Image taken in Florence Italy
The focus of my last posting was about sex and in particular sex between same sex people. I was struck that there was no prohibition of lesbian sex, sex between women, but there was one for men. Made the statement that it was about penetration in my thinking. I should have added that God created male and female types of most living entities for the purpose of procreation. This was his intention, male and female getting together, procreating and raising offspring.
It is touching to see how some creatures care for their offspring. Watched Picaso Trigger fish defend the territory where they have laid and germinated eggs, both male and female working to safe guard them. Unusual in the fishy world. One of the most unusual and touching things I have seen is a centipede laying on its side curled around several baby centipedes carefully cleaning fungus off their bodies while they matured, not sure if she was also feeding them, but touching none the less. Smashed them all any way, centipedes can cause a person great harm and they were on the property so I exercised my property rights.
Snails are one of those living entities that go both ways and have both male and female sexual organs. Snails here on Reunion Island are quite large, some getting a large as an average man’s fist. When we get heavy rain, snails here engage in group sex, I have seen snails with their long male part in another snail and also receiving the long wanger of another snail and also two snails coupled up both ways. Yes I pulled them apart to see what was going on and those wangers can stretch a long ways. Now that my curiosity has been satisfied I leave them to their pleasure.
I do not let the behaviors of other creatures guide my behaviors. 50 billion flies and all Reunion snails eat shit, but I am going to pass. I look to the creative Source for guidance. I can not understand all of the relationships in creation, well beyond my thinking, how everything works together. I do believe that the Source, the Absolute ONE gave us guidelines to follow.
In the last post I alluded to Paul of New Testament fame having a thorn in his side. He wanted it removed and God said no, it makes you strong. Strange statement, what was the thorn? In one of the Epistles, those books after the Gospels, Paul was working on converting the gentiles, and of those that converted they were undergoing circumcision. This was strictly a Jewish practice which happened on the male child’s 8th day after birth when the immune system was up and functioning. Which reminds me of the rock musical group back in the 60s, the Four Skins, that was denied entry to Israel for a concert. Kidding. Paul in the epistle was doing the circumcisions and became aroused and had to quit. Can only find this in the Greek early manuscripts. So we have Paul, one of those legalists, a Pharisee, who ordered the stoning death of a dude named Stephen that followed Jesus (his crime) and a homosexual to boot becomes one of early Christianities pillars. He refrained from his inclinations, took strength of character.
In the gospel of Mark, the 12th chapter starting with verse 28 there is a question that Jesus is asked and his answer is really good.
The greatest of all the commandments is “Hear, O Israel! The Lord your God is Lord alone. Therefore, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” That is the greatest, and the second is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” No other commandments are greater than these.
These two commandments are all about love. This love is a decision that we make as thinking rational entities, not to be confused with emotions. The emotion of love is desire and that wanes and can lead you into problems. Greeks had a few different words that get translated love; depending upon the source it is between 5 and 8 words, here is the 8 word version. Sure that Jesus was talking about the agape type of love, as in “nothing can surround my love for you”. That is big love when you think about it; how big is a love that nothing can surround it??
Agape (selfless, universal love) Agape, selfless universal love, such as the love for strangers, nature, or God. This love is unconditional, bigger than ourselves, a boundless compassion and an infinite empathy that you extended to everyone, whether they are family members or distant strangers.
Eros (romantic, passionate love) Eros, named after the Greek God of fertility. Eros is passion, lust and pleasure. The ancient Greeks considered Eros to be dangerous and frightening as it involves a “loss of control” through the primal impulse to procreate. Eros is an intense form of love that arouses romantic and sexual feelings.
Philia (affectionate love) Philia, or friendship. Plato felt that physical attraction was not a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, “without physical attraction.”
Storge (familiar love) Storge is a natural form of affection experienced between family members. This protective, kinship-based love is common between parents and their children, and children for their parents. Storge can also describe a sense of patriotism toward a country or allegiance to some team.
Mania (obsessive love) When love turns to obsession, it becomes mania. Stalking behaviors, co-dependency, extreme jealousy, and violence are all symptoms of Mania.
Ludus (playful love) The Ancient Greeks thought of ludus as a playful form of love. It describes the situation of having a crush and acting on it, or the affection between young lovers.
Pragma (enduring love) Pragma is a love built on commitment, understanding and long-term best interests. It is a love that has aged, matured and about making compromises to help the relationship work over time, also showing patience and tolerance.
Philautia (self love) The Greeks understood that in order to care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. As Aristotle said “All friendly feelings for others are an extension of a man’s feelings for himself.”
Congratulations for reading all of those, now you are partially educated in Greek love. Buddha made a statement to the effect that you must first learn to love yourself before you can have compassion for others, fits with the Aristotle statement and philautia self love.
Also I would like to add; do not forget about Tough Love. It is necessary sometimes, do not allow yourself to get used as a door mat or your cheek may become too inflamed and fall off or burn up. Remember that now extinct Indian tribe on the north shore of one of the Great Lakes. Jesus employed tough love inside of the temple in Jerusalem, taking a whip and driving out the unethical priests. They were telling people that brought offerings for sacrifices for the Passover that they were blemished and if they tender the offered sacrifice and a bit of coin they would provide them with a perfect sacrifice to offer. They then recycled those blemished sacrifices as perfect to the next person and the game continues. Quite a self enrichment plan.
Moving on to emotions, I have had an unexplained emotional experience while out on a solo mission. Was tasked with figuring out how to defeat a military combat control information/targeting system and then training others on how to do this as part of an espionage operation. Not an easy task and no friends around to talk to, I had to get into the guts of the thing and see how it worked. Was struck with an extremely strong feeling of paranoia, that those around me were plotting against me. This was a strong feeling, seemed real. Reason came to the rescue, postulating that they did not need to plot against me, they just needed to recognize my head down activities and arrest me. Still took a week to absent this real feeling from my mind. It was a mental battle that I will never forget. One of the offshoots of this was understanding how people could be overcome with some emotion or feeling and getting swept away with it. If you entertain it, you are going to own it and when you own it, it becomes apart of you.
It raised the question of those that desire the same sex, did they get struck with an emotion that seemed real and then entertain it? Then owning it? Will not judge, but will offer understanding, compassion and agape.
Never heard that about Paul's thorn. Fascinating.
I don't know on your last question. Since humans embody both emotions and reason - and either of them can become unbalanced in terms of which we express most, I'm not sure it's a matter of that. I suspect personal sexuality is more primal and fundamental. I feel for homosexuals who feel that cannot express themselves naturally and try to think themselves into being straight. As if how they feel is somehow unnatural even though it's natural to them. Add to that what feels natural to anyone is happening in a larger cultural context which may or may not include religion, unique social taboos or even outright manipulation. Look at what's happening in schools with the transgender agenda.
Will these kids think it's natural to want to change gender because of the influence? Likely. Oh, my.
Thank you - very interesting post, yet again!
"t raised the question of those that desire the same sex, did they get struck with an emotion that seemed real and then entertain it?"
There is likely much truth to this. This, grooming. Why wait for children to become curious when you can plant ideas in their fertile minds and encourage them to entertain them? All to destroy to confuse the child and destroy the family unit.