Translators: Melissa Goodnight, Richard Branam, Mike Zonta, Hanz Bolen
SENSE TESTIMONY: Capitalism requires community and competition and leads to democracy and cooperation.
5th Step Conclusions:
1) Truth is the capital/principal at the base of everything, the attributes of which provide the basis of community, cooperation and our own found Self-rule.
2) All is One Infinite Consciousness Beingness, autonomously generating boundless value, via the ceaseless harmonious commonality, of limitless individuation functioning in perfect accord with sacred governing principle.
3) Principle or What Works of All One Conscious Truth is the shared sustenance and value touching all there is in self evident abundant agreement. The companionship of Truth is the ever-present abundant sharing of sustenance and value.
4) Truth is One Infinite Beingness which is Pre-Arranged distinct Instinct a Stimulating Style thus: Etiquette of Agreement and Acceptance. Truths’ Fully Informed Complementary Competence, Being I Am that I Am: Perfectly Appeased Appetite. Truths’ Leit motif is I Am that I Am Beingness, this Melodic Continuum is Democratic Commonwealth Thusly: Truths’ Opera Being Accompanied by Abundance, Riches, and Strength which is Distributed Throughout.
― William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939) was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of the Irish literary establishment, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, and in his later years served as a Senator of the Irish Free State for two terms. Wikipedia
The reality of emotions and how they affect our experience of pain
Posted Jan 02, 2013 (psychologytoday.com)
In a previous post I shared five of the most surprising lessons I’ve learned about chronic pain from treating patients over the last six years. I now want to expand on the first two: that all pain is real, and that emotions drive the experience of pain. These two points are inextricably linked, and I want to clear up some common misconceptions about the connection between the two.
All Pain Is Real
When I meet with physicians and families about someone with chronic pain, the question I often hear is, “Does he or she really have pain?” The answer I always give is “yes—all pain is real.” A person’s experience of pain is unique to the individual, and it can’t be measured from the outside, with the exception of sophisticated brain mapping available with a functional MRI, which is only in a few laboratories across the country. Since there’s really no way to know how much pain people are in except for what they tell you, my first inclination is to believe what my patients tell me.
No Brain, No Pain
Since the experience of chronic pain is subjective, it is often labeled “psychosomatic,” implying that the pain is psychologically driven. This brings up the natural question as to whether such pain is somehow less important or less “real” than “physical” pain based on visible X-ray changes and sensory input from the nervous system. What I want to explain is that these two cannot be separated: all pain is regulated by the brain—whether there is an actual nail in your thumb or an old injury that should have healed by now but inexplicably keeps hurting—in both cases it is nerve fibers that are sending messages to your brain that cause you to feel pain.
Chronic Pain and the Brain
Chronic pain refers to pain that continues after an acute injury heals or after the passing of a period of time that should allow for healing. Often, for unknown reasons, the injury or tissue damage doesn’t heal as expected, and because of this, the nerve fibers continue to fire as if there is damage that needs attention. With this unrelenting signal traveling up the spinal column to the brain, eventually the transmission circuits become more efficient at transmitting these signals—like a one-lane road becoming a four-lane highway. The continuous input into these circuits causes more transmission, with the net result being more pain. At the same time the number and array of pain-causing neurotransmitters in the nervous system increase. Over time, the threshold for the pain receptors to fire is lowered, and a less intense stimulus is needed to cause the nerve to discharge and send its signal. What started out as a message from the site of an injury to the brain has become a self-contained feedback loop within the nervous system—a disease of the brain.
Are Emotions Real?
In an earlier post I had mentioned that I’ve come to believe that 80 percent of the experience of chronic pain is emotional. Some took issue with this and assumed I was saying that 80 percent of chronic pain is “only in your heads,” and therefore not real. As I’ve explained above, nothing could be further from the truth. Saying that the experience of chronic pain is emotional does not in any way change the reality, the validity, the structure of it—nor its intensity. It’s not about whether it’s real, but rather the universal, integrated way in which the brain processes sensory and emotional experiences which ultimately results in the experience we know as pain.
Emotions, just like pain, are creations of the physical brain, specifically the midbrain. Emotions emerge from a complex interaction of electrical and chemical impulses in the brain, resulting in a cascade of nerves firing and chemicals being secreted. Neurotransmitters are involved with the experience of pain as well as with emotions. They are responsible for sending information between nerves about the pain and/or emotions being sensed. The main area of the brain where we form and register emotions is the limbic system—a set of midbrain structures surrounding the thamalus, which is the pain-processing center responsible for filtering and prioritizing all the impulses the brain receives.
Pain Experienced as Emotion
When I ask patients about their pain, eight out of ten words they use to describe their experience are emotional. The three most frequently used terms are anxiety, fear, and anger, but there’s also depression, helplessness, loss of purpose, frustration, guilt, and shame. Pain is protective, and when we feel pain, we experience a set of aversive emotions so that we attempt to move away from whatever is causing it. That’s how we’re circuited. So it’s logical that we would have an emotional response to pain. “As pain becomes chronic, the sensory components become less important and the emotional and behavioral components tend to take on more importance,” says Jodie Ann Trafton, director of the Veterans Administration Palo Alt Health Care Systems Program Evaluation and Resource center in California. “This is because of learning. Having pain is a strong emotional experience. It will reshape your behavior. It will reshape how you interact with the world. And that in itself means your brain is going to respond differently over time.”
Emotions Drive the Experience of Pain
Based on studies conducted earlier this year and published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, we now have conclusive evidence that the experience of chronic pain is strongly influenced by emotions. The emotional state of the brain can explain why different individuals do not respond the same way to similar injuries. It was possible to predict with 85 percent accuracy whether an individual (out of a group of forty volunteers who each received four brain scans over the course of one year) would go on to develop chronic pain after an injury, or not. These results echo other data and studies in the psychological and medical literature that confirm that changing one’s attitudes—one’s emotions—toward pain decreases the pain.
Conclusion
I believe that one of the most important things people with chronic pain can do to help themselves is to notice what they are feeling. Every individual has a unique experience of pain, but in this discussion I focus on some of the universal elements. Especially in our culture, where we resist pain and want to move away from it at all cost, we create a vicious cycle where our attempts to move away from the pain actually intensify the pain. The fight to tighten up in response to a painful experience or be angry that it hurts makes the pain worse. By accepting and investigating the emotions we experience with chronic pain with curiosity, rather than judgment, we can achieve substantial improvements in our well-being. Emotions are as real as the pain that causes them, and I firmly believe that if people with chronic pain don’t deal with their emotions about their pain, they will never get better.
Mel Pohl, M.D., is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.
http://wildtruth.net An exploration of a taboo topic. Some issues discussed are the range of abuse (from mild to extreme), the hidden nature of abuse, sexual abuse without touch, society’s perspective on men versus women as abusers, the transgenerational transmission of trauma, and mothers replicating the abuse that happened to them in their own childhoods.
In the 15 years since the release of Gender Outlaw, Kate Bornstein’s groundbreaking challenge to gender ideology, transgender narratives have made their way from the margins to the mainstream and back again. Today’s transgenders and other sex/gender radicals are writing a drastically new world into being. In Gender Outlaws, Bornstein, together with writer, raconteur, and theater artist S. Bear Bergman, collects and contextualizes the work of this generation’s trans and genderqueer forward thinkers — new voices from the stage, on the streets, in the workplace, in the bedroom, and on the pages and websites of the world’s most respected mainstream news sources. Gender Outlaws includes essays, commentary, comic art, and conversations from a diverse group of trans-spectrum people who live and believe in barrier-breaking lives.
Saint Sebastian has been called history’s first gay icon and the patron saint of homosexuality. His feast day is Jan. 20.
Saint Sebastian appears as a near-naked youth on religious medals
Sebastian was an early Christian martyr killed in 288 in Rome on orders from the Roman emperor Diocletian. He is the subject of countless artworks and religious medals that show him as a near-naked youth writhing as he is shot with arrows. the homoeroticism is obvious.
