Thursday, April 21, 2011

Your opinions please - what if urban public nudity were legal?

I found this excellent post by Brian Kraemer online and thought it was much too good not to repost:




From the universe's point of view, public nudity is already legal and has always

been so, in all places and at all times. Every human being has always been free

to be, to simply be. Any attempts by other human beings to take away this

freedom are null, void, invalid, meaningless. They are an offense to the

creature and to the source from whence came the creature.


A brave creature will resist the offender and insist upon his universal gift of

being. He will do this not only for himself but for others, that we might all

enjoy our being. It would take few brave souls to accomplish this because we

know it to be true. One does not teach a baby to nurse and one does not teach a

creature to live in his skin.


From the universe's point of view, some words do not exist (nude, naked,

unclothed, disrobed, unclad, unattired, garmentless) for these words have no

meaning in the natural state. There is only natural. Upon observation, we see

these words are lies. They misrepresent because they treat the hiding state as

the natural one. They falsely assert that first came the state of being clothed

and then judge others as unclothed. They falsely assert that first came the

state of being robed and then judge others to be disrobed. They falsely assert

that first came the state of being attired and then judge others as being

unattired. This distinction is not just a clever playing with words. This

distinction has us imprisoned first in our thinking and then in our lives. While

claiming to be free, we have been born in a prison state of mandatory hiding

with which we have agreed to confine ourselves.


Consider the word tan. If you were to see a man, richly colored brown above and

below his genitals, but palely white in his midsection with stark demarcation

lines from having been forced to hide behind a cloth, would you consider his

natural color to be the palely white or the rich brown? If you answered the

palely white, you are a prisoner to your own thinking. While most people will

consider his palely white genitals to be natural and would likely compliment him

on his pleasant tan, they are wrong. They have believed a lie. The man's natural

color is richly brown. The only unnatural part of this man is his palely white

genitals that have been denied their natural experience of the sun.


Stephen Gough has chosen to live free and thus, because of frightened human

beings, must spend his life in prison. He is a brave one for whom emotional and

spiritual freedom matters more than physical freedom.


In nature, a creature might hide its body to avoid a predator, but not to avoid

shame or embarrassment. If words must be created, then let us create some

unnatural words for unnatural states. Let us create hiding words, words that

might describe an infinite number of ways human creatures alone hide themselves:

clothes, garments, attire, costumes, apparel, vestments, uniforms, outfits,

raiment. If we must hide, then let us hide behind trees or bushes until danger

passes, but let us not live as if we were dead while we are yet alive.


Truth matters because the source of this universe intended that we might live

lives of fullness and meaning and satisfaction and pleasure and wholeness. We

have an obligation not only to ourselves and to others, but also to our source

to receive the gifts with which we have been entrusted. Henry David Thoreau

wrote, "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Have we considered

that our disappointments in life, our longings for meaning and purpose, might be

a matter of our own refusal to receive fully what life has given?


And what is standing in our way, but fear of our fellow human beings? What shall

it be?

7 comments:

Randy said...

Thanks for posting this article Woody. If only people weren't so uptight about the human body. How good, how freeing it would be to just be naked wherever and whenever we pleased with no fear.

Roger Poladopoulos said...

This is a terrific article, my friend. Thanks for sharing it with us. Our nudity is what makes us all equal. Once everyone is equal, then we are all free. This freedom includes liberation from the restrictive shackles of our legacy of puritanical shame about our bodies and ourselves.

Unknown said...

Great article Woody. I especially like the point it makes as to the tan. The tan is natural and the lack of tan is unnatural. As humans we are natural beings meant to live in nature and not in a cave. Society has become our cave.

Unknown said...

Nice article Woody. Thanks for posting. Yay, more folks that recognize Nudity as Natural!!

Naked Kevin said...

when anyone asks me why I go outside naked, and yes i walk out my front door and down the street naked, i explain it this way: We are a Xtian nation and therefore believe that man is made in the image of G-d. Who is happy when the image of G-d is covered? That's right, the devil. I feel that being naked is a praise to G-d and it really makes the devil mad. That's why people get upset sometimes when they see me, it's the devil who is mad. That usually gets a good response from those who are still clothing addicted and don't get it.

Star7 said...

what if urban public nudity were legal?
[and SF had warmer weather]

Hmm I would stage nude shopping excursions with my friends and nude Sun days at Dolores and Debuce parks. I would also enjoy my many nudes friends in their natural and beautiful bodies more often.

NaturalMike said...

All I can say is HOW TRUE.Clothes DO NOT make the man, look how "Men in Suits" have ruined our world, the greedy bankers,politicians and those who say Nudity is shameful!