Long ago and far away. . . well. . . the Moral Temperance Society put an end to that. Once the pedo craze began. . . . The internet has been scoured of Sally Mann's most iconic images of her children, at least from a casual search. But I just ordered the new Sally Mann book, "Art Work," that will be released tomorrow, and it will be delivered to me by Amazon that same day. It is the "caboose" to "Hold Still," she says. You can read a fairly bland review in the Times here (link).
Religion has taught one lesson if no other. Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and Christians fight and kill one another relentlessly. . . in the name of God, of course. Well, maybe not the Buddhist. They have another plan. The Buddhist, it is said, kill without hate. So there is that. But one thing they all believe is that we should feel guilt and shame about the naked body. Sex isn't so bad. There are ways to have sex in all religions. There are strictures, of course, but the species must survive. Nudity, however, is another matter. One should not look upon the naked form without feeling guilt and shame. There are many reasons for this, too many to go into here. I'll just link you to the Wiki page if you are half-interested (link).
Prior to Christianity, nudity and the human form was something beautiful, not shameful. Public nudity was not banned. Indeed, as I think I may have mentioned recently (I don't remember because I write so many things to so many people), Diogenes used to walk around naked with a lantern "Looking for an honest man." He also would masturbate in the public market place saying, "If only it were so easy to soothe hunger by rubbing an empty belly."
After the rise of "The Church," now recognized as the Catholic Church, one could only paint the nude as allegorical. Depictions of Adam and Eve and the Serpent and the Garden abounded.
Oops. . . more on that to come 😉. I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Poor old Marin Luther broke away from the decadence of the church but couldn't break away from his own feelings of guilt over his lustful nature, and he would whip himself bloody with a small instrument termed "a discipline," a small whip with which he would self-flagellate to atone for his impure thoughts. Later, Calvin and his followers became even more oppressive.
Of course, modernism broke away from these moral constraints, but, you know. . . we no longer live in modern times. This time it is a Secular Reformation.
Born of self-loathing and guilt, I think. Repression has a way of making people cruel.
I've certainly lived in better times, I can truly say.
One can't even rely on the soothsayers any more. Science, science, science. But Trump and his team will take care of that.
So. . . I've tried to distract myself from the trouble of my days and keep from whining to you again. Yesterday I went to see my mother twice, but otherwise the day was rather carefree. I have no actions I must take today, and my mother is doing better all the time. Tomorrow we have her evaluation with the rehab group to see what they recommend. She should be going home, soon. I guess I am resigned to my role in that. Sometimes one just has to accept their fate.
I couldn't sleep last night. I woke at two in a panic and couldn't settle down. My heart was racing and I was breathing hard and fast. I realized it was some dream that had excited me. Why was I dreaming that I was stuck in an Olive Garden? I had to get up and walk around to calm myself. I decided to take a small dose of Xanax to help me sleep. And after a bit in bed, just as the Xanax was kicking in, I began to giggle. It occurred to me that the nightmare must be an offspring of my working a series of images set in the Garden of Eden all day.
I was stuck in the Olive Garden of Eden!
I thought then that perhaps I should let that go and quit fucking around with religion and guilt and shame, but you know. . . I seem to have something of an obsession. I can't help myself, I guess. I'll have things that you will probably soon to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment