Quoted message said:--- Asked by ED: ----
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:> But just
> for the record, I would like to hear what you think sexual
gratificationQuoted message said:Quoted message said:> consists of?
--- Answered by GG: ----
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Closeness, intimacy, energy, laughter, bonding, mental and tactile
stimulation, the incredibly primal (and completely natural) feeling of
twoQuoted message said:Quoted message said:strong bodies coming together in union....I could go on, but presumably
youQuoted message said:Quoted message said:get the idea.
That you would have to ask such a question is a sad testament to your
narrowQuoted message said:Quoted message said:and fearful way of looking at the world.
Did my answer make you uncomfortable? Given the fearful way you view
sexuality and intimacy, I suspect it would. Regardless, it was directly
relevant to the discussion, and your snippage reveals more about your
fears
and intellectual dishonesty than anything else.
GaryG is an Epicurean. Ed Dolan is an Ascetic. These are diametrically
opposed philosophies. Never the twain shall meet. I am not going to explain
these terms as they can be found in any encyclopedia.
I determined to become an ascetic by the time I was in my mid-teens. Just
being around the other type has always disgusted me. Since they disgusted
me, there had to be something the matter with how they thought about things.
It seemed they were overly into the flesh, and so I went in the opposite
direction and got into the spirit above all else. In fact, I may have become
too mental for my own good, but once embarked on this path I never looked
back.
The 4 years I spent in the Navy confirmed me in every thought I ever had
about the matter. I abjured forever the pursuit of pleasure because I did
not like what it did to people. To avoid pain is one thing, but to actively
pursue pleasure was a horror. People became worse than swine. I resolved
never to have any association with such pigs once I got out of the Navy if I
could help it.
I have always enjoyed going without and doing without. I like to wander
about in deserts and experience the emptiness of things. I infinitely prefer
to be alone than to ever be with anyone. I do need the artifacts of mankind,
but I do not need man himself. So what does all this have to do with GaryG?
Well, he is the exact opposite of me, so by telling you about me, I am also
telling you about him.
We all have to make some choices about the kind of person we want to be.
GaryG has chosen his way and I have chosen my way. What he describes above
as the good things of life horrifies me. Any kind of intimacy is a living
death. I can't stand to be touched or to even have anyone close to me.
Laughter is for fools. I can go for months without speaking to anyone other
than the most elementary type of greetings.
Most men will not be ascetics. Most men will be Epicureans like GaryG. The
gulf between us is vast and unbridgeable. He seems like an animal to me, no
better than a dog. I would rather be dead than be like him. And all of this
because of a difference in philosophy!
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
T.S.Eliot - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Regards,
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota