Saturday, February 1, 2014
José Argüelles ~ Visionary of the Circumpolar Rainbow Bridge to the New Earth
We, the Elders of the Supreme Star Council of the Federation of Galactic Federations, communicate to you through channels of multidimensional paranormality. That is, we speak through various channels spanning numerous dimensions in a manner that to you can only be paranormal – beyond the senses. This means that through a specially selected medium we can communicate in such a way that the medium will make as universally available as possible what we are communicating.
This communication is called the Gospel of 2012. It is a pure expression of the sentiments of the Elders of the Supreme Star Council of the Federation of Galactic Federations in their desire to assist in the attainment of universal consciousness upon your line of force.
When we speak of 2012, we are speaking of an event-point located within the parameters of a multidimensional reality. With your telescopes and technology you have attempted to make a map of what you call the universe. But this is only the physical universe, it is but a thin sliver or layer of the Universal Reality and it would be a naïve mistake to think it was the whole of it.
In actuality the universal reality is an entity of multidimensional grandeur. Most of the dimensions are supersensible, non-physical and exist as layers of lines of force of consciousness in a hierarchical construction that is entirely systematic.
Among the middling dimensions of this Great Universal Reality, are the ones you refer to as time and space. Time and space are actually an integration of dimensions extrapolated from the universes of number and consciousness.
All that is measurable – such as all that you can name and define in your physical line of force universe – co-exist in the universe of number. This universe of number provides all phenomena with qualities: such as weight, height, volume, depth, and duration.
Duration is a measure proportionate to a cyclic eventuality, the definition given by the dimension of time. As a convergence of dimensions, timespace actually constitutes a cube of singular order, such that any point in the physical universe is the center point of that cube equidistant to it six sides and eight vertices or corners.
No matter where you are, your perceptions will define a world of up and down, right and left and front and back. These are the six sides of the timespace cube. Because you can know this, this timespace also converges with the dimension of consciousness, such that we may define Reality as a multidimensionally conscious timespace cube. It is the fourth dimension that gives the third-dimensional universe its cubic order.
The fourth dimension is the universal field of paranormality that encloses the third-dimensional reality or physical universe.
The fourth dimension can only be known or experienced through various states of consciousness. Where space perceptions reach their limit, the mental time perceptions expand into the invisible reaches of the fourth-dimensional cube. The fourth-dimensional time cube encloses perfectly the sphere of third-dimension space perceptions.
In the multidimensional perspective, all events are event point convergences of timespace and consciousness. Significant event points are the convergences of timespace and consciousness coinciding with measures of cyclic duration.
In the timespace cube a measure of cyclic duration defines the parameters for the unfolding evolvement of different stages of consciousness.
The minimum duration of such a cyclic unfolding is the fractal time measure of 26,000 years.
2012 is a timespace event point where one cyclic measure of consciousness completes its duration of 26,000 years and commences its next such cycle. These cycles are known as “aeons of consciousness.”
For more information visit the LawOfTime.org
[First posted 31 December 2011]
The Edward Snowden Interview with Hubert Seipel of NDR
It's absolutely clear who the real criminals and terrorists are - and why they would like to murder Edward Snowden as a warning to all future whistleblowers. To me, Edward Snowden is the greatest culture hero to have emerged since the start of the new millennium.
Now that the whole world can see whose shoes are sticking out from under the curtain, the game is, to all intents and purposes, over for the NSA.
Here's the full transcript of the interview, published 26 January 2014.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
The Unpopular Kajang Move ~ An Explanation from PKR Strategist Rafizi Ramli
The
Kajang Move: Game Changer in Putrajaya Quest
I am aware that there is a lot
of explanation that has to be made on the decision to vacate the Kajang seat to
force a by-election. I am also acutely aware of Dato’ Ambiga’s advice communicated
personally to me that we have to be as honest as possible with the people.
Apology to the public
So let me begin by offering
the sincerest apology to the Malaysian public especially the voters of Kajang.
The by-election will certainly consume public money and public space at the
time when the people have to go through economic hardship.
There is no excuse for wasting
public money except to offer my sincerest apology and for the party to be
prepared if the voters of Kajang decide to punish us.
In all honesty, as the
strongest proponent of the scheme I bear most responsibility for the decision.
