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At first glance, seeing the words “polio,” “sex,” and “priest” together in a sentence suggests the beginning of what promises to be a dreadfully distasteful joke. But I am here to tell you that the most-recent film I had the truest pleasure of viewing, The Sessions, while it is brimming with playful humor and wit, is no joke.
This daring movie, which takes place in 1988, is based on the true life story of Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a man who spends his nights entombed in an iron lung and moves through his days being wheeled around on a gurney by one of his caretakers, all as a result of contracting polio at the tender age of seven years old, a debilitating disease which eventually left him unable to use all but three muscles in his body: one muscle in his right foot, one muscle in his neck, and one muscle in his jaw. Thanks to the efforts of a loving and devoted family, who chose to care for Mark at home instead of institutionalizing their beloved polio-stricken son, Mark soared past the grim 18-month life-expectancy statistics at the time and lived to be 49 years old.
Mark’s spirit far surpassed the limitations of his frail body, earning him a graduate degree from UC Berkeley and a successful career as a celebrated poet and respected journalist, yet his Soul and his Body and his Mind yearned for the one thing that life had not given him: an intimate sexual experience with a woman. Even though Mark’s disease had weakened his muscles to the point where he had very little, if any, mobility or muscle coordination, he was still able to experience sensation in his twisted and fragile body, and he longed for the sensual touch of a woman, the passion of a physical connection, and the sensation of an orgasm that wasn’t simply a random, unprovoked, meaningless occurrence.
Through his research into sexuality and the disabled, Mark was introduced to the idea of hiring a sexual surrogate to assist him with his first sexual experience. Contemplating and internally struggling with the decision of whether or not to pursue this unusual path, a choice that would run counter to his Catholic upbringing, Mark sought the counsel of Fr. Brendan (William H. Macy), a priest in his church, who suddenly and unexpectedly found himself invited to take a closer look at his own truth, to question his own beliefs, and to consider the possibility of changing his own perspective. While this emotionally tortured and physically paralyzed man lay vulnerably before him, asking if God would be upset if he had sex outside of marriage, Fr. Brendan offers to him, “In my heart, I feel like he will give you a free pass on this one. Go for it.”
Mark goes on to hire Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt) as a sex therapist with whom he would share his first experience of sexual intercourse over a span of six sessions. Their unconventional relationship transitions from a matter-of-fact sexual experience into one of mutual tenderness and self-realization. This is not a movie about sex. This is a movie about Love. This is a movie about the journey of the Soul. This is a movie about, as Conversations with God teaches us, understanding that your Truth comes from within, and that when you change the source of your Truth, you allow yourself to experience life in an entirely different way…in the way that it was meant to be.
This film is raw and explicit, humorous and heart-breaking, inspiring and emotionally shocking, gutsy and tender. If ever there was a movie that demonstrates that our lives are not about us, The Sessions would be it. If ever there was a movie that reflected the infinite possibilities held within each and every one of us, it would be this one.
This movie is currently showing in theaters around the world. Save an evening to see a wonderful film that you will be grateful you brought into your life.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
The mere mention of a “man with muscle” conjures up images of a male with rippling abs and bulging biceps. However, I am NOT speaking to the kind of muscle that develops as a result of sweat-filled hours in a gym or the kind of muscle whose size grows and whose form is sculpted against the resistance of heavy dumbbells.
I am talking about a man who is developing his spiritual muscles.
…A man who, rather than gazing into the bathroom mirror, sees All of Life as a reflection of who he is.
…A man who measures his strength not by his physical attributes or material gains, but instead gauges his greatness by his life experiences of compassion, service, and gratitude.
…A man whose purpose in life is not to see how much he can get out of it, but rather to see how much he can place into it.
In a spiritual partnership, brute strength has little value at the end of the day. A Partnership of Souls requires no more than a common desire to experience God. A man who knows Who He Is and Why He is Here and Where He is Going brings into a relationship a level of authenticity and presence that cannot be bought, controlled, coerced, manufactured, strong-armed, fabricated, or misunderstood.
