Monthly Archives: June 2015

Love Conquers All

It’s amazing how many people jumped to strange conclusions when they saw this post of mine. First they thought I must have become gay. Someone asked me if I was leaving my wife and family.

First, although the President congratulated the LGBT community, I assure you he hasn’t left Michelle. I had to tell everyone that my wife and I, in fact, my entire family, support equal rights for not just the LGBT community but all other marginalised groups and minorities.  If the law forbids people of a certain ethnic group to marry, I would also celebrate the abolition of such a racist law.

Where did I take this photo? I took it last year when I was at a naturist resort run by someone who was gay. Naturally, he had many gay “decorations” including the flag. And a hotel run by gay people is not closed to heterosexuals any more than the major hotel chains presumably owned by heterosexuals are closed to gay people.

I thought that if I was to congratulate the LGBT community over their landmark victory over oppression, this pic with the multi-coloured flag would be ideal. And of course, it’s always good to show the LGBT community and the rest of the world that we naturists are no bigots. One doesn’t have to be gay in order to support justice for gays.

 

THE MOUNTAIN SPIRIT SAYS NUDITY IS MOST NATURAL

It’s shocking that Malaysia convicted and jailed four people for stripping naked for selfies on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah. You may read articles from BBC, the Guardian and CNN about this incident.

But no mountain spirit is going to be upset by naked climbers. For tens of thousands of years, humans climbed mountains naked. We only started wearing clothes a few thousand years ago and only in a few places on earth.  Even long after clothes were worn, nudity had always been looked upon as a mark of respect. When a place is sacred, human tradition is to divest oneself of one’s footwear (eg Moses and the burning bush) and clothes out of respect for the place. We read of this in the Old Testament where kings were known to rend their clothes when in grief or in awe at a holy place. King David was reported to have danced naked in the temple of God out of gratitude for some conquest that God vouchsafed him. If anything, mountain spirits should be annoyed with humans trampling all over the mountain with clothes and other appurtenances of arrogance. Nudity has always been a mark of respect and humility.

If the people of Malaysia are going to ignore the geology of tectonic plates and blame an earthquake on four tourists for taking a nude selfie, they might as well turn their anger on the clothes that visitors wear. Clothes must be the most unnatural things that have ever come into contact with mountains. Think about it rationally and stop blaming the natural human body for every natural disaster that occurs. This is preposterous and will only detract from Malaysia’s respectability on the world stage.

NOTE: This was originally published on my tumblr blog.