Dynamics in Umno, racial and
religious controversies
Yet precisely because we are
honest to ourselves and the people, we have to acknowledge that there are
problems and challenges that we are facing in Selangor that require
intervention.
While Khalid Ibrahim’s
administration has shown sterling performance over the last 6 years that
endears him to the public, there are rooms for improvement in many areas
especially given the latest dynamics in Umno.
It is an open secret that the
move to remove Najib Razak has begun. As a party strategist, I cannot rule out
the possibility that Najib is removed and Umno falls to the ultras led by
Mahathir Mohamad’s faction.
The unscrupulous attack and
schemes to take Selangor by hook or by crook will begin the moment the weak
Najib is removed. Even as we speak, Umno’s cards are all too obvious in the
latest round of racial and religious controversies stirred up in Selangor in
the last few months.
Should Najib fall, expect a
full blown manipulation of racial and religious issues to create mistrust and
frustration with the Selangor government.
Model state as a launchpad for
Putrajaya
While Khalid Ibrahim’s
administration has set a gold standard in integrity and prudence in managing
public funds, we also have to admit there are also other areas that we can
improve.
We need radical approach to solving the traffic woes, the pace of
affordable public housing has to pick up. There is a need for more rigorous forward
planning of water resources in Selangor and some hard decisions have to be made
soon. We have to vigorously protect the rights of the minorities who are the
targets of Umno’s political game.
As an MP, I certainly believe
we can do better especially with regards to cleanliness and livelihood of the
people. We have the potential to be a model state with least potholes in
densely populated areas.
In other words, Selangor has
to be doubly better than what it is today if it were to become a showcase for
Pakatan in its quest for Putrajaya. Just as Istanbul was a launchpad for
Erdogan and Jakarta is a launchpad for Jokowi, Selangor can be a great launchpad
for Pakatan to take over Putrajaya.
Fortification of Pakatan in
Selangor
The job is not done and we are
about to face another round of onslaught from Umno.
Therefore, while it is
certainly inexcusable to spend public funds unnecessarily in a by-election, it
is an even bigger dereliction of public duty if we do not do anything, knowing
that this round is going to be tougher.
What PKR and Pakatan Selangor
need is a fortification so that we can expedite reforms and simultaneously fend
off political attacks and manoeuvres from Umno. We need as many of our top
leaders around Selangor to defend Selangor because it remains the crown jewel
of any political coalition in the country.
Hence the decision to field
Anwar Ibrahim for a state seat as this provides an option that we can readily
exercise should the need arise.
Does this mean there will be a
change of stewardship of Selangor government? Maybe yes, maybe no. But we do
have the option to optimize our leadership potential if Umno stirs up more
trouble.
Option is key. Having the
option means having the flexibility of manoeuvres that can easily frustrate Umno’s
game in Selangor especially with regards to racial and religious controversies.
Avoid the Kedah experience
At the end of the day, I know
no amount of explanation can soothe the public anger. I only appeal for time to
let the rationale sink in and space for us to do the necessary.
I also have to apologise on
behalf of my party for the differences we have among ourselves that are seen as
factional and often frustrates the public. Yet we trying our best to resolve it
now for the sake of Malaysians, because not doing it now will certainly condemn
us to the same experience of Pakatan in Kedah. We learn the lesson bitterly
that differences must be managed early because the party always has to be whole
to face Umno.
The game-changing Kajang Move
Good political leaders will
never be popular. It pains me that we have to drag Anwar Ibrahim through this
and subject him to public anger, yet his willingness to be a part of the bigger
picture is the mark of the man.
Throughout the last few days,
I reassured myself that it was Churchill who chose to be unpopular and remained
a minority voice of alarm against the advancing Nazis till the end despite a
public popularity to appease the Nazis. At the height of Nazi’s power,
Churchill stood alone when every one else in Europe bowed to Hitler.
The conviction of doing the
right thing, in the face of extreme criticism and public anger, remains a
yardstick of what an honest leadership is.
I thank the top leadership of Pakatan
who understand the necessity of doing this. I thank my comrades in the second
leadership line up of Pakatan who have given the moral and political support
for us to proceed.
I hope that one day when we
are in Putrajaya, we can look back to the difficult days of what will be called
the “Kajang Move” as the game changer in our quest for Putrajaya. I honestly
hope that it will our defining moments that allow us one step closer to
Putrajaya.