The spiritual muscle of a man is not cultivated through acts of aggression or power. It is not fine-tuned through abusive or dominant behavior. It is not crafted through apathy or indifference. A spiritual muscle’s potency is not fed by its need to be right or its willingness to simply blend in. The magnitude of a man’s soul is not dependent upon bulging biceps or powerful careers or financial wealth.
A man’s spiritual muscle is developed through awareness and intention, through humor and humility, through presence and purpose. A gentle and consistent introspection is the type of exercise the muscles of the soul yearn for and respond to. The female spirit is drawn to empathic energy. Passion between the feminine and masculine is ignited within the light of truth and transparency. And intimacy is fostered and experienced within the realm of vulnerability and emotional nakedness.
Society, unfortunately, has got it all backwards. A cursory glance at some of today’s top headlines demonstrates that. As a result of society having it backwards, the outgrowth is a large percentage of men who are confused into thinking that their masculinity is defined and preserved through their high-ranking positions or their sexual prowess or their exertion of physical or intellectual control over another. This same percentage of “confused” men wind up in relationships with women, equally confused, who are buying into the same illusion and collectively expecting the same return. And at the end of the day, the quest for more…more sex, more physical control, more money, more power…produces the same stark realization: Something is still missing.
Gimme a man who flexes his spiritual muscles regularly, a man who “works out” every day, a man who exercises his greatness, a man whose presence in a room exudes an unmistakable knowing and an unquestionable understanding of Who He Is.
Gimme a man who knows himself as God.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
Everything taking place within the realm of our experience is subject to the application of our thoughts, perspectives, and beliefs…which is why you will either deeply appreciate Director Terrence Malick’s movie “Tree of Life” or you will leave feeling bewildered.
This 139-minute film has very little dialogue except for the occasional voice-over narration asking enigmatic questions to God like, “Where were You? Where do You live? Are You watching me? I want to know what You are. I want to see what You see.” This movie does not tell you what to think, or how to think, but rather it provides the movie-goer an opportunity to think about and actually participate in some of life’s most perplexing and unanswered questions about evolution, God, death, heaven, human connection, the end of the world — and to become a collaborator in its meaning.
The movie centers around a troubled family in Waco, Texas, in the 1950s where three pre-teen boys are living with their strict authoritarian father (played by Brad Pitt) and gentle loving mother (played by Jessica Chastain), each parent symbolizing a different perspective about the “way” through life…the way of nature or the way of grace. She is ethereal, a loving presence, angelic; he is a businessman and a traditionalist who is prone to anger.
Awe-inspiring and dramatic cinematography contrasts ideologies of “spirituality” and “survival of the fittest” within the world of this young family’s triumphs, conflicts, and day-to-day life experiences, connecting them with the birth, evolution, and eventual demise of the universe. Predominantly placed in the film is a breathtaking 15-minute video sequence containing stunning footage of the “Big Bang,” the creation of the earth and the earth’s first organism, the age of the dinosaurs, concluding with the destruction of the earth by a large meteor.
Writing a review for a controversial movie that is so wide open to interpretation is a challenge without sharing what the film personally meant to me. So I would recommend that if you want to experience a movie that will make you say “Wow!” “What?” “Hmm,” “Aww,” “No Way,” “Oh, I get it,” “Wait, I’m confused,” and “Amazing” all at the same time, that you check out “Tree of Life.”
“Tree of Life” can be found on Netflix and is available on video from most movie rental sources.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
As we once again find ourselves on the threshold of the Thanksgiving holiday, the season of gratitude, I want to thank God for everything in my life that is wrong, for all the things in my life that I have either lost or never received, and for all the outcomes that did not turn out right.
…I want to thank God for the relationships that are no longer a part of my reality in the way they once comfortably were, for the friendships and lovers who transitioned out of my life and moved in new directions, and for the encounters with my Brothers and Sisters on Planet Earth that were less than pleasant and far from an experience of Oneness.
