Study: Notes for an Outline on Sex and Cosmic Consciousness

The perceived antipathy between spirituality and sexuality is a cultural construct, and a quite artificial one at that. In truth, there exists no such antipathy, and rather, conversely, the two realms are so intimately connected as to be considered mere divisions of the same human experience and imperative, namely, Transcendence. This is why it strikes me as hilarious when people (as they continually do!) accuse me of committing a gross hypocrisy by writing passionately on the subject of Cosmic Consciousness and illustrating the same articles with photos of lovely—and invariably voluptuous—women. Such persons, who astonishingly remain legion, are still operating within the confines of the woefully anachronistic cultural structure of ‘proper’ social and even personal attitudes as they existed over a hundred years ago. Times have changed immeasurably since then, and much of that change is fully embraced by society. But why does sex continue to exert such a fiendish, frightening hold upon the minds of the masses? This one exceptional human endeavor, which should by now be enjoying its greatest period of freedom and self-expression, still exists in the collective consciousness as some sort of eternal taboo, and more than anywhere else when it is suggested that it might indeed bear a positive relationship to our spiritual lives. Spirit and Flesh. The ageless dichotomy.

Well, the simple truth is that culture’s ongoing expression of this so-called dichotomy is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on modern man. And who’s behind such an enduring hoax? You guessed it. Organized Religion. Our good friends, the fundamentalists. Pagan cultures, on the other hand, have routinely had healthy attitudes toward sex. In fact, it has always enjoyed the status of high ritual within these viable and progressive religious trends. Don’t misunderstand me here. I don’t mean to suggest that the prohibition of ‘good clean sex’ began with the tent revivals. It didn’t. The division between spirit and flesh is as old as the written word itself. My point is that while scientific progress has stripped away most of the untenable world-views and false ideologies of antiquity, it has made little headway in this regard where the realm of the Erotic is concerned. And it is here that the fundamentalist zealotry of the past 80 years or so has maintained the structural paradigm of ‘Fear of Sex’ at the foundational level of modern culture in general.

Western culture is so thoroughly immersed in its Christian heritage, that even many who know the myth of Jesus-as-God to be an intellectual and historical absurdity still discover that the weight of history and tradition psychically encoded within them produces a strange and conditioned sort of difficulty in renouncing it fully. This kind of cultural-historical narrative, encoded into the very fabric of our sociological ideology is what we define as ‘Structure.’ Structures function in such a way as to guide culture along unconsciously as these underlying systems dictate individual and collective attitudes that remain firmly entrenched in our internal makeup even though the tenets of the system itself may have become obsolete. In this way, structures work to create ‘residue,’ the dregs, if you will, of the obsolete systems. These residues act upon us symptomatically, and we find ourselves unknowing victims of symptoms for which the actual diseases have long ago been cured. In the case of sex and spirituality, for example, one need have no overriding connection with the religious institution itself to nevertheless maintain encoded feelings that sex is something unfit for cultural discourse, something shameful, embarrassing, inappropriate, in word; frightening.

By its very definition the unconscious is a realm resistant to access and influence, or manipulation. The dismantling of these unconscious structures, so necessary to right understanding of the world, requires a strong measure of philosophical self-analysis and a willingness to stay current with regard to the unfolding model of the Cosmos as revealed by the scientific community. It becomes considerably more difficult to lean on unsubstantiated belief systems in the face of the extraordinary discoveries being made in the worlds of Physics, Astronomy, and Cosmology, and it is precisely these discoveries that open our minds to new possibilities of thought and thereby to the erecting of more accurate structures upon which new and more progressive cultural models may be established. Such a future model will be erected upon the foundation of sexuality-as-ultimate-religious-vehicle. Transcendence will become the watchword of religious thought, and the immersion of self within the ultimate fantasy world of free sexual expression will become the primary means of experiencing that transcendence.

So, just what kind of transformation is needed to usher in this sexually utopian society? A re-ordering of education at every level of development is one idea. But education is slow. It is effective when combined with a legitimate enthusiasm for its subject matter, but it is also met with substantial force and potential resistance in the realms of the popular and environmental constancy. Much more effective is the idea of a youth movement to initiate sweeping change. Youth must become enamored of a new paradigm, and if they do so, the world can change dramatically and quickly. Popularity is the way of all major waves. It washes its protégés into fashion like a giant tsunami, obliterating every feeble strand of resistance with consummate ease and unbridled power. This new movement, then, must be one of spiritual enlightenment combined with uninhibited sexual experimentation in order to create the context for the next great evolutionary shift; Cosmic Consciousness. In order to reach this sacred plateau, the masses must cast off their fear, their anxiety, and their inauthenticity and enter a new mode of being. Sexual freedom is the real key to this state of enlightenment. Through a highly developed and fully legitimated sensual lifestyle, the connection between Sex & Spirit may be recognized for the sublime interplay that it is, freed entirely from the fetters of the puritanical past that has tried to hold Sex hostage forever behind the paper walls of sin and infamy.