I may be naïve and ridiculed
for my naivete, but that’s as honest as I can be.
Let’s look ahead for a
stronger Pakatan in Selangor poised to take over Putrajaya in the next election
and don’t look back.
Rafizi Ramli
29 January 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Vote for Dr Jekyll and get Mr Hyde! (repost)
LOS ANGELES, Feb 24 2011 — Actor George Clooney will play a flawed presidential candidate in his latest movie, but he has again rejected the notion of running for politics in real life.
"I didn’t live my life the right way for politics, you know," the Oscar-winning actor told Newsweek magazine in a cover story about his humanitarian work in Sudan.
“I fucked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth,” said Clooney, who has twice been declared People magazine’s sexiest man alive.
Clooney, 49, said a smart political campaigner would "start from the beginning by saying, ‘I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let’s talk about issues.’
"That’s gonna be my campaign slogan: ‘I drank the bong water.’”
Clooney, who won an Oscar in 2006 for his supporting role in Syriana, gave a similar rejoinder in 2007 to suggestions that he should run for the US Senate against Republican Mitch McConnell.
Clooney, a political liberal, was named a United Nations messenger of peace in 2008 for his efforts to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
He told Newsweek his job in the region was to "amplify the voice of the guy who lives here and is worried about his wife and children being slaughtered."
"And if he finds me and asks, ‘You got a big megaphone?’ and I say ‘Yes.’ ‘You got a decent-size mountain to yell it from?’ ‘Yeah, I got a pretty-good sized mountain.’ ‘Will you do me a favor and yell it?’ And I go ‘Absolutely.’"
Clooney is currently working on the movie The Ides of March about an idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate who gets a crash course in dirty politics. Clooney will direct and star in the film, and he co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Reuters
When I read the Reuters piece on George Clooney, it struck me as the perfect statement on everything that has gone wrong with political reality since humans began living together in villages, then towns and cities.
He has made more than enough money with his enormous talent as an actor, and certainly doesn't crave celebrity status anymore after a massive overdose of it. What makes a man like George Clooney a natural-born leader is simply that he commands attention and respect, and can be trusted to be true to himself. Nobody in the habit of faking feelings and living on the surface gets to be an actor as accomplished as Clooney.
So he openly admits to enjoying a robust sex life with a multitude (or at least a series) of partners. With his screen idol looks and his urbane savoir-faire, which red-blooded woman would forego an opportunity to explore a bit of intimacy with George Clooney? While it's wonderful to believe that a guy like Clooney could remain exclusively married to his childhood sweetheart and never once succumb to temptation, it's far more realistic to accept that superstars are the closest thing humans have to a living pantheon of quasi-divine beings.
When presidential candidate Bill Clinton was accused of having smoked pot in college, his lame response was: "I didn't inhale." Yeah, and I suppose he didn't come in Monica's mouth either. And she didn't swallow, so it's all okay, folks. Yup, I had my hand in the till, but I didn't grab any money!
Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are evolutionary keys. Anyone who pretends they never indulged cannot be trusted or entrusted with decision making - because they're either compulsive liars or just utterly lacking in curiosity, imagination, and the spirit of adventure. Those who never consciously break any rules must never be allowed to become lawmakers, because it's clear they take rules way too seriously and therefore haven't a clue what life is all about.
You've heard it said that people get the government they deserve. Considering how provincial people's minds are, even in the digital era, when the pettiness and triviality of their daily preoccupations can be broadcast to all and sundry via facebook status updates, is it any wonder that we inevitably end up voting liars and hypocrites into public office? As for me, I would rather see honest men and women in administrative positions who are not ashamed of who they truly are - and who feel no need to airbrush their public images.
Being honest is a lifelong habit, folks. Once you get used to being a True One whose inner and outer personalities are aligned, you're much more inclined to deal with criticism without feeling threatened. If you realize you've made a serious mistake, you immediately apologize and take steps to rectify the problem. And if your error has massive repercussions, you slap yourself hard on the forehead and gracefully resign.
In short: if you feel you deserve an honest government, get honest with yourself first!
[First posted 26 February 2011; reposted 14 November 2013]
Monday, January 27, 2014
Why in Malaysia KILLING is okay ~ but KISSING tak boleh!
