LIVING LIKE A HETEROSEXUAL

by

Charles W. Bevel Sr.

1
 Preface

i During the spring of 1993, I had been invited to attend a

meeting of homosexuals, lesbians and bi-sexuals by the daughter

of a close friend of mine. The meeting took place at Cleveland

State University. The impetus for the meeting was an article in

a local newspaper, The Call and Post, which in its tone, almost

took the form of a proclamation. The article had been signed by

prominent members of the local black clergy. It strongly

2
denounced U. S. Congressional House Bill 431, a bill that has

languished in one Congressional Committee or another for the

past twenty years and which was due up soon for discussion by

the United States Congress.

ii The ministers' denunciations were couched in the usual

language of ecclesiastical moral outrage. The focus of their

argument was that the Bill promoted a sexual life style that was

against the laws of God. Nothing in their pronouncement or

argument spoke to the real intent of the bill, which, as is

clearly stated in the bill itself, has no other purpose than to

prevent housing and job discrimination based on sexual

orientation. An interesting fact around the matter is that

there usually isn't that much interest when black clergy preach

sermons about or make pronouncements against homosexuality. The

reason being is that as reflected in the de facto reality (even

in the churches of the ministers who signed the manifesto), from

the blatantly obvious to the "only whispered about", homosexuals

have found in the black church a most comfortable place to

worship.

3
iii Of greater concern for the group of "other" sexuals (which

included heterosexuals like myself who supported their cause) in

relationship to what the black ministers were saying, was the

issue of, why were such prominent black ministers suddenly

finding it necessary to be taking such an obvious and blatant

stand in a local newspaper against civil rights for those who

sexual preferences were other than heterosexual? During the

meeting, which included presently practicing black homosexual

ministers, it became clear that the issue was one of being

concerned as to whether or not the local black ministers were

being used as pawns by the white "Moral Majority" movement to

broaden its front; that is, the black ministers in question,

either through the use of direct money payments or other means,

were being egged on to do somebody else's "dirty work".

iv Having myself pondered the question of homosexuality for

many years, and having come to a personal understanding about it

that I can articulate before men and my own God, and having some

historical insights into both the issues around homosexuality

and its relationship to the "church", I decided to write a brief

article for the group. Well, I never got around to attending

4
the group's next meeting and the "article", which follows,

turned out to be more of an essay than just an article.

v What the following essay attempts to do is to put not just

homosexuality, bi-sexuality and other sexualities into

perspective, but to challenge heterosexuality to put itself into

perspective; to come out of its own closet as it were. It will

be a tremendous challenge for heterosexuality to do that. And

the challenge will be made most difficult by the self-imposed

blinders that most heterosexuals wear, an especially most

Christian heterosexuals. But it is a challenge that

heterosexualism (and Christians) has to accept, if human

sexuality is to ever come from under the dark cloud that has

eclipsed all things sexual in western civilization for nearly

two thousand years.

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 LIVING LIKE A HETEROSEXUAL

01 The push has begun. But it is so weak until I hesitate to

call it a push. With tentative hands and pounding hearts, a few

homosexuals, bisexual and others non-heterosexuals are furtively

cracking the closet doors. Words of hope and reassurance might

be in order, but during the present phase of the continuing

battle to rescue human sexuality in western civilization from

the two-thousand-year siege under which it has languished since

the fall of the Roman Empire, it is knowledge and raw courage

that will be required, not a few half-hearted clichés from

friends and family about "love and support". As the troops from

both sides muster for the fracas around "gay rights", all non-

heterosexuals must be prepared to face the reality that, of

"friends and family", many are going to wing from your side as

swiftly as birds fleeing from a fourth of July fireworks

spectacle, when the battle begins.

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02 Although most people will be led to think so, the battle

line for the impending confrontation is really not drawn through

the question of "gay and lesbian rights". The issue is not

whether people who do not practice heterosexuality should have

the same sexual freedoms as heterosexuals. The real issue is

whether or not there should be sexual freedom for anyone at all,

regardless of their sexual preferences or practices,

heterosexuals included. And when the issue is focused even more

sharply, at the core of the contention is the question of

whether human beings should engage in any sexual conduct that is

not done solely as an act of procreation.

03 Placing the "sexual preference" issue in a larger context

is not an attempt to dilute the resolve and strength of non-

heterosexuals who are presently working to dispel the oppressive

atmosphere in which they must live and work. Understanding the

larger picture will invariably allow those who are weathering

that oppression to resist more effectively no matter how

localized or personalized their efforts are.

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04 "Sex for procreation only", is emblazoned across the battle

standard of the forces gathering to rid the world of non-

heterosexuals. Though many of the soldiers fighting under that

banner aren't even aware of what it says; haven't even taken the

time to look up at it, they stand ready to fight, to kill and be

killed for that cause.

05 As hyperbolic as that last paragraph may sound, if the time

is taken to examine the whole state of human sexuality in

western civilization--the condition that it is in and how it got

there--you will find that what is being said is not an

exaggeration. And even though the extreme position of "sex for

procreation only" has never become the law of the land in any

nation, put forth under the guise of "morality", this

sanctimonious imperative has cast a dank shadow across the

landscape of human sexuality for nearly two thousand years. But

the edict is a false one; and its authority is not "moral", nor

is it based on any Universal, Divine or spiritual law.

06 The edict is based solely on human decisions made in the

not too distant past; deliberate decisions to culturally deaden

8
one of the most essential ingredients to human well being that

exist, and that ingredient is "sensuality". In spite of the

sexual connotations that the word presently carries, sensuality

in its root meaning refers not to some form of seductive sexual

enticement but to the simple actions of human beings physically

touching and embracing each other--a need that is as essential

to our well being as is our need to breathe.

07 Just as it would be ludicrous to speak of a brick wall as a

wall if it had no mortar between the bricks, it is just as

ludicrous to speak of a human community as a community when and

where people are made to feel guilty, ashamed, and embarrassed

about touching one another. Yet in the present atmosphere that

surrounds sexuality in western civilization, to partake of

sensuality, to be seen or "get caught" touching, hugging or

embracing someone, often creates within us the same anxieties

and feelings of guilt that a drug addict feels when caught

pacifying his cravings. How did this basic need, that is, to be

physically intimate with one another, become such an outcast in

our culture? Why has this lofty necessity, which can have such

a lovable beginning, a baby's mouth clasping a mother's breast,

9
and which often has such a compassionate ending, with death's

next victim being cradled in the arms of a mourner, been cast in

the role of a perverter of souls? Why and how has sensuality

come to have such strong sexual connotations; not only strong,

but "vulgar"? What is the relationship between the battle cry

"Sex for procreation only!" and sensuality?

08 Unlike what is being preached, and believed, the moral

imperative of, "Sex for procreation only!", and the nebulous

silhouette from it, were created, not "in the beginning", but

just two or three centuries short of two thousand years ago amid

the chaos produced by the crumbling of the Roman Empire. The

worshipers of a new god, an invisible god, closed in around the

light of honesty and sexual reality, creating a three-hundred-

sixty-degrees, murky shadow that is grossly out of proportion to

the size of the bodies that cast it. This somber reflection

quickly eclipsed the whole of western civilization and close to

two millennia later still has us wandering, hopelessly lost,

inside its dense forest of shadowy impossibilities, where lying

about one's sexual feelings, thoughts and actions has become the

norm, no matter what our sexual orientation or practices are.

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In this essay I shall refer to this new idol of worship as the

"God of Sexlessness".

09 To get out of the forest that the worshipers of the God of

Sexlessness has driven us into will be difficult. To get out we

must come to understand, historically, why and how those who

worship this god took such a drastic position against human

sexuality, and psychologically, what taking that position means

internally in terms of our feelings and thoughts about sex, and

externally in terms of our sexual actions towards one another.

10 How the worshipers of the God of Sexlessness are able to

maintain their position of shielding all of western civilization

from the light of sexual reality is exceedingly simple. They

know how honest worshipers of any god in any religion,

particularly "true believers", feel about any challenge to

established religion and they use that psychological reality to

shield themselves from attack or criticism by any would be foe.

They hide behind the fear and ignorance of the fervent.

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11 Not only in western civilization, but in any culture or

society, one of the rarest phenomena ever to be witnessed is the

mounting of a successful challenge to the established religious

hierarchy of a reigning deity. Gods may fade away with their

inability to deliver what we need, but they are rarely

overthrown! A head on challenge of the gods is never successful.

To challenge the family patriarch, yes! To challenge an army,

yes! To challenge a government, yes! But to challenge the

"church" is an unspeakable affront that leaves even unbelievers

quaking in their boots. Not from fear of the gods themselves

but from fear of what those who "truly believe" can and will do

(and with impunity) to anyone who presents such a challenge.

And those who maintain the idea of "sex for procreation only"

(and those who only pronounce it to cover their own cowardly

excursions into fulfilling their true sexual needs) find

themselves and their "moral imperative" comfortably lounging

under the umbrella of the various established religious

hierarchies of Christendom. Their comfortable recalcitrance and

smugness is founded on the certainty that any move against their

position, will be perceived in the eyes of the religious

community as an attack upon the authority of God himself. And

so, even as manifold and brachiated as Christendom is, "sex for

12
procreation only" can nevertheless sleep comfortably on any

branch in the tree of Christendom without having to fear for its

safety.

12 In western civilization there now exist for the individual

a constant turmoil, internally and externally, around the issue

of sexuality. And no other society of western civilization is,

or has been, as emotionally unstable around the question of

sexuality as is present day America. And if we are ever to find

a solution to this social impairment, if we are ever to find our

way out of this darkened forest, we must come to see our

uneasiness about sex for what it is; an emotional illness. The

alternative is to blindly languish in this emotional quagmire

until we as a culture drown from it.

13 I do not make these charges lightheartedly. Nor do I

underestimate the difficulty of overcoming the problem. And to

avoid any misunderstanding about what I am contending, let me

make the following statements in unequivocal terms. a) Around

the question of human sexuality, western civilization is gravely

ill. b) The illness itself is emotional and leaves us

13
languishing not only in psychological turmoil but wallowing in a

host of physical sexual diseases as well that we cannot do

anything about because of the psychological mind set with which

we view sex. c) Western civilization has languished in this

emotionally diseased state for nearly two thousand years. d)

And the host carrier and transmitter of the disease, both

consciously and unconsciously, has been our religious

institutions–-"with Christendom" vociferously taking the lead,

and, through proximity and association, infecting every other

religious institution which coexist with it in western

civilization. So Judaism and Islam play a smaller, and less

direct, but nevertheless significant part in recasting the seeds

in each new generation. And so will any other religion that

comes to coexist with Christendom as it exist in western

civilization.

14 In every culture, there will be a need for certain

individuals to deal differently with sex as opposed to how the

majority deals with it. For personal reasons, and for societal

reasons as well, some individuals will find it necessary to

dispense with sex all together. And it is quite possible to

14
live a sane and wholesome life without being sexual. But any

human being who tries to live any kind of life without being

sensual, that is, without physically being able to touch or

embrace other human beings, is destined to exist in a life-long

emotional nightmare.

15 Just as sex is essential before life can occur, sensuality

is just as essential after birth for life to continue. But the

two are not the same. Yet, because the two, sexuality and

sensuality, have become so intertwined in our culture, we find

ourselves cast into a psychological briar patch; we find it

impossible to touch anyone without that touch being perceived as

meaning something sexual. And sex itself, in terms of and

because of the proscriptions placed around it by "religion" (as

practiced in our culture) has been reduced to the most sinful

act this side of homicide. As individuals and as a culture, we

have been pushed so deep into the shadowy forest, until we are

fearful of even discussing the set of impossible contradictions

that has cropped up around our sexuality. Nor do we have the

courage to talk about the historical events that brought those

contradictions into being. What makes it "impossible" for us to

15
talk about those historical events is that they occurred under

the aegis of religion.

16 Although this paper is written from the perspective of non-

heterosexuals seeking justice, as mentioned before, it is

necessary to place the "gay and lesbian" issue in the greater

context of how sexuality as a whole is viewed and practiced by

this society. The bigger issue is whether "living like a

heterosexual" (not the party line, but how heterosexuals truly

relate) is any great cause for thanksgiving in this culture.

And putting those issues in context cannot be done unless some

examination, however brief, is made both from a historical and a

psychological perspective. Again, what were the historical

events which entangled sexuality and sensuality, and which also

made sex so disgustingly sinful? And how was it so easy to

maintain the entanglement of sexuality and sensuality once it

had occurred?

