"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
--G.K. Chesterton
"The man's body is sacred and the woman's body is sacred.../Each belongs here or anywhere just as much as the well-off, just as much as you."
--Walt Whitman
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According to the Buddha, right speech is a statement that is timely, true, kind, helpful (connected to liberation), and spoken with a mind of good-will. Let us all try to observe this precept.
This poem by St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was handed out to us at Timothy Palmer's "Sexuality and Spirituality" workshop at the Soulforce Anti-Heterosexism Conference. To me, it expresses what original sin really means: not some flaw in ourselves that actually estranges God from us, but a mental block that deludes us into believing in that estrangement. God's love is unlimited, but clouded by our limited perceptions.
God Desired Me, So I Came Close
God desired me, so I came close.
No one can near God unless He has prepared a bed for you.
A thousand souls hear His call every second, but most everyone then looks into their life's mirror and says, "I am not worthy to leave this sadness."
When I first heard His courting song, I too looked at all I had done in my life and said, "How can I gaze into His omnipresent eyes?"
I spoke those words with all my heart, but then He sang again, a song even sweeter, and when I tried to shame myself once more from His presence God showed me His compassion and spoke a divine truth,
"I made you, Beloved, and all I make is perfect. Please come close, for I desire you."
