Curious Bodies

Contact Us Table of Contents Search Site Home Also on this website: Toby Johnson's books: TWO SPIRITS: A Story of Life with the Navajo, a collaboration with Walter L. Williams GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe SECRET MATTER: updated, revised & expanded edtion from Lethe Press with Afterword by Mark Jordan GETTING LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE PLAGUE: A NOVEL ABOUT HEALING. CHARMED LIVES: Spinning Straw into Gold: Reclaiming Our Queer Spirituality Through Story About ordering Books on Gay Spirituality: White Crane Gay Spirituality Series   Articles and Excerpts: Read Toby's review of Samuel Avery's The Dimensional Structure of Consciousness Funny Coincidence: "Aliens Settle in San Francisco" The Simple Answer to the Gay Marriage Debate Why gay people should NOT Marry Wedding Cake Liberation Gay Marriage in Texas What's ironic Shame on the American People The "highest form of love"  The cause of homosexuality What is homosexuality? What is Gay Spirituality? What Jesus said about Gay Rights The purpose of homosexuality Interview on the Nature of Homosexuality What the Bible Says about Homosexuality Mesosexual Ideal for Straight Men Varieties of Gay Spirituality Waves of Gay Liberation Activity Why Gay Spirituality: Spirituality as Artistic Medium Easton Mountain Retreat Center Andrew Harvey & Spiritual Activism "It's Always About You" The myth of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara Joseph Campbell's description of Avalokiteshvara You're Not A Wave Emptiness & Religious Ideas Experiencing experiencing experiencing Going into the Light Meditations for a Funeral Meditation Practice The way to get to heaven Advice to Travelers to India & Nepal Nate Berkus is a bodhisattva John Boswell was Immanuel Kant Curious Bodies What Toby Johnson Believes The Joseph Campbell Connection Campbell & The Pre/Trans Fallacy The Nature of Religion Being Gay is a Blessing Freedom of Religion The Gay Agenda Gay Saintliness Gay Spiritual Functions The subtle workings of the spirit in gay men's lives. The Sinfulness of Homosexuality Proposal for a study of gay nondualism  "The Evolution of Gay Identity" "St. John of the Cross & the Dark Night of the Soul." Avalokiteshvara at the Baths.  Eckhart's Eye Let Me Tell You a Secret Religious Articulations of the Secret The Collective Unconscious Driving as Spiritual Practice Meditation Historicity as Myth Pilgrimage Next Step in Evolution Teenage Prostitution and the Nature of Evil Allah Hu: "God is present here"   Adam and Steve The Life is in the Blood Gay retirement and the "freelance monastery" Seeing with Different Eyes What are you looking for in a gay science fiction novel? The mystical experience at the Servites'  Castle in Riverside The Great Dance according to C.S.Lewis The Techniques Of The World Saviors Part 1: Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby Part 2: The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Part 3: Jesus and the Resurrection Part 4: A Course in Miracles The Secret of the Clear Light Understanding the Clear Light Mobius Strip Finding Your Tiger Face How Gay Souls Get Reincarnated About Alien Abduction In honor of Sir Arthur C Clarke The D.A.F.O.D.I.L. Alliance More about Gay Mental Health Psych Tech Training The Rainbow Flag Toby's friend and nicknamesake Toby Marotta. About Michael Talbot, gay mystic About Guy Mannheimer About Dennis Paddie About Sterling Houston About Michael Stevens Our friend Tom Nash Second March on Washington The Gay Spirituality Summit in May 2004 and the  "Statement of Spirituality"   Book Reviews Be Done on Earth by Howard E. Cook Pay Me What I'm Worth by Souldancer The Way Out by Christopher L  Nutter The Gay Disciple by John Henson Art That Dares by Kittredge Cherry

The necessary corollary of affirming pleasure is that incarnation in the flesh is a thing to be honored, relished, and celebrated. Such an affirmation directly challenges the dualistic notion that the soul and body are separate, even conflicting, entities. Body and soul are not in opposition. The body is good. It's a kindness to others to show your body and to enjoy seeing the bodies of others. Because our sexual awareness is tied into vision and objectification, we males especially long to see others' bodies. We feel frustrated when we can't satisfy our curiosity. For gay men, nudity is an affirmation of us as curious bodies. It feels good to go bare chested. It feels good to see other men shirtless. It reminds us we're in pleasure-loving flesh. Nudity is good.   People clothe themselves for decoration and for protection from the elements (these days including unfiltered U.V. radiation). Clothes are wonderful. One of the joys of being gay is often knowing how to dress well: to adorn oneself and others in ways that create beauty and interest. People also clothe themselves for protection from other people's judgment and sexual interest. Clothing can enhance attractiveness by hiding flaws. Though that kind of thinking supports the notion there are such things as flaws. The obsession with hiding our bodies causes untold suffering, unhappiness, and frustration. Baring all allows these anxieties to abate. Naked, we forget to be ashamed of our bodies. In our all-male world, we seldom worry about being raped if we show our bodies. In the straight world, this is a real concern. Women are raped in part because sexually repressed, angry males rebel against the competitive, hierarchical system designed to restrict sex to alpha males through the dynamic of women's selectivity. Rapists force themselves on women who are helpless or whom they imagine to be "asking for it" by making themselves attractive. Modesty is both a mechanism of self-defense for women and a demonstration of power and ownership by dominant males. (Middle-eastern cultures that veil women and seclude them from public view demonstrate this in the extreme.) In a very practical way, feeling good about one's body and showing it proudly--and appropriately, of course--helps self-esteem, allays neurosis and anxiety, and motivates one to take good care of oneself. Concern with the body is not foolish vanity; rather, it is good stewardship over one's place in creation. Taking care of yourself and sharing your success in that endeavor with others is a simple, practical way of creating beauty and improving a little piece of the world. Appropriate nudity is a dramatization and demonstration of God's primordial "Behold, it is good." Excerpted from GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe (Alyson, 2003)