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Wednesday, June 10, 2015
MODESTY
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
6/10/2015
A Sense of Property
This is Wednesday. Last Sunday, I sat for a photograph - or better said, I stood for a photograph. No need to go into details, but let's just say that a certain source is producing a bit of a seniors nudist calendar featuring older folks just doing things without clothes - or at least with an impression that a subject is without clothes. My guess is that of all 12 months to be featured in the planned 2016 calendar, I will be the only one without clothes, but the intent is to suggest that we subjects are nude - or at least, partially nude.
For one like me, who has gone nude almost all of my life - and I am now 73 - this one is very easy. What difference should details make? Should it matter at all that I am without clothes at my kitchen table, sipping a cup of hot coffee - or shooting pool in public as I did last Sunday? Why should details matter at all? Am I somehow "different" because of my location? Why should it be demeaning for me to go without clothes shooting pool in public when it is not demeaning for me to go without clothes in my kitchen? Or is it also demeaning for me to go without clothes sipping coffee at a dining room table? Is it really demeaning to go without clothes in all circumstances of life?
In truth, I think, that most people who would not consider going without clothes while shooting pool in public also would not consider going without clothes sipping coffee at their own dining room table. Why? I think it is due to a "false sense of modesty" because I think it due to a sense of modesty that most folks resist going without clothes - regardless of circumstance.
What is "modesty"? The expression, "decent" comes to mind - at least, it does to me. If I consider myself "modest," I also consider myself "decent." What is decency, then? It is a sense of being proper; and what is a sense of "being proper"? Ah, therein is the tale, I think, of why most people in this world do not consider going without clothes either decent or modest. It all comes down to that idea of "being proper."
So, what is "being proper"? Proper to me implies a sense of "property." Does it not imply the same to you? Proper = Property! Right? Being proper, then, relates in some way to property, but whose property are we talking about? Am I your property? Do I belong to you? Are you my property? Do you belong to me? Property implies belonging. Properties "belong" to owners. So, if I am your "property," I belong to you; and if you are my "property," you belong to me. Is that not correct?
It all comes down, then, to a sense of "property" if one is considered "proper" or "decent" or "modest." It is all tied into property - or a sense of property. Take away a sense of property - and you have dissolved "indecency," "impropriety," and "immodesty."
Whose Property Are You?
Whose property are you, then? To whom or what do you belong - or choose to belong? I guess it is safe to say that we all belong to something. We have to belong to something to even be in existence. We cannot say we belong to ourselves unless it is ourselves to whom or to what we owe existence. I certainly am not the source of my own existence. Are you? So, we all have to be the "property" of something else - but whose property are you - and whose property am I?
The reason, I think, that I could go nude last Sunday - in public, shooting pool as if I really had on clothes - is that I have a sense of belonging that most folks lack. Most folks think they "belong" to something outside themselves that has a right to define how they should act - and even what standards of physicality to which they must conform.
Many a man would not have gone nude in public as I did last Sunday because of a sense of "not conforming" to some standard they believe should bind them - no matter how ridiculous such an alleged standard might be. At least, they think they have failed some "conformity rule" - and to go naked would make some alleged failure evident. They can't have that - that is, showing their failure. So they choose not to make their failure - or defect - evident by choosing to keep their failure - or defect - hidden. It's easy to deal with a "perceived defect" - just don't show or share the defect. Keep clothed - and all will be well. I think that is the way many - if not most - think about nudity. Nudity would reveal some "perceived defect." So nudity must not be allowed. Then they call their resistance to show their "defect" by the all encompassing word - modesty.
Maybe it is too much belly or too little of a "proper" penis or too small one's breasts or too large one's breasts - or whatever. I think it is because of a false sense of modesty that most men cannot - or choose not - to go naked at all; and that false sense of modesty is due to thinking they "belong" to some outside source that has a right to determine some standard or set of standards to which they must oblige themselves. In essence, "being proper" is fitting in with some assumed expectations of someone or something else. And that is what being the property of something else is really all about. Isn't it?
