The Color of Sex 

“A sex symbol becomes a thing.

I hate being a thing.” 

(Marilyn Monroe)

It's a bit premature, but I was thinking about chickweed recently - particularly its propensity for rapid reproduction. One plant, maturing in five to six weeks, can produce up to 25,000 seeds! Seriously - how do you keep something curbed that is filled with such vitality?

While most gardeners consider chickweed (also called stitchwort, winterweed, or stellaria) as an undesirable garden guest, it is a wonderful medicinal herb to include in our summer feasting. According to various web-resources, chickweed can be used as a vegetable or as a salad green. The whole plant is used to treat cuts, and also to relieve itching caused by eczema and psoriasis. Chickweed is also reputed to be good for rheumatism. Overall, a wonderful expression of Love's healing presence in our natural world.

Still, healing properties aside, I don't want the entire garden covered with chickweed; if left unattended it will choke out the life of other desirable plants. Which brings us to this week's theme - sexuality.

The gift of human sexuality and physical intimacy is very much like chickweed. Loving touch has wondrous healing potential within the context of loving relationships. Besides the biological necessity of propagating the species, sexual intimacy can be a symbol of the rich nuances of a couple's Love. Emerging from the playful heart, physical Love is an unparalleled gift inherent to our experience in this incarnate world. 

“I have no objection to anyone’s sex life

as long as they don’t practice it in the street

and frighten the horses.” 

(Oscar Wilde)

However, like chickweed, sexuality has a terrible propensity for mass expression and proliferation. In the last century we have seen the dissemination of sexual imagery spread to infiltrate every aspect of our culture. Sex is used to sell all manner of products, with seductive pictures and video plastered on billboards, TV commercials, movies, and even within prime-time TV viewing. Like a noxious weed, sexuality in its most vulgar forms has crept across the landscape of our lives. 

“A girl in a bikini is like having a loaded gun on your coffee table -

there's nothing wrong with them, but it's hard to stop thinking about.” 

(Garrison Keillor)

And there's the problem - especially for men. Sex is constantly and flagrantly before us, and the overt message is that we should have sex with whomever, whenever we want it. To such a degree is sexuality flaunted that other dynamics of human relating are choked out. Sex becomes all that is important, the only indicator of relational health. Like chickweed, sex overgrows the garden of our relationships, consuming the other delicate plants that are essential to our well-being. Put frankly, there are more important elements to human relationships than sex! However, if we read any magazine, billboard, romance novel, or newspaper we will be lead to believe that sex is all there is to a relationship. Paul states it eloquently in Corinthians, as translated in the "The Message":

"There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As

written in Scripture, 'The two become one.' Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never 'become one.'.. The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body."

(1 Corinthians 6:18 "The Message")

I am tired of being bombarded by sexual imagery everywhere I look, tired of my male sexual triggers being provoked by the noxious weed of this world's obsession. Our sexuality is a gift, full of life-giving, healing potential. Used in the right dose, like chickweed, it builds us up, strengthens the heart and soul, and reflects the image of Love within. Left to run rampant, as it has, it chokes out the joy of our beautiful bodies. I pray that we will find a way to prune back this plant to its rightful place within our lives, to a place that grows healthy families, and healthy communities. 

I leave the last word to novelist Jack Kerouac

“Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together;

sophistication demands that they submit to sex immediately 

without proper preliminary talk.

Not courting talk — real straight talk about souls,

for life is holy and every moment is precious.” 

(Jack Kerouac, On the Road)

The color of sex...

longing of the body, shining of the soul

Rain

is good

until it's a flood

Air gives life

until hurricanes blow

Sun

we must have

but not sun alone

all things

in balance

all

in proportion

Breathe

touch

Love

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." (Genesis 2.24)

- From Islam: "Is he who relies on a clear proof from his Lord like those for whom theevil that they do seems pleasing while they follow their own lusts?" (Qur'an 47.14)

- From Confucianism: "Confucius said, "I have never seen anyone whose desire to build up his
moral power was as strong as sexual desire."" (Analects 9.17 and 15.12)