Do you think the manner in which we view our body has a lot to do with the manner in which we view our sexuality? It sometimes appears that when it comes to the human body there is a dualistic way of perceiving it. On the one hand we glorify the human body, but at the same time it is often devalued: 1.) glorify – the human body is glorified in the marketing, movie, and modeling industries. In the pornography industry images of the human body are overtly sold, and 2.) devalue – the bodies we see in the movie, modeling, and porn industries however are a small slice of humanity. As much as ordinary people try to have a “celebrity” body, our own body rarely measures up, and many of us can become ashamed and disgusted with our bodies. Maybe we should come to value our body as a gift from Nature along with our sexuality. A person living-in-balance will come to accept one’s body and one’s sexuality. A person of balance will celebrate their body and appreciate its beauty, harmony, sensuality, and its potential capabilities. Have you ever noticed that on the continuum of physical beauty and appearance, as we age all of our bodies gravitate towards the middle range? That is, it does appear in the +50 age range the physical appearance of most people starts looking quite similar.

I do appreciate the quote by Pierre Telihard de Chardin where he says, “when we become alienated from our bodies we become alienated from ourselves. When we become alienated from ourselves, we are no longer capable of relationships. We are alone, isolated, and even schizoid. And, when this happens we become sexual relationship offenders, hermits, or both.” (1964) What do you think?