Wednesday 18 June 2003

Pic of the day: History shows us that religious activity does not make anyone immune to sexual temptations. (Screenshot from The Sims ... with a little help from user-made objects and creative use of cheat codes.)

Horny as hell

Thank goodness the moon is waning. For some reason the full moon seems to make me horny, or whatever the proper terms is for males. Sexually excitable, to the point where no provocation is really necessary to feel a general sense of sexual arousal. And of course if there is any impulse, external or internal, the awareness for it is that much greater.

This would presumably have been a good thing if I could practice the marital arts with a wife. Even though 44 is kinda late in life to beget children, I have been informed that many older couples still find great joy in performing together the ritual of stork summoning. Make love, they call it. Love is certainly not something the world is drowning in, so it sounds like a good idea. And even people who simply refer to it as "having sex" still seem to enjoy it. Periodically I can kinda understand them.

Middle-aged men such as I are supposed to be the target group for Viagra and other erectile enhancements. It is perhaps one of fate's many ironies then that I still would be more interested in medication with the opposite effect. I have in the past given much thought to the large number of unwed men in nominally Christian countries ... By now it is common to have at least 10 years between puberty and marriage, even if you don't count us strays who just never found a compelling reason to live with someone less than a soulmate. Given the enormous wealth accumulated by particularly the Catholic Church (but also a number of daughter churches) you would expect them to pour at least a few billion dollar a year into pharmaceutical companies chartered to develop a safe and reversible cure for horniness, an Anti-Viagra. But no such initiative has come to my attention.

***

I tentatively conclude, then, that the churches tacitly hope we will fall in fornication, or at the very least masturbation, so we can feel guilty and give them even more money. Then again, I am deeply convinced that the great churches serve gold before God, although some individuals within the churches almost certainly have the opposite approach.

While sexual sins may seem convenient for the churches, there is no doubt that there is real destructive power in human sexuality too. To take the most obvious, promiscuity kills. AIDS is only the latest Great Plague that is spread primarily by sexual intercourse. And if even one marriage partner is unfaithful, these diseases can even enter the sanctuary of the marriage. Adultery kills, and you should really be able to trust someone on this. (Again, I rarely trust people, which is one reason why I don't think marriage is worth it. I barely even trust myself; if I had enough sexual experience that intercourse became a habit, how would I react if I couldn't get any for a while? That would be much worse than now, I imagine.)

Even if, magically, there were no STDs – or, even if magically everyone used rubber – any threat to marriage is a threat to the family and the society built on it. I guess even deviations such as homosexuality and masturbation may be a threat to marriage ... but I really don't know enough to say for sure. My gay online friends insist that they don't really have the choice of a heterosexual relationship instead. If what they feel for the opposite sex is the same as I feel for the same sex, then I must concede that it would probably not be emotionally fulfilling, to say the least. Still, there are some people who could squeeze into the Standard Citizen template, but who prefer otherwise. Should their personal pursuit of happiness have higher priority than society's need for an unending stream of new babies? In our society, the most common answer seems to be yes. In other times, this is certainly not as obvious. Any threat to the family (and to baby-making) is a threat to society. In that perspective, the difference between sin and crime blurs and disappears.

In our days, the difference between sin and crime is particularly glaring in some sexual matters. Is masturbation really a bad idea in a world with 6 billion people and growing? Well, it is certainly not a crime against humanity. Another matter is whether it is Good For You. The whole attitude that "my personal pleasure is all things' measure" ... I can see it making people isolated, cold and cynical. Then again, people claim that I am isolated, cold and cynical ...

***

When Christianity was mixed up with heathen Greek philosophy, it became popular to believe in an immortal soul. The priesthood was certainly well served by the fantasies of eternal torment that blossomed in the Middle Ages. Visionaries had surprisingly detailed ideas about the punishment for various sins. I must admit that I never got into these things really deep, so I cannot remember the classic punishment for sexual sins. I have read some modern Inferno-style books, but these were novels rather than visions.

I am not even sure you would need to create a separate punishment for people who invest their life in their sexuality. Just taking their sexuality away from them would probably be eternal damnation already. Then again, for some people I guess it would be eternal damnation to let them continue in their current track. Luckily for all involved, there is good reason to believe that those not chosen for eternal life are simply destroyed, not kept alive for the torturing pleasures of a vengeful god. But I am afraid a dedication to personal pleasure at the expense of others is still not going to be rewarded by a Higher Power.

I don't delude myself into thinking that abstaining from sexual activity can get a person into Heaven. In fact, I think the forced celibacy of Catholic priests is a horrible crime. Not just against them and the poor women who could have been their spouses, but it poisons the whole attitude of the civilization in which they serve. Even apart from the occasional scandal, the whole thought is just so wrong. If people can find bliss in marriage, then so much the better. It is the love of oneself above others that is wrong, and this attitude has not been combated effectively by Christianity as we know it. Just look at the way greed permeates our society!

Besides, I know especially from my younger years, how sexual abstinence could fill your mind with sexual thoughts and feelings, perhaps as much as lechery. It is kinda like women on a diet, they think and talk and dream about food. Do you really want your Pater to have it that way about sex?

I am happy to report that things have improved over time (although it is uncertain how much comes from old age and how much from consciously butchering all ideas of possible future relationships). Still, the fact that I manage to wring a long journal entry out of this matter ... I guess it proves that there is still a way to go before the eternal rest.