The trail I'm walking through this blog (& uhhmmm that's not me pictured above) has taken some twists & turns that have surprised me & I never really know where a path & I will intersect.
Resurfacing from my article on war memorials I felt a strong tug to look at the great divide in humanity known as man & woman. And it's a bloody tall order I can tell you, but the things we're so used to, that we shrug our shoulders, roll our eyes & continue on as always, may be the very areas where we can claim, reclaim, create or recreate what we most need now - so we have to be willing to lift up rocks & see whats hidden there.
Recently the Celtic Rebel dared to lift up the very slippery rock that housed the world of condoms & bravo to him for boldly going where no blogger has gone before (that I know of)
However before tackling the 'alien vs predator' themes of the great sexual divide, a slight detour is in order - actually it's got one hand behind my back & is insisting upon an introduction - so without further ado, Ladies & Gentlemen I would like to introduce the topic of pleasure.
I'm still working on why this topic has roared it's way into my life, but it's got the same gut pull as all the other topics that I have followed since the birth of 'too long in this place'.
Resurfacing from my article on war memorials I felt a strong tug to look at the great divide in humanity known as man & woman. And it's a bloody tall order I can tell you, but the things we're so used to, that we shrug our shoulders, roll our eyes & continue on as always, may be the very areas where we can claim, reclaim, create or recreate what we most need now - so we have to be willing to lift up rocks & see whats hidden there.
Recently the Celtic Rebel dared to lift up the very slippery rock that housed the world of condoms & bravo to him for boldly going where no blogger has gone before (that I know of)
However before tackling the 'alien vs predator' themes of the great sexual divide, a slight detour is in order - actually it's got one hand behind my back & is insisting upon an introduction - so without further ado, Ladies & Gentlemen I would like to introduce the topic of pleasure.
I'm still working on why this topic has roared it's way into my life, but it's got the same gut pull as all the other topics that I have followed since the birth of 'too long in this place'.
Oh well, it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it.
Now I'm presuming the word pleasure evokes thoughts of a more sexual nature to the boys & possibly a shopping theme to the girls - just kidding (well almost). I'm in the process of reading a tremendous book called the Birth of Pleasure who's ideas connect with & indeed supersede, many of my own re the 'man vs woman wound' (thanks Michael for the name).
Now I'm presuming the word pleasure evokes thoughts of a more sexual nature to the boys & possibly a shopping theme to the girls - just kidding (well almost). I'm in the process of reading a tremendous book called the Birth of Pleasure who's ideas connect with & indeed supersede, many of my own re the 'man vs woman wound' (thanks Michael for the name).
I am coming to the conclusion that many of our woes stem from our lost connection to the guiding principle that is pleasure. I feel it is key to a life we vaguely remember or a hint of something that in our stuporific & mechanistic state we can't quite grasp. Pleasure of course is not a thing, an object, rather it's a response, a birthing that comes with the unabashed connection to something that in this moment calls as much to us as we to it.
I am no longer drawn to the idea of oneness, I have found a different track called connection or some such name, where I & something I love at a particular moment or moments can intermingle with each other & I know, feel some marvelous energy is created. Now I come from a catholic background & though it is many years since I put down my cross, it's self-denying tentacles can be hard to shake off, so my journey to pleasure is taking small steps - it started with becoming very tired of the soul-brutality of the workplace & granting myself the pleasure of a cappuccino every day, on my way to work. OK very small steps, but for me it has steadily brought an awakening of more pleasurable things I would like in my life.
This world abounds in messages of abstinence of the soul & plugs incessantly those areas that feed the out-of-control monster cunningly disguised as society. Individual pleasure & I think that's all there is really - you connecting with something, someone whole-heartedly, openly, whoopingly, is incompatible with the structure & forward thrust of society. Pleasure is too random, unpredictable and rambling, often involves little or no money & satisfies in ways that pornography or shopping never will. It rewires the heart & gut connection, a very dangerous thing indeed.
As sure as the emperor was not wearing clothes, we are not experiencing pleasure - we are experiencing the illusion of pleasure. This illusion is brilliantly marketed to each sex, really they've done a top notch job. Meanwhile both sexes are misunderstood, baited & played off against the other, one hand reaches out to embrace & while the other holds a mallet or maybe a frying pan. If we don't see the trap how can we disable it? Many years ago when I was growing up our dog got her paw caught in a rabbit trap, my mother not knowing how to open it, pulled it apart with her bare hands. She saw the trap & did what she had to do to release our dog. We need to see, really see that there is indeed a trap & use any means necessary to break it open. As long as the other sex is in the wrong, is an alien or a predator we will deny ourselves & each other the greatest pleasure of friendship & connection, as well as aiding & abetting the bastards who have too long marketed this illusion.
I am no longer drawn to the idea of oneness, I have found a different track called connection or some such name, where I & something I love at a particular moment or moments can intermingle with each other & I know, feel some marvelous energy is created. Now I come from a catholic background & though it is many years since I put down my cross, it's self-denying tentacles can be hard to shake off, so my journey to pleasure is taking small steps - it started with becoming very tired of the soul-brutality of the workplace & granting myself the pleasure of a cappuccino every day, on my way to work. OK very small steps, but for me it has steadily brought an awakening of more pleasurable things I would like in my life.
This world abounds in messages of abstinence of the soul & plugs incessantly those areas that feed the out-of-control monster cunningly disguised as society. Individual pleasure & I think that's all there is really - you connecting with something, someone whole-heartedly, openly, whoopingly, is incompatible with the structure & forward thrust of society. Pleasure is too random, unpredictable and rambling, often involves little or no money & satisfies in ways that pornography or shopping never will. It rewires the heart & gut connection, a very dangerous thing indeed.
As sure as the emperor was not wearing clothes, we are not experiencing pleasure - we are experiencing the illusion of pleasure. This illusion is brilliantly marketed to each sex, really they've done a top notch job. Meanwhile both sexes are misunderstood, baited & played off against the other, one hand reaches out to embrace & while the other holds a mallet or maybe a frying pan. If we don't see the trap how can we disable it? Many years ago when I was growing up our dog got her paw caught in a rabbit trap, my mother not knowing how to open it, pulled it apart with her bare hands. She saw the trap & did what she had to do to release our dog. We need to see, really see that there is indeed a trap & use any means necessary to break it open. As long as the other sex is in the wrong, is an alien or a predator we will deny ourselves & each other the greatest pleasure of friendship & connection, as well as aiding & abetting the bastards who have too long marketed this illusion.