"Violence against sexuality and the use of sexuality for violence, particularly against women, has very deep roots in Biblical tradition." ~ James W. Prescott (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland)
A neuropsychologist contends that the greatest threat to world peace comes from those nations which have the most depriving environments for their children and which are most repressive of sexual affection and female sexuality.
BODY PLEASURE AND THE ORIGINS OF VIOLENCE
By James W. Prescott
Human violence is fast becoming a global epidemic. All over the world, police face angry mobs, terrorists disrupt the Olympics, hijackers seize airplanes, and bombs wreck buildings. During the past year, wars raged in the Middle East, Cyprus, and Southeast Asia, and guerrilla fighting continued to escalate in Ireland. Meanwhile, crime in the United States grew even faster than inflation. Figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that serious crimes rose 16 percent in the first six months of 1974 - one of the largest crime increases since FBI record-keeping began.
Unless the causes of violence are isolated and treated, we will continue to live in a world of fear and apprehension. Unfortunately, violence is often offered as a solution to violence. Many law enforcement officials advocate 'get tough' policies as the best method to reduce crime. Imprisoning people, our usual way of dealing with crime, will not solve the problem, because the causes of violence lie in our basic values and the way in which we bring up our children and youth. Physical punishment, violent films and TV programs teach our children that physical violence is normal. But these early life experiences are not the only or even the main source of violent behavior. Recent research supports the point of view that the deprivation of physical pleasure is a major ingredient in the expression of physical violence. The common association of sex with violence provides a clue to understanding physical violence in terms of deprivation of physical pleasure.
Unlike violence, pleasure seems to be something the world can't get enough of. People are constantly in search of new forms of pleasure, yet most of our 'pleasure' activities appear to be substitutes for the natural sensory pleasures of touching. We touch for pleasure or for pain or we don't touch at all. Although physical pleasure and physical violence seem worlds apart, there seems to be a subtle and intimate connection between the two. Until the relationship between pleasure and violence is understood, violence will continue to escalate.
As a developmental neuropsychologist I have devoted a great deal of study to the peculiar relationship between violence and pleasure. I am now convinced that the deprivation of physical sensory pleasure is the principal root cause of violence. Laboratory experiments with animals show that pleasure and violence have a reciprocal relationship, that is, the presence of one inhibits the other. A raging, violent animal will abruptly calm down when electrodes stimulate the pleasure centers of its brain. Likewise, stimulating the violence centers in the brain can terminate the animal's sensual pleasure and peaceful behavior. When the brain's pleasure circuits are 'on,' the violence circuits are 'off,' and vice versa. Among human beings, a pleasure-prone personality rarely displays violence or aggressive behaviors, and a violent personality has little ability to tolerate, experience, or enjoy sensuously pleasing activities. As either violence or pleasure goes up, the other goes down.
Sensory Deprivation
The reciprocal relationship of pleasure and violence is highly significant because certain sensory experiences during the formative periods of development will create a neuropsychological predisposition for either violence-seeking or pleasure-seeking behaviors later in life. I am convinced that various abnormal social and emotional behaviors resulting from what psychologists call 'maternal-social' deprivation, that is, a lack of tender, loving care, are caused by a unique type of sensory deprivation, somatosensory deprivation. Derived from the Greek word for 'body,' the term refers to the sensations of touch and body movement which differ from the senses of light, hearing, smell and taste. I believe that the deprivation of body touch, contact, and movement are the basic causes of a number of emotional disturbances which include depressive and autistic behaviors, hyperactivity, sexual aberration, drug abuse, violence, and aggression.
These insights were derived chiefly from the controlled laboratory studies of Harry F. and Margaret K. Harlow at the University of Wisconsin. The Harlows and their students separated infant monkeys from their mothers at birth. The monkeys were raised in single cages in an animal colony room, where they could develop social relationships with the other animals through seeing, hearing, and smelling, but not through touching or movement. These and other studies indicate that it is the deprivation of body contact and body movement - not deprivation of the other senses - that produces the wide variety of abnormal emotional behaviors in these isolation-reared animals. It is well known that human infants and children who are hospitalized or institutionalized for extended periods with little physical touching and holding develop almost identical abnormal behaviors, such as rocking and head banging.
Although the pathological violence observed in isolation-reared monkeys is well documented, the linking of early somatosensory deprivation with physical violence in humans is less well established. Numerous studies of juvenile delinquents and adult criminals have shown a family background of broken homes and/or physically abusive parents. These studies have rarely mentioned, let alone measured, the degree of deprivation of physical affection, although this is often inferred from the degree of neglect and abuse.