Choose Your Owner
I guess I have long realized that "being proper" is important alright, but that "being proper" is not some absolute thing. Being proper or "being modest" is entirely relative. Having lived most of my life pertaining to my own sense of modesty due to a sense of "belonging" to a wonderful parent or owner called Nature, I have been able to live in this world without, in a way, being "of this world - this world of man and man made laws and man contrived standards."
Ironically, when one analyzes it, being owned - if one complies - is also owning. In the end, we own that to which we owe ourselves. Ultimately, then, we must all choose our owner because we will not only "belong" to that we choose to obey, but we will become that which we obey - that is, if we comply willingly.
A few years ago, I wrote a song I called "I OWN THE WORLD." I was speaking of the Natural World when I wrote that lyric, but the reason I "own" the Natural World - even though I owe myself to that Natural World - is because of a sense of belonging. It is almost ironic, but when you have a sense of owing to, it is as if you become an owner. Though I will always be a "son of Nature" and not a "parent of Nature," by being a willing son of Nature, it is as if I become Nature Itself. Thus, in seeing myself as "owned" by Nature, in a sense, I "own" Nature.
And therein is my explanation as to why some of us are "modest" and some of us are "immodest" - when both a sense of modesty and a sense of immodesty is a real standard. According to your standards, you may sincerely believe my shooting pool naked is an act of immodesty because you do not believe life itself is altogether proper - and from your point of view, you may be right. You simply belong to a different "owner" in your mind than me. According to my standards, I sincerely believe my shooting pool naked is an act of modesty because it is proper to respect and embrace what I am as a child of Nature - and from my point of view, I am right. I simply belong to a different "owner" in my mind than you. It all depends upon one's point of view - and chosen "proprietor." Does it not?
Thank God For My Immodesty!
This may seem a bit outrageous, but I do believe I owe my "immodesty" in life to perhaps my greatest teaching about life. My "immodesty," then, could be perceived as my "Salvation." The Catholic Church of my youth, however, would not have agreed. It declared that "modesty" is the way to salvation - just the opposite of what life has actually taught me.
I am not sure how I went down the actual path I did, but something inside told me that it is ludicrous to claim to love life and then proceed to hide it. What a rebel I have turned out to be. While believing I was actually doing what was right, I did what my Church taught is wrong. I embraced myself in my natural state while believing that my Church would have approved - if it only knew the truth. How naive! Huh?
What did I do that I thought my Church would approve? I went naked every chance I got - thinking that if Adam & Eve got it wrong, I did not have to follow their lead. I could get it right. That is what I thought.
At the age of 23 or so, while a seminarian at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado, I even wrote an allegory that I called WISDOM; and in that story, I had my angel who I called "Wisdom" try to instruct two teenaged kids that I named "Innocence" and "Simplicity" about how wonderful life is - if they only embrace it as it is and not accuse it of sin. Wisdom taught the kids that sin is not in the nature of a thing, but in the accusation that the nature of a thing is sinful.
My dogma professor at St. Thomas was aghast at such thinking and called me a "heretic." I have forgotten his name, but I can't forget his response to a separate essay I wrote for dogma class that declared that Faith must be subject to Understanding or else none of us could be sure of the truth. That is all my angel, Wisdom, was trying to do - suggest that we can't begin to understand or appreciate life by denying it. How can you understand or appreciate something by denying its worth?
The Modesty Doctrine of my Church, however, went against that belief; and by the end of that 5th year as a student of St. Thomas, I was dismissed from further study because as the Rector, Father Danagher, told me upon dismissing me from further study, "your thinking is not that of a Catholic priest." And so it wasn't - and isn't. Is it?
As I saw it when I wrote my initial allegory story of WISDOM, it makes no sense to continue the failure of Adam & Eve - and then claim that it is the right thing to do. If Adam & Eve failed to embrace the Paradise they lived in, how could it be smart to continue such failure? What did Adam & Eve do to fail their "destiny"? They listened to a devil snake outside of them who tried to convince them that they should be "like God" by eating of a tree of knowledge of good and evil.
