Who is your favorite philosopher ?.......(on nakedness)
Mine is Bertrand Russell. This is what he had to say on nudity: as quoted from his book 'Marriage and morals' published in 1929
The taboo against nakedness is an obstacle to a decent attitude on the subject of sex. Where young children are concerned, this is now recognized by many people. It is good for children to see each other and their parents naked whenever it so happens naturally. There will be a short period, probably at about three years old, when the child is interested in the differences between his father and his mother, and compares them with the differences between himself and his sister, but this period is soon over, and after this he takes no more interest in nudity than in clothes. So long as parents are unwilling to be seen naked by their children, the children will necessarily have a sense that there is a mystery, and having that sense they will become prurient and indecent.There is only one way to avoid indecency, and that is to avoid mystery. The taboo against nakedness is an obstacle to a decent attitude on the subject of sex.
There are also many important grounds of health in favour of nudity in suitable circumstances, such as out-of-doors in sunny weather. Sunshine on the bare skin has an exceedingly health-giving effect. Moreover anyone who has watched children running about in the open-air without their clothes must have been struck by the fact that they hold themselves much better and move more freely and more gracefully than when they are dressed. The same thing is true of grown-up people.The proper place for nudity is out-of-doors in the sunshine and in the water. If our conventions allowed of this, it would soon cease to make any sexual appeal; we should all hold ourselves better, we should be healthier from the contact of air and sun with the skin, and our standards of beauty would more nearly coincide with standards of health, since they would concern themselves with the body and its carriage, not only with the face. In this respect the practice of the Greeks was to be commended.
In the documentary film that follows the book 'Status Anxiety', the author and philosopher Alain de Botton visits a naturist resort and interviews nudist couple to make the point of how naturism can reduce status anxiety and in effect contribute to a more meaningful life.
If I had to meet Mr Desmond Morris, I would like to have his opinion on naturism and whether he agrees that the safe practice of naturism can be a useful counter-reaction against the anxious trappings of a human zoo.
Desmond Morris in his introduction 'The Human Zoo'
'Under normal conditions, in their natural habitats, wild animals do not mutilate themselves, masturbate , attack their offspring, develop stomach ulcers, become fetishists, suffer from obesity, form homosexual pair bonds, or commit murder. Among human dwellers , needless to say allof these thingsoccurs. Does this then reveal a basic difference between the human species and other animals ? At first glance it seems to do so. But this is deceptive. Other animals do behave in these ways under certain circumstances, namely when they are confined in the unnatural conditions of captivity. The zoo animal in a cage exhibit allthese abnormalities that we know so well from our human companions. Clearly then the city is not a concrete jungle but a zoo.The comparison we must make is not between the city dweller and the wild animal, but between the city dweller and the captive animal.The modern human being is no longer living in conditions natural for his species. Trapped notby a zoo collector, but by his own brainy intelligence, he has set up himself in a huge restless menagerie where he is constant danger of cracking under strain'
I always keep the advice of Sir Kenneth Clarke when I follow the path of naturism.....
Sir Kenneth Clarke on 'The Worship of Nature' , Episode 11 , Civilisation
Total immersion : this is the ultimate reason why the love of nature has been for so long accepted as a religion. It is a means by which we can lose our identity in the whole and gain thereby a more intense consciousness of being'.
Could Henry David Thoreau writings be interpreted an an encouragement
to the practice of naturism ?
'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to
front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not
learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life,
living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless
it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the
marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to
rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close,
to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms'
Here are two of my favs:
When someone quotes the old poetic image about
clouds gradually uncovering the moon, slowly loosen knot by knot the strings of
your robe. Like this. ~ Rumi
When you put clothes on, you immediately put a
character on. Clothes are adjectives,
they are indicators. When you don't have
any clothes on, it's just you, raw, and you can't hide. ~ Padma Lakshmi
@Nature Lover....Yes I understand your point and I have the same
situation with my children. Certainly philosophy does not
provide the answers to everything and at times depends on other
disciplines such as psychology (the mind), sociology ( the study of
society and culture) , religion (God and morality) and
science.
But philosophy is a very relevant discipline because we all
hold some philosophical beliefs. We have different beliefs for
example on the existence or non-existence of God , whether we
humans possess immortal souls or not , whether we believe that the
world around us is real. Many believe things are morally right or
wrong independently of whatever we might happen to suppose, while
others claim that right and wrong amounts to nothing more than
subjective preference.
These beliefs have a significant impact on our life and the useful
role of philosophy is to question our fundamental beliefs and
scrutinize continuously certain issues we usually take for
granted.
I strongly believe that without philosophy, we could easily become
cogs in a machine.
The fact that these posts set you thinking, does underscore the
importance of philosophy.
@ StoneAndy
You reminded me of the excerpt I read from the book 'A Brief History of Nakedness' by Phillip Carr Gomm.
It is on page 134, Chapter 4
'When Churchill was visiting the United States and staying at the Whitehouse, president Roosevelt found Churchill standing back and forth across his room completely naked, puffing on a cigar as he dictated to his secretary. As Roosevelt tried to beat a hasty retreat, Churchill called him back saying 'The prime minister of Britain has nothing to conceal from the President of the United States.'
The Soul like the moon is now, and always new again
And I have seen the ocean continuously creating.
Since I scoured my mind and my body, I too Lalla am new, each moment
new.
My teacher told me one thing,live in the soul.
When that was so,I began to go naked and dance.
Mai Lal Diddi
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Naked in the RainStandin' on the corner of civilization
There's a time there's a place for me
In a world where I can't be found
Cold and mean people give me the creeps
Going to the jungle where the elephant roams
Got to get away gonna make it my home
Losing my taste for the human race
Social grace is a waste of time
It's absurd when I look around
So sublime that we blow my mind
Naked in the rain with a killer whale
I can taste the salt when I lick his tail
Naked in the rain
Doctor Doolittle what's your secret
Give it to me doctor
Don't keep it
I never met an animal that I didn't like
You can come to me I won't bite
Don't you know dog is man's best friend
There is some love that you can't fight
Naked in the rain with black tattoos
Runnin' through the woods laughin' @ the blues
Listen to the talking heart in my chest
With this gift good Lord I am blessed
There's a lump and it's in my throat
I'm in love with the wilderness
Naked in the river skinny dippin' my way
In the waterfall I just wanna play
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