Monthly Archives: October 2011

Erotic Poetry: John Donne

31 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, eroticism, literature, poetry

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John Donne, English poet whose subjects were often erotic ones.

John Donne (1572-1631) is one of the great English poets. Commonly referred to as belonging to the Metaphysical school of poetry, a term that only was applied much later by writers and critics such as Samuel Johnson, much of Donne’s poetry is a rich mixture of sensuality and spirituality. Poe once defined poetry as the “rhythmical creating of beauty” and I think we can see that quality in this poem. After seeing the following poem referenced on Alte’s blog: http://traditionalchristianity.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/exploring-deep-desires/, I thought I might post it here. I don’t have much to say on this poem, except that is reveals how eroticism has always been a part of life, expressed by writers and artists of different cultures and temperaments, and, when done well, a fine object of any artistic endeavor. Donne describes well the beauties of undressing his mistress. Enjoy.

Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed

by John Donne

Come, madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
Until I labor, I in labor lie.
The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,
Is tired with standing though he never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven’s zone glistering,
But a far fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear,
That th’ eyes of busy fools may be stopped there.
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you that now it is bed time.
Off with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gown, going off, such beauteous state reveals,
as when from flowry meads th’ hill’s shadow steals.
Off with that wiry coronet and show
The hairy diadem which on you doth grow:
Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread
In this love’s hallowed temple, this soft bed.
In such white robes, heaven’s angels used to be
Received by men; thou, Angel, bring’st with thee
A heaven like Mahomet’s Paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know
By this these angels from an evil sprite:
Those set our hairs on end, but these our flesh upright.

License my roving hands, and let them go
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O my America! my new-found-land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned,
My mine of precious stones, my empery,
How blest am I in this discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds is to be free;
Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.

Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be
To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use
Are like Atlanta’s balls, cast in men’s views,
That when a fool’s eye lighteth on a gem,
His earthly soul may covet theirs, not them.
Like pictures, or like books’ gay coverings made
For lay-men, are all women thus arrayed;
Themselves are mystic books, which only we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)
Must see revealed. Then, since that I may know,
As liberally as to a midwife, show
Thyself: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,
There is no penance due to innocence.

To teach thee, I am naked first; why than,
what needst thou have more covering than a man?

As Donne understood, undressing a woman can be divine...

Ben Franklin: Alpha Founding Father Who Enjoyed Sex, Women and Eroticism

30 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in beauty, culture, eroticism, men, religion

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I don’t know a whole lot about Ben Franklin (1706-1790), but recently I saw a documentary that suggested he was a man who enjoyed many pleasures, included many pleasures of the flesh. After doing a bit of reading on him, superficial at best, I would like to think this is an accurate portrayal of his character.

Wikepedia begins by saying about Franklin:

“A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass ‘armonica’. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.”

He was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He is one of the most beloved and respect of the Founding Fathers, on both sides of the Atlantic. And he loved pussy.

Although Franklin espoused the virtues of religion and of virtues themselves (he made up a list of thirteen virtues, including chastity, when he was a young man), especially in maintaining a strong Republic, he, like most great men, had tremendous appetites that needed to be satisfied. Apparently he took on many lovers. Most incredible of all, in 1758 when he was in England, he may have attended a notorious “gentleman’s club” of the time, the Hellfire Club. This was a club founded in Britain in the eighteen century by and for the aristocracy. The details of what exactly went on in this club are hard to ascertain, but it was rumored that included in the boisterous activities were the circulation of erotic art and literature, free sex, and perhaps even orgies, in addition to the usual bawdy drinking and unrestrained partying for which aristocratic societies are notorious. Being part of the nobility meant you had the means and power to enjoy things that the rest of society simply could not. It is not sure exactly what Franklin’s activities were at this club, many suggest he may have been spying, but I like to think that when he was there he enjoyed whatever pleasures he found, even if he had been spying. Franklin seems like the type of man who would take advantage of most situations to get the best out of them, including sexual ones.

This is similar to the porn of the 18th century, which may have been circulated at the Hellfire Club meetings, and in which Franklin may have indulged.

Franklin was an Alpha of his day. His numerous accomplishments are more than most people can ever dream of. The fact that he enjoyed sex, and lots of sex, is a natural progression from his constant, over active, restless and curious personality. The fact that he signed the Declaration of Independence reveals also a man of courage, as he most likely would have been hanged if the British had won.