We look, then, to a new and vibrant generation that understands human interplay on an elevated spiritual level; a new movement that realizes the connection between sexual experience and Cosmic Consciousness. A new era of Dionysian celebration—the celebration of life—must be erected, a sensual utopia of Jim Morrison’s ‘Golden Copulations.’ A free society can, after all, only be made up of free individuals. The raising of awareness consists to such a great extent in the casting off of outmoded tradition, and the time is now to bury the ruins of puritanical culture deeply and permanently. All ye illustrious young! Awaken and arise to the truth of your calling, your grand destiny. And don’t let anyone say it can’t happen. Young people are sharp. They can see clearly the ills of the world, and the solutions as well. As Bob Marley once said; ‘Youth always knows where it’s at.’

The Case for a Matriarchal World Order

This one is not even close, really. It doesn’t take any specialized training to see that we live in a volatile, unstable world, a world in which the excesses of the few beget the suffering of the many, and in which hatred and intolerance are the norm in collective human interactions. The history of civilization as reflected in the pathetic state of world affairs in this dreadful year of our Lord, 2008, confirms that much, and unfortunately, much more. The responsible party? Yep, it’s The Guys. The only rational conclusion one can draw is that men are idiots. They have done such a woeful job of creating any form of meaningful civilization that they ought to simply resign in disgrace, which is what they would do if they weren’t, well…Men. As an unsophisticated coterie of self-perceived Alpha Males, it’s not in their nature to admit their gross incompetence. So, not only do we live in the fallout of their idiocy, but we have no hope of their acknowledging that idiocy and handing over the reins to the obviously more qualified sex. When you think about it, haven’t the lads had more than enough time to prove themselves? How many centuries of Patriarchal bungling does it take before a light goes on somewhere? Let's face it, if guys COULD do this, they’d have done it by now. They’d have done it long before now.

But before you start freaking out, relax. I’m not suggesting that Hillary, nor far less, Sarah Palin should be running the show in America. Just because one is a woman, doesn’t mean one is automatically capable of political leadership. And in the case of Palin, it must be added that Republican women would also make terrible leaders, for the simple reason that Republican ideology is staunchly patriarchal to begin with. No, we must have a liberal, matriarchal, fiercely independent, and if possible, sexy Left-Winger to run the show. (Naturally, a Plus-Size beauty would be the ultimate, but so far, I can't find any big girls running for office.) This kind of liberalism would send the right message to the rest of the world. Just imagine, for example, if Californians had done the right thing and elected Mary Carey Governor back in '03.  By now, many of our political crises would have been well on their ways to resolution. A woman like Mary Carey is going to get what she wants, especially from men. Her very presence as a political leader would have brought in untold new revenues for the state, (you know, people pay just for the privilege of looking at her) and as for her overall agenda, just check it out.

Mary Carey's Platform:
1. Legalize same-sex marriage
2. Tax breast implants
3. Make lap-dances tax deductible
4. Wire the California Governor's Mansion with live web-cams
5. Create a "Porn for Pistols" program to reduce the number of handguns
6. Be a goodwill ambassador to attract business to the state
7. Make those drawing unemployment insurance do jury duty for their pay
8. Fight the attacks on the porn industry by John Ashcroft and the U.S. Department of Justice
9. Allow bars to stay open until 4:00 A.M.
10. Address the AIDS epidemic

Not too shabby. Far better priorities than any the boys have come up with so far. And what's with Schwarzenegger, anyway? How was he reckoned to be so far superior to Ms. Carey? Last time I checked, he had the same political credentials she had: None. His vocational experience was identical to hers; a film star who mostly showed off a great body in order to get over. On the up-side, her English was always MUCH better than Arnold's. Well, I don't know. The people have spoken, though why they spoke the way they did is anybody's guess. One thing's for sure. More than 5 years later, nothing's changed in 'Collie-fornia.'




A little further back, the Italians actually got this thing right, sort of. Remember Cicciolina? The Italian porn actress was presented to the parliament as a candidate for the country's first Green Party in 1979, and, after switching to the Radical Party, was elected to Italian Parliament in 1987, receiving the party's second highest number of votes. Not that Cicciolina can take sole credit for it, but it has been noted that during her years in office the Italian economy was sound and the country was free of conflict and of any major political tensions. She continues to be politically active, campaigning for sexual freedoms, a future without nuclear energy, and an end to the death penalty. She is also active in the fight against A.I.D.S.

Cicciolina performing 'Political Woman.' Cool!

