Self love and the male nude

I added some nude photos here of me hiking in the local community forest. I wasn't nude the entire time, just in the sunny (warm!) spots. The rest of the time I hiked in my new mountain kilt. I'll blog more on kilts in the near future. All I've got to say for now is, get one!

I believe that the male body is beautiful, whole, wonderful, and sacred. If you've ever heard someone say "the female body is beautiful, but the male body is ugly or utilitarian" then you have some idea of where I am coming from. I think that the female body is equally beautiful and amazing. It is particularly wonderful in its non-anorexic form. I think I've definitely veered off from the opinions of the mainstream culture here quite quickly, but so be it!

What is beautiful in a nude (male or female)? Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me it can be: health, fitness, uniqueness, softness, firmness, calm, peace, power, fragility, intelligence, fierceness, vitality, oneness, joy, freedom, or simply an honest moment of deeply felt laughter. Now that you have an idea of how I see nude beauty, let me explain how I'd like to create a greater awareness of it.

In Eve Ensler' poignant and raw book/play The Vagina Monologues she creates a powerful case for female nudity. By reading the monologues in the nude, she is empowering women to look at their bodies, be aware of them, as well as stand up for them, and join together with other women to protect them. These are totally important things to be able to do, in a culture where one in three women is forced to have sex against their will (aka raped) in their lifetime. So what if you flip it 180 degrees around? What does the male part of the population need to do? Wouldn't a male awareness of the sacredness of the human body help, a lot? I don't think I have the time, ability, or desire to really tap into the male rapist phsyche, but I do want to understand male self love and body acceptance. The more we love ourselves the more empathy we can have. The more we can tap the suffering of others the better. It really starts with ourselvs.

I don't believe there is a book out there called, I am man, my body is beautiful, let me count the ways. So, fuck it... let's start to believe we are beautiful ourselves. By beauty, I am not really refering to some sort of airbrushed Miss America sort of beauty. By beauty, I really just mean love, wonder, appreciation, acceptance, and respect. These are the things that allow us to see beauty. Beauty is always there. When we open ourselves up to the idea that a naked male body is a wonderful thing, then we can see beauty there. Wouldn't that make it a great place to live? I want to live in a sacred temple, a place of worship. I want to live with respect, peace, and love. I want to be in harmony with my own skin, bones, and muscles.

Men, and women, lets celebrate our bodies! Lets go out into the sunshine and shout out our love for ourselves! Find the nearest mountain top and go look out over all you see. Imagine you are a vibrating particle of light hanging in the air, caught, paused in time. Realize that this pure energy, this delicate love, this incredible purity, this raw essence is your body. Turn any off-perceptions of your body upside down, challenge them deeply. Do I believe these things? Who told me these beliefs? Go and be Happy! Be Nude!