17 In western civilization, our cultural queasiness and

confusion about sex is directly connected to the historical

16
events that occurred during the demise of the Roman Empire and

the rise of the "church" that now bears the name of that fallen

Empire. (Ironically it was not the bishopric at Rome which

coined the phrase "Roman Catholic Church". It was first used by

protestant reformers during the Reformation of the sixteenth

century as a form of mockery). Since the fall of the Roman

Empire, which marked for western civilization the rather sharp

transition from the worship of a pantheon of gods to the worship

of one god, all of the nations of western civilization,

religiously speaking, have been directly under the influence of

the sect(ion) of "Christianity" that grew out of the bishopric

at Rome during, and following, the fall of the Empire. This

influence obviously includes all of the "heretical" protestant

denominations that precipitated out of Roman Catholicism,

beginning with the followers of Martin Luther.

18 Although, what is written here may be perceived as an

attack upon religion or upon the Roman Catholic Church in

particular, it is no more of an attack upon those institutions

than it would be an attack upon Europeans to say that,

"Europeans were responsibility for bringing and maintaining a

system of chattel slavery to the Americas." There is no

17
questioning the fact that "sexlessness" as a hoped-for human

state, whether to be realized here on Earth or in some after

life, came into western civilization as a cultural force through

the impetus and practices instituted by the "church" that grew

out of the bishopric at Rome. The still practiced convention

used by Roman Catholicism for centuries of having the whole

hierarchy of the priesthood, both male and female, practice

celibacy for life, is the living legacy of that hoped for but

unrealized dream for humanity in western civilization. Again,

ironically, the concepts of a celibate priesthood and a sexless

humanity are not even products of Christianity or even of

western civilization--the culture where the concept has its most

staunch advocates. If celibacy and sexlessness do not flow from

the teachings of Jesus, then whose dream or idea was it?

19 The idea and practices of striving to achieve "an eternal

state of bliss at one with the Godhead devoid of sexuality" was

an integral part of Vedic thought and teachings in India for

thousands of years before the advent of Christianity. But in

the context of Vedic teachings in particular and in the context

of religion as practiced in the Orient in general, what and how

18
one practiced religious teachings was an extremely personalized

and highly individualized matter. What reincarnations

(avatars), spirits or gods one chose to follow or emulate as an

individual was respected and protected by the culture. So even

thought the idea of celibacy was alive and well in the Orient it

was always a highly individualized choice. No such freedom of

thought and practice would be tolerated by the institution that

sprang up around, and quickly strangled, the teachings of Jesus;

teachings that were rather rapidly replaced with the teaching of

"the abject sinfulness of sex", and which would lead to the

vigorous and institutionalized quest to achieve a sexless

humanity--as contradictory as that may sound!

20 The idea of a sexless humanity, may be blamed on Jesus, and

he might have been an advocate of such, but there is no

evidence, in what is written of what he himself supposedly said

or did, to confirm that he was an advocate of such. He

certainly seemed to be an advocate of our being prudent and just

in whatever we do, including sex, but the idea of a sexless

humanity was not a part of his agenda. His own reason for being

celibate, if he was, probably had more to do with his self-

19
imposed work ethic rather than with some pious principle against

human beings being sexual. But when we search the written

records to see who felt it was their responsibility to carry out

the idea once it had entered western civilization, historically,

no institution matches the Catholic Church in its zeal, both in

pronouncements and deeds to achieve a state of human

sexlessness. The who, why, how, when and where for the sexless

priesthood of the Catholic Church and the web of moral

proscriptions that was spun around the sex lives of parishioners

is quite clearly documented by the Church itself.

21 And though I might be charged with exercising the utmost

academic irresponsibility of making these charges without

providing a host of references to "scholarly" writings to

confirm my accusations, there can be no questioning whether or

not the writings exist. There is a peculiarity about western

civilization. Maybe it is a universal one. No matter how

glorious or dastardly the deed, western civilization has

culturally ingrained itself with the habit of putting on paper

for posterity its every deed and decision. It is nothing

strange. When you think you are right, you have nothing to

20
hide. In any case whether it pertains to the secular or

religious realm of life, if the deed was done, in western

civilization, "it is written". (There has arisen of late a

cowardly addendum to the practice; the locking away in secret

vaults the accounts of the deeds until all the parties concerned

are dead). So any claims or accusation that I might make can be

clearly and quickly confirmed or disproved by a search through

the Church's own written history and records. From the founding

of the hierarchy, through the many heretical splits, through the

many inquisitions, to the present day tentative discussions

about women in the priesthood, the Church's quite negative

attitudes and actions around sexuality are recorded in written

documents. Accessibility to those documents is usually no more

difficult than going to the main branch of a public library.

22 Again, every religious institution in western civilization

that precipitated out of the religious hierarchy that grew out

of the bishopric at Rome has been instrumental in perpetuating

in some form the concept of "sex for procreation only", and in

helping to keep sexuality and sensuality intertwined, and in

keeping alive the idea of sex being synonymous with sin. I

don't mean that sex done in certain ways is sinful, but sex

21
itself is the sin. The deliberate and successful entanglement

of sexuality with sensuality was a necessary step in the not

quite as successful attempt to make "sex for procreation only"

the only option for human beings.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

23 Later I will present the scenario of why and how the

concept of sex for procreation only made its way into

Christianity. But first, I would like to deal with the issue

from a psychological perspective. At rock bottom, the concept

is schizophrenic; it has a shattered personality--like once

solid ice on a frozen river that has been fractured into floes.

Those who try to make "sex for procreation only" a workable

reality in their lives find themselves--like Eliza with her baby

fleeing from her slave master Simon Legree across a half frozen

river in Uncle Tom's Cabin, precariously jumping from one ice

floe to the next. And like Eliza we find that none of the

fragmented pieces are stable enough to carry our weight.

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24 One of the most grievous flaws or fractures in the concept

of sex for procreation only is that it forces human beings to

engage in sex without being sensual. Having intertwined

sexuality and sensuality as a highly sophisticated but upside-

down means of preventing human sexual contact, the pervasive

guilt, shame and embarrassment that come with any touching,

leave even those who are allowed to have sex under the narrow

and stringent code proposed by the church, trying to do it

without touching each other both physically and psychically.

Being sexual without being sensual is asking a pump to yield

water without being primed. It is like asking a steel wheeled

locomotive to make its way across the countryside without

running on rails. This annoying character defect in the

emotional makeup of western culture manifests itself in many

ways. (Not a small number of American males, particularly

ministers, require their wives to lay stark still while having

intercourse). True to its schizophrenic nature, this perverse

concept can even ask us at the most inopportune times in our

lives to be very sensual without being sexual! At the very time

when our hormonal glands related to sex are pumping secretions

into our blood stream like the Mississippi River pumping mud

23
into the Gulf of Mexico, that is, when we are young adults (from

about twelve through twenty-five), we are told to go full speed

ahead, dance and prance, grab and hold, court and caper, just

don't do "it!"

25 Sex, in a strict technical sense of getting the egg and

sperm together to reproduce the species, is indeed for

procreation only. But in western civilization the process for

getting eggs and sperm together (or not getting them together)

almost always occurs in an uneasy atmosphere tinged with shame,

guilt and embarrassment. Even for those who have taken vows of

celibacy, to talk about sex or sexuality seems to be a most

uncomfortable undertaking. Perhaps their embarrassment comes

from the discomfort experienced by anyone trying to talk to, or

advise others about something which the advisor himself has had

absolutely no experience. For all of us, celibate or not,

talking about sex openly and honestly is the most prohibitive

taboo in our culture, overshadowed only by the prohibitions

against talking about death.

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26 To fully understand what has gone wrong, we have to come to

some understanding of the essential role that sensuality plays

in our lives, and how that essential element has been taken

away. The sense of touch, on a psychological level, is the most

important sense of all in terms of existence and survival, both

to the individual and the species. It is particularly important

at birth and during the two or three years which follow. Most

of the emotional illnesses that we suffer from are engendered by

"touch deprivation"; that is, not being touched and not being

allowed to touch other human beings or things. In present day

western cultures, and particularly in America, a downhill cycle

of touch deprivation for most of us begins at birth.

27 At birth, the only exterior body part that works with any

measure of coordination is the mouth. But, as a culture, we

even deny our newborn babies the sensual and gratifying

experience of sucking at their mother's breasts, closing off the

one and only channel through which the new born can take an

active part in making positive physical contact with another

human being--a function that is just as important as eating

itself. This act of deprivation is the initial step, the big

push most of us get to start us on a downward spiral of becoming

25
less and less able to be sensual, to physically touch and

interact with others.

28 In our culture there are very few impediments to that

downward slide once it has been set in motion. First of all we

are not conscious of the fact that "something is missing". With

all of us having the disease, we see it as "normal". In fact,

the way we culturally view it, it is the "touchy-feely" people

who are the "sickys", the "perverts". One of the clearest and

most interesting manifestations of touch deprivation is that of

"Frottuerists" (DSM-III-R). Frottuerists seek sexual

satisfaction from touching strangers "in all the wrong places".

They usually do it while in situations where it can be claimed

to be an accidents--like in crowded elevators, etc. I prefer to

see Frottuerists not as perverts but as people who have lived

such touch-deprived lives until they are consumed by seeking to

furtively touch whomever they can. And it helps to recognize

that their compulsion to touch becomes combined with, and

consequently driven by, a different energy, sexual energy--a

much stronger energy than the energy that constantly but gently

drives us to physically touch one another. Frottuerists are

26
just the sore thumbs on a cultural body that aches all over; a

body that aches to touch and be touched.

29 The powerful need to physically touch and be touched is as

genetically encoded into the dynamics of human survival as are

feelings of thirst and hunger, or sex itself. Whether this need

is encoded to get us together sexually or keep us together

socially, we do know that sexual intercourse, and the foreplay

leading up to it, engages and satisfies our sense of touch to a

degree that no other form of human interaction can. But before

we can be comfortable on the sexual plateau, we must first

become comfortable with the idea of sensuality in itself being a

valid and essential part of being human; that is, comfortable

with knowing that touch, whether in the context of sexuality or

not, is something very positive and extremely necessary.

30 Since the human train of procreation runs most smoothly on

the rails of sensuality, we passengers of the mind set of "sex

for procreation only", are going to be in a constant panic in

our travels through life. Our every bump against another

passenger caused by the slightest sway of the train is going to

27
leave us thinking that our casual touches are going to be

interpreted by others as our trying to make a sexual advance.

And so we ride stiff-bodied through life denying ourselves

sorely needed sensual experiences, both of giving and receiving,

because of our fear that fulfilling our needs to be sensual is

going to be interpreted as sexual. Although sensuality is

genuinely required to make the fulfilling of our sexual needs a

positive experience, sex itself is not required to fulfill the

most essential psychological need that the individual has; the

need to be sensual; the need to touch and be touched. We must

remember that sensuality is the cement that connects the

individual to the whole of the human community. Speaking in the

terms of atomic physic, if sex is the strong forces (the nuclear

forces) sensuality is the weak, but more pervasive, force of

gravity.

31 What happens to all of that pent up "sensual" energy? All

of it at some point has to be released in a socially acceptable

way, whether that way is healthy or not. And in western

civilization one of the socially acceptable ways of discharging

that pent up energy is through "scapegoating". Whether viewed

28
from the individual or cultural perspective, when an emotional

illness has set in (and the harboring of our sensual energy is

cancerous), the illusions and fears that are internally

generated must have an object upon which they can be discharged.

Whether persons or things, it does not matter, a focal object

for venting this internal rage and frustration must always be

found. In terms of their cultural function the person or object

chosen as a "scapegoat" has to be positioned or structured in a

way where any individual or group can feel culturally safe and

justified in attacking the "goat" at any time and in any form.

32 In our society, because it has become intertwined with

sexual energy, our pent up sensual energy is released as

hostility towards "sexual deviancy"; that is, from time to time

some specific group in the culture will be singled out for

persecution as "sexual deviants". The present rising tide of

sexual hysteria and paranoia, which has many historical

precedents and different focal objects, is using homosexuality

as the focus for the lightning rod of its pent up energy.

Presently, homosexuality is being used to muster the energy of

the sexually fearful and frustrated from every walk of life; a

29
funnel through which all of our individual and cultural fears

related to sensuality and sexuality are narrowed. A narrowing

which creates a powerful stream that we view as being able to

wash us clean. This energetic stream is used (as it has in the

past while focused on other groups in the society) not just to

sweep away non-heterosexuality, but also used to sweep away

human sexuality of any kind which has been branded by the

priesthood of the God of sexlessness as something vile and

vulgar, and which fall below what ought to occur between

"spiritually enlightened" human beings. (Translation: fanatical

worshipers of the God of Sexlessness).