Well, admittedly, these two pioneering women represent only the most rudimentary beginnings to the hopes of a future matriarchal world order, but the profound differences in their priorities from the trivial agendas of male politics are in fact radically powerful reflections of a far more sane and do-ably utopian vision of society than any put forth by 'the dudes.' And the ideas briefly outlined above are but a few of the basic, common-sense platforms that would be adopted and implemented by women in positions of political influence. Wouldn't it be too cool if this were only the beginning? If a new wave of porn stars, BBW models, dominatrices, strippers, and others from the sex industry become politically involved, the future could become bright indeed. Hopefully the girls will heed the call of a disintegrating world and become motivated to get down and get their game on. If they don't, I'm afraid to say it's 'Game Over.' You've had a lot more chances than you deserve, boys, and you've still fucked it up. Royally. It's time to get outta town.

A Study: The Evolution of Consciousness.

It is not likely that our universe is all there is to it. Prevailing trends in Physics and Cosmology lean heavily towards a model of reality that is far more deeply layered than we dare imagine, complete with multiple universes (perhaps an infinite number of them), parallel realities, wormholes, black holes, vibrating strings, higher dimensional ‘branes’ and dark matter, as well as the bizarre, imprecise machinations of quantum activity, which mysteriously guide the the workings of the world at the sub-atomic level. What we now understand about reality seems more wildly fantastic than anything we dreamt of in even the most outlandish creations of Science Fiction a mere 50 years ago. The more we learn, the more complex and beautiful reality reveals itself to be, and the more clearly does the idea of universal evolution reveal itself in our observations. Even more astounding than the evolution of living organic forms is the evolution of consciousness and universal energy. The fact that humankind came to evolve into a self-conscious being is the evolutionary marvel of marvels. It is this ability to think in the abstract that allows us a subjective comprehension of higher realities and the capacity for direct experience of those realities as well. Unfortunately, however, the majority of humankind uses its intellect as nothing more than a glorified calculator, determining the most efficient pathways to the solution of mundane worldly exercises usually amounting to little more than the procurement of the daily bread. This disparity, more than a mere curiosity to my mind, between the totality of our evolutionary potential and the real life choices we actually make, is the subject of this brief essay.

It would appear as if this very fact of Man’s evolutionary acceleration has given him exceptional tools for both progression and regression. While those given to wonder and philosophical inquiry recognize the fact that humanity is even now in a unique position to take an unprecedented leap toward collective Cosmic Consciousness, the masses who are not so disposed are intent upon making little of the salient matters of human development, and seem actually determined to remain earthbound in the most pejorative sense of the term. As a result, we find our world inexplicably mired in trivial pursuits and all manner of needless conflicts attending to greed, intolerance, base materialism, and mindless self-absorbtion. We look on in astonishment and often in hopelessness at the folly of life lived in the blind following of these cultural ‘norms.’ And while it may be said that Western culture offers a considerably wider variety of lifestyle alternatives than is found in the East, and certainly in the underdeveloped societies, it in no way follows that these alternatives are progressive. The problem is that virtually all operative choices in our culture are based on a faulty foundation, that is, the myth of uber-capitalism. Rampant capitalist culture has set us back, in an evolutionary sense, to a degree we don’t even yet fully understand. And the vast majority of our species shows no indication of any impending epiphanies that might lead to enlightenment.

What is needed is an awareness of the concept of transcendence. Transcendence, after all, is what EVERYONE is going for, but it’s a tricky devil to get a hold of. Our deepest innate human need is for transcendence. It is the recognition of the fact that every decision we make, right down to the color of our socks, is a decision made in the face of our inevitable death. Because of the fact that we have evolved to the point of finding ourselves travelling along the plane of self-conscious awareness, the fact of death is now a problem. At the very least, it is a limitation, and in the minds of most a relatively severe limitation. But like it or not, it colors everything we do, whether consciously or unconsciously, and it is the wise person who recognizes this and understands that it is precisely this sense of ultimate limitation that we seek—at the deepest core of our being—to transcend. And this sense of transcendence is so necessary to our inner completion that to remain without it is to remain incomplete and, by definition, far short of our human potential. We call this alienated, incomplete mode of being ‘inauthentic.’

Still, our cultural models reflect no awareness of any of this. More than ever, in fact, the cultural model—certainly in America—is that of base materialism masquerading as the ‘Christian Society of our Fore-Fathers.’ This mottled and self-contradictory attempt at cultural modeling has left us with the kind of insipid and untenable discourse that characterizes our nation. People don’t know if they’re supposed to become mindless religious zealots or mindless atheistic materialists, and in the long run, there’s not as much difference between the two as you might think. What is certain is that you don’t get transcendence in either camp. So, what do we do? How do we even hope to propogate a message of sanity based upon transcendence and a grasp of the evolution of consciousness to a world buried up to its neck in the quicksand of the global marketplace? All we can do is live the life. We’ve got to show ‘em what we’ve got. We’ve got one powerful thing going for us; Higher Awareness. And if we can demonstrate that awareness in our lives, it can’t help but have an impact. So we’ll do it. We’ll keep preaching the power of sexual freedom, and the transcendence that provides. We’ll look to the New Physics, which keep bringing us closer to God with every new discovery. We’ll point them to the humanities, because without The Arts and the appreciation of them on a grand scale, the world is going to keep churning out useless M.B.A.’s with their brains wired and their minds closed until it atrophies and hurtles into the Sun. We’ll continue to open ourselves, until untold numbers of us have achieved Cosmic Consciousness and understand the eternal nature of The Cosmos and our relationship to it. We’ll see ourselves accurately as the universe manifesting itself through our Being, and as people tire of the endless drudgery of inauthenticity, there will be an example before them, a people with light upon its collective countenance and a whisper on its lips; ‘Transcendence,’ these will say, ‘is everyone’s.’



