the one problem with the planet...

...14 year old men (and the women who act like them).

I'm not arguing for the de-masculinization of the planet (though a good flea dip wouldn't hurt), but for the simple acknowledgement of the fact that most women have known since the beginning of time: Few men ever grow emotionally beyond 14 years old. I'm not being cute or sarcastic. Any extra-planetary, neutral third party would look at our global history, and current economic/political/social/cultural status and determine that we have yet to grow out of the testosterone-driven, ego-based schoolyard bully phase of the 14 year old male.

I'm also not arguing that a world run exclusively by women would solve the planet's problems. Spend time with any group of women and you'll find they bring their own issues to the table. Certainly some balance between the masculine and the feminine would help.

But what would be most helpful now is to simply acknowledge the truth of the 14 year old male and the 14 year old male's view of the world: I am powerless. I must do whatever I can to have power. I don't understand my sexuality. It's out of control. I must have control. To have power is to have control. To share is to be weak. To be weak is to be powerless. I must have mine and I must have yours then I will be back in control.

A 14 year old male sees the world only inhabited by other 14 year old males, also out of control and wanting power. 

What a 14 year old male does not understand is that at the very center of the sense of powerless and being out of control, lies a deep shame of the self, derived primarily from an out-of-control testosterone-driven sexuality that the male ego eventually translates into violence, whether outward or inward. That violence may become physical attack, or the drive to conquer and achieve success at any cost. The ancient kill of the mastodon becomes the 'kill' in the stock market or on the football field, or in the boardroom.

The 40 year old male takes on the trappings of sophisticated language and education and the veneer of civilization, but it is still the 14 year old boy making decisions.

It is time to acknowledge the 14 year old boy wherever he appears, on the sports field, in the house of legislature, on the 'big screen', on the battlefield, in the corporation, in the presidency.

A 14 year old boy needs protection from outside forces he secretly fears. An adult male faces his fears and sees them for what they are: illusions.

A 14 year old boy wants more and more and more. A man has enough to share.

A 14 year old boy doesn't share. A man shares everything, even his last dollar.

A 14 year old boy fears other 14 year old boys. A man fears no one.

A 14 year old boy equates sex with love, power with possession. A man knows the difference and never seeks power over another.

A 14 year old boy sees a violent world and seeks to battle it. A man sees the inner violence and seeks to heal it.

A 14 year old boy shouts out the injustice of the world. A man changes the world.

A 14 year old boy needs a gun. A man holds out an open hand.

A 14 year old boy builds fences and walls. A man takes them down.

A 14 year old boy makes war. A man makes peace.

A 14 year old boy seeks strength and validation outside himself. A man seeks both inside himself.

A 14 year old boy attacks. A man defends, and only the defenseless.

A 14 year old boy is a constant victim. A man is his own master.

A 14 year old boy believes he is a man.

A man knows.

a post about sex

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"The Desert Orchid" by bradley rand smith

See also screenplay "the awakening of Ellington Webb" and "darkness and men's eyes" as well as "Shambala, an adventure" on this blog.

(photo courtesy Brian Jeffery Beggerly)

Once upon a time a good-hearted and noble-minded king ruled over a desert kingdom within a vast sea of sun-bleached sand.

Outside of the city walls, as far as the eye could see, nothing lived but burrowing desert mice and scurrying black beetles.

Within the city's walls, life for the king's subjects was good, as it was the king's great-grandfather who first discovered the rushing oasis spring which, to this day, still feeds the city's palms and dates and pomegranates. 

But the aging ruler, who had lived far past his family and wives, now had only those he ruled over as his companions, and he now lived only for their happiness.

But despite being much-loved, as old men are want to do, he began to doubt the value of his life, and began to question whether he had truly been a good king -- as his father and his father's father had been. He wondered how he would be remembered when he died. Would he be remembered at all? 

It was at this time that the king heard from a passing mystic of a magnificent and miraculous white orchid which blossomed in the very middle of the vast desert. It was said that this orchid possessed the power of prophesy and that whoever possessed the orchid would know the truth of what was to come. And what had been. That is also would bestow great wisdom on whoever claimed it and would offer powerful protection and great wealth to all who came near. 

And so the king made it his quest to find this orchid and bring it to the oasis in the center of his kingdom, for all his people, that they might know the future and continue receiving their blessings long after the king had died. 

Out from the city's wall's rode the finest young men in search of the orchid for their beloved king. And for years they searched, but to no avail. Even the king, on certain moonless nights, snuck out from the city on the back of his powerful stallion in search of the miraculous orchid. And each time he returned empty-handed, his heart filled with more and more sadness and regret. 

Perhaps his failure to find the orchid was a sign that his greatness had been nothing more than a mirage in the desert? 

Never was the orchid found. 

Years later, as the king lay dying, surrounded by his grieving subjects, again his mind and heart were filled with doubts of his worthiness as a king.

