(no subject)

Reply to response akaiyume gave to my last entry

Control of sexuality is a tactic driven by the primate side of human nature. In primate socities, sexual cues drive the games of dominance and submission. The alpha male controls the sexuality of every other male (who submit willingly or by force) and, by extension, the sexuality of every female. It is as though the alpha male has every other male in the tribe collared.

So humans respond to control over sexuality because it is a psychological "pressure point" the authorities can use to earn our submission without us even really knowing why.

This is also why authoritarian governments cannot resist passing laws regulating the use of sex.

These laws are embarassing for the powers-that-be, though, because they cannot be justified by the "Enlightenment" principles that guided the development of our Constitution.

(no subject)

Dilemma of the day.

As peace marches become more contentious, more and more the focus of anger and latent (or real) violence, how can one who genuinely supports peace participate in them, without feeling as though one is contributing to the fractiousness of society?

Dee and Tim went to the peace march Friday and said that hecklers have become more vocal and more virulent, one saying that all participants deserved to be shot.

I feel the need to signal my opposition to war, but I do not think it is productive to make myself a target of hate and vindictiveness in the process. In the absense of alternative options, is not participating in marches or other civil disobedience tantamount to complicity? Will have to ponder this.

Two by Anthony De Mello.

A disciple fell asleep and dreamed that he had entered Paradise. To his astonishment he found his Master and the other disciples sitting there, absorbed in meditation.

"Is this the reward of Paradise?" he cried. "Why, this is exactly the sort of thing we did on earth!"

He heard a Voice exclaim, "Fool! You think those meditators are in Paradise? It is just the opposite: Paradise is in the meditators."

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The Master held that no words were bad if they were used in an appropriate context.

When he was told that one of his disciples was given to swearing, he remarked, "Profanity has been known to offer spiritual relief denied to prayer."