One exceptional study in this respect is that of Brandt F. Steele and C.B. Pollock, psychiatrists at the University of Colorado, who studied child abuse in three generations of families who physically abused their children. They found that parents who abused their children were invariably deprived of physical affection themselves during childhood and that their adult sex life was extremely poor.
Steele noted that almost without exception the women who abused their children had never experienced orgasm. The degree of sexual pleasure experienced by the men who abused their children was not ascertained, but their sex life, in general, was unsatisfactory. The hypothesis that physical pleasure actively inhibits physical violence can be appreciated from our own sexual experiences. How many of us feel like assaulting someone after we have just experienced orgasm?
The contributions of Freud to the effects of early experiences upon later behaviors and the consequences of repressed sexuality have been well established. Unfortunately time and space do not permit a discussion here of his differences with Wilhelm Reich concerning his Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
The hypothesis that deprivation of physical pleasure results in physical violence requires a formal systematic evaluation. We can test this hypothesis by examining cross-cultural studies of child-rearing practices, sexual behaviors, and physical violence. We would expect to find that human societies which provide their infants and children with a great deal of physical affection (touching, holding, carrying) would be less physically violent than human societies which give very little physical affection to their infants and children. Similarly, human societies which tolerate and accept premarital and extramarital sex would be less physically violent than societies which prohibit and punish premarital and extramarital sex.
____
James W. Prescott, a neuropsychologist, is a health scientist administrator at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Humanist Association. This article appeared in part in the April 1975 issue of The Futurist, published by the World Future Society, and is reprinted here with their permission. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Institutes of Health.
Read the full essay here.
Well... in Malaysia we aren't allowed to watch people kissing on TV - that's utterly haram but killing is halal. Perhaps that's why local law enforcement agents will spare no efforts to prosecute and imprison a guy accused of indulging in anal or oral sex; yet turn a blind eye to massive corruption, cruel treatment of housemaids and pets, even cold-blooded murder!
[Thanks to John Kaminski for forwarding James Prescott's article. First posted 9 September 2011]
A neuropsychologist contends that the greatest threat to world peace comes from those nations which have the most depriving environments for their children and which are most repressive of sexual affection and female sexuality.
BODY PLEASURE AND THE ORIGINS OF VIOLENCE
By James W. Prescott
Human violence is fast becoming a global epidemic. All over the world, police face angry mobs, terrorists disrupt the Olympics, hijackers seize airplanes, and bombs wreck buildings. During the past year, wars raged in the Middle East, Cyprus, and Southeast Asia, and guerrilla fighting continued to escalate in Ireland. Meanwhile, crime in the United States grew even faster than inflation. Figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that serious crimes rose 16 percent in the first six months of 1974 - one of the largest crime increases since FBI record-keeping began.
Unless the causes of violence are isolated and treated, we will continue to live in a world of fear and apprehension. Unfortunately, violence is often offered as a solution to violence. Many law enforcement officials advocate 'get tough' policies as the best method to reduce crime. Imprisoning people, our usual way of dealing with crime, will not solve the problem, because the causes of violence lie in our basic values and the way in which we bring up our children and youth. Physical punishment, violent films and TV programs teach our children that physical violence is normal. But these early life experiences are not the only or even the main source of violent behavior. Recent research supports the point of view that the deprivation of physical pleasure is a major ingredient in the expression of physical violence. The common association of sex with violence provides a clue to understanding physical violence in terms of deprivation of physical pleasure.
Unlike violence, pleasure seems to be something the world can't get enough of. People are constantly in search of new forms of pleasure, yet most of our 'pleasure' activities appear to be substitutes for the natural sensory pleasures of touching. We touch for pleasure or for pain or we don't touch at all. Although physical pleasure and physical violence seem worlds apart, there seems to be a subtle and intimate connection between the two. Until the relationship between pleasure and violence is understood, violence will continue to escalate.