Little is known about his love life, so his long-standing popularity with gay men is partly based on the way he looks and the sheer sensuality of his portrayals.
(News alert: A conservative Catholic website accused Q Spirit of promoting “gay porn” because of this article. More info)
Other blogs have already compiled the Saint Sebastian masterpieces from art history since the Renaissance, so Q Spirit simply posts one historical example and refers readers to the many online collections of Sebastian art, such as:
15th-century polychromed oak carving of Saint Sebastian from Swabia, a region of southwest German known for its fine carvings. It is available for purchase on Etsy from Molly & Maud’s Place.
The historical Sebastian actually survived the arrow attack and was nursed back to health by Saint Irene of Rome, only to be “martyred twice” when the emperor executed him later.
A starkly simplified Saint Sebastian looks like a German expressionist woodcut in a porcelain oval medal (Amazon.com)
In addition to his longstanding but unofficial status as patron saint of gay men, Sebastian is known as a protector against plague and a patron saint of soldiers, archers and athletes. The feast of Saint Sebastian or San Sebastián continues to be celebrated with lively festivals around the world, including in Italy, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Saint Sebastian in contemporary art
A strong, resilient Sebastian has light stubble and a contemporary vibe as he gazes directly at the viewer in the icon at the top of this post. It was created by Regan O’Callaghan, an artist/priest based in London, England. Originally from New Zealand, he moved in 1993 to the United Kingdom, where he studied art and religion, and was ordained by the Church of England. His Sebastian icon is available as a print gilded with real gold leaf on oak panel from his Rrreheart Etsy shop.
On his website, he describes how he designed this icon because he wanted to address the erotic and sexuality in faith and spirituality — even though fear and ignorance often prevent such discussion in some religious circles. He wrote:
“It is almost as if some people have let their own hands be tied behind their backs but when they look they see there is no rope! The question is why have some people allowed themselves to be conditioned into thinking the erotic as sinful in all contexts and sexuality as having implicit religious norms? The arrows of condemnation easily hit their intended targets in this situation. Hands are rung in despair and guilt but why? In this icon Saint Sebastian conveys all these emotions and confusions and yet thankfully he is not contained by the boundaries of religious judgement.”
Saint Sebastian is a favorite subject of many contemporary gay artists, including Tony De Carlo (1956-2014). He began his Sebastian series in the 1980s in response to the AIDS crisis and continued it for the rest of this life. It grew to more than 40 pictures before his death.
“I chose him because he was known as the Patron Protector Saint Against the Plague, as the Plague was sweeping Europe,” De Carlo said in an interview with the Jesus in Love Blog. “It wasn’t until the year 2001 when I went into a Catholic store in New Mexico, picked up a pewter statue of Saint Sebastian, and saw a label on the bottom that said ‘Patron Saint of Homosexuals.’”
Tony De Carlo is gone, but another gay artist named Tony appears to be taking up the challenge and carrying on the tradition of creating an ongoing series of Sebastian art. Queer British artist Tony O’Connellhas done many works based on Sebastian. For example, he sculpted a life-size statue of Sebastian and filmed his dramatic interactions with the figure to make a strong statement against homophobic violence in a performance art piece for All Saints Day. It includes a “Litany of the Queer Saints” that calls upon Sebastian to pray for and protect the downtrodden:
Tony O’Connell prepares to kiss St Sebastian in his new film
“St. Sebastian, who strengthens the persecuted Pray for us…
St. Sebastian empowered to protect from plague and AIDS, Pray for us…
St Sebastian, loved and then abandoned by the Roman Emperor, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, loved and increasingly abandoned by the Roman Church, Pray for us
St. Sebastian, Loved by our people, Pray for us…
Glorious Martyr and undefeated warrior,
we ask that you protect the persecuted
from tyrants and enemies.
Use your unstoppable energy
not to punish but only to humble
those who dedicate themselves to oppression and evil.”
