By Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley

    We are living in a generation and society that is obsessed with sex! Examples are some public figure who brags and keeps track of how many sexual exploits they have had. People are often judged on whether they would be good in bed. Billboards and advertisers use sex to sell. You can hardly watch a TV show that doesn’t depict a couple having sex in graphic images; it doesn’t matter that the scene has nothing to do with the story. Often those who identify as gay or transgender make bold proclamations of it defining who they are by their sexuality. Young girls are pressured to look like the models on the covers of magazines. Infidelity in marriages often happens due to one partner or the other judging that one they loved so much because now suddenly they don’t look as good as the movie star on TV or some other person who does.

  Admittedly the height of physical gratification is sexual intimacy. Sexual intimacy engages all five senses in a way that nothing else in this world does. There is another dimension to sexual intimacy that is mostly ignored or even admitted to exist and that is the dimension of becoming one with whom you have sex with. In that moment of sexual intimacy both partners’ five senses and even their thoughts are focused on that moment of intense engaging pleasure for the most part without distraction. It so totally engages one another on so many levels that we feel closer to that person in that moment in time than we ever dreamed possible. This is as it should be which is why it is an act that should only be limited to one whom we wish to be in a long term relationship with, ideally a lifetime relationship. Studies and history bear out time and time again that the maximum level of intimacy and oneness that can be achieved is between a man and a woman who have committed themselves on all levels to one another and committed to be faithful only to one another. This was the original design and purpose of marriage. Vows made on the wedding day should only be reflections of the vows that have already been made with one another in soul and spirit and in that first act of physical love only serve to complete the circle of two beings who have become one. In this modern day society though that has been bred out of us through the years to the point that sex has become something in and of itself. Sex has been put upon its own pedestal and exalted in this society to the point that anything goes and that is why we have so many distortions of what sex truly is meant to be expressed in sex without  a  commitment like marriage. Such distortions include pornography and even more heinous acts like pedophilia, sadism, masochism, bondage and bestiality. Society is settling for less than could be. They have accepted a purely physical, pleasurable experience for something that is meant to be so much deeper, even to the level of being a spirit and soul touching experience. That act which was meant to engage body, soul and spirit has settled for a purely physical pleasure. I say ‘purely physical pleasure’ but on even its most degraded imitation of what it is meant to be it still touches the soul and spirit on some level but has the effect of ripping us apart and it is as if our soul and spirit becomes scattered around in pieces and we wander around in this fog of disunity and don’t know why. Ann Voskamp put it well when she said “Our bodies are our souls with skin on them.” Very profound. Can we turn back the clock and reclaim that which was lost? Honestly, I’m just not sure if it is possible. Perhaps this is why infidelity continues and committed couples engage in flirtation and pornography. I think as close as we can come is to repent of our past, turn our back on it, call upon the Creator to empower us and make a commitment to a higher power and to one other opposite sex partner in marriage and most importantly to ourselves to pledge ourselves to purity and oneness in a love triangle of husband, wife and Creator. It is the way we were designed.

    I believe we are created beings meant to be spirits living in physical bodies as in higher minded than what gratifies us on a temporary level. We are not to be defined by our genitals and that which satisfies our genitals. We have a higher purpose and responsibility to ourselves and to others. If the human race truly wants to be all it should be then it must stop idolizing and worshiping that which satisfies us instantly. You want to be in shape physically you have to work out and eat right. You want a meaningful relationship with another human being it can’t just be about sexual satisfaction. It is the same with whatever you wish to achieve. There are no magic bullets, white knights on the horizon or get rich schemes that work. If humans would look at themselves as one body like Apostle Paul described us (1 Corinthians 12:15-26) then it would change everything in our society because what affects one affects all. A body isn’t only a pretty face or skin it is also those parts of us that stink and that are never seen because those vital parts are inside us. We all have value and gifts. We need to focus more on that instead of instant gratification, greed and selfishness. It isn’t only about you or me, every thought and action affects all things. Walk in that awareness and the world will be a better place for all.

11 Millennials Are asked To Define Their Spirituality

Anytime someone thinks they have it all figured out…that is someone to avoid. That person has not achieved enlightenment they have achieved self-righteousness.

—Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley

“True Spirituality. Just saying it brings to mind a myriad of responses and reactions, some very emotionally charged and most polar opposites of each other. It is said if you want to start an argument then mention religion or politics. I have to agree. However, I propose to you that true spirituality has nothing to do with religion.  I think a big part of the problem is the messed up definition most of us have of what it means. True spirituality has nothing to do with religion or any particular set of beliefs. It is an all-encompassing view of life and not denying that things are more connected than most want to accept. True spirituality carries over into every aspect of your life. It’s not something you have to stir up, pay up or wind up. It becomes as real as the air you breathe, invisible in many ways but so real and vital to you as an individual. True spirituality is something that comes alongside everything you do, every thought you think and everything you see. It becomes a filter through which you view all things on a level that just makes sense.” —Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley.

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