33 Again, the only exception to human sexuality being seen as

vile and vulgar is that which can be squeezed through the narrow

door of procreation framed by the "state of holy matrimony."

And now, even that morsel of sexuality can be taken away and

relegated to the neatness of sterilized petri dishes and test

tubes in a laboratory, leaving the "truly righteous" no need or

excuse whatsoever to embrace or touch each other.

30
34 This cynical, arrogantly ignorant movement is very good at

disguising itself. The present inquisition against non-

heterosexuals finds no need for the crude and brutal techniques

of physical torture used by past inquisitions to force

"confessions" from its victims. Coercing victims into

confessing, "that sex for any reasons other than those

sanctioned by the church are thoughts that have come straight

from the Devil in hell", will no longer be the ways and means

employed. The new attempts are almost all psychological.

Parading under the unassailable banner of MORALITY, the present

stokers of the fires under the boiling cauldrons of "sex for

procreation only" are attempting to use every political,

religious, educational, social, business and clinical means

available to them to force every living soul into participating

in their mad-hatters parade.

35 With all the havoc from the physical wars being waged

around the world; with all the diseases, sexually transmitted

and otherwise, raging like wild fire across this globe; with all

the blaring issues of poverty, domestic violence, child abuse

and sexual molestation engulfing this nation; with all the

children being born to adolescents and young adults (from

31
heterosexual relationships) with no societal planning on the

horizon that presents a way to productively incorporate these

uneducated masses or their children; with all of these acts of

utter madness in which we participate, are we suppose to believe

that just because two men have orally stimulated each other's

penises or two women have rubbed their clitorises together, our

god is suddenly going to lapse into fits of rage and rain his

wrath down upon us?

36 Are we to believe that the answer to all the individual and

global problems listed above lies in our first making sure that

men and women do not use their sexual organs to seek sensual

gratification with their own gender, or even with the opposite

gender if it is not for "procreation only?" As profoundly

ludicrous as it might appear, the answer that comes from those

who worship the "God of Sexlessness", when stripped of all the

double talk, is an unqualified, YES! Purging the world of "non-

heterosexuality" is the first item on their spiritual agenda.

32
 THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

37 From whence came this wrathful, sex-hating god? When was

he born? Why and how did his cult(ure) become so widespread?

Who are the people who worship him?

38 This god was born out of the ashes of the Roman Empire.

His cult was carried and spread like a hidden virus, consciously

and unconsciously, in the body of the Christian movement. His

worshipers can be found among the peoples of every nation of

western civilization, and among the people of any land that have

felt the "civilizing" influence of "Christianity".

39 Seemingly out of genetic necessity, we humans worship. And

the gods that we worship seemingly are born out of our needs.

We worship whom, or what, we think will supply our direst needs,

or what will allay our grossest fears. And so, enters the "God

of Sexlessness". Why worship him? What dire need could he

supply? Or, what bloated fears would he allay?

33
40 I am aware of the difficulty and danger of trying to reduce

the history of the interaction between the birth of Christianity

and the death of the Roman Empire, and the nearly two thousand

year siege that human sexuality has been forced to endure, to

something small enough to fit into a nutshell. But the gist of

the birth of the ever vengeful and merciless God of Sexlessness

is not all that convoluted or complicated a story. The written

histories of the Roman Empire, of the Roman Catholic Church, of

the protestant derivatives from that church, of the Semitic

peoples (Jews and Arabs) who had to endure, and continue to

endure, the countless thrashings from both the Roman Empire and

Christendom, all provide ample written testimony to this god's

emergence and existence.

41 In a nutshell, the fall of Caesarean Rome came about

because leadership or governance of the Empire had become

totally irresponsible in every aspect and area of private and

community life. No principles or guidelines were being provided

anymore for secular or spiritual encounters between individuals

or groups. But before lapsing into oblivion, Caesarian Rome had

just enough strength in its moribund body to militarily take

over the only viable and striving institution in its midst, the

34
newly formed, extremely vibrant and already many faceted

Christian movement--a movement that was energized, during that

time, by the "radical" premise of there being only one god! And

that this one god had only one oracle!

42 Ironically, the cultural body of the Roman Empire had

already been "infected" by, or had contracted the "disease" of

"worshipping the One True God" from, one of the Semitic peoples

whom it had brought under its control after a protracted and

debilitating two hundred year war of subjugation. That Semitic

people were the Jews. By the time the Jews had been physically

subdued a new strand of the "One True God" virus was

proliferating through the body of the Roman Empire, and playing

havoc with the pantheon of gods being worshiped by the Romans.

The new strand of the "one god" virus was being spread by the

supposedly only oracle of the One True God, a man and messiah

called Jesus (a false messiah according to Jews). The new

strand of the virus was called "Christianity", derived from the

Greek word "krystos"--the anointed one.

35
43 Through threats of physical violence to property and murder

of the new movement's members (the weekly Christians vs. Lions

show in the local arena was a staple) the Roman Empire was able

to get the sect(ion) of the new movement located in Rome to

compromise on its extremely clear principles–-one of which

prohibited its member from serving in the military. With its

principles compromised, the "church" proved easy prey even for

the decadent and dying Roman Empire.

44 To make matters easier, in 312 A.D. the reigning Emperor,

Constantine, converted to Christianity. The heads of the Empire

would now be in a position, through the use of its still

standing armies and with the blessing of the church at Rome, to

totally suppress and wipe out the other sects of the growing

movement in the outlying areas of the Empire. In fact the first

Ecumenical Council at Nicaea (325), which produced the Nicene

Creed, was called not by the different bishoprics thriving

independently throughout the Empire but by Emperor Constantine

himself when he became aware that an African priest by the name

of Arius was proclaiming that Christ was not eternal.

Unwittingly Arius provided a golden opportunity for the dying

36
Empire to ingratiate itself to the bishopric at Rome and for the

bishopric at Rome to gain and solidify its influence throughout

what was left of the Empire. In less than one hundred years the

Roman Empire would be dead (Rome was sacked in 410 AD), but its

brief marriage to the Christian movement had created a monster

that was neither Roman nor Christian. That monster was the "God

of Sexlessness".

45 For a society in total disarray, as was Roman society in

its waning days, any idea around which human energy can coalesce

will immediately become "truth". Because sexual

irresponsibility was a part of the general irresponsibility of

Roman society during it final days, and since sexual energy is

the most powerful energy that we human beings have to deal with,

it would not have been unreasonable for a deeply troubled mind,

searching through the debris for a cause or reason for the

collapse of the powerful Empire, to assume that "sexual

irresponsibility" was the "truth, the whole truth and nothing

but the truth" behind the fall of the Empire.

37
46 And it would not be unreasonable for hearts tormented by

the same collapse to accept an invite to diligently serve any

god who professed the ability to set things in order. And since

sexual irresponsibility was the "obvious" culprit, any god

stepping forth to set things in order would have to have a clear

and forceful plan to deal quite forthrightly with the existing

dis-ordered state of human sexuality.

47 It is difficult for us to image what it would be like to

live in a time when not only secular government had totally

crumbled, but along with it the spiritual and religious threads

running through the national fabric had also come undone. But

picture if you can our own national Government, the government

of the United States of America, suddenly not being able to

govern; the dollar being absolutely worthless, people taking

physical, including sexual, liberties with whomever was weaker

than they without retribution, and on top of that practically no

one believing that God himself was able to do anything about it

anymore!

38
48 Out of the ruins of the fallen pantheon of Roman gods, and

the now dead body of the Empire, a totally new god stepped

forth. This god had nothing in common with the fallen pantheon,

which had included such gods as Liber, the god of sexuality--who

was wont to be worshipped and honored with public rituals of

sexuality and exuberant parades during which giant phalluses and

pudenda were drawn through the streets. Neither did this new

god have anything in common with the philosophy of eternal love

and total forgiveness being espoused by the recently instituted

but (by the death of the Roman Empire) highly factionalized

Christian movement.

49 Conceptually this god's philosophy reached back centuries

into the heart of Vedic thought and literature; particularly the

school of Vedic thought called "mayavada", which views our

present existence as pure illusion, and which asks us to turn

our minds and hearts towards paradises of eternal bliss void of

human desires and needs. This "eternal oneness with the

Godhead" has no need for death or birth. Consequently there is

no need for sex! But the weapons that this new god would choose

to get things in order would not come from such a blissful

conceptual understanding. Like a good mother superior who

39
believes that to corral souls towards heaven sometimes requires

the most hellacious methods, this god would choose weapons that

could swiftly cut to the quick. Roman society, "civilization"

as it were, was in total disarray. Pain would be the medium to

move humanity back from the brink. No gathering to chant

"Oooom" here, emotionally and physically, torture was in as the

chosen weapon.

50 As a means to the end of bringing responsibility back into

human affairs, this god saw it as absolutely necessary to rein

in human sexuality. But, again, sexual energy is the most

powerful energy in the human experience. The sun, in universal

paradigms, is its prototype. It is not so easy to approach it

for whatever reason without getting burned!

51 Again, sensuality, in terms of a modus operandi, is more

akin to gravity as an energy source than it is to the hot

blinding energy of the sun. The energy of sensuality is

imperceptibly present but steady, a low constant pressure

pushing each human being towards all others. In other cultures,

less repressive than our own, people are constantly, but

40
unnoticeably to themselves, touching each other. They stand

closer to one another. They embrace more. They pat each other

more. They hold hand more. There is considerable mouth to body

contact.

52 The God of sexlessness saw sensuality as the tongs by which

the hot coals of sexuality could be handled. Sex constitutes

the ultimate experience of sensuality; the supreme embrace, out

of which flows life in all of its forms. To avoid the flood,

make sure that no small leaks are ever sprung! To avoid the

conflagration, prevent the smallest spark! To avoid the big

embrace, make sure that no two hands ever touch! To make sure

that anyone and everyone would be able to fashion the necessary

tongs to fit their own particular hands when dealing with

sexuality, this god, this Vulcan, chose the perfect material,

emotion; and the perfect tools--shame, guilt and embarrassment.

53 When the urgency of the apocalypse is upon you, when you

have a long way to go and a short time to get there, you hop on

the first thing moving. This god saw that the Christian movement

was not only the first, but the only thing in motion. Even

though what was left of it was weakened and diseased by having

41
crawled in bed with the dying Roman Empire, it was nevertheless

the only up and running spiritual institution. (Judaism was

alive but had been so physically beaten by the now dead Roman

Empire, it still functioned mainly underground). Stealthily,

but swiftly, this god moved to ensconce himself and his minions

into every nook and cranny of the infrastructure of the "church"

at Rome. Through persuasion and coercion the "love and

forgiveness" cadre of functionaries within the church's

infrastructure were quickly replaced by those bent upon branding

all human flesh as something irrevocably sin filled and

worthless (another Vedic concept); something not worthy of being

touched. Certain unavoidable consequences were to follow. One

of which was that sexuality, the pinnacle experience of human

sensuality, through the church's teachings quickly to become a

vile, disgusting and sinful act.

54 With sex being reduced to something sinful, any worshiper

who participated in sex would of course be in line to suffer

eternal damnation as interpreted by the church. But by taking

such a rigid position with prelates and parishioners alike this

god found himself between a rock and a hard place. On the one

42
hand to participate in the sex act was to take part in

unforgivable sin (Adam and Eve were soon adjudged to be the

original sinners; the "eating of the fruit" being sex). On the

other hand, no more human sex meant no more people to worship

this god. This new god and his minions had to find a way out of

this dilemma, and did.

55 Although sexual intercourse would still be frowned upon as

a gross sin--and of course any children born of this shameful

act would be sin filled because of their origin--parishioners

could still do "it" (yes, "its" name would soon become

unspeakable) if their sole intent for doing "it" was to produce

sin filled souls who could be "saved from hell" only by

remaining virginal and celibate for life or through adhering

strictly to the rituals of sacrifice, penance and atonement

prescribed by the church. Worshipers of the new god could have

their sex, but at the price of perpetual contrition. Shame,

guilt and embarrassment would forever be attached to any

thoughts, feelings or efforts to participate in, next to murder,

the most loathsome act imaginable.

43
56 This new god, disguising himself as the spirit of the Jesus

(the dead, buried and supposedly resurrected and gone-on-to-

heaven leader of the new movement) and using Jesus' mother Mary

(made sexless through the virgin birth myth) as the symbolic and

inspirational center piece of sexual purity, this god was now in

the driver's seat to reign supreme over Christendom however far

and wide it spread. Zealotry in the worship of this god reached

such heights, both among the hierarchy and the lay until the

heads of the church more than once had to step in to control the

flames. Even as early as the first Ecumenical Council at

Nicaea, the fervor for worshiping the God of Sexlessness had

grown to such a frenzy until the Council had to issue a decree

calling for all clergymen who had castrated themselves (one of

the extreme and self-inflicted methods of assuring celibacy) to

leave the ministry.

57 Christianity by now had severed all roots to its past in

the philosophy and personage of Jesus. His philosophy of a

"divine kingdom on Earth" (a clear link to Judaism) and his

philosophy of "eternal love and forgiveness", a totally new

concept for western thought, were thrown overboard and replaced

44
with a philosophy of "transcendence", another concept of Vedic

religious traditions from India. Jesus' totally new and radical

concept for creating a new humanity had probably been extracted

by him from the roots of the teaching of the Essenes–-a faction

of Jewish ascetics and mystics, who thrived from about 200 B.C.

to about 200 A.D.--or had been gotten from other mystics which

he more than likely encountered during his travels to the East.

But having dumped Jesus' philosophy, this "reformed

Christianity" under the guidance of the God of Sexlessness, put

forth the concept that when Jesus did return, he would be

returning only to separate the "chaff from the wheat", to convey

his believers off to eternal bliss in heaven, leaving all non-

believers to burn for eternity in a lake of fire. Not only was

Christ's teaching reduced to a form of transcendence, it was

reduced to the barest bone, no frills form of transcendence

conceivable.

58 In the Vedic traditions of transcendence, there is the

longing and the quest for merging with the eternal Godhead. But

in the Vedic tradition the soul seeking union with God, might

spend aeons going now forward, now backwards, now returning to

the Earth plane again and again, before making the final

45
connection with the Godhead. Not so with the "new

Christianity". Transcendence was strictly a one shot deal. "If

you don't get it right here and now, come 'judgment day' it is

eternal damnation for your soul!"

59 The point in Vedic saintliness, living the pure life, is

one of, "Why bother with all the pain of birth, suffering,

disease and death over and over again? Why not just forgo all

the illusionary pleasures of the senses while here, live the

life of a saint and go straight to nirvana?" But if you slip,

or simply decide not to do it at this time, all is not lost.

Just wait until your next life time on this plane, a lower plane

or a higher plane, and try again. Not so with "Christian

transcendence". The stakes for not being a "saint" this time

around are infinitesimally higher. There will be no other

lifetimes! This is the one and only shot you will ever get at

making it to heaven. "Good luck to all, and to all an eternity

of bliss or hellfire!"

60 Psychologically, the concept of "one shot transcendence"

has proved to be just a bit much to bear. The pressure is

46
insurmountable. Very few can do it. The rest go "crazy". So

called "Christians" very quickly after being "converted" drift

into heavy denial about their feelings, thoughts and actions;

their lying reaches pathologically proportions (particularly

about sexual feelings, thoughts, and deeds). They are pressed

to hide from themselves and others the mounting deeds that

convince them that they don't have a "snow ball's chance in

hell" of getting to heaven. So they carry on, faithfully

pretending to believe that they have been "saved" and are heaven

bound. Not only in relation to sex, but in every facet of being

a "good Christian" worshipers and hierarchy alike have been

reduced to a cabal of liars and pretenders. That is what

Christianity was quickly reduced to by the God of Sexlessness.

And that is what it continues to be to this day, except for a

few Christians here and there who are beginning to ferret out

the true teachings of Jesus.

61 And so this juggernaut of pretension, extolling virginity

and heavenly rewards for the practice of celibacy-for-life and

vilifying sexual pleasures of any kind, barreled on down through

the centuries, the captaincy being passed from one celibate (or

47
pretentious) high priest to the next, from St. Paul to St.

Clement to St. Cyprian through the four-headed captaincy of the

fourth century A.D. composed of St. Amborse, St. Jerome, St.

Chrysostom and St. Augustine to St. Aquinas of the thirteen

century and the dreaded Papal Inquisitions. All of these

captains were compassionate speakers and writers on the virtues

of love (in nearly two thousand years no one has equaled St.

Paul's treatise on love), but all of them to a male, were devout

(often hypocritical) servants and fervent worshippers of the God

of Sexlessness.

62 The virile, active and iconoclastic living Jesus of four

centuries before the God of Sexlessness made his entrance was

quickly turned by the new god into a fainthearted and gutless

wonder with a masochistic demeanor, which would make him fit

only for the whip and chains of some present day sado-

masochistic dungeon, and whose only avowed purpose for coming in

the first place (at least as preached by those who still follow

the God of Sexlessness) was to lead us out of this world and

into another, where our sexual organs would be turned into wings

upon our backs with which we would "float around in heaven all

48
day"–-garbed in white robes (symbols of our sexless purity)

while we sang glory hallelujahs forever and ever.

63 The three or four centuries of intercourse that occurred

between the Roman Empire and the "Roman" Church set the pattern

both for secular governance and religious life in western

civilization that still stands. Every western government since

Rome has used one or more facets of Roman governance to control

its population and every western society since Rome has used a

contaminated Christianity presided over by the God of

Sexlessness disguised as the Christ. That is to say that every

western government since Rome has incorporated in some form,

deception, corruption and raw military power, and every

"Christian" church in western civilization since the fall of

Rome has used some facet of the cult of shame, guilt and

embarrassment to set a hypocritical tone for morality and for

the control of human sexuality.

64 So whenever anyone (other than someone who contends that

they are either purely heterosexual or entirely non-sexual in

their sexual practices) shows up to worship in a "Christian"

49
atmosphere they immediately run, neck first, into a sharp

toothed buzz saw of shame, guilt and embarrassment. No mention

or expression of our sexual preferences or practices will be

tolerated unless we are "confessing" it in the context of "sin"

for which we have come to be forgiven. Even in congregations

where non-heterosexuals have been officially welcomed, unless

such congregations were founded solely for the purpose of

allowing persons other than the purely heterosexuals to worship,

a pall of shame, guilt and embarrassment about sexuality hangs

heavy in the air. Even in the "new age" religions and "schools"

there is no difference between what exists in these congregation

and what exists in the main stream denominations as it relates

to feelings about sex and sexuality.

65 This atmosphere of "only the 'pure' heterosexual or the

entirely non-sexual need apply" has every living being in

western civilization constantly looking over their shoulder for

the "heterosexual purity police". For within the Christian

community, the word heterosexual means much more than just the

clinical definition of sex between male and female. It carries

with it a label that is akin to the label "white" in racial

50
terms: to be white one has to be "pure" white. Any admixture

with another "race" leaves you totally defiled and all claims

upon "whiteness" lost forever. In both cases, with race and

with sex, we struggle mightily and do our damnedest to disguise

our flaws and keep a watchful eye open for the "purity police".

Just as we hide our racial skeletons behind "white" closet

doors, we slip on our pure "white" wedding dresses and "white"

lies to cover our sexual "indiscretions" against being seen as

something other than a "pure" heterosexual. But even within the

bounds of holy matrimony, further proscriptions binds, squeezes

and constrains sexuality into a mold of "sex for procreation

only". This consequently leaves everyone living a preposterous

and pretentious, but never talked about, lie. Whether Christian

or not, sexual activity in our culture is rarely perpetrated

with procreation in mind.

66 From the highest prelates within the Roman Catholic

hierarchy of celibacy (blatantly ignoring the rising sexual

transgressions within the priesthood that ranges from pedophilia

to the keeping of prostitutes) to the most powerful pulpits of

the protestant wing, the vast majority of the leadership of

51
Christendom, with their arms interlocked, pompously parade along

just as insincere as the members of their congregations, bathed

in the same shadowy hypocrisy of "living like a 'pure'

heterosexual."

67 During the period in European history of the Papal

Inquisitions, which began in 1227 A.D. and lasted at least three

centuries, and which were initially instituted supposedly to

weed out religious heretics, "sexual deviancy" soon become the

focal issue of the whole road show. And a literal road show it

was. Traveling from place to place, the tribunals on the

slightest evidence were wont to accuse and persecute anybody who

was under the slightest suspicion of being in any way sexually

deviant. Even animals were persecuted. Hundreds of thousands

were put through the most gruesome tortures imaginable until

they "confessed", and then of course executed by hanging or

roasted at the stakes after making their "confessions" of sexual

transgressions.

68 After the Inquisitions had terrorized all of Europe into a

feigned state of chastity, the following few centuries of

52
European history, as it relates to human sexuality, would become

known as the "puritan era". During this epoch, which began

before but reigned supreme during the century when America was

born, it was women, in Europe and America, who bore the brunt of

the tortures, jailings, mutilations and killings of hundreds of

thousands as witches and warlocks who, supposedly, constantly

consorted sexually with the Devil himself. "Christianity" both

the Catholic and Protestants versions was the engine powering

these vehicles of terror and death.

69 During the era of chattel slavery and afterwards, in

American and other European colonies, the target for persecution

was black men, with their "foot long penises and stud-bull

stamina" who supposedly were driven sexually insane at the very

sight of a white woman, and black women with their "insatiable

desires and hot stuff", who, again at the Devil's bidding, could

not help but walk wantonly and grin seductively in the presence

of white men.

70 Although all of the above forms of persecution still exist

to some degree, it is now homosexuals' turn to be the scapegoat;

or anybody's turn that is "not normal" sexually. And "not

53
normal" now mean sex between any two human beings who are not

heterosexuals and bound by the vows of holy matrimony.

71 And what is it that homosexual mates and lovers do that is

so damningly different from what heterosexuals do? Anal sex?

Oral sex? Fisting? The use of dildos? The answer is

absolutely nothing! Heterosexuals are as much into these

"aberrations" as are non-heterosexuals. And for the "one shot

only" transcendent these "aberrations" heightens the pressure

and thickens the hypocrisy that he or she must wade through with

all the effort of trying to wade through a lake of molasses.

72 Of course the argument will be made that, "Those

heterosexuals who participate in such things are wrong, and will

suffer in hell also!" But no substantive solutions are

forthcoming from the religious hierarchies for alleviating the

present reign of hypocrisy or the suffering from it. In fact

the only "real" solutions being offered are to surrender to

frightful beliefs about eternal "hell fire" and the ephemeral

hopes proffered by "prayer". But not prayer in the sense of

going into a quiet space (our closets as Jesus proposed) to

54
calmly assess our weaknesses and strengths as a way of

appraising what changes can be made in our conduct, but "prayer"

as the wordy public chants and rituals that never cease. No

disrespect to Pope John Paul II as an individual human being,

but it borders on criminal insanity for him, as a religious

functionary, to offer "prayer"--the public or private begging

for God to do something--as the solution for ending the sexual

travesty that hangs around in hundreds of American parishes in

the form of priests who are trapped as deeply as their

parishioners in the hypocrisy surrounding their sex lives.

73 Any answer or solution that we will arrive at must begin

with the courage to be honest. In countless times and parables,

the "real" Jesus stated it as plain as daylight itself: "Only

the truth [honesty] can set you free." Honesty; an honesty that

will allow each and every anguished Catholic heart to speak to

the hopelessness that they feel when God's highest

representative here on Earth offers "more prayer" as his best

shot for ending the travesty parading as religious hierarchy; an

honesty that will allow us all to admit that the Christian

hierarchy hasn't a clue as to what to do; an honesty that will

55
allow us to admit that, with the real Christianity of confession

and forgiveness being replace by the Christianity of one-shot

transcendence and hell fire, no priest committed to serving the

God of Sexlessness, if accused of any sexual transgression, is

going to go anywhere but to the nearest law office to seek

secular legal counsel; an honesty that will allow us to admit

that in our hearts we don't believe that five thousand Hail

Marys a day by every living bishop in the world is going to save

one alter boy or deacon's daughter from defilement.

74 Again, let me state that I am not picking on the Pope. His

is just the latest extant example of the impotence demonstrated

by all of Christendom, when it come to dealing with problems

created nearly two thousand year ago when the Christian sect at

Rome compromised all of its basic principles.

