Nature Boy

Last week's rant was all about bodies and body image, but it has been pointed out to me that I was only talking about women's bodies.

To a degree, that's only natural. The point of departure for the discussion was a satirical Victoria's Secret photomontage (this being one case where the picture determined the text and not vice versa), and last time I checked, Victoria's did not have a men's department. Plus, my particular orientation is toward the opposite sex, so it shouldn't be surprising that women came to my mind as I went on to discuss erotica, pornography and body image.

But, it was argued, the Buddha always pointed to the Middle Way, not leaning toward one extreme or the other, so to balance things out, to provide a little yang for the yin as it were, I ought to post an equal measure of male nudity for the female posted last week. Also, since I had only posted pictures of others, I ought to post pictures of the self as well to balance things out. Or so it was argued.

The Buddha taught that one of the dualities that we fall into involves self and other. However, since the Middle Way is between "self and other" and "no self and other," the argument that self potraits should be posted to counterbalance pictures of others is actually predicated on a one-side view ("self and others"), while the other one-sided view ("no self and others") argues that posting pictures of others is the same thing as posting pictures of one's self. So either way, you're trapped in either the relative or the absolute.

In any event, the above is myself in my 51st year, as nature has shaped me, taking this blog into hitherto uncharted realms of narcissism. Rest assured, though, that this kind of material will not become a regular feature of this blog.