A Few Sayings on Nudity and Values

Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful. And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy, you may find in them a harness and a chain. Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your body and less of your raiment. Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity - these are strictly confined to man; he invented them. Among the higher animals there is no trace of them. They hide nothing. They are not ashamed. Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth)

We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins. George Bernard Shaw

Adam and Eve entered the world naked and unashamed - naked and pure-minded. And no descendant of theirs has ever entered it otherwise. All have entered it naked, unashamed, and clean in mind. They entered it modest. They had to acquire immodesty in the soiled mind, there was no other way to get it. ... The convention mis-called "modesty" has no standard, and cannot have one, because it is opposed to nature and reason and is therefore an artificiality and subject to anyone's whim - anyone's diseased caprice. Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth

The waves most washed me off the raft sometimes, but I hadn't any clothes on, and didn't mind. Mark Twain, Huckelberry Finn

The body says what words cannot. Martha Graham

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed? Michelangelo

Men are even lazier than they are timorous, and what they fear most is the troubles with which any unconditional honesty and nudity would burden them. Friedrich Nietzsche

A few more Naturist Links:

• IFN - International Federation of Naturism
• FCN - Federation of Canadian Naturists
• FQN - La Fédération Québécoise de Naturisme (Quebec naturist organization)
• WCANR - Western Canadian Association for Nude Recreation
• FNN - La Fédération Française de Naturisme (French naturist organization)
• FBN - Fédération Belge de Naturisme (Belgium naturist organization)
• TNS - The Naturist Society
• AANR - American Association for Nude Recreation
• British Naturism
• FLN - Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Naturisme (Luxembourg naturist organization)
• ANF - Australian Nudist Federation
• DFK Line - German national naturist organization (in German only)
• Spanish Naturist Federation
• Teens and Nudism
  

Frustrations and Patients

I'm working with a woman who has cancer. They've been treating her with chemotherapy and it has not been working well. She is stronger than when I first met her as a patient. She's actually improving, but not as much as we would both like. She has started with a new oncologist and is hopeful.

Today, however, she has decided to go to Brazil, to a faith healer. João Teixeira de Faria, or "John of God" as he calls himself gets hundreds of pilgrims a day, from all over the world. February 12, 2005, ABC News Primetime devoted an hour to John of God who claims to channel 35 healers. There are many testimonials, but no evidence that this charlatain's parlor tricks have really done any good. Every apparent cure has proven subject to better alternative explanations. Those who have not been "cured" are told that it was because of their own lack of faith. Very convenient for senhor Joao.

It troubles me that in the 21st century so many people harbor so many superstitious notions. My patient is prepared to spend an enormous sum pursuing this. Of course, there are unexplained remissions, but those also happen with patients who do not go to shamans and faith healers. When a patient does get better without a medical cause, we do not note the "reason." We simply celebrate the healing. If it happens after someone goes to "John of God," then it is attributed to him.

I do believe that a deep spiritual life is important and that it does improve our lives. A positive attitude promotes healing. Reducing stress whether through relaxation techniques, meditation, hypnosis or prayer does encourage the body to throw-off illness and to recover from surgery. There has been much well-considered and well-designed research demonstrating this. But it is very different from going 7000 miles and spending $4-5,000 to see an uneducated farmer with no medical training. (Airfare, housing, guides, etc.)

As the Skeptic's Dictionary says

What are the odds that a farmer in a remote area of Brazil who has no medical training and who sticks metal deep into people's nostrils, causing them to bleed even if relatively painlessly, who slits with a knife areas on the body that have no known physiological relationship to what ails the patient and then sticks his finger in the open wound, who claims that God does the work even though he has about 35 dead doctors and healers to assist him by doing invisible surgery from the spirit world, and so on....what are the odds that this guy is performing miracles?

The same people who will flock to such a person reject any notion of Jesus Christ healing people as related in the New Testament. I am not saying the miracle stories in the New Testament are literally true. I don't believe in their literal truth either. They may contain truth for me in the spiritual insights they metaphorically point to. Their truth, like that of all scripture, is metaphoric not literal. But why be skeptical of one group of stories and not the other?

Of course I don't begrudge anyone the chance to visit Brazil. I think Brazil is a great and charming place to visit--even to live. The Brazilian people are marvelous. While they may harbor many superstitions, their culture is, in many ways, much more free than ours. They have many foods--especially a wide variety of fruits and vegetables--that are great. They have produced some of what I consider to be the best dance music. Brazil is also the one Latin nation where nudism, which I value, is well-established.

I just think my patient would do better to go to Brazil, enjoy the beaches and the food, or a samba club or--well, you get the idea--rather than giving the money to someone who calls himself "John of God."

I do understand that she is frightened. She has the "big 'C'". The chemo didn't work as well as they hoped. I do really have empathy for her and will not lay all this trip on her. I'm just sharing it with you who might be reading my blog. I simply lament the state of thinking in this country.

If we were a more enlightened people we might avoid so many of the errors we make, from destroying our environment, invading other countries, electing idiots, thieves and criminals as president and vice-president. We might find the wisdom to solve our nation's problems like racism, homophobia, sexism. We might fund science better. More medical research with stem cells might relieve more suffering. We might learn from history.

(Information: Abadiania, Brazil is located about 25 miles from the city of Brasilia--the capital of Brazil--on the road to Goiania. As an aside, the city of Brasilia is worth the trip. Or just go to Natal and enjoy the beaches.)

Nudism, Nudity, Nude, Naked

Nudism is an ism. That means it is a philosophical position. Of course the exact description of that philosophy varies widely. This is possibly the reason that we nudists don't even agree on the proper word. Some of us call it nudism, while others use the word "naturism". I suppose this depends on whether one is emphasizing the freedom of being unclothed or the naturalness of it.

Most nudists are not very doctrinaire. The phrase often heard is, "Nude when possible, clothed when necessary." Not many of us are masochists and we tend to get well and warmly dressed when faced with winter weather. We also don hiking shoes, tennis shoes or whatever other clothing will protect us. Very few nudists cook in the nude without an apron to protect from spillage or burns.

Never-the-less we do prefer to be nude, particularly when relaxed outdoors or in. That is probably the only thing that unites those who profess nudism. Nudists range from very conservative Christians to whatever other political and religious extremes exist. Nudists come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and ages. There are very few who would pose for magazine covers. The vast majority of us have spindly legs, or pot-bellies, wrinkles, or bald heads.

The nudist community tends to be older. Many don't become nudists until their mid-30s and beyond. However, thanks to the efforts of the American Association for Nude Recreation's (AANR) subgroup, Young Adults for Nude Recreation (YANR) there is an increasing population of younger nudists. In addition many people have entered nudism by being members of nudist families. As they grow through their teen years and enter adulthood, they are already seasoned nudists and find nude and natural to be their preferance.

Nudists are often startled when someone asks what it is like to be "naked". The word "naked" seems to imply an involuntary state of weakness. People who don't have sufficient clothing are spoken of as naked, just as those without food are hungry. Being naked is forced upon people. Nudists usually use the word "nude" for the state of voluntarily shedding unneeded clothing. Since it is a choice, being nude is empowering. Nudists feel good as they experience the brush of the breeze against their skin, or the bodily freedom of swimming without constrictive clothing.

In another post, I will discuss the many great reasons for embracing not just recreational nudism but a social and family nude life-style.

On Starting a Blog

I've been thinking about writing several articles to share some of the things I've learned about life and some of those I think I've learned. I was going to put these on my own website, but that would mean having "finished" ideas to share. I'm not sure that I will ever have a finished article. Everything I know is in a constant state of flux.

Here are a few of the ideas I intend to write about.

• One of my "late in life" learnings is about the value of public, social nudity. Thirty odd years ago I took some training in using nudity in doing psychotherapy. I led several nude therapy groups and had some amazing success in helping people improve their lives. Later the therapy movement became more staid, conservative and stodgy. They also bought into the conservative idea that nudity equals sex. In order to remain a "member in good standing," I abandoned this work. That was a mistake. But there is more to nudity than therapy. Social and especially family nudity has several great benefits for the adults and for the children.

• There are a lot of fairly strange movements in the world of psychotherapy. Many of them are either not efficacious or even worse train people to be crazier. Others, in the marriage counseling arena, actually destroy marital relationships (The words "marital relationship" for me mean all forms of consensual, committed relationships of whatever gender preference.) rather than improve them.

• In the realm of spirituality, I will share my own ideas, feelings and my own apprehension of "The Sacred." The Sacred can be called by all kinds of names. . .or even None.

• As counter point, I may share what I have learned about pickling fish, the joys of motorcycle riding or photography, Mexico, Brazil or Japan.

This is a starting list. I'm a broad fellow (Physically and mentally) and don't intend to restrict either myself or anyone who cares to read.

Blessing,
David