At the Confluence

At the Confluence of Sex and Oneness of Humanity


By John Taylor; 24 July, 2004


When you run up against a brick wall, don't think of it as a halt in
your progress, think of it as a crossroads. This is your chance to think
about what you are doing, where you are coming from, where you are
headed. At least that is what I am telling myself. Not that the two
investigations before me are not intriguing. It is just that they show
me up for the sad case I am. I find myself deeply embarrassed. How
utterly clueless about the most basic bases of the basics I really am!

Take homosexuality. To write about that I have the chance to peek into
the mysterious machineries of reproduction, the weird and wonderful
workings of sex. I took out a pile of nature videos from the library and
tried to set the kids to watching them along with me. In spite of how
important the subject is and involving as it does one of their favorite
things, animals, they were hardly enthusiastic. I guess coming from
one's father even sex becomes boring; that kind of thing was meant to be
whispered in dark corners. Finally we got through most of one video,
after gentle coaxing, offering scads of "reward points" and making it a
contest as to which animal had the most fun way to reproduce. For young
Thomas, the winding wrestling contest between two male cobras, each
avoiding a fatal bite by ceding reproductive victory to the one who can
put the other's head to the ground was the "cewelest" of all; for
nine-year old Silvie the singsong of male monkeys swinging high in trees
and the midnight mob scene of male tree frogs piling onto an overwhelmed
female were the best. Hopefully, not a portent of things to come.

For me peeking into sex is not so much a matter of my interest as its
interest being peaked in me. I look into it and I see my face looking
back, an awesome miracle, what brought me into being, and every new
life. I see here that sex is no switch that you turn on or off, it is on
every second that blood surges in your veins. Here the might of God
rules; the more science discovers the less we seem to grasp of it.

We try to put everything in our little pigeon holes, not realizing that
what we categorize as a "sex drive" is not just a part of life, it is
life. Sex is no mere force of life, it is force itself. If we knew life
we would know God's might. If we understood sex we would hold the
creative Might of God in our hands, and that could never be. Might in
its very definition is arbitrary power, the naked act of God. It is the
stupefying mower-down of all that is not that. But above it floats a
halo of intoxicating delight.


"Behold, this is the joy of his way: Out of the earth shall others
spring." (Job 8:19)


What little I of this joy I have experienced, especially the children,
changed me forever. Before I was a bloated ball of uncreativity but now,
well I just won't be the same again. Not that I know anything of what I
witnessed. I remain worst and first among the ignorant. It is just that
the "joy of His way" touched me, impregnating my spirit in holistic ways
I cannot say.

My second ongoing investigation is more daunting still, the principle of
oneness of humanity. As I broach it my being whispers in my ear, over
and over, `you are not worthy, you know nothing of what is going on
here, or why.' What could be of more awesome gravity than the welfare of
the whole human race?

Especially right here, this beginning point. This is the holiest of holy
ground, where two great principles meet. The creativity of independent
investigation of reality merges into common conscience, an awareness
that empowers united group action. Unlike sex, this is not a hidden
mystery. It is not masked, it is open, worked by each and by all. It is
a public space, wide and vast, a huge stadium, like that in yesterday's
memorization,


"...this is the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and
upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant
horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the world
of being." (84)


Everybody watches this spectacle but down in the pits only the most
worthy, a new spiritual Aristos, are allowed to present the results of
their independent investigation of truth. The story they show and tell
is the ultimate love story.

The funny thing is that the story of sex and the story of the oneness of
mankind are one story, the story of the oneness of God. The
Manifestation is the advocate of one God in the face of those who,
whether they realize it or not, are deniers.


"Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy
commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept
thy word. Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes. The
proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my
whole heart." (Ps 119:65-69, KJV)


The deistic type of denier says that God, if he exists at all, winds the
clock of creation and leaves it, just like an absentee father leaves as
soon as the thrill of sex is over with. Atheism, in short, accuses the
human race of being a bunch of bastards. Our origin is not God but
chance. We were not planned, wanted, loved, and raised by Him for a
serious purpose. At heart, we are an accident. If God exists he is
beyond caring. The consequence is clear: we are not noble beings of a
high heritage, we are blips in a static filled signal. Whether the blip
beeps on or halts is, ultimately, of no consequence at all.

Monotheism fervently denies this. It is definitely not "value neutral,"
it is quite the reverse. Life matters, human life above all. The only
thing that matters more is the life of God, and human life is the living
reflection of that. As soon as you accept that there is an All-high God,
you have to accept this one thing: God has to be the Best of Fathers,
His Spirit the Best of Mothers. He has to want us, care about our fate
and give us the means to find happiness now and throughout eternity. The
name for this family compact between God and us is covenant. The
covenant of God is, first and last, a covenant of life.

The oneness of humanity is this set of presuppositions put into
practice. It is loving care for the rights and privileges, and above all
for the happiness, of every member of the human family. It is about our
present welfare, our happiness now, but like every parent, it is about
our future well being as well. The frequent tension between parent and
child is most often a result of the difference between the child's
present and future good. The tension of the Covenant of God is just the
same, temporal and eternal viewpoints in opposition.

God the Father's covenant of life upholds love, the force of life. There
is no way we are ever going to have a holistic, healthy relationship
with God until we do our part to carry on His process of creation,
recreation and meta-creation, that is, until we become parent and
grandparent. The values of the family of God are no material bent or
leaning, they are of the essence of Spirit infused in life. All that
stands in the way of that is, in the words of the King James Version of
the Bible, abomination. We must have faith that we can overcome all that
goes against or misdirects love and life.


"But there is need of a superior power to overcome human prejudices, a
power which nothing in the world of mankind can withstand and which will
overshadow the effect of all other forces at work in human conditions.
That irresistible power is the love of God." (Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation,
68)



John Taylor
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