Bill Weintraub

Re: like water in the desert

1-7-2007

Thank you Frances.

I wanted to post this email from Frances because, as she often does, she gets in a very few words to the heart of the matter.

For years, guys on this site and in the Alliance have used words and phrases like "sacrament," "holy," "blessed," "the place where men's souls converge," "a spiritual mission," "the epiphany of maleness," and "the greatest gift" -- to describe Frot.

Recently, I've begun emphasizing this spiritual aspect of Frot because I'm concerned about

1. the unceasing attacks upon Natural Masculinity and the true love of Man for Man coming from the religious fanatics;

2. the unceasing attacks upon Natural Masculinity and the true love of Man for Man coming from the analists; and

3. the unceasing attacks upon Natural Masculinity and the true love of Man for Man coming from the heterosexists.

And I'm indebted to Redd who first identified these three opponents, pointing out that

It seems that for religious people, they condemn what they are, what they practice. They condemn because they feel condemned. They feel God has really rejected them. They talk religious talk, walk religious walk because they're conflicted with their natural selves against unnatural demands of religion. They define holiness as otherworldly, an otherworldliness that requires they cut themselves off from their whole self, that they separate body and mind because "the body is the tool of the devil."

I think such distorted thinking is the type of platform analism and heterosexism thrives upon. The Church has demonized the body, and analsts acknowledge such demonization by infecting the body with fatal diseases. It's like an exorcism. The only way to exorcise a demonized body is to kill the body.

When I think about what Bill posted, that drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and promiscuity (which is physical abuse) characterize the gay community, I hear of a community that has condemned itself. I hear of a community that has mistaken promiscuity for fun and has given themselves to delusion by ignoring the fact that they are killing each other more than is homophobia as they claim. I hear of a community that hates itself just as the religious fundamentalists condemn themselves and just as the heterosexists delude themselves.

We have seen on many of these threads that analists, heterosexists, and religious fundamentalists are similar, if not the same. Each encourages delusion. Each condemns the body, especially the male's body.

So what Redd has noted is that the analists, the heterosexists, and the religious fundamentalists all condemn the body, "especially the male's body."

And that the root of that thinking lies in the Church's view that "the body is the tool of the devil."

We're saying the opposite.

That through a physical, and indeed sexual act, two men, using that part of their bodies which is most male, can know God.

Frances:

When you talk of sacramental rites, and God's love being revealed through phallic sex, that is something, I believe, that these guys want to hear. The constant reassurance you provide that you don't want them to move farther away from God, but to actually get to know him better through their love of men is like giving water to a man in the desert. He wants that. He needs that. I see many men needing that reassurance.

Right.

Core point: The Love of Men can bring you closer to God.

I really think you are right, that this is hardwired into all men. They want to be warriors, they want to have their phalluses exalted. They want to know the full love of a brother, and they want to know God's love.

Right.

Core point: The exaltation of phallus, the full love of a brother, and God's love, are not exclusive, but inclusive -- they go together, they are intertwined.

The exaltation of phallus, practiced in the context of the full love of a warrior brother, reveals God's love.

(And, yes many of them want to incorporate women and children into their lives).

So, the Greek model is apt, and of course the Catholics have tried to co-op all they find powerful about that civilization, while reinterpreting things that they don't want followed. Thus, that guy trying to tell you that you didn't understand Greek culture as well as you thought you did. Brother! But such a culture can never be again without phallic love, without warriordom.

Right.

WARRIORDOM.

We have a phrase:

Salvation -- physical, emotional, and spiritual.

The Way of the Warrior recalls the male to himself.

And thus saves him.

It enables him to be what God intended him to be:

a MAN.

Robert Loring has written about that extensively on this site, in articles such as The Warrior God and Warrior Christendom, and in many, many trenchant replies to various message threads.

Please read Robert's words -- they're important.

In Christianity, Christ faces suffering and death upon the cross.

After which, Christ is resurrected by his loving father.

One can read that story literally.