As a developmental neuropsychologist I have devoted a great deal of study to the peculiar relationship between violence and pleasure. I am now convinced that the deprivation of physical sensory pleasure is the principal root cause of violence. Laboratory experiments with animals show that pleasure and violence have a reciprocal relationship, that is, the presence of one inhibits the other. A raging, violent animal will abruptly calm down when electrodes stimulate the pleasure centers of its brain. Likewise, stimulating the violence centers in the brain can terminate the animal's sensual pleasure and peaceful behavior. When the brain's pleasure circuits are 'on,' the violence circuits are 'off,' and vice versa. Among human beings, a pleasure-prone personality rarely displays violence or aggressive behaviors, and a violent personality has little ability to tolerate, experience, or enjoy sensuously pleasing activities. As either violence or pleasure goes up, the other goes down.
Sensory Deprivation
The reciprocal relationship of pleasure and violence is highly significant because certain sensory experiences during the formative periods of development will create a neuropsychological predisposition for either violence-seeking or pleasure-seeking behaviors later in life. I am convinced that various abnormal social and emotional behaviors resulting from what psychologists call 'maternal-social' deprivation, that is, a lack of tender, loving care, are caused by a unique type of sensory deprivation, somatosensory deprivation. Derived from the Greek word for 'body,' the term refers to the sensations of touch and body movement which differ from the senses of light, hearing, smell and taste. I believe that the deprivation of body touch, contact, and movement are the basic causes of a number of emotional disturbances which include depressive and autistic behaviors, hyperactivity, sexual aberration, drug abuse, violence, and aggression.
These insights were derived chiefly from the controlled laboratory studies of Harry F. and Margaret K. Harlow at the University of Wisconsin. The Harlows and their students separated infant monkeys from their mothers at birth. The monkeys were raised in single cages in an animal colony room, where they could develop social relationships with the other animals through seeing, hearing, and smelling, but not through touching or movement. These and other studies indicate that it is the deprivation of body contact and body movement - not deprivation of the other senses - that produces the wide variety of abnormal emotional behaviors in these isolation-reared animals. It is well known that human infants and children who are hospitalized or institutionalized for extended periods with little physical touching and holding develop almost identical abnormal behaviors, such as rocking and head banging.
Although the pathological violence observed in isolation-reared monkeys is well documented, the linking of early somatosensory deprivation with physical violence in humans is less well established. Numerous studies of juvenile delinquents and adult criminals have shown a family background of broken homes and/or physically abusive parents. These studies have rarely mentioned, let alone measured, the degree of deprivation of physical affection, although this is often inferred from the degree of neglect and abuse.
One exceptional study in this respect is that of Brandt F. Steele and C.B. Pollock, psychiatrists at the University of Colorado, who studied child abuse in three generations of families who physically abused their children. They found that parents who abused their children were invariably deprived of physical affection themselves during childhood and that their adult sex life was extremely poor.
Steele noted that almost without exception the women who abused their children had never experienced orgasm. The degree of sexual pleasure experienced by the men who abused their children was not ascertained, but their sex life, in general, was unsatisfactory. The hypothesis that physical pleasure actively inhibits physical violence can be appreciated from our own sexual experiences. How many of us feel like assaulting someone after we have just experienced orgasm?
The contributions of Freud to the effects of early experiences upon later behaviors and the consequences of repressed sexuality have been well established. Unfortunately time and space do not permit a discussion here of his differences with Wilhelm Reich concerning his Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
The hypothesis that deprivation of physical pleasure results in physical violence requires a formal systematic evaluation. We can test this hypothesis by examining cross-cultural studies of child-rearing practices, sexual behaviors, and physical violence. We would expect to find that human societies which provide their infants and children with a great deal of physical affection (touching, holding, carrying) would be less physically violent than human societies which give very little physical affection to their infants and children. Similarly, human societies which tolerate and accept premarital and extramarital sex would be less physically violent than societies which prohibit and punish premarital and extramarital sex.
____
James W. Prescott, a neuropsychologist, is a health scientist administrator at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Humanist Association. This article appeared in part in the April 1975 issue of The Futurist, published by the World Future Society, and is reprinted here with their permission. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Institutes of Health.
Read the full essay here.
Well... in Malaysia we aren't allowed to watch people kissing on TV - that's utterly haram but killing is halal. Perhaps that's why local law enforcement agents will spare no efforts to prosecute and imprison a guy accused of indulging in anal or oral sex; yet turn a blind eye to massive corruption, cruel treatment of housemaids and pets, even cold-blooded murder!
