency.
We get caught up in the appearance of things while ignoring the energy. Joyful sexual expression can be positively energetic, not only for the participants, but for those who “witness” (assuming via pornography).
Exploitation can occur each time we are told to “consult our doctor” for a disease we are told we will get that a toxic pharmaceutical will help us “manage”. It’s exploitation because it promulgates a fear. It’s indecent because half-truth or untruth if often involved, yet it gets a waiver by most people as “beneficial” because there is little opposition to it.
The reasons for steering someone away from a behavior, especially when the behavior that one thinks is bad, evil, or “unGodly”, combine to build walls that separate and create perceptual hierarchies that don’t acknowledge the divinity (albeit often unconscious) that lives within all.
If I had an agenda, it would be help people understand who they are by doing just what you suggested, so that they make decisions based on what they love doing, not on what I may think (or fear) is “wrong.” Also, I’d steer them, not away from what they’re doing, but from how they’re being. I’d steer them toward love, with love; by being loving toward them. I’d steer them toward truth, with truth. I’d steer them toward their own inner power, by honoring, embracing and using my own. I’d steer them toward belief in manifesting their highest dreams by believing in my own. As they experience, than choose to resonate with a loving way of being, it will become part of their own.
A woman once asked me, “what if your daughter (who is about to turn 22) decided to get into porn? ” I told her that if it was what, in her heart-of-hearts, she wanted to do with her life and was happy with her decision, then it wouldn’t bother me. I wouldn’t love her any less for doing so. I love her totally and irrevocably, just as she is, and she knows it. She does not have to fear my judgment of her, nor does she “act out” to get my attention or approval. The woman, who has two grown daughters of her own, said she wouldn’t be loving to them if they got into porn.