The religious fundies want to cleanse our country of all immorality. They make the argument that the Founding Fathers were all pious Christians, when in fact many if not most were Deists. The Founders, such as Franklin, saw the value of virtue and religion for a strong society, believed in some sort of divine being and divine plan for the universe, but they were not puritanical or dogmatic about it. As with Franklin, many had extramarital affairs in their own lives, such as Jefferson and Washington. They were men who did not flee like prudes from the erotic nature of life. Tony Perkins and the Values Voters crowd would have a hard time digesting such facts about the Founding Fathers, as it contradicts their fantasy of what many of the men were like in reality. I wonder how they spin Franklin’s obviously less than morally pure life.

This is for another post, but more and more I am seeing the great struggle of our times as between religious fundamentalism, whether Islamic or Christian, and a society based on the rational, scientific, political, cultural, and intellectual advancements of the past few hundred years. Faith and Enlightenment are not mutually exclusive. But a society that wants to base all decisions on some final divine authority, reserved ultimately for clerics to dictate, such as in Iran, or what is starting to emerge in Libya and Egypt, is unhealthy, and even dangerous. It is certainly a threat to liberty. And I see little difference between the religious extremist elements of Islam and those of Christianity. We have our own Taliban like elements emerging in our society, such as in the Value Voter’s Summit at which all the Republican candidates had to make obeisance. For instance, many of the sponsors of that meeting would like to actually re-criminalize homosexuality. Perhaps they can eventually pass legislation to hang homosexuals, such as they do in Iran, all in the name of God and traditional family values? After all, in their morally pure, legalistically rigid religious minds, it is merely a question of degrees of punishing “sexual deviants”. Or, as St. Ignatius of Loyala famously said, “If the Pope says black is white, then I will believe black is white”. I am sure the Neo-Traditionalist, Opus Dei, Legion of Christ adherents would blindly agree with such a  statement, but as a person of faith myself, I utterly and completely reject this sort of fanatical nonsense. No, St. Ignatius, the Pope is wrong, black is black and world is round, after all. Galileo was right and the Church was wrong.

I am sure Franklin would have appreciated such a beauty as this.

So this is why men like Franklin are so appealing. He was a man of great character, but a man who also knew how to enjoy life, and women. He was man of reason, learning and brilliance. He also enjoyed eroticism. He probably indulged in the erotic art and literature of his own day. And he loved beautiful women! I can only imagine what a pleasure it would have been to hang out with such a man.

Just a Little Something Light and Lovely…

26 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in beauty, women

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Sometimes I just enjoy seeing a nice nude. It is sort of like eating a piece of candy, but candy for the eyes. This photo exudes the pleasures of viewing female beauty. It is pure beauty for the sake of beauty. Beauty makes me feel good. As I have often said here, the world is so ugly these days, we need all the beauty we can find. As a man, I always rejoice in feminine beauty. A good nude can be just that, something to rejoice in, an escape from the greyness of the world around us.

Again, I love the all natural look in a girl. And nothing looks more all natural than a wonderful, luxurious GNP. A blond bush is a particularly rare and lovely delight, as it is with this girl. So this, along with the soft lighting, the shadows, her expression, her hair, her curves, her full and natural breasts, lend an overall delicate quality to this photo that captures well the allure of the feminine.

The anti-porn crusaders would say, “Oh my God, she is being exploited! She is naked! How evil and terrible!” And then they would imagine that all viewers of this image are males who are using it for masturbation purposes. They would want this image to be wiped off the face of he earth for all eternity, so that we can all live in a morally pure world, a world that is free from all expressions of sexuality outside the strict boundaries of traditional marriage. Sure, nude photos of women are used by men for masturbation purposes, especially when younger. Most porn is merely masturbation material. So what? It is still possible to simply view a nice nude as that, a nice nude, and enjoy the beauty it presents, without it becoming a purely sexual, lust filled exercise. This photo is just that, a lovely representation of the female body, part of God’s creation, the lovely vessel of life as God or nature intended it.

And such depictions of beauty are a joy for me to see.

Lack of Overall Beauty Makes Most Porn Dull

23 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, culture, erotica, religion, spirituality

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I like erotica which is beautiful and natural looking...