[Thanks to John Kaminski for forwarding James Prescott's article. First posted 9 September 2011]
Sunday, January 26, 2014
The Fig Leaf Syndrome (revisited)
“Is that a gun in your pocket, Big Boy, or are you just happy to see me?” ~ Mae West
IT’S ALL A COVER-UP, FOLKS!
How often I’ve heard this uttered in connection with financial and political shenanigans of every strain which, disappointingly, always seem to fade from the public memory before anything can be resolved, or anyone brought to book.
And each time I hear about cover-ups, the image of a fig leaf pops unbidden to mind. Is there a connection? Of course there is. In moments of luminous clarity, the universe has always shown itself to me to be essentially one inexhaustibly funny, punny conundrum.
TRANSPARENCY is a much bandied about term these days. I’m not too comfortable with the word “transparent.” It implies invisibility – which, in turn, suggests unaccountability – a hidden hand, someone or something difficult to see. Like the Emperor’s multibillion dollar new suit. So why don’t we use the more organic description: NAKED?
Why do we get so steamed up by the idea of nakedness that we actually have laws against it? Indeed in some countries there are laws to prevent Official Secrets from being exposed. In effect, the Cover-Up is actually a protected form of official behavior, and my thesis is that this inbred fear of public exposure is ultimately linked to our attitude towards sex - whether we view it as a profane or sacred act.
The fig leaf was the preferred form of cover-up in Europe for parts of the human anatomy deemed “private.” You find it in old paintings depicting Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Why the fig leaf? Why the need to conceal this unmentionably delectable portion of our bodies? After all, the human body has been described as a Temple of Divinity, the Sacred Abode of God.
The Old Testament explanation is mind-bogglingly simplistic: having disobeyed God by eating the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve lost their innocence and knew Shame. But why did the Maker set them up for such a Fall? Is God basically a cosmic Peeping Tom masquerading as Scientific Curiosity?
Interestingly, the Malay word for genitalia is kemaluan – from malu which means (what else?) shame. However, the Arabs allude to the female sexual organs with the richly suggestive expression, al ghaib – “the concealed” or “the invisible” – in other words, “the Mystery of Mysteries.” (Male genitals do not enjoy such poetic licence, for obvious reasons. Colloquially, the penis is given names like batang and butoh – the onomatopoeic equivalents of “dong” and “dick” – with all their bluntly bellicose and brutal, yet cute and comical, connotations.)
Famous Nudes
SINCE THE FIG LEAF SYNDROME gained prominence during the Renaissance, we must assume that it was a purely aesthetic choice, reinforced by convenience – for, in Italy, which produced the famous nudes of Raphael, Rubens, Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the fig tree grows ubiquitously. It’s easy to imagine how the first fig leaf cover-up was conceived: here’s Leonardo happily painting his mistress in her garden under a fig tree, but when he reaches below the waistline he suddenly realises that he can’t go for complete realism without inflaming papal passions and getting hauled up by the Almighty Church of Rome. Just then the fig tree sheds a leaf which flutters lazily down in front of his model – and gets strategically integrated into the final portrait.
In the Middle East such problems did not arise. Patriarchal notions of modesty forbade the realistic depiction of biological forms, so artists confined themselves to the abstractions of sacred geometry - wherein maleness could be represented by lines and angles, and femaleness by arcs and orbs. The dome-and-spire leitmotiv found in Christian and Islamic architecture gained wide popularity, not least because of its potent subliminal reference to forbidden pleasures. And don’t forget the genital worship suggested in the design of all pagan temples: lingams and yonis, phalluses and vulvas, lines and circles, plugs and sockets everywhere one looks.
At the root of the Fig Leaf Syndrome, a primal trauma lies buried beneath countless generations of guilt and resentment. All myths point to the source of our existential angst and collective schizophrenia: SEX! SEX! SEX! Yes, what Adam and Eve discovered after eating the Forbidden Fruit.
Plants have been doing it for aeons – but, really, you can’t get too worked up over the mechanics of pollination. Animals do it but can’t really help it and, then, only seasonally – and therefore they feel neither good nor bad about it. With animals, sex is totally guilt-free and rarely kinky. However, when WE decided to get into the act by sliding down the Timechute into physical space, we externalized our male-female polarities and got titillated by the principles of attraction and repulsion: at last we could experience the hormonal rollercoaster ride of biological necessity and non-specific year-round lust. It was so wonderfully heady and exhilarating. At least for a while…
Then we realized with profound horror that we had traded in our original, immortal, asexual androgyny for the ephemeral delights and infernal agonies of mortal, animal being. We were packaged in meat. We were The Word made Flesh!