75 Is our overwhelming concern with non-heterosexuals wrapped

around the fact that they participate in sex without the

intention of procreating children? If that is our honest

concern, we should ask our heterosexual selves, honestly, when

was the last time that we made love with the deliberate intent

56
of creating a child? Or even further, when have we (since our

reckless teenage years) had non-contraceptive sex without a fear

about pregnancy that bordered on hysteria? And what is the

religious hierarchy's position? In the face of being totally

ignored in its call for "sex for procreation only" it has fallen

back on the shameless contradictory compromise of, "Figure out

when you are not fertile and 'do it' then, but never, ever use

contraceptives--that would be unnatural and sinful".

Contraception is contraception period, whether you are using a

condom or "figuring out when you are not fertile." Sadly, in

spite of their supposedly state of holiness, there doesn't seem

to be even one bishop with the courage to say that the king is

without clothes.

76 Since coming under the control of the God of Sexlessness,

"Christendom" has always avoided having to face its

contradictions, and the compromises generated by the

contradictions, through the use of double talk. What it could

not effectively crush or control, it glibly talked its way

around with a forked tongue. Beginning with the compromise

(against military service) to keep Christians out of the mouths

and claws of the Emperor's lions, to allowing sex if it was done

57
only to produce "sinners", through the selling of indulgences by

"duly appointed pardoners" (which sparked the Protestant

Reformation led by the Augustinian friar Martin Luther) to the

present compromise on contraception. Compromises, honeyed over

with holy sounding pronouncements, has been the cowardly pathway

tread by Christendom.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

77 So the sexual madness that we are engulfed in does have a

history. A very clear history. A very verifiable history. Yet

the madness continues. Two thousands years of sexual repression

has grown into mass hysteria concerning anything sexual.

Christianity has been reduced to a cabal of liars who sit

pretending that non-heterosexuality is the only thing that

stands between the soul and salvation.

78 The hysteria takes many forms. All of them steeped in the

shame, guilt and embarrassment of our having sexual organs. One

58
form of the hysteria has women perfunctorily shelling out one

hundred dollars an hour or more to psychiatrists to try and

overcome certain physical paralyses that are reactions to

psychological stress around the issue of sex. One particular

hysteria comes to mind. It falls under a broad diagnostic

umbrella called Hysteria Neurosis or Conversion Disorder (DSM-

III-R). Those who suffer from it, upon hearing the word "sex"

spoken, or who see it spelled out in writing, will immediately

lose consciousness-- faint completely out!

79 I have a gnawing suspicion that this particular form of

hysteria neurosis is one of many related to, or the products of,

a mind trapped inside the walls of "one shot transcendence", a

mind which views this world, and particularly the physical body

that houses it, as being an impossible barrier to having

"eternal oneness with God"; a mind which sees sex as a disease-

harboring, rat-infested garbage dump, where a penis takes on the

demeanor and proportions of a garbage truck disgorging its

smelly load. What dimensions a vagina must take on in such a

mind is unimaginable. But for such a mind, having a vagina must

make all thoughts of making it to "our heavenly home" an utter

59
impossibility--particularly with just one and only one life time

in which to make it.

80 I also find it difficult to image the form of hysteria

neurosis mentioned above occurring anywhere else in the world

except in cultures overshadowed by "Christendom". In such a

hysterical atmosphere, for us to raise the question of justice

for non-heterosexuals is almost laughable. And for those who

live their lives in fear of not transcending this "earthly

cesspool", justice for non-heterosexuals is a laughing matter.

As they view it, "justice" for such deviants can only be a bier

of eternal fire. And, historically, few if any of the

hierarchies of Christendom have had the patience to "wait on

God" to apply the torch. Like a child with firecrackers on the

1st of July, they just can't wait for the big show on the

fourth. "Let's do it now!" is the cry.

IS THERE A CURE?

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81 Yes.

82 In all "freedom movements" the issues can be entirely

different but the principles will always remain the same.

Whether it is the perennial battle by women to right the

horrible imbalance that guarantees the exclusion of their input

on the important issues of structuring social order, or whether

it is the battle by non-white people the world over to survive

the onslaught of white supremacy, or whether it is the battle

over who gets to define God, the one underlying principle that

sustains all of those who would wage peace on all those

different fronts is the principle of "inclusivity"–-a principle

that without an exception places every living human being within

the bounds of an "inclusive" definition of what constitutes

being human.

83 Inclusion is the only key to human salvation, particularly

from a religious or spiritual view point. It is necessary to

include every living human being in the "human family", no

matter what their condition or what they have done. It is

necessary to see all people as "our people"; as being under the

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protection and care of "our God". Any purported solution short

of total inclusion is a false elixir.

84 "Christendom" under the God of Sexlessness has developed an

extremely xenophobic personality; a personality that defines

itself by excluding others (and the things that they do) from

the human community, and certainly from the protection of "our

God." Such a personality has the tendency to adhere to an "all

or nothing" course in its affairs and relationships. And

present day Christendom brings that same attitude to its bare-

bone concept of transcendence. To go back and make connections

with its long abandoned concepts of "the divine kingdom on

Earth" and "eternal love and forgiveness" is too much of a

stretch for its rigid boundaries. Such an inclusive posture

would mean the acceptance of other than heterosexuals as a part

of its body. The present body of Christendom would shatter like

crystal if any serious attempts were made to be so inclusive.

85 But the principle of inclusion never calls for a "going

back". Going back or forward means leaving some place or

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something. To incorporate the principle of inclusion, to

reestablish those old connections to Judaism and Mysticism, it

would not be necessary for Christendom to abandon its foundation

in the Vedic religious concept of transcendence. It would mean

functionally melding the concepts of "God's kingdom on earth"

and "eternal love and total forgiveness" into a broader

transcendence. Like an addict trying to break a habit, it

seems difficult for Christendom to do that. Just as on the

societal level, after four centuries of chattel slavery defined

by race, it is impossible for "white" America to accept

"interracial" children as their own (as a part of their

"whiteness"), after nearly two thousand years of "one shot a

heaven" transcendence it will be very difficult for Christendom

to divest its addicted body of the cravings associated with one-

shot transcendence; to again experience a healthy body thriving

on the principles of total forgiveness, eternal love and

inclusion.

86 A part of the barrier to our being religiously inclusive is

our shallow understanding of transcendence. Transcendence has

little or nothing to do with following "the straight and narrow

path". Transcendence, like rain water seeking oneness with the

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ocean has many paths and in the Vedic tradition all those paths

are acceptable avenues to the Godhead. Transcendence in its

most profound function is not just a vehicle for spiriting us

away from this material world, it is also a means to bring that

which we experience in the transcendent state back into our

daily lives. Among the different ways of experiencing

transcendence in the Vedic tradition is Kundalini Yoga, where

one transcends through experiencing physical sex, often outside

of marriage–-obviously something that the present form of

Christianity could never be inclusive about.

87 The irony of it all is that what constitutes our being

human are universal realities defined by universal forces beyond

our ability to change or control as individuals or as cultures.

(We certainly have the capacity to channel such universal

forces). Within the definition of being human are certain

capacities and abilities that we were born with. One of those

abilities is the ability to consciously choose between options

set before us. That is the most precious gift that we have. It

is the gift that defines us as creative beings. Just as

individuals have the ability to make choices, cultures and

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societies can make choices also. And one of those choices is

whether individuals within a particular society will be provided

with knowledge, wisdom and guidance or whether individuals will

be steeped in ignorance, superstition and fear when learning

about, and testing, his or her universal capacities.

88 When it comes to making choices about achieving sensual

satisfaction, including what part sex might play in achieving

that sensual satisfaction, western civilization, under the

coercion of the worshipers of the God of Sexlessness, who

deceptively masquerades as the Christ and under the cloak of

morality, has chosen ignorance, superstition and fear, rather

than knowledge and wisdom, as the things that will be given to

the developing individual.

89 Another part of being human that is defined by universal

criteria is the non-cyclical nature of our mating call. Unlike

any other species, our sexuality knows no seasons, and no matter

how viciously or insanely suppressed, it springs forth eternally

with energy beyond our powers of understanding. Under the most

horrid conditions of deprivation, the drive to be sensual, and

65
consequently sexual, endures. Even in Nazi concentration camps,

with their nostrils filled with the stench of death of their own

kin, Jewish inmates succumbed to the urge to copulate. (In the

mind of a worshiper of the God of Sexlessness, such "disgusting"

conduct would be viewed as the handiwork of the Devil, rather

than as the handiwork of God). And until we have arrived at a

clear understanding of the universal criteria used to define

what constitutes human sexuality, and then make the sane

connections between the power of sexuality and the persistence

of sensuality, all of our attempts to eradicate, suppress or

corral the human urge to make love will be futile, and will

drive us further in madness rather than being that which will

save us. However, the irrepressibility of human sexuality is no

safeguard against insanity. And in western civilization

repression and control rather than an understanding of, and an

alliance with, our sensual and sexual natures has sucked us into

this vortex of deceptive madness.

90 The partial definitions of what constitutes being human,

and what constitutes our sexuality, stumbled upon by us as

individuals or fostered upon us by cultures gone mad, tend to

leave us mired in a morass of "-isms" of every kind: ageism,

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sexism, and racism to name just a few. Each and every one of

these -isms forces all of us to view and/or reject some part of

ourselves, or some part of others, as being human. These -isms

forces us to rely on "excluding" definitions when trying to

define ourselves and others. Whether concerning what we need or

what we are, all -isms, like acids to metals, tend to eat away

at our ability to recognize each other as being fully human.

91 A part of the cure is to recognize that all "-isms", all

codified codes of conduct that reduce our lives to static "thou

shalts" and "thou shalt nots" are a part of the problem, and

consequently can never be a part of the solution.

92 The records of human history from rock paintings to the

"written word", however ancient it is, tells us that

homosexuality, bisexuality and transexuality have continuously

been a part of the human sensual experience since humanity

became conscious enough to make note of itself. (One of the

means that Christianity uses to avoids dealing with human

history and human sexuality is to pretend to believe that the

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allegorical creation story in the Torah is a factual account of

the Earth being created; that is the Earth is only six thousand

years old). It is a fact that heterosexuality is the only means

by which human beings can be reproduced. But perpetuation of

the species really isn't the issue in this "battle of the

sexualities". Unless I am totally deaf, I don't think that

anyone is arguing that humanity is bordering on extinction

because of homosexuality. The real issue is one of coming to

understand sensuality and how sexuality is related to it; coming

to accept that sexuality is more than just a "baby factory".

And related to the real issue is the question of, how long can

humanity survive under the darkened cloud that constitutes our

fear of retribution from the God of Sexlessness before the

madness has pushed us over the edge? Few of us have grasped the

rapidity with which mass hysteria can alter and bring down a

culture. And no matter how destructive it is, mass hysteria is

effective because to those driven by it, hysteria wears the

fateful and believable mask of "truth".

93 An example was the Jewish Diaspora that occurred under

Rome. The Diaspora was rooted as much in mass hysteria, in the

form of "messiah–-mania", as in Judea being physically overcome

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and subjugated by the Romans. From forty years before the birth

of Jesus to one hundred and forty years after his birth the

coffers of Rome were being continuously drained through having

to put down rebellions in Judea. From guerilla like tactics to

full scale war (the revolt of 68 A.D. required more than six

Roman legions to quell) the Judeans "took it to Rome"

continuously. During those oppressive times, "Messiahs",

including Jesus, were popping up out of the desert like popcorn.

By the time of the "sacrifice" at Masada (73 A.D.) everybody and

his mother were claiming to be the "krystos"--the one anointed

by God to save Israel. Every act of rebellion was lead by a

different "true" messiah.

94 With so many messiahs, all claiming to be the "one and

only", Judeans were left spinning like tops, trying to sort

through and assess the credentials of each. "In whom and what

is one to have faith?" From a psychological perspective, it was

sheer madness, not unlike the "ghost dancing" phenomenon

experienced by North American Indians during the final days of

their near total extermination. Undoubtedly the Jews could have

survived the physical presence of the Romans. It was the

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physical rebellions of the Judeans, as much as anything else,

that precipitated the demise of the Roman Empire. But

spiritually, that is internally, Judea was torn apart by

"messiah-mania". Just as we presently in western civilization

tend to schizophrenically flip back and forth between dealing

with the universal realities of human sexuality and clinging

tenaciously to certain beliefs that we have absorbed about

transcendence, so the Jews tended to flip back and forth between

dealing with Rome militarily and clinging to certain beliefs

about a coming messiah.