After searching through different porn venues, I find most porn to be dull. For a while now I have been doing this, actually trying to study the nature of porn, in a critical and objective way, to see what gradations of skill, craft and beauty there is to this strange medium. What I have found is most of it is rather trashy. Perhaps this should not surprise anyone, least of all me. There is little beauty among standard porn, for the most part. It only makes me appreciate the pleasures of good erotica even more. I don’t know. It is a difficult thing to get your hands around, and, as I said, I have been trying to objectively see what is out there, as a sort of cultural phenomenon, which it is. Porn is a part of our lives now, and with the internet, it is not going away, whether we like it or not. Everything from girls taking cell phone pictures of themselves and posting them on the internet to all out elaborate, sexual movies is part of the porn phenomena. Porn exists, like drugs, because people want it, and, like drugs, it is here to stay.

So what makes bad porn? It is hard to say. These are some of the things I do not like. Others may feel differently, so these are only my own personal preferences.

Trashy looking actresses: too many tatoos, fake breasts, big hair, too many piercings, women obviously hardened by too many cocks violently fucking them for money. Seriously, there is only so much of this a person could possibly take before the psychological toll begins to show. Although we are sexual beings, we are not really meant to be that promiscuous. Most people only have a few partners in their lifetimes, which is probably the norm as nature or God or both intended.

Stupid, unrealistic scenes. I like to see porn that is realistic. I want to see something that might resemble the girl next door fucking her boyfriend sort of thing. You know, the girl you are interested in, or that girl you may have had crush on while in school, whom you thought about while you masturbated, etc. I want to see what she might look like fucking. The nicer the girl, the hotter the fuck. There is something intensely hot about seeing a good girl in public turn into a something quite sexual when in bed.  It is a common male fantasy.

Exceedingly violent scenes. These do nothing for me. Watching girls gag on a penis is not appealing. Watching her ass get violently fucked is not appealing. It seems rather dangerous to me, actually. I don’t know how many girls would actually enjoy doing this in real life, as well, but I imagine it is not too many. Some do, but not many. I like my sex physical, even rough, I like to be dominate, but that is different than watching a girl choke and gag on an enormous penis or have her asshole ripped apart by violent anal sex. For me, in the end, sex needs to be something mutually pleasurable, and loving.

A lot of the girls obviously are not enjoying themselves. They pretend to be enjoying it, but you can see it in their eyes that they are not, the distant look, the disassociation, the lack of true pleasure. It reminds me of the looks of so many of the girls who work at strip clubs, who dance while staring off into the distance, surrounded by hoards of men eager for more, eager to spend more money to keep the fantasy and illusion going that these girls are actually interested in their sorry asses. In porn, there are erotic depictions where the girls are obviously enjoying themselves, and those are hot. But as for a lot of porn, it is too fake. I suppose porn is the sexual equivalent of WWF wrestling. I am always asking myself: “Is she really enjoying that? Is that real?”

I need to see the girl's face, her expression of pleasure, as well as her lovely body for erotica to be good.

Bad angles. I want to see the whole girl’s body and her face. I need to see her beauty, to see her body move, to take in the whole visual scene of two lovers on a bed, in order for it to be appealing. Excessive close up of penis going into the vagina does not do it for me. It seems too clinical, too detatched from the deeper aspects of sexual pleasure. It turns whatever human element there is in sexual depictions to something that is purely animal. Good erotica should capture something of the natural, deeper emotions of human sexuality.

Grannies, trannies, fatties and other fetishes. Sorry, but I like my women at least in shape, of a reasonable age, and relatively normal. A little weight is no problem, but morbid obesity is disgusting. One of the most disgusting things I ever saw was a morbidly obese woman having sex. The man literally had to lift a slab of enormous fat from her crotch in order to reach her vagina. I almost vomited and that was only after the one minute I could endure watching it. When I see stuff like this, I become aware of the fetish factor, the weird factor in porn, and that there are a lot unsavory characters out there watching this stuff, bald fat guys who have never had a girlfriend, fifty year old virgins, or acne faced teenagers jerking off to it in their basement, then going out into the world and desperately looking for the same thing, but always frustratingly in vain, and I want to get as far away from that as possible.  I suppose some people enjoy this fetish stuff, and I really don’t have  problem with that, but for me, it is just plain gross. Call me an old fashioned erotica conservative. I like the more traditional, straight forward erotic depictions of sex and love making.

Like everything, at least for me, there must be a certain degree of beauty involved in what I am being entertained by. I find pleasure in beauty. Porn is no exception. And yet it is not easy to find good porn, porn that is free from the crassness and harshness that infects too much of the industry. What I enjoy seeing are beautiful people having beautiful sex in a natural setting. It appeals to the innate visual parts of us.

