Some people say that Christianity has been misunderstood. It looks to me more like it is Christianity which has misunderstood! The world, perhaps even Christ!
I’m not associating Christ with Christianity. When Nietzsche wrote “Der Anti-Christ” (usually translated as “The Anti-Christ”), his polemics was directed more to Paul and Christendom/Christianity, (a note in the translation says that it is probably more fitting to translate it as “The Anti-Christian.”) The same with Kierkegaard, his beef was with Christendom (the bureaucracy of Christianity). Christianity, as we know it today, is according to biblical scholarship, largely the work of Paul the Apostle.
Of course, Niezsche also devotes several sections to a psychological analysis of the “redeemer-type.” He looks into the issues which drive a person to become a messiah, or in more contemporary terms, “a superhero.” I need to re-read the book because I’ve largely forgotten his major insights. But these post-modern “myths and narratives” on the superhero seem to point out a recurring theme on the connection between guilt and the need/desire to become a savior/redeemer. (See “Batman Forever,” the “Spiderman” movies, and “Smallville,” the series.)
Why the widespread perception of the church’s denigration of the body? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. While it may not be the “official teaching” of the Church, that is how it is perceived to be by a majority of its members and non-members.
Before Christianity came to the Philippine islands, nudity, semi-nudity, and even a rather loose sexual morality was the order of the day. Enter Christianity, and begins prudishness, hypocrisy, and guilt. I’m not arguing for a return to pagan, pre-Christian civilization and morality… I’m just saying the big issues we have with sexuality (mainly guilt) was not indigenous. They arrived with the Spaniards and Christianity.
This is only the case/situation in the Philippines? Look again. Nietzsche lived on the other side of the world, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy (where Christian culture flourished in the middle ages) and he makes similar observations. According to him, Christianity is Platonism for the masses. What was Plato’s view on man: a soul imprisoned within the body.
Sex, no big deal? Yeah, right! Life would really be simpler if it wasn’t. But reality stares you into the face: it is. At least, for now. For most of us. Even if people say it isn’t.
Come on, let’s be honest. Let’s even have a head-count…
Why? Because like it or not, people become extremely vulnerable in the act of doing it, whether it be simply fucking, or one-night stand, or love-making.
And as I said, I’m not even talking of using sex to harm other people, or reduce them into sex objects. I’m talking of sex as a genuine encounter with another unique person, with the modicum of loving respect and compassion… even if that encounter be in the context of one-night stands, or even prostitution (where normally there would be a presumed absence or lack of respect and care/compassion)!
But even within this “ideal/idealized” situation, people still get hurt.
D.H. Lawrence, in his novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” talks about awareness. He affirms that it really boils down to an awareness of the body. And he says even the Buddha stopped short of this bodily awareness. (Now, I don’t know whether he was right in his judgment. I’ve a nagging suspicion that he wasn’t…) His male protagonist Mellors says, more or less in these words, “I believe in warm-hearted fucking… Fucking is really just the most intimate form of touch…”
Awareness hopefully leads to compassion.
My point is, I’m actually starting to see the cautious handling of sex/sexuality within most spiritual traditions (christianity/catholicism included). While I may not agree in principle with “the presuppositions” (presuming that I have not misunderstood), I understand the concern (call it “love,” if you will) behind the cautiosness…
The way I’m looking at it right now? (And I know this can be pretty hard for self-professed libertines and libertarians…) If you can’t do it with the littlest bit of respect and love, better not do it.
Now, as to what we mean with “love,” there’s another problem… or mystery, depending on one’s perspective…
best regards,
ian
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“With great power comes great responsibility.”
- Ben Parker, Peter’s uncle, in the “Spiderman” movies
Tags: Body, Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, D.H. Lawrence, Filipinos, Kierkegaard, Love, Matter, Morality, Movies, Nietzsche, Philippines, Philosophy, Platonism, religion, Sex, Soteriology, spirituality