Join me in upcoming posts for more in-depth discussion on the concepts of Cosmic Consciousness and the Evolution of Consciousness. J.T.

Music of the Spheres: A Primer

To listen to Jazz or Modern Classical music is to experience something on the cutting edge of Man’s knowledge. It is to grasp something of the discoveries of the New Physics, a sense of joy and revelation brought about by a transcendental glimpse of extra dimensional space-time and the certainty that there is a mysterious and benevolent force behind the everyday reality we so easily take for granted. If such a description sounds overly ‘lofty,’ it was meant to. This is what good music is all about. It is why composers dedicate their lives to composing it. Our culture is so busily engaged in all manner of creating and preserving homogenization that people actually lose sight of any notions of individuality and the unique types of experience that should accompany it. This is especially true in the higher arts, which are created with a purity of purpose that seems to categorically exclude them from the canons of heavily promoted materials that inevitably come to the attention of the masses. And so we recognize a defective and dehumanizing system of reference through which the most significant music (and art in all its forms) is the least likely to be discovered by the world community at large. This is an especially disheartening thought when we observe the depth of hopelessness and dissent in our world today. On a planet inhabited overwhelmingly by alienated spirits, the fact that the experience of such revolutionary and evolutionary music will remain forever unknown to them is more than a sadness. It is a tragedy.


Olivier Messiaen

What this means is that we are charged with the responsibility of discovering the true treasures more or less on our own. Having been an Avante-Garde art junkie from a young age, however, I can definitely turn you on to you a few 'fer shurs' that'll help you start getting your heads into the right space. Understand that much of this music is difficult, and definitely makes demands on the listener. Much of it is atonal, polytonal, and/or polyrhythmic and if you're not hip to that experience, your first encounter with such sounds will be like stumbling inadvertantly into a maze. You don't know where you are and you can't see the way out. And here is exactly the point at which you get a chance to grow. What you do with the opportunity depends on what sort of growth you’re open to and interested in. Keep in mind, I’m not suggesting that the function of art is to produce any kind of ‘wave of enlightenment’ within the ranks of humanity. I’m merely pointing out that the real thing, produced by the true artists, has that potential. So far, humankind doesn’t show a hell of a lot of interest in being led in such directions. Their loss…Big Time.


Pierre Boulez

But let’s talk about these more difficult forms for a moment before I leave you with some listening suggestions. These modern forms of music as exemplified by Jazz and what I call Experimental Classical music follow very closely the developments of Science and Philosophy. Physics and Cosmology have made almost incomprehensible leaps in our understanding of the true nature of the universe during the past 100 years or so, and Philosophy has almost kept pace with its rapidly evolving methods of Critical Theory, which have brought us to the point of actually being prepared to use its tools of discovery to grasp something of the absolute truth with regard to the human experience. In much the same way as quantum mechanics allowed us to glimpse what the universe is really like at its foundational, subatomic levels, modern music translates the soul of these kinds of extraordinary discoveries into sound to which we respond at our own deepest foundational levels. And as Quantum Physics presents to us a world that can only be described as the ‘controlled chaos’ beneath the surface of things, modern music also presents us a world of controlled chaos; a world that is utterly unpredictable UP TO A POINT. This qualification is key both in science and in the world of new music. For what we hear is the appearance of wanton anarchy, but which, upon further inspection, is found to be ordered in certain quirky but definite ways.


Miles Davis

Many people feel a sense of discomfort when they are first exposed to music that strays so far from the comfortably familiar sounds and rhythms of our everyday media music. If this is your first reaction, it’s important to suspend judgement here and open yourself up to the newness of fresh experience. This music is cerebral in the coolest sense of the word. It is music that must be absorbed consciously, meditated upon, listened to with real ears and with heart. It doesn’t work as background music AT ALL. That being said, much sophisticated Jazz does swing, and swings hard. It will move you physically even as it shreds your brain with wonderment. Experimental Classical works, however, are for the most part aimed squarely at the spirit by way of the intellect. When listening to these types of works, the ticket is to just chill. Relax, burn one if you like, and just luxuriate in the experience, even if you find it uncomfortable at first. You will soon find these elaborate and immaculate structures of sound working a unique kind of magic on you at levels far deeper than that of ordinary waking consciousness. And far deeper than the stuff on Video Countdown this morning, too. Take it in your own time until you begin to fully appreciate the level and quality of craft that goes into the composition and performance of such incredible works of art. If you're turned on by the kind of accomplishments that only come with the total dedication of the human spirit to the cause of artistic expression, these forms of music will take you higher than perhaps you've ever been before. If you've never thought of art and music in those terms, there's a whole new world waiting for you. May you dive in and snag a glimpse of the real deal. After all, it was done for you in the first place.