I like a sense of down to earth, natural beauty in my women...

Then again I have always been picky in these areas. My standards for beauty are high. I don’t like ugly or dark things. Too often there is kind of darkness to your standard porn, and ugliness which makes it unappealing. It is ultimately…depressing.

Something strange happened to me while studying this material. I was not expecting it. After seeing so much which was purely carnal and corporal, so much of which was plainly crass and ugly and devoid of all emotion and psychological nuances, devoid of all that makes us human really, I felt the need to deepen my spiritual life. Now part of what I like to write about is the nexus between spirituality and sexuality, so this is nothing new. But what is new is the sense of how important beauty is in most things, even in erotic things. As I said, the lack of beauty in most porn is what makes most porn unappealing to me. With spirituality, I have never felt a lack of beauty. It is always there. It is always present. As St. Augustine says, “ O Beauty, even ancient, ever new, too late have I loved thee.” Now he was talking about beauty as a reflection of God, but I think St. Augustine, at least before his more puritanical later days, was someone who appreciated feminine beauty as well. He was, after all, in his younger days somewhat of a rake, a sort of Roman PUA, and even fathered an illegitimate child. After his conversion to Christianity, he still felt this draw to beauty, and the greatest beauty for him was found in God. After examining a lot of this porn, I felt the need to cleanse myself a little bit by becoming a bit more spiritual, while at the same time not denying the sexual and erotic part of my nature, even the visual part of those. Beauty is a part of both the spiritual and erotic, and both those are part of a greater, overall divine web. I need both, the erotic and the spiritual, and the beauty inherent in both. But as I have often said before, this is a work in progress for me, as I journey along this path of spirituality and sexuality, of faith and eros.

The Italian Renaissance vs. The London Taliban: Give Me Beautiful Artistic Nudes!

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, culture, erotica, religion, women

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This is one of the reasons I write this blog: I read this article recently about British women converting to Islam. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1324039/Like-Lauren-Booth-ARE-modern-British-career-women-converting-Islam.html

Now, as a spiritual person myself, I have no problem with anyone following what they believe to be their chosen path to spiritual enlightenment. My only concern is I hope too many women do not follow this path, because I cannot image a world where I was deprived of feminine beauty on a daily basis.

The following photos are more than illustrative of this. They are of a British woman, Camilla Leyland, an Islam convert. In the first she is shown in her mid twenties, before her conversion. The second photo is after, at age 32.

Here she is before and after:

Before, she looks quite nice. I might even lust after her.

After, such dark colors...how depressing! And so serious looking.

The first she looks happy, sweet and the brightness of her floral dress is quite appealing. In the second she looks likes she is about to be embalmed. I really don’t understand why a religion has to be so hostile to physical, sensual and erotic beauty. I can guarantee you there is a lot of closet homosexuality in Islamic societies that hold such a dim, repressed view of female beauty. I am sure the response would be, “Well, we are simply thinking in terms of spiritual beauty. By being modest, she is proclaiming the true beauty of womanhood, especially in the eyes of God.” Perhaps. But I still want to see some flesh, some skin, some hair. I like seeing physical female beauty.

What I love about the Renaissance in European history was its embracing of a new way of thinking, a new outlook on life, one that was partially based on the Classical past that had been forgotten for so long. And yet it was still deeply religious and spiritual society. The beauties of art and literature were once again pursued for their own sake, although the spiritual elements of life were still expressed in moving and profound ways. Out of this movement was born much beauty, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, the intellectual, political, and scientific  advancements that propelled the West to be the predominant and most influential society the world has ever seen. I can sit here and type on this blog in part because of what happened over 500 years ago. I doubt these things would have happened if religion had the power to force people to believe the Earth was still flat, or that the sun revolved around it, rather than the other way around. Clerics saying that they speak for God and have the final word on everything, backed up by state power, are a threat to a healthy society.

When I see images of these women, not only do I see a loss of potential beauty, but I also see the public proclamation by them that the West and its advancements are the be rejected in favor of a darker, more repressive type of society, where beauty, eroticism and the pursuit of personal freedom, as well as intellectual thought, would be denied all in the service of some divine mandate to obey a religion.

The glories of Western Civilization, especially the artistic love of physical beauty, is something that needs to be defended, fought for, and preserved. There are many places in the world that are quite hostile to our cultural and political achievements. I hope London is not becoming one of them. I could not endure living in a society where all the women dressed like this creature. It would be a very dreary place indeed.