Wherever we turned we saw images of ourselves. This Hall of Mirrors was a regular funhouse, but narcissism eventually gets out of hand. As sexually-split entities inhabiting gender-differentiated bodies, we could now enjoy sticking our protruding bits into every inviting orifice and eventually turn SEX into the biggest business of all time – simply by making it illicit unless sanctioned by a secular or religious authority.
Moral Responsibility
I USED TO WAKE UP in a cold sweat, heart pounding, from dreams in which I would find myself attending a grand buffet where everyone was formally attired, and all of a sudden I’d realize I was wearing a T-shirt – and nothing else! Worse still were the episodes in which I would walk through a door and onto a stage, facing a packed hall, with absolutely no idea how to entertain the audience and no memory of any script. Slowly it would dawn on me that my predicament was even more ludicrous than I’d thought: people were squirming in their seats and tittering because I was completely starkers. Classic nightmares, boringly Freudian – but what did they reveal, apart from my modest assets?
Some people are very secretive. I’m the complete opposite. No question of right or wrong: it’s the way we’re horoscopically or psychologically constituted. However, I’ve always felt that one has a moral responsibility to evolve towards greater openness, greater honesty, greater transparency… in other words, NAKEDNESS.
In which case my scary dreams of public exposure weren’t necessarily a bad thing – merely an indication that deep down I was still afraid of getting hurt. To be more precise, my social ego was afraid of losing status. Without the protection of one’s fig leaf or sarong or double-stitched jeans, one is susceptible to malicious attack or ridicule. One is vulnerable – but is it such a healthy thing to be invulnerable? Isn’t it much healthier to be in direct contact with RAW REALITY and the NAKED TRUTH?
I’ve tried it. It doesn’t hurt. And once your reputation is ruined you never have to worry about it again.
All You Gotta Do Is, Act Naturally…
“… for Heaven, just Heaven, sends a fearful religion to cruel souls.” – Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, 1788
THE PATRIARCHAL RELIGIONS - the ones that see God as a father figure - have one thing in common: the misguided notion that the naked human body is an utterly reprehensible, prurient object – a terrible thing that must be covered up from public view. In such a society, it’s okay to exploit the poor and deceive the masses – so long as you keep your trousers on!
How else is it possible that some humans can wander into an old-growth forest with all its splendor and majesty and breath-giving beauty – and whip out their chainsaws? Me, I could only think of whipping off my clothes and jumping into the nearest river with a wild whoop of pure abandon. Call me a pagan. The raw beauty of Mother Nature is the only embodiment of divinity on this Earth that can make me fall to my knees and weep for joy.
A few years ago I was walking with a friend through the jungle towards a magnificent waterfall when I came upon a Land Rover full of forestry officers. I nodded a friendly greeting and one of the men came over, ogled my companion, and asked me point blank: “Have you seen anyone swimming naked around here?” I was taken aback. Was this guy a mind reader or something? I responded evenly: “Why do you ask?” The fat forestry officer with the sleazy aura of a Hollywood-type South American border guard explained conspiratorially: “We don’t want people to come into our state forest reserve and do immoral things.”
If I could beam myself back to that instant in time and space, I would have retorted: “Do immoral things? What, you mean like LOG the place? You don’t wish to see this beautiful country DENUDED, is that right?”
Instead, I merely smiled sardonically and walked on, shaking my head in disbelief. For hours afterward I felt an involuntary shudder whenever the image of that hypocritical sleazebag flashed into my head. Good heavens, the wriggling can of worms some folks have for brains! Perhaps I ought to put up a sign outside every forest reserve: “SNOG, DON’T LOG!” Or “DON’T BE RUDE, COME IN NUDE!”
Is it any wonder, then, that in a patriarchal society, prominent people are often the target of sexual innuendoes and outright scandal? The idea of “immorality” is always applied to sexual indiscretion, but never to breaking the Golden Rule - Do as you would be done by – which is, essentially and ultimately, the only true measure of morality.
[First published in JOURNAL ONE, 1996; posted on this blog 1 February 2007, then reposted 10 April 2012]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)