John Coltrane performing: "Transition"

Pierre Boulez: "Structures For 2 Pianos-ChapterI"

Olivier Messiaen: "Mode de valeurs et d' intensites" Performed by Gloria Cheng.

Miles Davis: "Pharaoh's Dance"

Sex Freaks For A Sane Society

We live in a world that has become bipolar; a wild roller coaster ride, soaring to more beautifully progressive heights one day, only to plunge back into the fetid mire of conservatism the next. Most of the time I can’t decide if I love the world I live in, or if I hate it. I suppose most people would tell you the same thing, though probably not for the same reasons. It's often hard to get ones bearings amidst the ever more frequent collisions of diametrically opposed belief systems today, where the abyss that separates liberal and conservative ideology is deep and wide, and shows no signs of being bridged any time in the near future. There is always that nagging feeling that something has gone greatly amiss, that the rich promise of cultural advance spawned in the 1960's has taken the form of some strange Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship on the stormy seas of sociological warfare, anxiously in search of a new shore upon which to land and re-colonize. The politics of fear and intolerance keep the people frightened, and frightened people are not only unhappy people, they’re also dangerous. The continuing presence of this paranoid manifestation of social power causes progressives a kind of ambivalence with regard to the world they live in that is itself somewhat schizoid. We find ourselves split down the middle, unsure whether hope for progress is still rational, or if it’s merely the refuge of fools.

I’ll definitely have to admit to having a great love for the texture of modern culture. Sleek, bright, hi-tech, computer-generated, a self-constructed paradise of potentiality in which the human animal may play to its heart’s content. Sort of. It also generates overload at a rate that would likely boggle the minds of even the Aldous Huxleys and the George Orwells who peered so accurately into our time from their distant vantage points back in the day; the day when computers were something known only to secret government mad scientists and a developing generation of comic book kids, most of whom grew up to become computer geniuses in their own rights. But despite the overcrowding, the sitting in traffic, the frustration of never speaking with real humans on the phone any more, and the accumulated stress that must certainly be gnawing away at my very sanity, I find myself profoundly grateful to be living at this moment in history. It does indeed seem in many respects to be the realization of those futuristic worlds from the childhood comics actually come to life. I did always think, though, that the cars of today would look a lot more like spacecraft than they do, and the fact that the styles have scarcely changed over the last 2 decades is definitely a disappointment. Still, I have to believe that the day is coming. Think ‘Jetsons.’ That’s what I’m really hoping for.

So what does this erratic and polarized society of ours have to say about the BBW Lifestyle? About the BDSM Lifestyle? About Sexuality in general? Can we consider this a time of potential progress with regard to acceptance of preferences, or is the message of fear behind the conservative propaganda pushing us in the opposite direction? Quite often it seems very hard to tell who’s winning. So what does this erratic and polarized society of ours have to say about the BBW Lifestyle? About the BDSM Lifestyle? About Sexuality in general? Can we consider this a time of potential progress with regard to acceptance of preferences, or is the message of fear behind the conservative propaganda pushing us in the opposite direction? Quite often it seems very hard to tell who’s winning. But whether the governing body leans left or leans right, the fact remains that the conservative base will always be championing new doctrines of exclusion and ultimate fear, and to the extent that they succeed in implementing these, individual freedoms will always suffer the consequences, even—and perhaps especially—in the realm of sexuality. The conservative agenda of policing morality also has a serious side-effect in that such social imperatives serve to further sow the seeds of hate. The message that there is only one form of acceptable sexuality, and that this form itself is never to be mentioned openly, will always find its constituency among any group of paranoiacs. They are all too ready to become fueled by the right-wing rhetoric and adopt a stance of deeper intolerance in a desperate effort to achieve a feeling of safety through homogenization. As a result, those whose sexual preferences fall outside these artificial boundaries will continue to be targeted as serious threats to cultural 'normalcy,' and will be made to suffer injustices as a consequence.

If this narrow-mindedness were confined only to the most radical of fundamentalist extremists, it would not be such a cause for concern. The problem is that the message of intolerance also has its effects on the more centrist population who might be ready to accept at least a small step forward in their openness to other belief systems if they weren't continually inculcated with the notion that 'normal' people simply don't accept aberrations. Without a doubt, the proponents of a progressive and sane society must work much harder than they have in the past to get the message of tolerance out. The message of fear reaches into our lives on a constant basis, but the rejoinder of tolerance and open-ness is all too seldom heard. One of the most disturbing things about the message of fear is the effect it has on young mothers. Far too many of them are victimized by the politics of fear. They become so fearful over their children being exposed to anything unwholesome that they literally lose all rationality and become aligned with hard-core conservatism, terrified—of all things—that a world of progress, inclusiveness, and openness is a danger to their kids. They need to be reeducated in order to understand that the world becomes a better place when we’re open to it, not when we harbor suspicion, prejudice, and hate against any group that WE think may be of harm to our children.