St Sebastian is martyred by arrows in O’Connell’s film
Sebastian also appears with a rainbow halo as a “wrathful protector saint” in O’Connell’s “Triptych for the 49,” a tribute to the people killed by a mass shooter at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
“Saint Sebastian No. 1” by Oscar Magnan
A tender image of the fallen Sebastian between a male companion and Saint Irene was painted by Oscar Magnan. He has an international background and many years as a full professor of fine arts at Saint Peter’s University, a Jesuit institution in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Two artists did new LGBTQ-affirming works based on Saint Sebastian in 2015. Gay New Zealand artist Christopher Olwage painted a self-portrait as Sebastian for his “Ecce Homo” exhibit inviting viewers to consider the possibility of a gay Jesus.
California gay artist Rick Herold places Saint Sebastian against a colorful, cartoon-like backdrop reminiscent of gay artist / activist Keith Haring. “I over the years as a painter have been interested in the idea of the spirit and the flesh as one — began by Tantric art influences and then using my Catholic background,” he told the Jesus in Love Blog. He paints with enamel on the reverse side of clear plexiglas.
Herold has a bachelor of arts degree in art and theology from the Benedictine Monastic University of St. John in Minnesota and a master of fine arts degree from Otis Institute of Art in Los Angeles. His religious artwork included a Stations of the Cross commissioned by Bob Hope for a church in Ohio before a conflict over modern art with the Los Angeles cardinal led to disillusionment with the church. Herold came out as gay and turned to painting male nudes and homoerotica.
“Saint Sebastian” by Rick Herold
“Saint Sebastian and Matt Shepard Juxtaposed” by JR Leveroni compares Sebastian’s martyrdom with the killing of a contemporary gay martyr, Matthew Shepard (1976-1998). Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming when he was brutally beaten and left to die by two men who later claimed that they were driven temporarily insane by “gay panic.” His murder led to broadening the US hate-crimes law to cover violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Leveroni is an emerging visual artist living in South Florida. Painting in a Cubist style, he portrays the suffering gay martyrs in a subdued way with barely a trace of blood. A variety of male nudes and religious paintings can be seen on Leveroni’s website.
“Saint Sebastian and Matt Shepard Juxtaposed” by JR Leveroni (link warning: male nudity)
An important film biography for many gay men today is “Sebastiane,” directed by British independent filmmaker Derek Jarman. The Latin-language 1976 film was controversial for its homoeroticism and is considered a landmark of LGBTQ cinema.
That moment of sexual awakening is given visual form in “Peter Hujar Dreaming” by gay artist David Wojnarowicz. In a complex case of art imitating art, the sexually explicit image shows his mentor dreaming of Mishima and Sebastian. Another gay artist who showed Saint Sebastian in his later work is Keith Haring. Both Wojnarowicz and Haring eventually died of AIDS, and stimatized the disease may have informed their portrayal of the martyred Sebastian.
British artist and self-described “dandy” Sebastian Horsley gave an insightful video tour of an exhibit of Saint Sebastian paintings Reni at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.
Saint Sebastian in literature
Sebastian is also referenced frequently in the gay literary world. For example playwright Tennessee Williams named his martyred gay character Sebastian in “Suddenly, Last Summer,” and Oscar Wilde used Sebastian as his own alias after his release from prison.
In his autobiographical novel “Confessions of a Mask,” Japanese author Yukio Mishima writes about becoming aware of his homosexuality. It happened when he was aroused by seeing Italian Baroque artist Guido Reni’s painting of St. Sebastian in one of his father’s art books.
___
Top image credit:
“Saint Sebastian” by Regan O’Callaghan. This icon is available as a print gilded with real gold leaf on oak panel from his Rrreheart Etsy shop.
___
This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
Kittredge Cherry is a lesbian Christian author who writes regularly about LGBTQ spirituality.She holds degrees in religion, journalism and art history.She was ordained by Metropolitan Community Churches and served as its national ecumenical officer, advocating for LGBTQ rights at the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches.