And be began to long for death if only to free him from these burdensome thoughts. And one night Death came, quietly and gently, and took the king's spirit to his place of rest, where he was greeted by the spirit of his father, who smiled joyously and embraced his son."Father, I have failed as a king, and as your son. I did nothing for your people," the king's spirit said. 

"Come, and look, " the king's father said and turned his son back toward the kingdom, where the son watched his funeral procession moving slowly through the streets of the kingdom, the weeping crowds parting reverently. 

"Listen," said the king's father. And the son listened, and to his dismay, he could hear the thoughts of his subjects as his beautifully cloaked body passed: "The king smiled upon me that day of my heartbreak, and I didn't feel so alone," said one young man. "He made me feel safe within these walls, that I might have a family and be a good father," said an old man. "I showed my child what honor and integrity were by pointing to the king in his tower," said a mother. "I learned that strength and goodness can be one in the same, from the king's example," said a soldier. 

And on and on it went, until the king's eyes were filled with tears and his heart lifted with joy. 

The father turned to his son, "You allowed your subjects to find their own way. You gave them safety that they might thrive, you gave them peace that they might discover love. You, my son, were the greatest of kings." 

Touched and humbled, the king asked, "But what of the future? What will become of our people? Who will watch over and protect them?" 

Again, the king's father turned his son to the kingdom, and to the center of the lush oasis within. There the king's body lay buried, at the green bank of the rushing stream, a simple monument marking the grave, with the words inscribed upon it: "Long May Our Beloved King Live." 

And from the very center of the desert, on a grass-covered grave, over the king's heart, there grew a miraculous and magnificent...
 
white orchid.

A self guided healing journey

You might copy and paste this text into your computer voice program for playback, or record it yourself and listen to it spoken in your own voice. This takes about fifteen minutes.

Don't worry about visualizing or placing your biological organs and systems in their proper place in your body. You don't need to know what they look like or where they are -- your body knows that information, and better than you ever could. Just trust that energy follows thought, and your body will do the rest.

Take a few moments to get comfortable, using the techniques already described. Turn off your logical mind. Close your eyes and begin to align your breathing with your pulse as previously offered. Relax and enjoy.

Then tell the arches of your feet to relax, the bridges of your feet to relax, the heels to relax, the ankles to relax, each covered in the warm, healing light.

Continue drawing the glowing, warm light up your lower legs, to your knees, to your upper legs, telling each to relax and enjoy the warmth, the relaxation, the healing.

Continue drawing the warm, healing light up and over your buttocks, your hips, your pelvis, up to your stomach, your abdomen, your chest, telling each to relax and enjoy the warmth, the light, the healing.

Gently draw this warm light up your lower back, your upper back to your shoulders, telling each to relax. Draw the warm, healing light down each arm, telling them to relax, drawing the light down to the wrists, the hands, the fingers.

Now gently draw the warm light up your neck to your head, covering your entire head with glowing, healing light. Tell your face to relax, your eyes, your ears, your mouth and jaw.

Now take a moment and become aware of your entire body gently glowing with warm, radiant, healing light. Feel the slightest, most wonderful vibration over your entire body as this healing light soothes, relaxes and heals everything it touches.

Now picture your lungs glowing with a bright, healing light. Follow this energy flow into the heart; picture the heart pumping and pulsing healthy, glowing blood through your circulatory system. Tell this blood, this light, to remove all excess fat and all toxins from your system; tell this light to heal your blood cells; to generate new, healthy blood cells from your glowing bone morrow.

Now move this light into your other internal organs: your stomach, your large and small intestines, your liver, your gall bladder, your pancreas, your spleen, your kidneys, your bladder, your bowels, your urinary tract, your reproductive tract. Fill all your internal organs with this glowing, radiant, warm, healing light and feel these organs healing.

Take a moment and focus this light on any organs you're having problems with. Heal them with the radiant, warm light. Know that miraculous healing can happen at any moment - that miraculous healings happen every day to millions of people the world over. Know that the only ones limiting our healing are ourselves.

Now move this warm light to your muscular system; feel all your muscles, ligaments and tendons glowing with healing light, strengthening them.

Move this light into your nervous system; fill your brain with this healing, warm, relaxing light. Now draw this light down your spinal column and into the millions of nerves throughout your body. Watch the energy and healing electrons dart and spin and race throughout your brain and nerves strengthening your memory, your intellect, your consciousness.

Now move this Divine, glowing, healing light into your eyes so that they can see better; into your nose so it can smell better; into your ears so they can hear better and into your mouth, teeth and gums so you can taste better, all glowing with light and energy.

Now move this warm, healing light to your skin, your nails, your hair until your entire body -- inside and outside -- is glowing with health. Know that if someone were to come into your room now, they would not see a body, but a radiant, glowing form of Divine, healing light.

Now, just bask in this glowing, healing, protecting light and warmth. Luxuriate in it. Be a peaceful child once again. Smile with your entire body. Know that you are perfect. 

Know that you always have been.