The same kind of normative prejudice is explicit in the media’s endorsement of sexual stereotypes. The media’s entire function is that of defining the ‘normal.’ Everything with which you identify signals your normality, your level of conformity. Everything to which you feel opposed signals your ‘outsider’ status; a status you could well take on completely if you don’t change your way of thinking. There is an implied threat there that you may be ‘slipping.’ It’s critical in this regard to keep sharpening your own awareness. We can’t afford to be made into puppets by the pronouncements heard over our big-screens. Those pronouncements are carefully created to keep you in fear of becoming a reject, and of course, nobody wants to be a reject. Nevertheless, it is necessary to risk it if you’re going to be true to self. Social rejection is a tough thing to deal with. It makes you feel small. It often makes you feel less than human in some ways. But we who understand that the myth of the sexual norm is an illusion, a DElusion, if you will, can discover the path to freedom. It definitely takes strength. Most of all it takes commitment; commitment to ourselves and to the task of widening the world’s all-too-often narrow view of things. The structures upon which the message of social conformity is built are solid institutions; Tradition, Religion, false notions of Teleology, and especially the collective mental state that clings steadfast to falsehood while sincerely believing it to be truth. These structures aren’t toppled easily. But those who persist in remaining true to their deepest sexual identities become increasingly capable of understanding them and in so doing learning how to diffuse their influence.

The key to growth with regard to our ‘alternative’ identities is to continue coming together. If we keep on connecting we can build a powerful unity out of our diversity. We can become reborn as a collective, a FreakNation, committed to personal freedoms and the guarding of our rights to express them. It’s so important that we begin to set the example for sanity. Humankind is running so far below its potential, and it’s all because the dead weight of fear and the rejection of open-ness continue to weigh us down like some gargantuan sociological anvil. It is indeed time to make it known that it’s the Freaks—Big Girls, Gays, Sadists, Masochists, everyone on the so called 'fringes' of straight society—that are going to bring the human race into a glorious new phase of evolution. It will be like a reverse Rapture in which only the fear-mongers get left behind! All we have to do is keep connecting with each other and keep being who we are.

And so, the state of Sex as we near the end of 2008 can be reported at best as moderately healthy. There’s still a lot of hate out there. Sexual hate. Hatred of gays, hatred of submissives, hatred of mixed couples, and of course, the hatred against which I’m engaged most directly, hatred of fat girls. Proponents of the BBW Lifestyle still have a lot of work to do. Beautiful big girls need more mainstream promotion, more high-profile media buzz, and more willingness to stand up and be admired. There may indeed be a lot of hate out there. But there’s a lot of love, too. And you don’t get to receive it until you put yourselves out there, squarely in its path. Cheers!

Women's Wrestling: A Meeting With The Archetypes

I’ll go on record. I’m a huge fan of Lady Wrestling. That’s what we always called it. I grew up marveling at the likes of Betty Niccoli, Joyce Grable, Lelani Kai, Moolah, Toni Rose, Donna Christenello, and Sandy Partelow. It was a magical time because women’s matches were so much more popular relative to the men’s matches, in some areas of the country and in some leagues, they were on nearly equal footing with the guys. You would always find women’s matches as part and parcel of a given night’s card, and all-women’s cards were not uncommon. The Old-School gals were tough cookies, too. The matches lasted considerably longer than they do today, which was a welcome feature as the lads in the audience got to admire their favorite warrior princesses for as long as 45 minutes to an hour in most cases. There was also something really cool about the basic attire worn by the Old-School ladies. They all wore one-piece outfits that were basically modified swimsuits with regulation wrestling boots. Well, having always been an unashamed leg man, [or leg BOY, as it were] I took particular delight in the excitement of being treated to such lengthy perusals of beautiful women and their bare legs. And that’s probably my biggest gripe about the New School of Wrestling Divas; all too often the most beautiful Amazon enters the ring wearing long tights, or even worse, full length designer gym wear in which EVERYTHING is left up to the imagination. It’s just wrong, and I guarantee you that if you polled every guy in the nation regarding his opinion on this point, you’d get a unanimous response in favor of [hello] BARE LEGS. It’s a no-brainer. I want to return to some other noteworthy contrasts between the Old School and the New School, but first let’s tackle the larger question of what this whole Women's Wrestling phenomenon is about. Why DO we love Women's Wrestling so much, and what does the fact that we do have to say about us?


Today's Look: Battle of the Super-Models.