For me, the lesson was clear. To do right, don't do as Adam & Eve allegedly did. It is as simple as that. If Adam & Eve failed by eating of a tree of knowledge of good and evil, anyone can get it right by not doing the same thing - just don't eat of that proverbial tree of knowledge of good and evil. How simple can it be? Eat only of the tree of knowledge of good - and leave out the evil - and presto, Salvation.
So, I had my "good" angel, Wisdom, take two young kids aside, remove their hiding clothes from them, and put on them a transparent robe I called a "Sanctimonia." Of course, my new Adam & Eve - Innocence & Simplicity - were naked, but not unprotected. In fact, it was their nakedness that protected them by declaring that their lives are good as they are because they come from a Good God or a Good Nature. According to my angel, Wisdom, True Salvation happens from embracing life as a gift - a good & worthy gift - not rejecting it by calling it evil; and, of course, as Wisdom's author, I agree.
Writing To Get It Right
I was dismissed from St. Thomas in May of 1966. Later in 1967 I married a wonderful lady named Dolores Anna Dandrow - nickname of Dee - and hoped to publish my story of WISDOM - of which I had only one copy. As it happened, however, somehow I lost my only copy of WISDOM - and had to rewrite it in some other way because I lost track of the original story in my mind.
While married to Dee, I tried again. "Wisdom" was gone, but I came up with a couple I named "David & Belinda" to serve as my new "Adam & Eve." The story of David & Belinda was written to allow for a sample couple to insist on using their minds to attain Faith via Understanding - not Faith via Revelation.
I called that story by the name of NEVER BE ASHAMED TO LOVE - but I never did much with it. Later, I wrote another story about a minister's daughter, who I named "Priscilla" - who was bid by her father to try and steer his congregation into some new thinking. I called that story THE WEDDING GARMENT - but I never did much with that one either. Later, I wrote several other stories about people trying to be new Adam & Eve persons - ending with the story of a grandfather and his granddaughter talking about life and refusing to hide from it. There is no action in that "last story" to speak of - just conversation between a naturalist grandfather and his naturalist granddaughter about how to get it right.
I even wrote a musical - or at least, lyrical - screen play about a nudist town that I called SUMMER TOWN - whose citizens were determined to live life like Adam & Eve should have lived it. That was in 1986. I wrote NEVER BE ASHAMED TO LOVE in 1975, THE WEDDING GARMENT in 1980, and my story about a grandfather and granddaughter that I called PEACE ON EARTH in 2007. Oh, I almost forgot - I also wrote a short story called THE SEVENTH RECORD in 1980 - about an old man and his wife dealing with the prospect of upcoming death.
In this year of 2015, I am deciding to collect all my stories that I have not lost - excluding, of course, my first story of WISDOM - and put them all together in one 440 page work I am calling FIVE HEAVEN ON EARTH STORIES. I must admit that I have tried before to publish some of my stories, but to no real avail; but I think it is time that their stories be told. And so I am availing myself to a publishing affiliate of Amazon.com called Create Space to publish so much of what I have written down through the years about "getting it right."
Of course, it is a matter of opinion as to what is "right," but perhaps we should all speak up on our behalf and tell a story about what is "right" the best way we can. By the end of this year, I will have published 5 books via Create Space and Amazon.com - all of which will be available via Amazon.com. If you want one of them, just enter "Francis Bessler" in the Amazon.com search bar - and you will find that which is available. I began this enterprise last year by publishing a collection of recent essays and songs. I called that book WILD FLOWERS.
Yesterday, I received in the mail a final proof copy of my next intended book - the one I call FIVE HEAVEN ON EARTH STORIES. David & Belinda - or the story of David & Belinda - can now be heard - as well as the story of Priscilla and the story of folks in a magical town called SUMMER TOWN - and the story of a grandfather and granddaughter chatting about life while robed in a "Sanctimonia" on Grampa's porch.
