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You Smell Like...

3/14/2018

7 Comments

 
Last Spring I made a blogpost which featured my pixelated buttocks. ​The post appeared on a popular hiking Facebook page. While most comments were supportive, a couple men blasted me. They were profoundly offended to see a bottom even blurred. One dude told me I should register as a sex offender. 

When did these men consciously decided they found the gluteus muscles (and the skin and fat which surround them) so offensive? Did they sit down one day to figure out which body parts were cool and which shameful? Of course not. They were impressed at a very young age through a variety of mediums.

Now I had my awareness completely on the subject. What was wrong with the backside of the human body? For that matter, what was embarrassing about the frontside? Did we not all have similar features from little innocent babies to sweet old grandparents? I couldn't seem too find fault with this design when putting full reason on it. 

However, the disesteem for ourselves runs deep. So deep that I discovered a new pocket of it under the full moon in Goa, India. Once again the matter cleared up when put under the full gaze of awareness and query**.

Have you had a similar experience? 

*Book reference in video is Lost Connections by Johann Hari. He speaks about some of these thoughts on this podcast.

**There are some thorns imbedded so deep, however, that noticing them is just the beginning of a long process of pulling them out. The most pernicious, given to us by the same advertisers who have contributed to body shame, is materialism. Extrinsic thinking that acquiring a possession will make us happy. Study after study contradicts this belief, but it's so dominant all but the most enlightened fall under it's bewitchment.  
7 Comments
Julia
3/14/2018 06:56:58 pm

It would be interesting to see what society would be like if there wasn't this universal "box" the majority thinks inside of by default. Because instinct in the very beginning is to pay attention to the monkey that waves the highest flag, or to the masses lead by that monkey, free and original thought just doesn't come natural. It's not what's easy and safe.

Reply
Jonathan
3/16/2018 03:49:58 pm

Very true Julia, but I am hopeful that humanity is learning how to have better and better conversations. I'd like to believe we are waking up as a species. In the past couple years I've met people in their 20s who have reached a level of awareness it took me an extra decade to acquire. The best thing we can do to facilitate this process is become the best versions of ourselves as possible: calm, understanding, and loving.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Reply
Julia
3/19/2018 08:11:28 am

I see that happening too over time. There are a few younger folks I've met who just really get it, in ways most people never will in their lifetimes. Seems like a sign. I think there's an initial shock on most of society with this newfound global access we have to each other, like naivety is really played upon extra much through marketing/ politics/ whatever monkey see monkey do antics.. but yet I can see society gradually wisening up to that and starting to identify what serves as just mental clutter and suppresses spiritual awareness, and get to becoming their own source of peace.. and connect more purely with each other with better substance. Love and truth prevail.

Reply
Jonathan
3/20/2018 06:43:00 pm

Amen to that sister. Love and truth!

Reply
Carlos
3/20/2018 03:07:38 pm

Every day I feel a little more disappointed with the human species. Why so many humans forget that we are all humans. I wonder if some have evolved more than others but, when I think this, I feel I'm being like those who forget that we are all the same species...that's not easy at all to explain! Through our lives we are bombarded with labels and prejudices and it's not so easy to get rid of it. I've been growing through the years and fortunately I can see, sometimes with some efforts, the other just like another human being. Yes, we smell like human beings...so simple like that but, to reach this conclusion...not so simple. Thanks to share your calm and understanding, your enlightenment.

Reply
Jonathan
3/20/2018 06:47:56 pm

Never underestimate the power of the matrix. Most urban inhabitants are exposed to well over 1,000 ads in a day. Materialism is the dominant paradigm of our culture. It takes serious awareness and deep questioning on the nature of happiness to snap out of that spell.
The good news is it sounds like you're on the path brother. Keep on keeping on!

Reply
Carlos
3/21/2018 01:40:24 pm

You're right, Jonathan. Thanks and I will keeping on and follow this path.




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