Upon first inspection these questions admit of one easy answer. In a word, catfights. Don’t let any human male tell you differently, because he’ll simply be lying. Don’t let any human male tell you differently, because he’ll simply be lying. Men--yes, all men--have a completely unnatural predilection towards the enjoyment of catfights. They’re exotic, they’re exciting, and they’re just plain sexy. Added to all that is the fact that there’s something hard-wired into the human psyche, male OR female, that thrives on violence; be it car crashes, flaming buildings, air show disasters, or two people trying to disfigure each other. Sex & Violence. That’s what it’s all about, and Women's Wrestling serves up both in spades. Sex and Violence are at the heart of the human Unconscious, that place where we harbor our taboos, our deepest desires, our secret loves and fears, and our darkest impulses. Women's Wrestling taps into that realm in a most innocuous and therefore quite effective way, through the vehicle of a publicly acceptable forum in which women may display their propensities for both halves of the paradigm. In manifesting this ‘faux’ version of Sex and Violence, these extraordinary goddesses accomplish the release of their physical aggressions in the form of a cathartic act. But they do much more. They also establish a powerful line of contact in the psychic realm, which serves to transfer their own sexually violent energies directly outward and into the bloodstreams of scores of young male fans, infusing them with erotic visions that will spark their libidinal awareness now, and a developing instinct toward the faithful serving of the goddess later on.

And so Lady Wrestlers set the tone for something larger than mere entertainment. They engender a real love of female superiority, as well as a fixed point at which we may encounter the mythological archetype and even interact with her after a fashion. In a vital and important way they provide a vicarious fulfillment to the inherent obsession with sexually-charged violence that lies deep within the core of the human experience. In so doing, they open the channels for our journeys into the unconscious and the enlightening explorations that only such journeys can provide in terms of our psycho-emotional development.



OK, as promised, let’s get back to the contrast between the Old School and the New School in Ladies’ Wrestling. They may actually be enumerated most effectively by simply outlining a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario that harvests the most enduring features from each model. Firstly, it must be said that Lady Wrestling is still far from reaching its potential in terms of visibility and mass audience. The whole point of Vince McMahon’s ‘Sports Entertainment’ concept has been that of popularizing Wrestling beyond the scope of what anyone thought possible 40 years ago. He’s done exactly that...for the men. But he has thus far missed the boat where the ladies are concerned. So many of the fundamentals are in place, but Lady Wrestling is still missing the publicity and serious promotion necessary to put it over the top. Not that they don't try to give the girls their time; they do. They just don't give them the right kind of time, nor quite enough of it. The problem lies precisely in the abandoning of those few salient features that were characteristic of the Old School. To wit, then; the Tysonian formula for an undreamed-of level of popularity in Women's Wrestling.

BRING BACK:
More wrestling, in addition to the sensationalism. Take a cue from what was noted in our opening paragraph; lengthier matches with more traditional wrestling holds and moves. The modern notion is that such an approach makes for boring matches because of the extended periods of being trapped in various holds such as arm locks, toe holds, etc. Boring? What do they think the lads are looking at, anyway? The Old School approach just gives fans a longer and more stationary look at what they came to look at in the first place.

Maximum exposure mandatory. Of course, I’m talking about legs. Under no circumstances should a Lady Wrestler ever enter the ring in an outfit that does not fully display her bare legs. Period.

Get back to matches with time limits and a best of 3 falls format. Again, the ladies need more time out there in order to maximize their popularity.

At least 2 women’s matches per card, with occasional all-women’s cards on a test run basis.

Bigger Girls. Not every Diva needs to be a fitness model. Use some good old Midwestern raw-boned, corn fed hotties that bring power and variety of vibe to the table.


KEEP:
Great story lines, aerial show and acrobatics, major flash in terms of colors and characters, and definitely keep the body builders and fitness girls coming. They’re Hot, and they're larger than life, both very important elements in the construction of any hyper-successful cultural phenomenon.

Finally, what does our love of Women's Wrestling say about us as a culture? As individuals? Put simply, it reminds us that we're a comic book culture, and that we should be proud of that extraordinary fact. After all, it's the comics that embody all the significant aspects of human existence, and for the right price; usually around 3 bucks. Among those hallowed pages, and on any given night inside the square circle, the fundamentals of the big game always appear before us:

1. The importance of fantasy in the real lives of real people.
2. The triumph of justice and tolerance over injustice and bigotry.
3. The triumph of Good over Evil.
4. The triumph of open sexuality over mindless fear and repression.
5. An outlet for the psychic release of the violence that resides within all of us. Women's Wrestling provides catharsis for these innate violent impulses, even as it functions simultaneously as the vehicle for a heightened hyper-eroticism.
6. Creates an atmosphere of ritual; the worship of the divine goddess. Though it's all a fantasy, this element of the sacred is often realized on a much deeper level and will be accessed later on.

