Thomas Merton from "No Man is an Island".

"When I am not present to myself, then I am only aware of that half of me, that mode of my being which turns outward to created things.

And then it is possible for me to lose myself among them.  Then I no longer feel the deep secret pull of the gravitation of love which draws my inward self toward God.

My will and my intelligence lose their command of the other faculties. My senses, my imagination, my emotions, scatter to pursue their various quarries all over the face of the earth.

Recollection brings them home. It brings the outward self into line with the inward spirit, and makes my whole being answer the deep pull of love that reaches down into the mystery of God."

A Poem That Says it All

Once, I ran from fear

so fear controlled me.

Until I learned to hold fear like a newborn.

Listen to it, but not give in.

Honour it, but not worship it.

Fear could not stop me anymore.

I walked with courage into the storm.

I still have fear,

but it does not have me.

Once, I was ashamed of who I was.

I invited shame into my heart.

I let it burn.

It told me, "I am only trying

to protect your vulnerability".

I thanked shame dearly,

and stepped into life anyway,

unashamed, with shame as a lover.

Once, I had great sadness

buried deep inside.

I invited it to come out and play.

I wept oceans. My tear ducts ran dry.

And I found joy right there.

Right at the core of my sorrow.

It was heartbreak that taught me how to love.

Once, I had anxiety.

A mind that wouldn't stop.

Thoughts that wouldn't be silent.

So I stopped trying to silence them.

And I dropped out of the mind,

and into the Earth.

Into the mud.

Where I was held strong

like a tree, unshakeable, safe.

Once, anger burned in the depths.

I called anger into the light of myself.

I felt its shocking power.

I let my heart pound and my blood boil.

Listened to it, finally.

And it screamed, "Respect yourself fiercely now!".

"Speak your truth with passion!".

"Say no when you mean no!".

"Walk your path with courage!".

"Let no one speak for you!"

Anger became an honest friend.

A truthful guide.

A beautiful wild child.

Once, loneliness cut deep.

I tried to distract and numb myself.

Ran to people and places and things.

Even pretended I was "happy".

But soon I could not run anymore.

And I tumbled into the heart of loneliness.

And I died and was reborn

into an exquisite solitude and stillness.

That connected me to all things.

So I was not lonely, but alone with All Life.

My heart One with all other hearts.

Once, I ran from difficult feelings.

Now, they are my advisors, confidants, friends,

and they all have a home in me,

and they all belong and have dignity.

I am sensitive, soft, fragile,

my arms wrapped around all my inner children.

And in my sensitivity, power.

In my fragility, an unshakeable Presence.

In the depths of my wounds,

in what I had named “darkness”,

I found a blazing Light

that guides me now in battle.

I became a warrior

when I turned towards myself.

And started listening.

~ Jeff Foster

Wronski Gender Studies 101

Wronski — Gender Studies 101

That's supposed to be funny. Offended? Deal!

We get born. Someone official on the scene takes a look at what you got twixt, and makes the call. It's a BOY! It's a GIRL! 

Nowadays that's called your "assigned" gender. "Assigned" makes it sound like it's a convention of convenience. Something arbitrary. Or, somebody with some say so said so says so. If you want to go all reductio ad absurdum with it you might as well give up since it's just a coupla words. I'm fantasizing a alternative scene where the presiding decider exclaims, "It's another asshole!".

Which sort of gets me to share that this one's take is that all this fuss about gender is for ... assholes. Really!

Someone said that you are a little girl, and you obediently agree. Same with little boys. I once asked my little Daughter Katherine who she was. "I'm Kate!"

I get it that we put on our identities. No problem. Just lets not identify as who we are from them. As a young man, my car was my identity. To a point. Even such a dumbass like me then knew I wasn't my car. Consider your body on that point. Or, that mind you got; you know, that little voice in your heard that you listen to as if it's you. Sorry to burst any bubbles. But, in my universe, when a bubble is burst I might be the prick, but the Lord's hand is in all things. Repent! That is, turn away from labels. To what, you ask. Just, not that. Labels, as such.

So, now that we have even just a few years under our belt, we announce to Momma and Pappa that we are not what was assigned; but the opposite. Or, neither. Neither? Lucky you, with such woke parents. That's enough to send you off into some techno-medical black box where we will pop out some years down the road as what we say we are. All of it proudly announced on social media. Maybe even a YouTube video to chronical the evolution. Devolution? All for what? Some little boy likes at one point in his young career to wear a dress? Or, a little girl likes to play ball and hang with the boys? Are you so blind as to not see that a gender reassignment is the right thing to do?

Let's not get into the fickle factor. I like feeling my feminine side. But, I'd rather be on the side of someone feminine. I'm straight, But, for Mango! OMG!

  

Choice. Yes, let's all have our choice. But let's not pretend there's some written in the stars kind of thing behind it. Also, be careful what you wish for. Sometimes getting what you want is a trap. And having to get what you want as a way of life, I'll leave that to the fantasy show we call celebrity, fame, and fortune. That said, I would enjoy a 500+ meter custom yacht. And, all the babes that will float.

In Wronski-world boys have dicks and balls. Girls have pussies and tits. And, with all the ancillary plumbing that God built into those two interlocking units. It's that simple. BTW, if you want to tell a male chromosome from a female chromosome, what do you do? You pull down their genes!

So how does a guy with a swingin' dick show up feeling like a girl. That's one thing, but when the junk is gonna get lopped off ... I clench just thinking about it. [Does that make me a sexist?] Or, a little cutie with her shy little pretty pink smooth pussy decide "he" needs to have a dick, and a coupla balls? Hey, little girl, you want a dick? I got your dick!

Seriously, I could have solved a lot of young blood angst wondering what girls looked like down there. So horny changing out of swim trunks at the beach in the open air changing space with a high brick wall separating the males from the females. So close, yet so far. Now all you have to do is announce you are female and it's open sesame, and a front row seat to the greatest show on earth. Of course, back in the day, a guy simply announcing that you're a female trying to waltz into the Ladies Room ... fuggedaboutit.

Personally I'm into being all with at the level of working on my new pronouns. Current contenders are "Yessir", "HeyYou",  "Flibitygibit", "Wa-Rosk". 

Comments appreciated. But, no haters!

Hey Girl! It's International Women's Day (IWD) ... Here's for you...

What's it gonna be?

The angel on my one side ... wants me to strip you of all your dark and heavy conceptual garments into the nakedness of being. Nothing more.

The devil ... wants me to go to town with you in an endless night of the unlicensed carnal ecstasy of unleashed intimate abandon. All of it. Everything left "on the field".

What's it gonna be, Girl?