Originally posted by
Aragorn
And this is because the US far right, as ultraconservatives, have a very unhealthy fixation on and obsession with other people's sex life.
I might say U don't know how right U are... but... I know better... cuz I know U know...
It is something they've taken over from the CIA, who were the first to start deploying that tactic, and for that matter, even as early as the 1960s. The conservative wing in the United States of America identifies with masculinity and machismo ─ hence the American desire to be the ruler of the world, and of course, this is once again an ostensible property of all fascist regimes. It also ties in with the American glorification of the military, and especially of the US Marine Corps.
Well... i'd argue the see-eye-eh were far from the 1st but that just goes off on a tangent. The roots of this go waaaay back.... but, yeah, the reflections have taken to quite intimidating forms since the end of the war to end all wars. The one where the bomb showed up and went... BANG...
It's no accident that the majority of ultraconservatives in the U.S. are also religious fanatics of one stripe or another, and to one degree of fanaticism or another... but... are, predominately christian.... of one stripe or another. But there are glaring commonalities and it is to these that we need to look to begin to see the unseen.
One of the most glaring is what I call the Die To Live imprint. Modeled by their poster child for mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa... the christ, hisself... who gave his life in crucifixion upon a cross to atone for our sins and that we may have life everlasting... after we die first a'course... or... so the story goes... and such as the price is. This plays out in many forms from the grunts in the military willing to die for U 'n me 'n freedom to the born agains to the evans and on and on.
Admittedly, it's not limited to christians... but... they happen to have it in spades.
Its one of the most glaring flim flams ever, I tell ya!! But hardly anybody recognizes it for what it is... the ultimate, denial of self.
And let us least not forget... who's the bad guy??? ...well... that's not really a fair way to ask... cuz he's really a she... u know, the one with the apple. And just what does that apple represent???
… DESIRE...
For HER a'course.
Especially...
SEXUALLY!!
Just ask the Al Pachino character in Scent of a Woman... now there's a guy who had a healthy appreciation for... well, HER. He knew she made the world go round for the man that he was and he both respected and honored her for it. She drips with sweet essence and he was both crazy for it and humbled by it.
How do the conservative christians see her? Well, the catholics are so down on her and what she represents to them that their clergy makes a vow of chastity. Oh, they acknowledge her... BUT... only as a VIRGIN. Which means what???
...no sex had by the blessed one...
What about the rest that aren't catholic? Anybody see Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ? I can't think of a christian denomination that doesn't buy into the passion narrative in one way or another. I don't think Gibson was conscious at all of what I saw him portraying in the opening scenes...
It's late in the evening after the supper. The opening scene is in the garden - an irony in itself but we don't need to get off on a tangent, not when there are more chilling ironies about to unfold.
The christ is in extreme anguish. He knows what's about to go down. There's a short interchange between the christ and the apostles, all of whom he has found sleeping... for which he feels abandoned... but there's an even bigger abandonment about to come.
In the meantime, the betrayal. The scene cuts to Judus and the deal to give up the christ by revealing where he is for 30 pieces of silver.
The scene then cuts back to the garden and the christ, in his agony, beseeching...
Hear me Father
Rise up, defend me
Save me from the traps they set for me
Then a new character, a veiled character wearing a floor length gown that could pass for male or female. appears and sez to him...
Do U really believe
that one man can bear the full burden of sin?
With eyes raised to the heavens, he sez...
Shelter me, O lord
I trust in you
In you I take refuge
The veiled one sez...
No man can carry this burden, I tell you.
It is far too heavy.
Saving their souls is too costly.
No one, ever
No
Never
Him, again, with head raised, arms reaching upwards, he begs...
Father, You can do all things
If it is possible, let this chalice pass from me
But let Your Will be done, NOT MINE
He collapses to the ground...
The veiled one peers down upon him. Asks..
Who is your father?
Who are you?
He rises... slowly, painfully to his knees in anguish. He is speaking in Hebrew as he and the veiled one have been all along. Captions roll across the bottom of the screen, interpreting in English for us.
But not this time. As he speaks in Hebrew there is no translation. The camera closes in on the face of the veiled one and slowly begins to pan downward until it reaches the bare feet, barely visible just beneath the gown. The head of a serpent, tongue flicking, slowly appears from under the gown and slithers across the ground to the christ.
The camera follows. Then... pan to the veiled one who watches intently.
Pan back to the serpent which crawls onto the hands of the christ, clenched in the dirt, who is still speaking in Hebrew. Raises itself toward his face. He becomes aware of the serpent and begins to rise, fists clenched, eyes portraying a terrified rage.
Pan back to the veiled one who watches in anticipation. Which way will he go? What will he choose to do?
Pan back to the christ. Gone is the terror. Only the rage remains in his eyes, on his face, taking over his entire body and demeanor. It intensifies. He looks down upon the serpent, quickly raises a sandaled foot and stomps down hard, smashing the serpent's head with a final, crushing sound.
The camera pans back to where the veiled one was only to find no one there.
That's far enough. You all know the rest of the narrative.
And now I'm gonna tell you what I saw... and I can assure, such was NOT Gibson's conscious intent to portray...
The veiled one is female. Might say the same one in that other garden that came before. I'll even go so far as to say she mighta been the christ's Will. His Feminine. (Yeah, I know, that's quite a stretch and begs unpackin' at the very least. But for now... hey... I'm an old man... so... humor me.)
Where did that serpent come from? From up there, maybe... about half way up, under that gown? And what temptation does it represent? Could it be that same ole apple from the first garden?
Right here is where sex is thrown outside of love.
And guess where the christ got it from?
Oh, but there's more...
But let your Will be done, NOT MINE.
Name me one christian who doesn't subscribe to exactly that!!
There's this thing in the Big Book of the brother and sisterhood of the empty chalice called the 3rd step prayer. It's not the 3rd step. It's a prayer that goes something like...
God, I offer myself to Thee to do with me as Thou wilt
Releive me of the bondage of self so that I may better do Your Will
Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness
to Your Will, Your power, and to Your way of life
May I do Your Will always
I adopted that prayer as a mantra. Said it regular... and in between, whenever life got dicey, i'd say it. And it helped. Then suddenly, yet, slowly, I began to feel uncomfortable saying it. Vague at first but increasing in intensity. Every time i'd say the mantra i'd get this uncomfortable feeling. Like something was bad wrong. This went on for weeks. Finely, one day... the question hit me...
Maybe... just maybe... God's Will is for me to do my Will?
I felt a whole lot better after that and i've never once repeated that mantra again. I attribute this particular epiphany to saving my life. That along with the works of Alice Miller who I cited just recently here on TOT.
There were others that came before that, that had led directly to getting sober in one night in the back of my truck after 27 years of being trapped in the prison of the obsession of having to have alcohol available to me 24/7.
And there were others that came later. Most significantly,, I came upon a book titled Right Use of
Will. It contained passages like this one on pg i of the intro...
Most people on Earth have made a separation between their Spirit and their Will. They have believed their own Will was not acceptable and that to love in the way that God loves, they must eliminate their own feelings and opinions and do what they have imagined to be the Will of God. An understanding is needed here: The Will of God is not in opposition to the Will of the individual.
So, yeah, what Aragorn said is dead on from where I'm lookin....