And here is another nude beauty, just to drive the point home.

Beauty

17 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, women

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I find this woman to be amazingly beautiful. I am not sure who it is, it is just one of those images I found somewhere, where, I do not know. Nevertheless, I love this image. Not only is she beautiful, but the photo itself is quite nice, and captures her beauty in unique way. Black and white is always a nice medium for these types of photos. Cool and distant, is seems to convey the chasm that often separates us from what we find beautiful, or what we desire. Eroticism does not necessarily have to be depicted in loud, flaming colors. A quiet eroticism is just as powerful.

But it is her expression, her face, her eyes, her parted lips, her high cheek bones, her lovely full hair, pulled back and gently falling about her smooth neck and delicate shoulders that I find most intoxicating. I could gaze on this beauty for hours and never get bored. It is a beautiful photo of a beautiful woman.

I thank God daily for beautiful women!

Why Do So Many People, Especially Religious, Have a Repressive Fear of Sexual Desires?

16 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in eroticism, religion, spirituality

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A beautiful erotic image...and one of my favorite positions.

When I was younger, I was a very devoted, orthodox, serious Catholic. I wanted to devote my life to God. I wanted to lead a pure, sin free existence. I tried. I prayed every day. I went to Mass daily. I prayed to be free from all those sinful thoughts and desires that plagued me every day. I fasted. I disciplined my body. I did everything I was supposed to do in order to find purity. There was one problem though, something that I was not expecting or even wanting. But it was a problem I had to confront each and every day of my pious filled life: my penis has a life of its own.

Yes, my pecker is a quite the devil. I swear. The SOB would just not follow my desires for a religious, orthodox, Neo-Traditional life (even though the Neo-Traditionalist were not so named back then). After an entire day of praying, fasting, sitting before the Blessed Sacrament, and legitimately reaping the spiritual rewards of those exercises, once I went back into the world I would be surrounded by the lovely sights of all those beautiful, sensuous, and hot females all over that same sinful and corrupt, fallen world. An hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, praying for a deliverance from my sexual desires, would be instantly erased when the first hot girl in short skirt and tight shirt walked by. Then another would come by. And another. By the end of the day I was a mess of conflicted religious and sexual desires. I could feel my penis scream out for attention at each lovely image of female beauty. The summer, with its sultry heat, was the worst time for such sinful thoughts.

Then, to make matters worse, when I went to bed, and sought some sweet release from my sexual desires through sleep, my damn pecker would not leave me alone. All throughout the night he would become hard, begging me to caress him and release all those gallons of pent up sperm, and he made my sleep most difficult. What was I to do? When I woke up in the morning I felt my body filled with all those lusty thoughts, and desires, and my mind filled with fantasies. Perhaps I might have even had sexual dreams throughout the night. They were pure torture. There is nothing worse than dreaming about fucking a girl you want to fuck, thinking you are actually fucking her, and then waking up to find out it was only a dream, with the added insult of your dick staring straight back at you, as if he were some malignant sex demon laughing at and mocking your plight. “Yeah, so you really were not getting laid, huh? Well, here I am anyways, standing erect and wanting some attention. So at least stroke me, damn it! Your balls are full of cum and need to be cleansed out!” I swear I could hear my perpetually erect penis laughing.

The biology of sex: sometimes the penis just needs release, whether someone else does it for you, or you do it for yourself. Even primates and other mammals masturbate.

And of course eventually, despite my most ardent efforts, I would succumb to this demon’s desires. The little head rules the big head, or so the saying goes. And thus would I begin a long, compulsive spiral down into a neurotic battle between sexual desire and sexual repression. Over the course of time it would go something like this: sexual desires, masturbation, guilt, repentance, confession, then followed again by new sexual desires, masturbation, guilt, repentance, confession, over and over and over again, day after day, month after month, year after year. Perhaps there was some porn here and there, and lusting after girls, and, if I were really sinful, I might even fuck a few girls, or take on a few lovers, which would make my guilt only that much more ballistic. I knew God had forsaken me for liking sexual pleasure and being a sexual person. After all, it says in the Bible that unrepentant sinners are doomed.

