"The Thinking Housewife" Applauds Insight Of Life-Long Hallucinogen User

No contraception here. 

... nor much difference from the cloistered nunneries of my youth.

How's that working out?

***

Dear Fred,

In her recent post, "Contraception and Freedom," Laura cites a keen observation by Aldous Huxley, a life-long user of hallucinogenic drugs, who, according to prior instruction, received deathbed injections of mescaline. 

Laura also cites an interesting phrase -- "libido dominandi" -- borrowed from Augustine who, in his youth, was a world-class hedonist. 

“FREE” contraceptives and abortion-causing drugs, distributed via government fiat, are the ultimate expression of what the writer E. Michael Jones, borrowing a phrase from St. Augustine, called libido dominandi. In Jones’s definition, libido dominandi is the drive for political control through sexual freedom. In his book of the same name, Jones wrote that a regime of sexual liberation is one of bondage, rendering citizens distracted and controlled by their passions and the havoc that results. In his preface to Brave New World, a fictitious rendition of this rule, Aldous Huxley wrote, “As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensatingly to increase.”

I agree with Laura. 

Sexual freedom is often a compensation. 

I also note that "following the money" reveals capitalist "cost cutting" at the bottom of the insurance industry's willingness to offer free birth control. "Government fiat" is a useful rhetorical device but it does not cut to the capitalist quick. How many of Laura's readers have retirement funds invested in insurance companies that provide "free" contraception? I recommend more searching examination of conscience. 

"3/4 Of Hobby Lobby's Investment Funds Include Contraception, Abortion Services"

http://boingboing.net/2014/07/01/three-quarters-of-hobby-lobby.html

The compensation afforded by sexual freedom is also a "step along the way," just as young-buck violence is a "step along the way." (Not one Christian conservative in a hundred conceives the moral monstrosity of encouraging young, dumb warriors to participate in Uncle Sam's military fiascos. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/war-is-racket-gen-smedley-butler.html)

Libertinism and hormonally-driven violence are commonplace behaviors besetting vast swathes of humanity. 

All the way back to early Christian communities - and even farther back to King David himself - Judeo-Christians have given free rein to the compelling impulses which God-Universe placed within them - impulses that unleash the customary chaos of adolescence and early adulthood but which also pass within a decade or two.  (I once asked physician friend E.M. what he would have done differently had he been present at "The Creation." Not missing a beat, Ed said: "I would have made sex less fun.")

"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father's wife." 

1 Corinthians 5:1

http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/5-1.htm

An instructive aside...

I had dinner with a Passionist priest who had been stationed in Africa. During our conversation Fr. Chris laughed aloud recounting a lesson learned in the confessional. "All over West Africa, everyone is f_____ everyone else."

What I find most notable in this anecdote is that Fr. Chris was talking about his experience with practicing Catholics - Catholics so devout they regularly "went to confession."

It would be enlightening if Laura's correspondents were anonymously polled for the "indiscretions" of their youth and for the contraceptive practices they currently use -- or previously used during their procreative years. 

If nothing else, such a poll would reveal how many of Laura's correspondents have the courage to respond on a matter that is likely to reveal their own "mortal sinfulness" - a breath of fresh air after non-stop finger-pointing at the sins of others.

Who knows? It might be revealing if Laura herself weighed in. 

Christian kings once did public penance, donning sack and ash on the steps of the nearest cathedral. 

Why not Laura and her readers?

Before leaving the topic of "compensation" I must note that religion itself is very often an opiate, particularly bibliolatrous religion as practiced across America's snake-handling heartland. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-bible-belt-is-christianitys-enemy.html

What is the result of addictive dependence on an "opiate" whose frequent purpose is to re-make God in the "believer's" image rather than the other way around. 

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/tom-weston-best-thing-ever-said-by.html

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."  Devout Christian, Blaise Pascal  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

Drugged by religion, "True Believers" have engendered The Inquisition (which executed a Spaniard as recently as 1826), The Crusades, Jihad, The American Taliban - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/11/american-taliban-christian.html -  and the staggering carnage wrought by "Christian" nations throughout the 20th century. 

 
"Terrorism and The Other Religions"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/terrorism-and-other-religions-juan-cole.html

***

Over the course of my life, I have observed that "sinners make some of the best saints," whereas people who never sin (at least not in any of the carnal ways they zealously condemn) tend to be but superficially "innocent."

In turn, blind-eye innocence propels "good Christians" to the spiritual sin of uncharitable projection which, in my view, is worse than the fleshy sins that might have humanized them with mercy and understanding. 

Often, it is our need for self-forgiveness that enables us to forgive others.

Encapsulated by presumed innocence, the ability to forgive does not develop.

Fundamentally we are called to grapple with "the spiritual sins" but too often fixate on "the carnal sins of others," a practice that distracts us from our own essential responsibility

Reflecting on Uncle Sam's nonsensical "crusades" in Vietnam and Iraq, I wonder why there is no outburst from Christian warmongers confessing "personal responsibility" for the hubris... the pride... the arrogance... that prompted tens of millions of Americans to cheer the senseless slaughter? 