In conclusion, Women's Wrestling is good for you! (Especially if you're a guy)...(or a girl... or a guy) Women's Wrestling has the potential to heal society by putting us in touch with our primal psychic impulses, and creating access to the mythological archetypes. Far-fetched? No way. The comics could do the same thing if the world at large would get on board. But surely the combination of comics AND Women's Wrestling should suffice to help us poor humans get a grip and ascend to our next level of development. It's just common sense. So let's all pull together and keep those letters and emails pouring in to the offices of WWE. Mr. McMahon, our voices will be heard! Along with your genre-changing innovations, we implore you to bring Women's Wrestling back to the place of prominence it enjoyed in the Golden Era of the 50's, 60's and early 70's. If you do, you'll be able to say, in all candor, 'Twas the Divine Goddesses of Sports Entertainment that healed the world.' Not too shabby.

On Aesthetic Originality

Originality is the Holy Grail of artistic endeavor. More precious than gold, it speaks to us at our point of aesthetic want; that place where art is supposed to speak to us, in that sacred part of our being which is built for the express purpose of apprehending the aesthetic experience. And when it's good, it's very, very good. Because it is also the most intangible element of the creative act, it is the most elusive in terms of translation and basic understanding. Very few artists achieve it. Very few ever will achieve it. And yet, it is instantly recognizable when we stumble into its presence. There it is, something utterly unique and inimitable. Something that changes us in ways that add profoundly to our depth, but that we understand only as Enchantment. In a world in which homogeneity is prized above all things, we experience originality as something almost incomprehensible, and if we are lucky enough to remain focused, without distraction for that brief moment in its presence, the philosophical question arises; ‘From whence comes this?’ And we are unable to say.

Can we learn to be original? Great artists are virtually unanimous in their belief that it is something that cannot be taught, and likely for just that reason, it is to be found as often among unschooled artists as those who have gone the academic route. So what is it? Hmmm. We scratch our heads. We have to think.

The biggest problem in delving into the nature and process of originality is that it seems utterly resistant to formal definition. It’s like trying to give the definition of a chair. (Go ahead and try that one!) Every time we try to put our fingers on it, we find it has shifted, moved just out of reach like some funky quantum particle. Of course, ostensive definitions are what we use. THIS is a work of great originality. THAT one over there is not. Just like you do for the chair. Of course, it's easy enough to simply say 'I've never heard/read/seen/felt anything like THIS before, therefore, it must possess significant originality. Well, it ain’t necessarily so. Could be your experience is quite limited. You have no way of knowing whether or not Stevie Ray Vaughn has achieved originality among blues players if the only other one you've ever heard is B.B. King. And it is here that we have stumbled onto what is probably the best possible guideline; experience. Those who have spent their lives, for example, deeply absorbed in the world of music, having listened in depth to many different forms, many different musicians, many different approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmonization, etc. know that the sheer number of experiences they’ve had will help them to discover ‘original’ artistry and to distinguish it from the derivative, particularly the highly derivative. (Which, sadly, constitutes by far the lion’s share of all music.) Of course, we don't all get to be musicologists. But if our culture, particularly in America, put more emphasis on the value of the artistic experience in the process of human development, we would find not only vast numbers of people joyously celebrating their own precious discoveries of originality in the arts, we would also find that same culture reaching unimaginably higher levels of potential in all its fields of endeavor. The whole thing is connected.

It is also important to note that there is no direct connection between artistic ‘talent’ or ‘ability’ and originality. It’s not about being good at what you do. The vast majority of craftsmen and craftswomen who achieve high levels of technical proficiency in their chosen artistic fields will forever remain outsiders to the sacred realm of originality. This doesn’t mean that we can’t be deeply moved by their efforts. There are so many great artists doing meaningful work; virtuoso musicians, extraordinary draftsmen, wizards with words, amazing actors, the list goes on. They live that they may communicate great things to us, and they succeed. But even in the presence of mercurial virtuosity we are seldom apt to find originality. It’s a different animal. The distinction here is between ‘the accomplished’ and ‘the unique.’ ‘The unique’ is the higher entity. It signals a place to which only this one gifted individual can take us. Such realms are lofty indeed.

This, then, is the salient point with regard to having any kind of advanced conception of originality in the arts and sciences. Simply put, it's like this; if you immerse yourself in the world of human creativity, your experience of living life at this time on this planet will have been profoundly maximized. If you squander all your time on your sales ledgers, it will have been just as profoundly minimized. And as far as we know, we only get to do this once. So it's all about how high we think humankind ought to be capable of soaring, and whether or not we choose to become living examples. One thing is certain. If we all learn to step back from the trivial and uninspired hours that the world always forces upon us on some level, and learn to be in the moment with a great work of art, we will have learned how to be magicians. We can stop time. We can snatch a fleeting glimpse into the eternal unity of the universe in which we live. Indeed, we may become as gods from just such moments.

Allan Holdsworth

A True Original