Currently, I am working with Create Space to publish my 3rd book of my intended quintet of books. That one is called EXPLORATION OF THE SOUL - AND BROTHER JESUS. I wrote a book on the soul in 1988. I wrote an essay series on Jesus in 2005. Those two efforts are being combined in the work I call EXPLORING THE SOUL - AND BROTHER JESUS. I do believe we can finish with that one by July of this year, 2015, if we keep at it.
After that, will come a book of my 197 songs written from 1963 to the present time. I will call that one by the name of SOME SONGS OF A CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. I hope we can finish with that one by August of 2015; and then will come just one more - of which this essay will be a completing member.
That last one (this one) will be called WILD FLOWERS # 2. Just consider the first - WILD FLOWERS - and the last - WILD FLOWERS # 2 - to act like book ends, if you wish. When it's all said and done, I will have been able to provide a mini library of 5 books that might somehow pave the way to a much more brilliant and safe future than what we have known on this wonderful planet, Earth, till now.
As a matter of fact, I wrote a song years ago that I called "When It's All Said and Done." Maybe I should let that be the last song before a final Epilog of the last book (this book) I am calling WILD FLOWERS # 2. It does seem fitting. Don't you think? As planned now, WILD FLOWERS # 2 - the final book of my planned mini library of works to try and correct the mistake of the first Adam & Eve - will be published by the end of September, 2015 - if all goes as planned now.
Sense Of Belonging
Let me conclude this essay with a song I wrote a few years ago called SENSE OF BELONGING. I will follow that with three more songs, but you will have to wait to see what they are - though I already tipped you off as to the identity of the last one. Hopefully, they will speak for themselves.
What a wonderful world we live in - but each of us must choose the world we want. Do we wish to comply with man made standards - even though they are often claimed to be of God - or do we wish to be happy with the standards of Nature? I have chosen Nature - which I equate to God. How about you?
What are the "standards of Nature"? My answer: Diversity (or Variety) of forms in Nature. The standards of Nature is really but one standard - Diversity (or Variety). When I look out at Nature, that standard is obvious. There is no one thing - and therefore, no one form. There are many, but none of that many are exactly alike. In fact, the Wonder of Nature is based in its many varieties - showing that no one thing should have to conform to the wishes of another. I am just one of a variety of many. So, let me glory in that and be proud of my form as it stands there without man made clothes in front of a crowd or all alone - shooting pool!
SENSE OF BELONGING
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
1/18/2009;
Modified slightly: 6/10/2015
REFRAIN:
I’ve a sense of belonging.
Longing is not my verse.
I’ve a sense of belonging;
and I belong to the Universe.
I’ve a sense of belonging.
I’ve belonged since my birth.
I’ve a sense of belonging;
and I belong to the Universe.
I’m no different than anyone;
but I admit to the truth.
Everyone here is equally dear –
regardless of age or youth.
If love is only a sense of belonging,
why is it that love we often evade
by deluding ourselves we must seek to belong
when we already belong to what’s great?
Refrain.
We cannot make ourselves great
by thinking we’re better than sheep or dogs.
If we do fall into that trap,
our penalty is a sense we don’t belong.
I believe each part is wondrous,
as wondrous as the whole
because whatever is in the whole
must in each part also rule.
Refrain.
If I were to meet you in public
and you were to slap me in the face,
it would be best for me to walk away
and not repeat your mistake.
If I do what you do to me,
I surrender my peace to become as you.
Then it's like I become your property;
and I forfeit what I knew as truth.
Today, someone died.
Tomorrow, it may be me;
but it’s good to keep in mind
death does not lessen Divinity.
As long as I am Divine -
and an Infinite God in me makes me so -
I'll be Divine in life and death
and wherever my soul may go.
Refrain.
So, let us all be strong.
There’s no need to be weak
because, in fact, we all belong
to Creation’s Grand University.
Yes, in fact, we all belong
to God’s Grand University.
Refrain.
FINAL:
I’ve a sense of belonging
and I’ll belong even after this birth
because no matter where I may be,
I’ll be within the Universe.
Yes, I’ve a sense of belonging
and I’ll belong even after this birth
because no matter where I may be,
I’ll be within the Universe.
Yes, I’ll be within the Universe.