Finally, after many years of trying to be pure, I simply gave up on trying. I came to believe that there is nothing wrong with masturbation, or sexual desires, or finding some outlet for those. I came to believe these are perfectly normal things, even healthy things. And I also came to believe that you can still believe in God, still have a deep faith, and still be a sexual person outside the strict bonds of traditional Christianity. I have come to believe that in the area of sex, Christianity still has a lot of growth to do, based on the science of human biology and psychology, as well as in theology. In short, why do so many Christian denominations still base their understanding of human sexuality on rather medieval notions of the human body, without considering the role of biology, of human hormones, ect, in sexual desire. Even animals, such as primates, masturbate because they need to. But then again, as most Neo-Traditionalists believe, science is the religion of secular humanism, and therefore a bad thing. The earth really is not round or revolves around the sun after all, and that damned Galileo was a flaming liberal for thinking so. If only we could get back to the good old days of a religiously dominated society where all thought is ultimately channeled through holy religious institutions for approval. Well, that is at least what Opus Dei would like, as well as places like Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Most people masturbate, even women.

I just got sick of the secret, hypocritical world of sexual desire that exists within so many religious organizations. My own life was damaged by trying to follow too strictly these traditional notions of sexual purity that is replete with Catholicism. Why must there be so much fear of sexual desire within so many religions? Why must there be so much fear of erotic beauty? Did not God create the world, make us flesh and blood, and give us the desire for beauty and erotic pleasure? Is it not part of the whole mystery of love? The news is replete with sexual church scandals, because the complete prohibition on all sexual expression outside of marriage is ridiculously strict for 99% of most people. For those who pursue a pure, strict, complete and absolutist celibacy with joy and spiritual rewards, there is nothing wrong with that. I commend you. For the rest of us, we need some kind of sexual life even if we are not married.

I enjoy images of erotic beauty, such as a woman undressing.

I have learned that I can still have a deep faith in God and still be a sexual person, someone who enjoys the erotic beauty of life, and not feel a neurotic guilt over it. As a matter of fact, I feel much healthier being more open about my own sexual desires within the context of faith. I am sure the Neo-Traditionalists types, Opus Dei types, Legionaries of Christ types, and the fundamentalist, evangelical Christian types would say I am not really even a believer, but what I say to them is this: that is for God to decide, not you. I am happy where I am at, much happier than when I was a compulsively masturbating religious neurotic.

More on Spiritual and Erotic Beauty

15 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, eroticism, religion, spirituality, women

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Madonna in the Rose Garden, by Martin Schongauer

Why is it that spirituality is so important to me? It is hard to define really. Most people want to associate spiritual longings with religions, and certainly the two are forever intertwined. Religion still remains the main outlet for most people’s spiritual needs. The problem with religion however is the dogmatism that necessarily infuses most religions. Most followers of a religion need something to believe in, some sort of structured explanation of what God is. Without that, all religions would be nothing more than chaotic, unsustainable structures. So I can understand the importance of set beliefs for people to follow. Still, the belligerent camps that are created through different religions, each one convinced of its own unalterable truth, is often one of the greatest destructive forces the world has seen.

As I progress in life, the dogmatic teachings of a religion have become less and less important, the pure spirituality of religious experience has become more and more important. For me, the power of religious experience can be summed up in one word: prayer. Prayer does something to the soul and mind that nothing else can do, a power that is both soothing and healing and uplifting. There is a certain kind of beauty to prayer. It is a beauty different from carnal or erotic beauty, yet it is a beauty that can be as powerful, in its own unique way.

There are many forms of prayer. Perhaps many might call this meditation. Perhaps for many this is what it is. I suppose my own prayer life is sort of a meditative life. One of the things that attracts me to art and literature is the meditative nature of these pursuits. I find writing almost to be form of prayer, as it seems to often work that same part of the brain that prayer works. Often, after writing for a while, I feel the same sense of calm and peace and release that a deep session of contemplative prayer can produce. I also find studying art to be somewhat meditative, as is reading a good poem or novel. By contrast, I usually find reading more intellectually polemical things, such as political opinion pieces, or similar blog genres, to be highly agitating and mentally stressful. Although they are a necessary part of life, I try to limit my intake of them to what is essential and important, for my own sanity.

