No, I am not talking about Mencken’s letters to La Monte by the same title. I am writing about man as he is in the African setting, or rather in traditional African setting.
John Mbiti writes
Only in terms of other people does the individual become conscious of his own being, his own duties, his privileges and responsibilities towards himself and towards other people.
[…] Whatever happens to the individual, happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. The individual can only say; I am because we are and since we are, therefore I am.
Elsewhere, commenting not about relationship between men and others, but on breasts and breastfeeding moms, he writes
African women, as a rule, suckle their children anywhere taking out their breasts openly and without any feeling of embarrassment or shame. Breasts are the symbols of life, and the bigger they are, the more people appreciate them; they are a sign that the woman has an amply supply of milk for the child. There is nothing naked or sexy about nursing mothers exposing their breasts to suckle their children in market places etc; those who judge such mothers as being indecent must revise their understanding of African concept of what constitutes nakedness.
Very true. The idea of nudity as obscene and offensive is an unnatural concept based on a religious belief that is both unnatural and offensive. Naked hugs!
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You are right.
And it has clouded our relationship with our bodies
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Yes! It has also placed an unnecessary social burden on many. Thank you, O Exalted Holiness!
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And we pride ourselves as the most rational
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Pride cometh before the fall….
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We have fallen so many times I am not sure there is any more falling height left
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Believe it or not, but somehow there are always those who manage to sink to a new low. It must be in their DNA.
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Well, you are right on this. Everyday someone sinks to a low that you hadn’t thought possible
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Exactly. What amazes me is that they always manage to get up and then repeat their folly and then sink even lower!
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Haha
An example is our moral policeman.
He of lions became gay because they watched gay porn. No, I am not making this up
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🙂 Funny! And the same porn made all the gay leopards turn heterosexual!
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It’s strange my friend, strange
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I sometimes think strange is the essence of life, itself! 🙂
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I think this is one place for Judeo-Christian religions stand out as exceptionally ridiculous, is this idea of shame associated with nakedness. I think the have poisoned the well in this regard. Not only ruining our own relationships with our bodies, but I think sexual violence is also exacerbated by this notion of modesty and shame being associated with nudity.
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You are right.
On the one hand they believe all that was created was good but feel shame about some parts
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