95 But just as the Roman Empire was infected and ravished by

the one-god "disease" that came out of Judea, western

civilization may already have ingested the virus that will turn

out to be its undoing. And once again, the virus will have come

into the culture through a subjugated people. In spite of their

taking to, and clinging to, "Jesus" with all the fervor of blood

stains clinging to linen cloth, Africans, transported as slaves

to the Americas, even after four hundred years, are giving

Christendom and the God of Sexlessness fits around the issue of

sex. And the reasons are not all that earthshakingly profound.

It is nothing esoteric. It is about Africans in the Diaspora

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adhering to two extremely important admonitions that the gods of

Africa whispered into the ear of every captive that left the

African shores: "Never stop singing, and never stop dancing!"

96 Any people or individual who can continue to sing and

dance, in spite of the adversities and misfortunes they may

face, in spite of whatever hardships and mishaps they may

encounter, if they can continue to sing and dance they will

continue to be in touch with the essence of being human. Dogs

do not dance. Cats do not sing. But at every transition in

life, large or small, human beings dance and sing. Birth.

Death. The planting. The harvest. The wedding. Singing and

dancing are two of the most profound recognitions of, and

celebrations of, life. Singing and dancing are the two quickest

and direct connections between the human soul and world around

us. The essence of this connection is our emotional selves. In

fact emotion is the only source not only of human energy, but of

life energy.

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97 In spite of centuries of teaching and preaching against

their "licentiousness", in spite of the ridicule, the lampooning

and the constant caricaturizations, blacks have been able to

hold on to their sensuality and sexuality. I think that "white"

America would be simply amazed to stand on any single corner in

the deepest ghetto of America and note the number of times

people are seen hugging each other--from drunks to mothers and

children. When Marvin Gaye croons "Let's get it on", he means

just that! And Africans in the Diaspora, from Nova Scotia to

Patagonia, across every cultural and language barriers in the

hemisphere, get to their feet and "get physical" with each

other. With a cultural defiance that could be mistaken as

genetic they march out of the church to the dance halls, to the

bedrooms, to the living rooms, into cars and "get it on" and

then back to the church again without missing a hallelujah! In

spite of a constant barrage from cultural forces that would

sever the connection, African in the Diaspora refuse to succumb

to the idea of separating life into the sacred and the secular.

98 Unlike the chorus of psychologists (both black and white

alike) whose bleating voices lament "The gross moral decay and

disarray in the sexual mores of the black community" ("babies

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having babies" is one of the cutely coined phrases being

bantered about), when I view the sexual conduct of young, black

"uneducated" (believe that if you will) Americans, the hoards

who seem to have no "morals", who totally ignore what the rest

of society thinks, I not only see defiance, I personally see

hope in their conduct. Even if their only goal is to just keep

"funking on the one" until they die, or until our own "adult"

and "white" madnesses disappears, in their conduct I find an

extension of the defiance and resistance that those of the

African Diaspora have continuously mounted, through song and

dance, against the God of Sexlessness and his attack upon

sensuality and sexuality. The resistance, even when its

manifestation can only take the form of singing and dancing,

seems to be driven by an internal energy--much like the

resistance of the Judeans to Roman subjugation.

99 Of course the last paragraph will be taken out of context

and put forth as my advocating and worshiping immorality among

youth in the black community. But I can rest assured that the

youth and the black community as a whole will recognize and

understand the essence of what I am saying. I will not have to

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spend time and energy defending what I have said, but I do feel

adequately qualified to explain it to those who do not recognize

and understand what I have said.

100 Another part of the cure to our sexual sickness in western

civilization is for those of African descent, and others, to

recognize this resistance, come to understand it, protect it and

develop the courage to help institutionalize it in ways that

will lessen the clearly visible elements of self destruction

that are always a part of any form of raw resistance.

101 However, the onslaught by the henchmen of the God of

Sexlessness will continue. Borrowing from any and every source

that they think will enhance their goal of achieving a sexless

humanity, they gather in and spew out. Reaching back to borrow

poetic narrations from the Torah, the "Hell-fire and Brimstone"

brigades give us a god who would rain fire from the sky on

anyone who would even consider dwelling in a city where

unheterosexual things were going on! Claiming that such poetic

goadings as the tale of "Sodom and Gomorrah"–-which are used to

get people to look at how they are living any aspect of their

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lives–-are to be taken literally, the so-called "religious

right" is succeeding in sucking up the energy of the emotionally

ill, sexually violated and frustrated. Are we really to believe

that the God of the Jews literally went to all the trouble of

setting off a volcano, killing thousands of people whose only

offense could have been that of living in a city where some of

the men in it were wont to stick their penises in other men

butts? Again, the answers from the worshipers of the God of

Sexlessness is an unqualified, "YES!" "Hallelujah, Aaaamen, and

Its the truth!", comes the shouts of confirmation from the foot

soldiers of Armageddon.

102 Another part of the cure to our sexual sickness is, for

those who recognize such "Bible-thumping" foolishness for what

it is, to develop enough courage to challenge or reprove such

nonsense. Not in the sense of putting up a fight, but in the

sense of not letting it hinder your own spirit of inclusivity.

A part of the cloak of morality worn by those who would cleanse

the world of non-heterosexuality is a false ecumenicalism which

prevents different factions of Christendom from developing

honest dialogue around any issue that smells of contradiction.

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"I won't say anything about your foolishness, if you won't say

anything about mine," is what ecumenicalism has been reduced to.

103 But in spite of its success, the infernal madness of the

religious right ultimately cannot succeed. Like a snake eating

away at its own tail, it will ultimately bite off and swallow

its own head; turning itself inside out and totally exposing its

poisoned organs to the cleansing radiation of the truth. The

more the Roman Catholic Church's priesthood of celibacy turns up

the heat on any kind of sexuality other than that between

married heterosexuals, the more homosexuals, pedophiles and

child molesters see, and seek, that very priesthood as their

most secure hiding place. With mounting consistency, when the

mouthpieces of the protestant hell-fire and brimstone brigades

check the "Pastor's Study", it is other mouthpieces from the

selfsame brigade who are caught with their pants down,

literally. The massive witch hunt against homosexuals during

the fifties that led to thousands of homosexuals and falsely

accused heterosexuals losing their jobs was led by two of

America's most notorious closet homosexuals, J. Edgar Hoover and

Roy Cohen--all examples of the snake munching towards its head.

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104 Another part of the cure to our emotional insanity is to

challenge ourselves both as individuals and institutions to be

courageous enough to be honest about, and to go public about,

our own sexual realities--however heavy, in the beginning, that

burden may appear to be. To not do so is to continue to wallow

in the plague of emotional anguish and physical diseases

fostered by sexual repression and double talk. To not do so is

to keep the door locked forever to whatever kingdom we can

imagine, whether here on earth or elsewhere.

105 Picture yourself, for a minute, in your living room with

all of your family gathered around; you, your parents, your

siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and children of

all ages. Bring up the subject of food and engage the family in

a no holds barred discussion of it; where it comes from, how to

cook it, how to serve it, when and where to eat it, who likes

what kind; the every what, why, how, when and where of food. It

is family, and, from the youngest to the oldest, from the

skinniest to the fattest, everyone could participate, whether

their interest was real or feigned; saying whatever and

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listening to whatever anyone had to say and laughing their heads

off about it.

106 Now, in this comfortable and secure living room setting,

switch the subject to sex. Suddenly children would have to be

ushered out of the room. Grandparents would excuse themselves.

Teenagers and adolescents wouldn't dare express the reality of

their sexual experiences in front of their parents. Parents

would not dare express the reality of their sexual thoughts in

front of their children of any age. And even those who would

find the courage to speak, must speak in code, the "real" words,

although understood and used by every person in the room from

the youngest to the oldest when in other settings, could not be

spoken in "mixed company". Feelings would start to rise up;

shame, guilt, embarrassment, nervousness, tension, uneasiness,

dread, anxiety and apprehension. Why?

107 The point in the last paragraph is that the battle around

homosexuality in America is, thusly, just a side show, a

flanking maneuver to draw our attention away from the real

issue, and that is the catatonic paralysis that overcomes us all

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when we are faced with revealing or talking honestly to others

about any of our real sexual feelings, thoughts, or experiences.

The nearly-two-thousand-year crusade to debase and vulgarize

human sexuality has been much more effective than we allow

ourselves to believe. Sexuality has been debased and vulgarized

to the point where individuals in our society don't have to be

monitored or watched by others to produce the trauma of guilt,

shame and embarrassment that inevitably accompany our attempts

to approach others sexually. It is to a point where we have so

internalized the debasement of sex until the mechanisms of

repression automatically kick in. But because the sexual urge

is so strong in most of us, even if we succeed in overcoming the

culturally induced repressive attitudes, the shame, guilt and

embarrassment can, and often does, keep our sexual escapade at

the dysfunctional level. The God of Sexlessness has at least

partially achieved his goal.

108 And the issue is not whether we should or should not be a

society with clear moral guidelines in the area of sexuality.

Any society or culture that is serious about its survival must

have clear moral guidelines in all areas of life. The present

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issue is the means used by any person or society to try and

achieve that morality, whatever it may say or may not say to us

about our sexuality. And the means used over the last two

thousand years to achieve moral guidelines around sexuality in

western civilization are exceedingly more immoral than whatever

may be perceived as immoral in what homosexuals, bi-sexual and

other-sexual do with each other.

109 The real battle ground is always internal and is always

around emotion, feelings. And the hallmark of western

civilization, epitomized by behavioral psychology, is our

avoidance of examining, or even accepting as part of being

human, our emotional makeup. This denial of human emotion

creates one of the most powerful paradoxes or contradictions

that we must live with. As a culture, on the one hand we deny

the existence of emotion, but on the other we recognize and

legitimize being guided by our negative emotions about sex. At

this point in the cultural history of western civilization, all

of us to a person, if we have grown up in a European derived

culture, feel, think, (some even claim to "know") that those

negative feelings that well up inside of us when discussing

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sexuality in mixed company are "normal". Whatever our sexual

practices, homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality,

pedophilia, child molesting, voyeurism, scatology, frotteurism,

sadism, masochism or any combination or derivation of the above,

we all accept, believe in and perpetuate the common

understanding that those feelings of shame, guilt,

embarrassment, nervousness, uneasiness, dread, anxiety and

apprehension--all designed to keep our sexual realities hidden--

are "normal". And we become part of, and take part in,

elaborate cultural schemes to make sure that we mutually respect

and protect those "normal" feelings for each other! Of course,

the easiest way to protect those "normal" feelings is to

minimize as much as possible any open discussions of those

feelings and their source, sex and sexual energy.

110 So, another part of the cure to the emotional insanity is

to work toward a cultural atmosphere where individuals can feel

comfortable discussing their sexual reality, and the feelings

surrounding it, with others. At present the only two

"professionally" acceptable methods that we have for discussing

those feelings are in guilt ridden confessionals with priests

and ministers, or in economically impossible one-hundred-

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dollars-an-hour psychiatric sessions. Again, that is how the

God of Sexlessness would prefer it.

111 But those negative feelings are not normal! They certainly

are not normal in the sense that they are suppose to be there to

prevent us from doing "nasty" things. However, when we view

them from a moral point of view, all those "nasty" things or

sexual practices mentioned above can be reduced to choices that

we human beings have and must make on a daily basis. In a

universal sense there are "normal" channels for human sensuality

and sexuality. And due to our being creatures with the capacity

for choice, those "normal" channels are many. (Unlike with the

female praying mantis who have no choice but to literally devour

the head and upper body of her mate while engaged in sex, it

isn't "normal" for human females to cut off the head and torso

of her mate and eat them while engaged in sex--however much she

may feel like it for a variety of reasons). But when we are not

shown those normal channels, that is, when everything sensual

and sexual is hidden from us as children, we are left on our own

to discover (or to be given by those who would prey upon our

ignorance) the cornucopia of "abnormal" choices. And the answer

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is not to take away the essential tool of creativity, "conscious

choice", but to show each other as developing beings,

particularly children, the consequences, both good and bad, of

choices as we oursleves have experienced. But that is

impossible in an atmosphere where a compulsive silence

overshadows our every sexual experience, no matter how we may

feel about it.

112 And when it comes to giving children information, they are

not dumb or stupid, and they powerfully resent being played as

such. They are offended by being told and not shown. They are

annoyed at our avoidance of real answers to their real

questions. We think we are playing a subtle game of protecting

them from things that would be difficult to explain to them.