And most Christians do.

But one can also read that story as the expression of a profound psychological truth:

Man -- every Man -- faces and fears suffering and death.

Man -- every Man -- is saved -- resurrected -- by his loving father, who is, in Robert's formulation, the Warrior God.

The Warrior God, who recalls the male to his maleness, the Man to his Manliness, is as much within as he is without.

And this is a biological truth as well:

The Y chromosome is passed essentially unchanged from father to son.

Which is why the child is father to the man.

Frances:

this is hardwired into all men. They want to be warriors, they want to have their phalluses exalted. They want to know the full love of a brother, and they want to know God's love.

Right.

The other day one of our guys, who's married and very devoted to his wife, wrote to say that "The recent discussion of spirituality and sexuality has been especially moving for me."

We're helping this man.

We need to reach more men.

Because they need our help.

Help us to help them.

FIGHT BACK.

DONATE.

© All material Copyright 2007 by Bill Weintraub. All rights reserved.

Bill Weintraub

Re: like water in the desert

1-14-2007

No one has replied to this post -- which is too bad, because the points that Frances made are really core.

And I'm going to come back to them time and again because you need to understand that sexuality divorced from spirituality leads to disaster.

That's what we've had in the gay male community for more than 30 years and you can see the results: brutal death, unrelenting disease, and massive unhappiness.

So let's review for a moment and then look at some pix.

1. For years the men of this Alliance have used words and phrases like "sacrament," "holy," "blessed," "the place where men's souls converge," "a spiritual mission," "the epiphany of maleness," and "the greatest gift" -- to describe Frot.

That's because Frot is indeed a sacrament, holy, a blessing, a gift, the place where men's souls converge, and the epiphany of maleness.

And since Masculinity is a divine principle and Manhood a divine gift, the epiphany of maleness too must be divine, sacred, and holy.

2. The body, and particularly the male body, is demonized in one way or another by the religious fanatics, the analists, and the heterosexists.

But the male body, like Manhood itself, is a divine gift.

3. If the male body, and Manhood, and Masculinity, are divine principles and divine gifts, it is possible that through a physical, and indeed sexual act, two men, using that part of their bodies which is most male, can know God.

Which is what Frances said:

God's love is revealed through phallic sex.

When you talk of sacramental rites, and God's love being revealed through phallic sex, that is something, I believe, that these guys want to hear. The constant reassurance you provide that you don't want them to move farther away from God, but to actually get to know him better through their love of men is like giving water to a man in the desert. He wants that. He needs that. I see many men needing that reassurance.

Right.

First core point: The Love of Men can bring you closer to God.

I really think you are right, that this is hardwired into all men. They want to be warriors, they want to have their phalluses exalted. They want to know the full love of a brother, and they want to know God's love.

Right.

Second core point: The exaltation of phallus, the full love of a brother, and God's love, are not exclusive, but inclusive -- they go together, they are intertwined.

The exaltation of phallus, practiced in the context of the full love of a warrior brother, reveals God's love.

"the full love of a warrior brother"

In my view, that can only be truly realized within the homosocial and spiritually-charged world of Warriordom.

I talked about that in the message thread titled first time frot-wrestle, where we looked at photos of guys in the US navy during WW II.

What we see in those pictures are guys being NATURALLY MASCULINE.

They are relaxed and at home with each other.

They wrestle, they're casually nude, they touch.

And what is most compelling about them is how good-natured and good-spirited they appear in the face of this terrible war.

"Good-natured"

"Good-spirited"

I pointed out in that post that "good-natured" translates to "having a Godly nature."

Which in the case of Men is Naturally Masculine.

For the male, a Godly nature is one which is Naturally Masculine.

And I pointed out that the word for happiness in Greek -- EUDAIMONIA -- translates literally as good-spirited:

EU = good

DAIMON = spirit

EUDAIMONIA = good spirited or happy

Because what the Greeks understood was that to be truly happy ONE HAS TO BE HAPPY IN SPIRIT AS WELL AS IN MIND AND BODY.

So when we look at those photos what we see are WARRIORS who are happy in spirit because they know their enterprise is a moral one.

And who are living, as men need to, in a same-sex aka homosocial environment.

In which they are FREE to be naturally homo-philic -- same-sex loving.

And at that point they become what Redd has said we all are: we are all homo sexual because we are all homo sapiens.

So these are men living in Warriordom in its true sense of homosocial, homophilic, and imbued with spirit.

WARRIORDOM.

We have a phrase: The Way of the Warrior is the Way of Salvation.

Salvation -- physical, emotional, and spiritual.

The Way of the Warrior recalls the male to himself.

And thus saves him.

It enables him to be what God intended him to be:

a MAN.

Once again, as I said above, Robert Loring has written about that extensively on this site, in articles such as The Warrior God and Warrior Christendom, and in many, many trenchant replies to various message threads.

Now:

In Christianity, Christ faces suffering and death upon the cross.

After which, Christ is resurrected by his loving father.

One can read that story literally.

And most Christians do.

But one can also read that story as the expression of a profound psychological truth:

Man -- every Man -- faces and fears suffering and death.

Man -- every Man -- is saved -- resurrected -- by his loving father, who is, in Robert's formulation, the Warrior God.

The Warrior God, who recalls the male to his maleness, the Man to his Manliness, is as much within as he is without.

Let's look at some pix:

In this picture, Christ faces suffering and death upon the cross.

He's fearful.

He's looks up at the cross knowing he will suffer and die there.

And he's afraid.

In this picture, Christ has been saved -- resurrected -- by his loving father -- the Warrior God.

The God of Masculinity.

Which in this drawing is made abundantly clear.

Christ's body is robustly male.

He stands with his right arm raised in the classic male evocation of victory.

He's surrounded by soldiers -- presumably the soldiers who were guarding his tomb.

One solider, who appears older, lies down, shielding himself from Christ's masculine radiance.

But two of the soldiers are not afraid.

They stand upright; their stance is strong and masculine and they look admiringly at Christ -- as men might look admiringly at the winner of a prize fight.

Christians of course believe that these events were literal and took place at a given point in time.

But any man can see in this a psychological truth:

That the Warrior God within, the Masculine principle within, recalls the Man to his Manliness and thus saves him.

So it's all connected:

Being a Man, being a Warrior, living a life informed by the spirit in a time and place which is homosocial and homophilic.

The point to those WW II navy pictures, which you can see in first time frot-wrestle -- please visit that page -- is that this is NOT pie-in-the-sky -- this is a reality which men have lived for millenia, and even in our heterosexualized culture, within the last 70 years.

In his book Indian Boyhood, Charles Eastman, who was raised among the aboriginal Sioux as a Warrior, says this about his childhood and his agoge-like existence:

Our sports were molded by the life and customs of our people; indeed, we practiced only what we expected to do when grown. Our games were feats with the bow and arrow, foot and pony races, wrestling, swimming and imitation of the customs and habits of our fathers. We had sham fights with mud balls and willow wands; we played lacrosse, made war upon bees, shot winter arrows (which were used only in that season), and coasted upon the ribs of animals and buffalo robes.

...

Wrestling was largely indulged in by us all. It may seem odd, but wrestling was done by a great many boys at once--from ten to any number on a side. It was really a battle, in which each one chose his opponent. The rule was that if a boy sat down, he was let alone, but as long as he remained standing within the field, he was open to an attack. No one struck with the hand, but all manner of tripping with legs and feet and butting with the knees was allowed. Altogether it was an exhausting pastime--fully equal to the American game of football and only the young athlete could really enjoy it.

So -- the skills they trained in were skills they'd need to survive as Warriors.

Now look at this picture of US naval personnel training in wrestling.

How different is that from what Eastman described?

Not at all.

FIGHT BACK guys.

DONATE.

Bill Weintraub

© All material Copyright 2007 by Bill Weintraub. All rights reserved.