There’s no escaping it –
I’ll always belong – to and within –
the Universe.
CLOTHES OFF
TO THE
MYSTERY OF LIFE
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
10/3/2002 (A Poem);
Modified slightly: 6/10/2015
Clothes off to the Mystery of Life.
May Life forever stand.
It is not for me to know it all,
or think I can understand.
Life is Beautiful for what it is -
always has and always will be.
There is no God That is in Time,
That’s not also in Eternity.
Clothes off to the Mystery of Life.
Embrace all you are without sin.
Know that God is not apart from you
because God is our Movement within.
To love Life outside and not love yourself
is to miss the greatest lesson of all.
It’s because God is in you and me and in them
that between us should be no wall.
Clothes off to the Mystery of Life,
as my friend, Jesus, might say.
Love Life because it is of God
and neither shall ever pass away.
Heaven is only knowing
that where you are, God is;
but that includes everything
from an angel to a fish.
Clothes off to the Mystery of Life.
Let your soul wonder and dream.
The Soul takes a body because it allows it
to watch the flow of the stream.
Be amazed at that flow as you see it,
and always know it is right.
Embrace Life as it is – from God –
and you can only gain insight.
Clothes off to the Mystery of Life.
Say Thanks for all that Life is.
You’ll never know it – nor will I.
Keep in mind that Life’s not a quiz.
Instead, Life is a Doctor and a Teacher
that shows the Grandeur of Being.
And all we must to do to live life well
is to treat Nature from God as a Queen.
WELCOME
TO
THE REAL WORLD!
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
6/17/2009
REFRAIN:
Welcome to the real world.
Please do not be shy.
You belong to the real world
and you really are Divine.
God is not apart from you
anymore than God’s apart from me.
So, let us rejoice in what we are
and enjoy our Divinity.
Everything’s Divine
including all the birds of the air.
So, let’s be like all the birds
and find our lives are fair.
Refrain.
Look at what you see
and wonder about it with awe;
and you will find what you wonder about
is a reflection of our God.
Refrain.
Our bodies are like temples
in which our souls roam about.
It’s best to know our bodies
as hosts of which we’re proud.
Refrain.
Life is like a garden
to which we all belong.
Our diversity should please us
and urge us to sing this song.
Refrain.
I’m sorry some are mean,
but I pledge to be kind.
Feel free to welcome me
as it comes to your mind.
Refrain.
I welcome you to join me
as freely as you will;
and hopefully, you will know
some moments that fulfill.
Refrain.
Repeat this earlier verse up to 4 times:
Life is like a garden
to which we all belong.
Our diversity should please us
and urge us to sing this song.
Refrain (several times).
WHEN IT’S
ALL SAID AND DONE
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
5/7/2007
REFRAIN:
When it’s all said and done,
will it be like you thought it would be?
Will you meet with the God of Divinity?
When it’s all said and done,
and you’ve died and passed on,
will you be where you planned eternally –
or will you just have to continue
what you were previously?
When Moses received the Ten Commandments,
was he ignorant of the universe?
When Moses talked to the one he thought was God,
did he believe the earth under a curse?
When Moses talked with Yahweh,
did he know the sun to be our source of light?
Or did he just think that the sun and the moon
are the guardians of day and night?
Refrain.
Did Peter really know Jesus
or did he just think so in his day?
Is the Jesus Peter passed on
really the truth –
or is that Jesus truly a mistake?
Did Jesus really teach
we need some grace outside ourselves?
Or was that only a plea from Peter & Paul
to keep us in their cells?
Refrain.
Should we have been embracing
the Jesus of Thomas all along?
Did that Jesus really teach
doing what you hate is doing what is wrong?
Did Jesus really teach
the Kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth?
And that the Kingdom is within
and should be embraced from our very birth?
Refrain.
People say they want to go to Heaven,
but they don’t know where that is.
They say that it can’t be here
because this world is a world of sin.
But if sin is the absence of God,
there’s no place that can be.
If Heaven is the Presence of God,
just open your eyes and Heaven you’ll see.
Refrain (2).