They see through the games and churn with resentment. Although

they are allowed to ask "real questions" about sex, under no

circumstances are they allowed to ask questions about "real

sex". They can ask about and receive nice clinical answers

about penises, vaginas, babies, etc., but under no circumstances

when it comes to sex are they to ask us what we like, how we

like it, when we like it and the most serious question of all,

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where did we learn it. According to the minions working for the

God of Sexlessness, talking with children about how to really

"do it" would be the grossest transgression of the veil of

silence overshadowing sexuality in our culture; the most serious

infraction that we could make against the code of unwritten laws

kept in place and enforced down by his hoard.

113 Some parents who think of themselves as enlightened will

give "straight" answers to their children about sexuality and

sexual practices, including their own. But under no

circumstances will even these "enlightened ones" arrange for

their children to be "shown". That's right, I said, shown! As

human beings, when it comes to learning anything, sexual or not,

the normal process is one of "tell AND show", or at least of

being allowed to experiment with something until we get it

"right" to our satisfaction. In our culture, the details of

"doing it" are, again, left for the ignorant to discovered from

the ignorant, or left to be learned from those who will prey

upon our innocence. Whether dealing with feelings or deeds, in

answer to questions of sexuality our favorite reply is, "You

will just know!"--which is blatant nonsense. Beyond knowing how

to suck a breast and how to cry, in spite of our internal drives

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to do things, little is known about how to do anything when we

arrive. We must learn how to do, what we will be doing from

being told how to do it or watching other do it and then

practicing it. But the "You will just know" nonsense is how the

God of Sexlessness wants it. The God of Sexlessness knows that

anything done in an atmosphere of ignorance can only breed chaos

and fear. And chaos and fear is what he needs to control our

behavior. To demonstrate just how paralyzed we are on the

subject, ask yourself these questions: “What have I done, or

what should I do, to teach my children how to have enjoyable sex

without being injured, diseased, or imposed inappropriately by

others? What questions have they asked or I have answered as it

relate to the actual physical act of sexual intercourse with

another human being. What questions have I answered about my own

sexual experiences?

Who would I recommend that they go to, when they express an

honest interest in starting to have sex? Do I think that they

would even share with me that interest? Stand before a mirror

and ask those questions of the reflection on the other side.

Honest answers to yourself of those questions will let you know

what a self-imposed quagmire of ignorance we as a culture force

our off spring to float around in.

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114 Another part of the cure is to rend this veil of silence

that leaves us as a society completely without a rite of passage

that would take us from childhood to adulthood as sexual beings.

And without a doubt, that passage from childhood to adulthood in

the sphere of sexuality is the most important rite of passage in

any sane society.

115 At this stage in western civilization, after two thousand

years in the forest, it is incomprehensible to us that only two

millennia ago, there were cultures on every part of the globe

that taught or allowed children to experiment with sex without

restrictions, just guidance--guidance that took the form of

honest answers to children's honest questions. And then at the

appropriate time, in a most serious (and often public) ceremony

young people were allowed to cross the sacred bridge into sexual

adulthood. But in just those two thousand short years, with

"Christendom" under his watchful and wrathful eye, the God of

Sexlessness masquerading as the Christ, and "loosening the

lightning of his terrible swift swords" of shame, guilt and

embarrassment, has made the human body and human sexuality an

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altogether humiliating experience in practically every corner of

the globe.

116 No matter how we cut it, when we examine in depth those

feelings that come up when we discuss sexuality, they are all

rooted in a gross negativity about sex that constantly

overshadows us. The lexicon of every western language is filled

with a phalanx of words to sustain our negative attitudes about

sex. And these negative words, as they relate to sex, have all

come into the lexicon through an attitude fostered and sustained

by Christendom under the watchful eye of the God of Sexlessness.

Anyone who would dare to describe human sexuality in honest

terms or positive terms must come face to face with an army of

words, all negative in connotation, all highly trained and

qualified to surround and beat into submission any such efforts

to be honest or positive about sex.

117 This phalanx of myrmidons proudly wear upon their chests,

nameplates that bear such names as: Uncouth, Gross, Foul,

Vulgar, Obscene, Lewd, Indecent, Offensive, Dirty, Filthy,

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Profane, Loathsome, Odious, Repugnant, Repulsive, Disgusting,

Smutty, Vile, Lascivious, Licentious, Lecherous, Immodest,

Immoral, Crass, Sordid, Indecorous, Despicable, Revolting,

Detestable, Sickening, Nauseating, Raunchy, Lurid, Debauched,

Prurient, Salacious, Shameless, Loose, Wanton, Decadent,

Degenerate, Shameful, Debased, Perverted, Warped, Ungodly,

Sleazy, Disreputable, Unbecoming, Suggestive, Racy, Loathsome,

Twisted, Unnatural, Trashy, Shady, Ribald, Loutish, Ghastly,

Tawdry, Depraved, Sinful, Squalid, Disgraceful and Indecent.

When it comes to the positive expression of anything sexual,

these well trained soldiers take no prisoners and show no mercy.

They serve other causes, but never can so many of them be found

fighting so tirelessly for a cause as when they answer the bugle

to fight against human beings speaking honestly about their

feelings, thoughts and actions concerning sex.

118 In the face of such a formidable army our sex lives are

driven into secret places and secret times. We pretend that

privacy is the issue. But it truly is not. It is about hiding.

It is about secrecy. There is a adage among people who use

twelve-step programs (Alcohol Anonymous, etc.) which says, "You

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are as sick as your secrets." And in America there is nothing

that we are as secretive about as about our sex lives.

119 Another part of the cure is to disengage the entanglement

that has occurred between secrecy and privacy. Everyone for

many reasons needs privacy. Privacy allows us to concentrate

our attention on the matter at hand. Secrecy, on the other

hand, robs us of information, the life blood of thought. As it

pertains to life, not just to sex, secrecy is the soft

underbelly through which an adversary will always be able to

plunge his knife.

120 In essence we really do not have any secrets. If there is

anything of any human significance, sexual or otherwise, that

you have done, it was done with another human being. Do we

really think that we have the power to force, or the right to

ask, another human being to keep silent about their own

experiences just because it was done with us, or in our

presence? Even if masturbation is significant to us, when

thought of in term of what we humans need most of all, the touch

of another human being, masturbation itself, even though

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sexually gratifying, can become a very lonely, futile and

insignificant thing. Our most gratifying experiences generally

are carried out with or in the presence of another human being.

121 The issue is ultimately not even about the passing of laws

guaranteeing that "sexual preference" could not be used against

a person in any way. Every congress in every nation on Earth

could pass the perfect law on human and civil rights,

guaranteeing every human being the right to exercise their

wishes and desires in relation to sex as they saw fit, and what

you would find is that the closet doors behind which most of us

hide our sex lives would still be held shut from the inside.

One of the most important things to see and understand is that

the sex lives of heterosexuals are as deeply hidden in the

closet as are the lives of non-heterosexuals. Think about that

last statement for a minute, not in abstract terms, but in terms

of your own real and true sexual history. Close your eyes and

go back through it, leaving out nothing. See what a closet you

are in! Do you have the courage to come out? And I don't mean

that you should "see and understand that the sex lives of

heterosexuals are as deeply hidden in the closet as are the

lives of non-heterosexuals" in the sense of just observing and

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accepting something as a fact, but to see and understand in the

sense of knowing "why" historically and psychologically you have

to exist in this closet.

122 And so again, it is not about the passing of laws, it is

about courage. And that is not said to discourage anyone from

working for the passage of laws. It is just to remind us that

the passing of laws always lag behind the changes that the laws

reflect, often by hundreds of years; that is, real change

brought about by the courageous acts of individuals or groups

who step forward and stand on principles. And that is the crux

of the matter, individual courage and principles. And the

capacity that individuals have to encourage others.

123 The laws on public accommodations, disallowing the

foolishness of white supremacist, showed up on the books only

after many decades of individual and collective acts of courage

by black Americans that had in effect already ended the

foolishness by the time that laws were passed. The feathers

stuck in the hats of Congressmen and certain Presidents for

successfully passing certain legislation during the sixties and

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seventies was just the dust settling from the many feats of

courage, the many instances of standing on principles, from

decades past by those who realized that it was not about laws,

nor was it about what white supremacist thought or felt, but

about what they themselves were willing to do within or without

the law.

124 Another part of the cure to our sexual sickness is to learn

on an individual level the meaning of courage and how to acquire

it--and, to learn how to apply that courage in social

situations; how to "remain human" even in the face of death.

125 You who are homosexuals and "other" -sexual are the ones

who must find the courage to open your closet doors. And when

you do and look outside, you will find that there are fewer than

you think out there blocking them. The doors are being held

shut from the inside. Heterosexuals are too busy holding their

own closet doors shut! If anyone is outside leaning against

your closet door, it is the Roy Cohns and J. Edgar Hoovers–-

those who sleep in the closet by night and then come out and

lean against the door by day. In getting your own house

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together, the Jekyll–-Hyde issue of being what you really are at

night and "living like a heterosexual" during the day has to be

faced and faced squarely. Before you can ask others to join

you, to give you the support and the respect that you deserve,

you have got to find the courage to respect yourself; to respect

your need to be "at one" with yourself at all times; to define

yourself sexually, and otherwise, in no uncertain terms.

126 And when I speak of "getting your own house together" I am

not talking about some collective abode where all homosexuals or

"other" same-sexual abide, I am speaking of you as individuals.

To gain anything of respect and dignity for yourself as a human

being, whether the issue is sexuality, age, gender or race, all

the hypocrisy in relation to what the particular battle is about

must first be removed from your own heart. Yelping for someone

else to leave you alone while you beat upon yourself just does

not compute in the human experience.

127 Every non-heterosexual in America who has chosen to engage

in the present battle around the passage of House Bill 431, and

who is engaged in any form of religious life, knows through

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personal experience, or have been informed through trustworthy

acquaintances that many of the very evangelists and preachers

ranting and raving against you, are in the closet with you. I

personally don't feel that this means that homosexuals and

bisexuals must begin a campaign of exposing others. This does

not mean that those who don't have the courage to come out must

be forced out of the closet. Although there will always be

consequences for not doing what we feel should be done, I don't

feel that any “adult” (a very scary word given how we educate

ourselves) human being should ever be forced to do anything.

(Again, individual conscious choice is the hallmark of being

human.) What it does mean is that as individuals in this

collective effort some of you are going to have to bite the

bullet; step up and take it between the eyes, Just like Moses

did, just like Jesus did, just like Joan of Arc did, just like

Frederick Douglas did, just like Harriet Tubman did, just like

Rosa Parks did, just like Martin Luther King Jr. did.

128 In term of what has occurred in western civilization as it

relates to sensuality and sexuality, and in terms of the God of

Sexlessness' agenda, you may have chosen for personal reasons to

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wage peace on the front around the issue of sexual preference

rather than on some other issue like race, age, or gender. But

the main issue is not about whom you choose to have sex with, it

is about whether you will be able to use sexuality as a means of

fulfilling your essential need to be sensual, which from my

perspective is a genetic imperative and a universal right that

is just as profound as the reproductive imperative.

129 Until one has gained a firm hold on an understanding of

what constitutes being human it is easy to assume that what

blacks want is to be allowed to be like "whites", or that what

women want in their quest for equality is to be allowed to do

what men do. And undoubtedly you can find blacks and women

whose grasp on being human is so shallow, until they can see no

farther than "being like" those whom they assume are "better",

or "better of", than they are.

130 Undoubtedly many homosexuals who are engaged on the sexual

front of the human rights movement seek nothing more than "to

live like heterosexuals"; that is, to be "left alone" to freely

engage in the same insane, secrecy-laden sexuality that is now

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the "norm" among heterosexuals in our society; to be left alone

with every aspect of your sexuality laced throughout with shame,

guilt and embarrassment; to be left alone with jealously and

insecurity being the overriding emotions that surrounds your

sexual relations; to be left alone to experience over fifty per

cent of your female children having been sexually molested by

some adult before they leave childhood (this at times being the

only rites of passage that they have); to be left alone to have

your adolescents children float around in a sea of sexual

ignorance until they have made the "big mistake" of pregnancy,

at which time the wrath of the God of Sexlessness and his

legions rains hell fire down upon their heads; to be left alone

to pretend that your sexuality as a child disappeared between

the ages of five and twelve. Aside from the Freudian suggestion

that women who claim to have been parentally incested are

fantasizing, the suggestion of a latency period of sexuality

during childhood is the most ludicrous idea ever put forth by

psychology and psychiatry; an idea that can be refuted by

anybody who remembers anything at all about their pre-teen years.

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131 So if you see the issue as just one of other people not

"leaving you alone", you grossly misunderstand and underestimate

the web that has been woven by this pervasive emotional illness.