5000 American soldiers are dead. 

100,000 are maimed. 

And the toll on Iraqi civilians remains incalculable.

Against this backdrop, what do "good Christians" do? 

They point their finger at Benghazi. 
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/cover-letter-to-beirut-bombing-mass.html

***

Pope Benedict XVI: From Now On, There Are No "Just Wars"... just war.

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/benedict-xvi-from-now-on-there-are-no.html

***

In this bubbling stew of sin and forgiveness, it is notable that Jesus enjoyed the company of sinners. He also enjoyed the company of persistently dunderheaded disciples who - just before Golgotha - argued over which of them would be "first in the Kingdom of Heaven. "

I cannot even conjecture why Yeshua's inner circle -- very late "in the game" -- would be squabbling over who gets bragging rights as "#1!"

Very Late In The Game

"USA #1? 40 Embarrassing Bests"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/usa-1-40-embarrassing-bests.html

The fact remains that church-going Jews considered Yeshua unclean, non-observant, impious and blasphemous. 

If the current generation of "good Christians" had been "good Jews" who lived at the time of Christ, they too would have considered Yeshua reprehensible. 

Many would have clamored for his crucifixion.

It took centuries -- and, for some, it took adorning his vicar in ermine stoles -- to adequately tame this wild man, this startling speaker of The Woe Passages, this everlasting admonition to Pharisees in every generation. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/08/yeshua-excoriates-fellow-pharisees-woe.html

Years ago, my pastor -- Fr. Tom Tully (a Duke-trained electrical engineer in his first profession) -- gave the following homily: 'If Jesus came to our hometown today, I cannot imagine he would visit Holy Family Catholic Church.  Rather, he would make a beeline for the people who live on "the other side of the tracks.""

The Pharisees (in every generation) never visit the people "on the wrong side" of the tracks. 

Rather, their first (and enduring) impulse is to proclaim the many reasons why they're all going to Hell.

If today, Yeshua were to visit Paris, I expect he would visit the rioting Algerians ahead of Catholic hierarchs and their sheep. http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2014/07/world-cup-riots-in-paris/  

I marvel at Laura's sustained focus on the shortcomings of "colored" people without any reference to America's whitest-of-white "heroes."   http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/murderous-thugs-at-war-contractor.html 

"Murderous Blackwater Thugs Threaten Life Of State Department Official"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/murderous-thugs-at-war-contractor.html

***

Nor do I envision Laura drawing attention to "Terrorism And The Other Religions" even though it would be beneficial - perhaps salvific - if her readers did research outside their comfort zone. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/terrorism-and-other-religions-juan-cole.html

"Good Christians" are too busy ignoring their unacknowledged collusion with The Military-Industrial Complex, too distracted by applauding their own salvific goodness, too eager to damn "the lost" and too dedicated to cheer-leading Armageddon to visit any of the people whose company Jesus preferred. 

To learn more about Jesus' unsavory friends, consider the tax collectors. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/12/jesus-and-tax-collectors.html

***

From memory, I recall the following passage from Revelation: "Be ye hot or cold or I shall vomit you out of my mouth."

Here is that same passage, contextualized in The Message:

15-17 “I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

What if Dorothy Day is right? “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”   

Against Dorothy's backdrop it is enlightening to read Yeshua's description of "the least of our brethren" and what our treatment of "the least" means in our lives.

The Sheep and the Goats

31-33 “When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.’

37-40 “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

41-43 “Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was homeless and you gave me no bed,

I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,

Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

44 “Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

45 “He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’

46 “Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25&version=MSG

What good fortune Islamics don't count!

Pax tecum

Alan

PS Predictably, Hobby Lobby invests heavily in companies that make or provide goods/services to enable abortion and contraception. Here is how the logic works... So long as it is "real" money being invested in real Capitaliist Enterprise, conserative Christians are unconcerned by any moral consideration attached to an economic system requiring full-throttle promotion of The Seven Deadly Sins. Why? Their moral universe is limited to a "personal relationship" with God and this intense personalism obliges them to ignore structural, socio-political sin whose existence they deny as vehemently as the fact that the planet is getting hotter faster than ever before.  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-photograph-above-thin-blue-band-is.html

Christian conservatives construe "The Invisible Hand" as a kind of demigod.

Just "let it be" they chant. "There is no need to undertake any of virtues' traditional disciplines."

"The Invisible Hand" will "make it all better" - and without need for human attention or intervention.

G.K. Chesterton's Call For Constant Revolution"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/gk-chestertons-call-for-constant.html

Alan: It is not that we haven't been warned. It's that we're deliberately ignorant. Aggressively ignorant.

"Why We Fight"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/why-we-fight-great-documentary-freely.html

PPS  For contextualized understanding of Augustine's sexuality, I recommend the following article from Christian History, "What Would Augustine Say About Sex And Marriage?"

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2000/issue67/10.36.html