A good piece of art can wonderfully express the deeper, more mysterious aspects of life. It puts into a physical, immediate form those things that are hidden, formless, the parts of our minds, souls, and hearts that we keep locked away, protected like precious treasures. You cannot touch the spiritual, you cannot see it, except when it is aptly expressed through a painting or sculpture. I would say the same is true for a good poem, novel, or piece of music, although not in quite as immediate and concrete a way as painting or sculpture can attain. I like the piece above, The Madonna in the Rose Garden, by the German artist Martin Schongauer, (1448-1491). Although in no way sensual or erotic, it is nevertheless beautiful. I particularly enjoy the deep red of the Madonna’s dress contrasted with the golden background of the rose garden. Gardens are wonderful places, where a true peace and harmony can be found. The Japanese in particular have perfected the spirituality of gardens in a way that transcends most cultures and religions. This painting captures that, with the delicate flowers and birds entwined among the vine tendrils behind the Madonna and Child, each one gazing pensively in different directions, as if foreshadowing the suffering to come in the life of Christ. All in all it is a nice, deep expression of spiritual beauty.

Eroticism can be a spiritual experience too. I find the mass production of porn, however, to lack spiritual dimensions. Porn exists to get off on. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I often find most porn to be somewhat banal, and, in the worst examples, even ugly. Eroticism on the other hand exists to express the mysterious power of the sensual world that surrounds us, that is within us, and that guides us through love to the creation of new life on earth. The greatest physical and emotional pleasures are found and expressed through eroticism. Love is a spiritual thing. Good erotic art and literature captures something of that, at least for me. And there is deep beauty in all that.

As in the painting above, there is something simply beautiful about the scene. It is a little mysterious. It is interesting to contrast the red of her dress with the red dress of the Madonna above. She, like the Madonna, is also looking away and her thoughts are a mystery to us. Both are depictions of two very different women, yet in these depictions we sense the eternal power of the feminine, whether it be through a type of spiritual motherhood, as with the Madonna above, or erotic allurement, as with the figure below. Yet both touch upon the fundamental of our existence: love, eroticism, procreation, and eternal spiritual longings.

So there is great beauty in spirituality, whether it be the pure spirituality of religious experience, or mystical experience, be that in prayer or in some other form of meditation or even in the rituals of different religions. And there is great beauty in the power of love and sensual pleasures and the bonding of different souls through the spirituality of eroticism. Both are important for my life.

Wood Nymphs, The Delightful, Sensual Creatures of Mythology

12 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, erotica, poetry, women

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In Greek mythology there was a class of young, beautiful creatures known as nymphs. These were lovely women who dwelt in many different areas of the natural world, most usually among the trees, woods or forests, or among the streams, springs, rivers and mountains, and other such slightly exotic places. They were often the object of desire from different deities, semi-deities, and men. Many an Olympian God, especially Zeus, got into much trouble attempting to satisfy their amorous desires through these ethereal creatures. Hera in particular is usually quite upset over her husband Zeus’s latest sexual conquest.

The image above stirs my imagination. She is quite nymph like: beautiful, alluring, mysterious, sensual and sexual, an object of deep desire and attraction. If I were one of the old Olympian gods, such as Apollo, I would no doubt enjoy chasing her through the woods until I caught her.

Nymphs were young and free, loved sex, and represented another part of life, the life of sensual freedom outside the bonds of traditional society. In reality women in the ancient Greek and Roman world were for the most part quite cloistered and sexual freedom was restricted to either men and prostitutes, or men and (usually quite younger) men. However, in ancient literature the free reign of imagination allows for all sorts of erotic scenarios. As with our own world today, in antiquity we can see the liberation of sexual desire and fantasy through art and literature. Ovid’s great mythological poem, The Metamorphoses, is filled with stories and images about these delightful creatures and their amorous pursuers. Usually in Ovid things end up badly for these objects of male desire, but his depictions of them are always charming and allusive.

Another alluring wood nymph...

Of course our term “nymphomaniac” is derived from this word, “nymph” which in Greek means a young woman to be, or just, married. Our word “nubile” is related to the Greek word, through the Latin “nubere”, which means, “to marry”. It is interesting that nymphomania was once considered a psychological disorder and thus labeled as such. For me, a girl who enjoys sex is simply that, a girl who loves sex. As someone who loves sexual pleasure myself, I see nothing aberrant about this. I like meeting and knowing women who are as sexual as I am. I get along with them better than the more frigid types.

There is a delightful sensuality to much of ancient mythology. Pleasure and the pursuit of pleasure, at least as depicted in art and literature, is often an exciting, and at times dangerous activity. Yet despite its dangers, it is a recognized and accepted part of life. There was no real sense of guilt as we feel the emotion today in the ancient world concerning sexual pleasure; rather, shame existed, but acting on that shame was not necessarily a morally bad thing, as it often is with us. Sex was simply a natural part of life. If you suffered because of your pursuit of sex, it was usually because you overstepped some boundary of lust or desire and became too beholden to your passions. Either you might be too rigid in denying sex, or you might be too mad in pursuing it. The key was a healthy balance. Sexual pleasure in itself was not considered a bad thing. These attitudes towards eroticism are often reflected in the mythology and literature.

Stumbling across two woods nymphs, now that would be a dream come true!

So here is to the celebration of the nymph, the delightful creature who enjoys sex, is free from restraint, beautiful, and filled with sensuality. At the very least let us continue to let her live in our imaginations! I plan on celebrating the different types of nymphs through this blog, through erotic art, photos and literature. She is too exotic a creature to forget. Having been with many nymphs in my own life, and having enjoyed many sensual and sexual delights with them, I hope I encounter one again sometime soon.

Venus, the Ancient Goddess of Love and the Roman Poet Ovid

10 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in art, beauty, erotica, poetry, women

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The Birth of Venus, by Alexandre Cabanel, 1863

When I think of how much I love feminine beauty, I am always reminded of how many cultures have some sort of deity that represents the power of female sexuality in our world. For the ancient cultures of the Western world, that deity would be the Roman goddess Venus (in Greek culture, Aphrodite). I suppose if we were to search for one consistent figure in art and literature that would represent the power of eroticism, this ancient goddess would be it. Christianity really never replaced this goddess in the minds of people, at least as a common, remembered force. Since sex is such an elemental part of life, and since humans need to artistically express these elemental parts of life, the advent of Christianity in the formerly Greco-Roman world meant only the suppression, rather than the annihilation, of this ancient goddess. She was reborn in the Renaissance as a favorite subject of both artists (think Botticelli or Titian) and writers (think Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis). As a religious figure, yes, her cult had long since vanished, but as cultural force, in many ways the goddess of love never left us, she just was transformed into something different from her ancient incarnation.

There are many nice images of Venus throughout history. What is nice about the artistic depiction of this goddess is that she is such an obviously sexual and erotic figure that there is no need for apologies or guilt or shame over her depiction. When sculpting, painting, or writing about the goddess of love, the artist has a certain freedom to explore eroticism in a way that may not necessarily be true for other artistic objects.

Roman statue, probably of Venus, but definitely somewhat erotic.

Every time I see a beautiful depiction of a woman, whether in painting or photography, I am reminded of this goddess. My own postings of beautiful women here are sort of a homage to her memory. And what I am reminded of is the power of female sexuality in our world. This was the essence of Venus as an actual religious figure, a goddess who had temples and to whom ritual sacrifices and celebrations were offered routinely. The ancients knew and respected the power of sexuality. It was a natural part of life. It was what kept their world alive, through procreation and the power of female fertility. They also understood the elemental passions of love, and the power of that as embodied in this goddess and were in many ways much more in tune with the natural rhythms of sexuality than we are. There is much great art and literature in the ancient world that deals with these subjects of love, the power of love and sex and passion, both natural and unnatural, from Homer to Greek tragedy to the Hellenistic poets and artists and then eventually on to many of the great Roman poets, especially Ovid (43 BC to 18 AD), who was one of the great erotic poets of Classical antiquity. His influence on later erotic writers and artists, especially in the Renaissance, is immense and still continues to this day.

Freely erotic, and delightfully so, a modern Venus beckons us with her sexuality.

So as I think about the change of Venus from antiquity to today, and she has never really left us, but has only really been transformed, I am reminded of Ovid’s greatest poem which I mentioned a few posts back, the Metamorphoses, a wonderful poem of various tales of mythology, the overall theme of each being the transformation of certain figures from one form to another. For instance, in the Apollo and Daphne story, Daphne, rather than be ravished sexually by Apollo, who has been struck by Cupid’s arrow and is madly in love with her, prays to be spared from him, and is in turn transformed into a laurel tree, which then becomes the symbol of Apollo and consequently artistic and athletic excellence. Often the underlying theme of each story is erotic and so the poem is a colorful and brilliantly rendered reflection on the unpredictable and often capricious power of love, eros, and sexuality. Ovid wrote many things, so I will say more on him in a another post. But for those of us interested in erotic art and literature he is one of the most important figures out there in the history of such art and literature. He is in part one of the reasons we still have the ancient goddess of love, Venus, today in our midst, whether we like it or not.