Because of its pervasiveness, the sea of sexual hysteria that we

all swim around in will never allow us to "leave homosexuals

alone". And unless you as homosexuals or "others" are prepared

to become the leaders in the small cadres now waging peace

against the hysteria or prepared to become the doctors staffing

the sanatoria to cure it, the only sensible thing that you can

do is to make yourself as comfortable as you can in your closet

because the sexual hysteria that grips this culture will never

be broken unless those who are most persecuted by it lead the

fight against it. Those of you who are black and/or women and

who have personally broken those particular yokes of oppression

that collared you know without a doubt what I mean by that.

132 And a part of being a "doctor" in this cultural asylum is

learning how to just "be" what you are. Not arrogantly pushing

your sexuality into the faces of others, but just by stepping

out of the closet and going on about your daily life; not

waiting until every necessary law has been passed; not waiting

until you can be sure that your mother will still love you; not

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waiting until you can be sure you won't lose your job; not

waiting until the crowd is with you. They will never be. Less

than one per cent of black people participated in any kind of

civil rights demonstration during the sixties, and it is

doubtful whether the numbers will be any greater during the real

movement to cast off the yoke of sexual repression.

133 And what makes homosexuals, bisexuals or other non-

heterosexuals the ones who are perhaps best prepared to fight

this two thousand year old plague? It is because those who are

not heterosexuals have to suffer each and every indignity

ordained and decreed by the God of Sexlessness and enforced by

the hierarchies of Christendom. Although that which

heterosexuals do sexually is heavily laden with guilt, shame and

embarrassment, it nevertheless is sanctioned. That which those

who are not heterosexuals do is always done under condemnation

that speaks of total damnation. I don't know what it would feel

like to have my every sexual feeling, thought and action under

complete censure. Those who are not heterosexuals obviously do

know what that feels like to have their every sexual feeling,

thought and action censured and condemned.

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134 No matter when or where he or she was bitten, or who loosed

the rabid dog that bit him or her, the person bitten by the dog

is the one who should look for the cure, not the dog. For

centuries non-whites, women and non-heterosexuals have stood

around waiting for their oppressors to "come to their senses",

to cure their own madness. It will never happen. (And no

living institution has surpassed "Christendom" under the God of

Sexlessness in teaching people to "wait on the Lord", wait and

watch for the day of deliverance). In its own mind, the rabid

dog sees nothing wrong with its behavior. So it is with every

white supremacist, every male chauvinist, and with every

heterosexualist. The nature of any "ism" or emotional plague is

to render the person who has the illness totally blind, and at

the same time leave them with feelings of invincible

superiority.

135 As a black child growing up in Mississippi doing the time

when Senator Bilbo represented that State in Washington, D. C. I

do know what it feels like to have my every feeling, thought and

action confirming my humanity censured, condemned and

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disregarded. Least of all I would expect a white supremacist to

understand what that feels like. And no matter what scheme a

white supremacist came up with to "give" me my humanity, it just

would not be acceptable to me. And in the human quest for

sexuality becoming an acceptable means for the expression of

individual sensuality, I truly feel that those who have had

their sexual feelings, thoughts and actions condemned as being

totally outside the realm of what is considered "normal" human

sexual conduct, are most qualified, through the experience of

being deprived, to lead us out of the forest of fear and back to

sexual sanity.

136 And just what will constitute the strategy and tactics? If

the history of past efforts to free humanity from other forms of

bondage holds true, I would trust that the best suggestions,

ideas and strategies for freeing humanity from sexual bondage is

going to come from those who are most sexually oppressed; that

is, homosexuals, bisexuals and other "deviants". I do know that

my own personal agenda is to work towards creating a society in

which an individual's use of sexuality in the quest to fulfill

their needs to be sensual will not be perceived as a threat by

others. Again, to take a page from the so-called civil rights

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movement of the sixties, no matter how much liberal whites

bemoaned segregation and other indignities perpetuated upon non-

whites, it was only when blacks and other non-whites took the

bull by the horn did those liberal whites and the rest of the

nation respond.

137 Even though I am heterosexual, and do not participate in

violent, coercive, non-consensual or dishonest sex (where lies

or the withholding of information are used to fulfill my sexual

aims), because I am open and honest about the fact that I am not

monogamous, even I am perceived as a serious threat by those who

worship the God of Sexlessness. But, nevertheless, I continue

to "be" who I am, and without being in a closet. And not as an

act of defiance, but as an act that come from my knowing that no

matter what the issue is, one cannot be "set" free, one has to

"be" free. One simply is whatever one is, and either has the

courage to openly be that, or the courage to change that, or

must live the cowardly and closeted life demanded by this

oppressive society.

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138 When we realize that we want to be something other than

what we are, we either are qualified at that moment to be that

"something" or we are not. If we are not, we must immediately

begin to make the internal changes that will move us step by

step to be what it is that we want to be. And when we are

qualified, we then must just "be" what we are without any

apologies to anyone.

139 Which again raises the question of courage. Any oppressor

knows that his control over the oppressed rests on one question

alone: "What does the oppressed fear?" When we use the

expression, "I would, if...", we usually follow it very closely

with the expression, "I won't, because...". And no matter how

thick or thin we slice the cake, that "because" is our fear of

death; whether it is fear of the "big one" or the myriad "mini-

deaths" that we die each day from our lack of courage. True

freedom is an agreement with death. And the agreement is to

never look over your shoulder to see where death is in relation

to the choices you have made. If you cannot make that agreement

you cannot be free. Those who understand what being human is

about also understand that making a choice does not take away

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your ability to make other choices if the first one made is a

bad one. It is true that "bad" may turn out to be fatal. But a

part of courage is to understand and emphatically accept that

death is an inevitable part of every human being’s range of

experiences, a sure one, and that death's presence might be

attendant to every choice we make. Again, under the God of

Sexlessness, the discussion of death as a reality is more

forbidden than the discussion of sex.

140 The only other alternative to freedom is just to do the

best you can to battle with your fears where you are, with

whatever means you have, until death arrives. In the case of

your sexuality, it means just doing the best to make yourself as

comfortable as you can in whatever closet you inhabit until the

day comes when death pries your hand from the door knob holding

the door shut from the inside.

141 Once you have been bitten by a vampire, never look to the

vampire to cleanse your blood. And when it comes to the issue

of sexual practices, even most non-heterosexuals have been

bitten by, and have succumbed to the virus injected by the fangs

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of, the "heterosexual" vampire. The virus courses through the

vessels of your hearts and minds just as forcefully as it does

through those of the heterosexual. Once bitten, you will not be

able to see that ending all the nonsense about "sexual

preference" is as simple as coming out of the closets and just

being your sexual selves; living in the daylight where vampires

fear to tread. The vampires of heterosexualism will never

venture into the sunlight of sexual honesty. If you live there,

in the open sunlight, they cannot touch you. It is only when

you, out of fear, venture into your own chosen darkened hiding

place, will you fall victim. And to the extent that you think

it is more complicated than that is the extent to which you have

succumbed to the disease of heterosexualism.

142 No matter how much you as a practicing "other" deny it to

yourself, no matter how much you try to be brave, to the extent

that you are infected with the disease of heterosexualism, you

will on the surface "live like a heterosexual"; that is, you

will live as though heterosexualists are right. "Some things

just shouldn't be done in the light of day." "I'm just a

private person." "But that's my personal business". You will

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constantly overshadow yourselves with a litany of clichés as you

scurry for the closets.

143 A similar set of clichés can be heard from those who bow to

the gods of race and gender. Those who are free from the

viruses of racism and maleism can clearly see that in American,

most "non-whites" people and most women, in spite of what they

say, live lives that reflect a wholehearted belief in white

supremacy and male supremacy. I am not talking about a "go

along with the program so I can eat" policy, but about

psychologically ingrained attitudes that persist in non-whites

as they relate to each other even in the absence of whites, or

in the depreciating attitudes still displayed by females towards

one another in the absence of males. It is painful for me to

constantly see and experience that. But it is readily seen by

those who are free from it.

144 Unless we find the courage to ask others to be the mirrors

to reflect for us and confirm to us our self-enslaving actions,

or self-debasing attitudes, we will never come to realize the

extent to which we have bought into being the slaves to one or

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the other of the many oppressive -isms that pervade western

culture.

145 And again, the ultimate goal must not be seen as one of

achieving our personal freedom; that is, allowing us as

individuals to consider only ourselves as we go about seeking

our true level of sensuality and using our sexuality to manifest

that. The ultimate goal, as I see it, is to experience all of

humanity free from bondage to the God of Sexlessness, even

children. For even our personal sensuality, in its highest and

most holy form, is manifested when we involve others, in our

need to physically interact with others. Our being free to

express our sensuality without there being other free persons to

express it with, leaves us trying to solve the Buddhist’s

conundrum of describing the sound of one hand clapping.

Anything less than this ultimate goal of freedom for everyone is

just a pitiful effort to make a little more space in your

darkened closet for yourself and whomever else you might be able

to convince to come into the darkness with you. Given the

present atmosphere, the ultimate goal, in relation to human

sexuality is to experience a society in which heterosexuals are

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themselves free from the shackles heterosexualism! And by that

I do not mean that they should go beyond their own heterosexual

feelings in expressing their sensuality, but that they are free

from that shackles that would fill their hearts with malice

towards those who chose to express their sensuality in other

ways.

146 And since we are speaking of human freedoms, there is

ultimately only one cure, one antidote to any one or all of our

"isms" or emotional diseases, and that is love. Love, like the

standing army of negativity surrounding sexuality, never takes

prisoners. However unlike the soldiers in the army that serves

the God of Sexlessness, love never kills. Love has only one

way. And that way is to be seriously committed to the health

and growth of everyone; not just those whom we like or who like

us, but everyone. There does not exist a more inclusive concept

than that of having the health and growth of everyone in mind in

terms of what we do. It is a serious, full time commitment.

There is, at this time in human history, no army of love; no

committed cadre of human beings who understand the commission,

who know and recognize each other on sight, who encourage each

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other with health and growth when and where they see that

encouragement is needed.

147 There is absolutely no mystery in determining what is meant

by health. Health is that which sustains Life. The boundaries

between Life and Death are easy to discern. So I will say no

more about health here. But with growth, confusion can abound.

There is pain associated with growth. Growth entails change,

and in a rigid society like ours, pain is the constant companion

of change. But we should never ignore pain and it is natural to

cry out when in pain. But pain, whether spiritual, emotional,

mental or physical, is there to tell us only one thing; that

something needs to be changed! "Pain", in the words of Buddha,

"is our resistance to change." Freedom is accepting change,

not resisting it, but accepting it out of understanding rather

than surrender.

148 Loving those who are ignorant, afraid or different (in this

case those infected with heterosexualism) can be trying,

difficult and, yes, painful. And the pain that we feel from the

impositions of heterosexualism on all of us, no matter what our

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sexual orientation, still tells us only one thing, something

needs to be changed, and not necessarily in the

heterosexualist's resistance, but maybe in our own tactical and

strategic methods of waging peace, or most likely in our own

internal conceptions and feelings about ourselves.

149 It is interesting that the only admonition that Jesus made

in reference to closets is as a place to do serious prayer work.

Personally, after years of searching for a sensible meaning,

presently, prayer never takes the form of asking or begging the

god that I relate to for anything! It is a matter of being

still or quiet long enough to assess the resources within and

without that have always been available from the Universe even

before I showed up to do the work that I have chosen to do. And

for those who choose to be engaged in the movement to free your

sensuality and sexuality from bondage, you can be just as

resourceful in waging peace on that front as you have been

resourceful in constructing your present hiding places. The

perennial question is whether we will find the courage and

develop the strength to do the only two things that human beings

can do within the scope of creation, and that is to love--be

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committed to the health and growth of everyone, and to work--to

use our human resources of knowledge, courage and imagination to

acquire those thing that will sustain our lives.

150 And until the day comes when each and every human being on

Earth can feel as free to openly participate in the public

worship of Liber, the god of sexuality, to the same extent that

Christians feel free to make eight o'clock mass or eleven

o'clock worship, or Hari Krishnas feel free to publicly bounce

up and down in ecstasy while seeking transcendence through

chanting the Holy name of Krishna, or Muslims feel free and

honored to pilgrimage to Mecca, or Buddhist feel free to seek

the sound of one hand clapping, etc. ad infinitum, I will

consider my work undone.

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 Wage Peace,

Charles W. Bevel

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