Reintroducing the Human BodysteemCreated with Sketch.

in #humanity7 years ago (edited)


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Throughout life we are exposed to a veritable bombardment of information from many sources - and about many things. A fair portion of this information is dedicated towards selling viewpoints, either of the World or of oneself or others.

This is Society's way of ensuring a minimum in outliers - individuals who stick out from Society and do not fit in. This can also be a means via which entities or individuals can promote or impose their viewpoints upon others.

Now - while a fair degree of the information that we get is grounded upon something of substance - there are exceptions - and, depending on how complete the curtain of others' opinion is pulled over one's eyes, the more likely it is that we would miss it.


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To illustrate this - let us suppose that 'Strawberry Corp.' were to mount and sustain an attack against the consumption of bananas. As the pervasive nature of the opinion-engineering exercise takes its toll upon banana sales, retail sellers would begin to opt against getting stocks - especially as they face mounting pressures and threats of boycotts in such regards. They are out to make a profit and a living, after all.

Let us suppose that half a century passes and you live in a World and a nation where possessing or dealing bananas is illegal because of 'various reasons'...


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Well... 'could' you know any better?


Do we See the Human Body as it Truly is?

Likewise - we have encountered various sources of information that have sought to sculpt our perspectives regarding the human body. The precise details of this information may have greatly varied - including over the course of our lifetimes alone... but what does the bulk of this information seek to impress upon one's mind?

  • That the human body is sinful, carnal, dirty?

  • That the human body should be hidden away to some degree or another?

  • That 'modesty' requires that our bodies be suitable covered?

To be fair this might not have been true for you - but I suspect that you have encountered something similar over your life's experiences.


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It is not easy to objectively assess stereotypes when they are presented with strong undercurrents of collective popular interest and sensationalism.

Many a person has looked around him or her and stepped back to rejoin the ranks of the collective as they hissed and booed his or her less-than-unanimously held perspective. To do otherwise is to make some significant shifts in one's psychological makeup - no longer placing collective approval as one's highest priority in determining the worth of one's perspective and one's own self.

This extends to our perspectives of the human body - and also our perspectives of certain kinds of expression - including that of personal culture or gender identity.


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Why Do We Continue to Build Walls?

The sad truth is that we have done a really good job of being cruel to each other as well as to ourselves. We have opted to compartmentalize and separate ourselves from each other and in so doing we may have also allowed less healthy body and gender perspective movements to arise.

We have arrived at a sordid juncture where an individual cannot viably claim a right to living in accordance to what nature has shown us is normal. We don't have to exercise that right - but it sure would be nice to know that we 'could'.

And yes, to be clear I 'am' suggesting that we humans be 'allowed' to go about our daily lives partially or completely nude if we so choose - at least with respect to our personal private and public lives.

This regardless of the race, gender, orientation, weight, age, health, or otherwise of the person concerned.



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Perhaps through exposure to each other we would all learn to be more mature about our relationships with ourselves and each other.

After all, one does not need to scratch the surface of our current reality too deeply such as to find that our conservatively concealing attire has not had the effect of rendering immune to the kinds of activities that wearing such supposedly was intended to prevent or otherwise avoid.

Perhaps we need to be reintroduced to the human body.

Not as a vehicle of sin - for if this were so then there is a glaring inconsistency to resolve - why would a forbidden apple bitten turn that which was previously righteous into sin?

But rather as a creation of beauty - an exquisite artwork evolving - where curiosity is not discouraged - let alone punished. Where we can be... simply human.


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As an aside, I have opted 'not' to include any explicit nudity in my choices in illustrations so as to avoid making it nsfw.

I hope that you found the above exposition to be thought provoking. :c) I am sure that you have views on this matter and, regardless of whether you find yourself in agreement or not, I am looking forward to the discussion below!

Also, if you found this post interesting and would like to share this with your followers and friends then a resteem is always appreciated.

Sincerely,

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wow I'm surprised to no comments on this. I totally agree - turning the body into something shameful was a well played trick on us all.. no we are all confused and conflicted. I think a total rewrite needs to be done with the body and sexuality .. society no matter which - is super polarized and the beliefs are extreme on all sides. It's time to bring every one in a little closer and find the truth of the matter, bring back the sacredness that sex was supposed to symbolize and start respecting ourselves again.
But that's just my opinion - I was glad to see another voicing theirs!

Greetings @amariespeaks. Spotted you here. Had to say "hi". Love what the @steemitzombies are doing. Let me know if I can help. Making my way over to the discord channel. Blessings.

awesome @mistermercury ! so glad to see you pop in again! :-D #steemitzombies is gonna be big! definitely come check out what's happening over there

This is the first time that I am hearing of this initiative and I do feel that it sounds very promising at first blush. ^_^ Time to do some reading up!

Back then I was surprised also. Today not so much (the surprise being that it got any response at all :cP).

You are quite right and I share the same feelings. The humans who make up Society have been infected with an inferior perspective of self. As we see ourselves as being so flawed by design as to feel the need to hide ourselves away, so too are our lives stinted - we sacrifice a degree of our very humanity for very little (if any) benefit.

I am also heartened that you go that one step further in moving from the human body to sex and sexuality - as this too is one of the most natural highlights in simply being human.

Your opinion is noted and valued and I am grateful that you have had opportunity to listen to mine. ^_^

thank you @pathforger :) I look forward to reading more of your posts!

I appreciate the post. A few decades ago when I was putting a religious denomination in the rear-view mirror, a religion that had contempt for my body and my "wickedness" I discovered I had a wonderful, beautiful body. I'd hike up into a canyon behind my house and disrobe just to reconnect with what I had lost and shunned myself: my body. THanks for a wonderful reminder that I love myself and others. Blessings.

Thank you for sharing that unique and valuable share @mistermercury. :c)

Ah - in a sense you are one of the lucky ones as many either do not fathom to exercise such freedoms - or are otherwise unable to.

To be at peace with the human body and to see its beauty rather than its "sinfulness" (or perhaps to see that same sinfulness as being nothing more than the natural desire for humans to gravitate to each other) is bound to have a positive impact upon our overall perception of self and esteem.

We are worthy of our humanity. Let us embrace it.

Indeed, this act of revealing my body and owning it and loving it was an essential step in leaving the prison of ignorance I had worshipped in for years. This led to a life full of spirit and love and freedom. I'm very grateful. HEY! Just visited your blog. You are from Malta! Do you know Jeremy the Poet? I follow him and call him "friend".

That does sound very liberating. :c)

Thank you for visiting my blog (its taking a short break at the moment)! ^_^

Jeremy the Poet doesn't ring a bell but I'm sure that he is a pretty neat fellow. I'll look him up! :c)

Wow! Remarkable to me that two Steemians are from Malta. My only knowledge of your Isle comes from old news clips of WWII and the book entitled, "The Religion" by Tim Willocks, a friend of mine. The book is an exceptional novel with the theme of the conflict between The Religion and the Muslims in 1565. So my geographical knowledge is only 453 years old. Blessings.

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