…I want to thank God for the money that is not in my bank account. I feel especially grateful for having to give up some of the things in my life I truly enjoyed because I could no longer afford to pay for them.
…I want to thank God for the moments in my life when I felt alone, as though nobody understood me or even cared, the moments where the silence in the room echoed loudly, the colors of life were drained of their vibrance, and time stood dreadfully still.
…I want to thank God for the professional promotions I did not receive, the career opportunities I was overlooked for, and the jobs I was matter-of-factly asked not to return to.
…I want to thank God for the aches and pains in my physical being, the nights where I am plagued with insomnia, the extra body weight I have had a difficult time shedding, and the way my mirror stares mockingly back at me some days.
…I want to thank God for the rattle in my car, the leaky faucet in my bathroom, the slowest line at the bank, the disproportionate number of red lights during my morning commute, last night’s quarrel with my spouse, the empty orange juice container, the paper cut, the stubbed toe, the neighbor who mows his yard at 6:00 a.m., and the one red shirt that mysteriously found its way into my washing machine along with a load of what is now formerly white clothes.
Yes, God, thank you.
The wonderful and lovely occurrences in life present us an obvious opportunity to experience and express gratitude. Appreciation flows generously in moments of ease and abundance. But how can we experience thankfulness in the midst of strife and turmoil? How can we feel abundant when we feel as though we have nothing? Is it possible that the events in life that reveal themselves to us under the guise of calamity hold within them the same opportunity for self-realization as those which seem to appear peacefully and effortlessly?
The people, places, and things which show up as “wrong” serve to illuminate that which is “right,” remembering that it is only within the human understanding of “wrong” or “right” that anything can be judged as so. There is not a single occurrence which does not lead you to a higher experience of Who You Really Are, whether you are being invited to that remembrance through an experience of having or not having, losing or finding, propelling forward or retracting back, feeling frustrated or feeling overjoyed.
I will be expressing my deepest gratitude to God for the “nothings” in my life this Thanksgiving and thanking Her for the expanding awareness that continues to allow me to see the possibilities within what might otherwise appear to be “wrong.”
How about you?
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
Financial uncertainty can create some real challenges in relationships. Unpaid bills stacking up on the kitchen counter, an almost-empty gas tank in your automobile, looming medical expenses, kids in college, rising insurance premiums, maxed-out credit cards, all paralleled with shrinking paychecks or maybe even the threat of losing a job are situations that many, many couples are up against and struggling with. These issues, demanding center-stage attention for couples finding themselves at the end of their financial ropes, are often significant contributing factors leading to the demise of even the most loving relationships.
Modern conveniences, tantalizing advertising campaigns, and overly commercialized holidays cater to and feed our fragile ego’s desire to have more, do more, have it faster, do it faster. Attempts to keep up with the seductive and frenzied pace of “more, more, more” draw us further away from the essence of our own innate abundance, misleading us into believing that the true measurement of “wealth” in our relationships, or lack thereof, is directly correlated to the way in which we measure financial wealth.
Contrary to what we are being asked to embrace by society, could a shoestring budget and a dwindling bank account be just the thing that reconnects us with an experience of inner wealth, unconditional love, and deeply fulfilling partnerships? Could the experience of having nothing remind us that we already have everything?
A partnership is much more than the physical cohabitation of two individuals. It is more than the wedding and the house and the kids and the careers, and is most certainly more than the unpaid bills. A partnership is a Union of Souls on a Spiritual Journey. Refocusing our attention on the larger purpose of our relationships and the ultimate outcome for All of Life helps us to measure how tightly we hold the day-to-day happenings in our life and how meaningful they are to us.
When waves of panic, worry, and obsession dominate our thoughts, we lose sight of the experience for which our Souls yearn. Sure, we still experience something. We are in a constant state of experiencing ourselves in relation to every encounter in life. But when the question becomes “Why is this experience creating conflict and tension, rather than joy and happiness, in my relationship?” we may want to ask the next important question: “How can I CHANGE that?”
Everything we experience in life — the perceived lows, the perceived highs, what we label “good,” what we label “bad,” those events that appear to propel us forward, and those events that appear to hold us back — are simply touchstones for us to choose in relation to. Each experience weighs in somewhere on the “scale of life,” teetering in one direction or another, depending upon what we choose. Perhaps today we will choose a long walk in nature, holding hands with our Loved One, engaging in heartfelt conversation. Perhaps tonight, instead of eating at a restaurant, we will prepare a wonderful homemade meal together. Perhaps this evening we will dance underneath the moonlight to our favorite soulful music. Perhaps we will gift each other with a sensual massage and surrender to a lingering night of making love. Perhaps in the evenings, after a long day at work, we will greet our Beloved at the door with a warm and loving embrace and each morning awaken them with a tender kiss.
If we choose to experience this level of Soul connection, in spite of the unpaid bills stacking up on the kitchen counter, an almost-empty gas tank in the automobile, looming medical expenses, kids in college, rising insurance premiums, maxed-out credit cards, all paralleled with shrinking paychecks or maybe even the threat of losing a job, then we will have truly experienced what it means to be rich beyond our wildest dreams.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
7-year-old Maggie gently picks up her brand new baby doll and swaddles her tightly in a warm, fuzzy polka-dot blanket. She tenderly kisses her baby’s tiny forehead and serenades her with a sweet lullaby. Continuing to affectionately tend to the comfort of her make-believe newborn, Maggie lovingly removes the infant doll’s soiled diaper and replaces it with a fresh clean one and proceeds to her miniature rocking chair, where she patiently and tenderly attempts to comfort her baby doll. Realizing that her brand-new baby must be hungry, Maggie carefully lifts her baby to her specially designed halter top, which has nipples covered by petal appliqués and sewn-in sensors to simulate suckling sounds, and begins to “breastfeed” her infant doll.
Maggie’s new doll, The Breast Milk Baby, is creating quite the controversy and has received intense criticism since its introduction into the U.S. market. Many retailers are refusing to place the Spanish toy company’s product on their shelves even more than a year after its initial release. Critics claim that the doll “over-sexualizes” young girls and “forces them to grow up too quickly.” Bill O’Reilly declared on his show, The O’Reilly Factor, “I just want the kids to be kids. And this kind of stuff. We don’t need this.”
Berjaun Toys’ US representative, Dennis Lewis, says, “We’ve had a lot of support from lots of breastfeeding organizations, lots of mothers, lots of educators. There also has been a lot of blowback from people who maybe haven’t thought to think about really why the doll is there and what its purpose is. Usually they are people that either have problems with breastfeeding in general, or they see it as something sexual.”
Is The Breast Milk Baby an inappropriately precocious toy for our young daughters to be playing with? Or is the backlash swirling around this particular baby doll grossly misunderstood and just another symptom of how far off track we have ventured in relation to who we really are? We walk past a mother cat nursing her kittens and smile at its sweetness; yet we exile new mothers to their cars, we usher them into private rooms, out of the public eye, covered up, to breastfeed their newborn infants in an effort to avoid offending others around her.
Is it heartwarming to stand witness to a young female, 7 years old, emulating one of the most beloved relationships of all, a mother and her baby, a nurturing Maternal Being providing life-sustaining nourishment to a tiny new life, and appreciating her body’s remarkable ability to be the source of that? Or is it premature and inappropriate to draw attention to our daughters’ bodies so boldly and unreservedly, encouraging them to express this aspect of their physicality so freely and perhaps in a manner that is too provocative or too sensual?
If it is the avoidance of “over-sexualization” of our children that we, as a society, are leveraging for, then why are the scantily clad Bratz dolls flying off the shelves and landing in the homes of so many young girls? If given the choice to purchase a Fashionista Barbie or The Breast Milk Baby for your daughter, which would you choose? And why?
The answers to those questions invite a conversation to begin around the issues we are not talking about (sex, intimacy, and love), affording ourselves an opportunity to take a closer look at what it is we are really afraid of and how those fears may be distorting our thoughts and influencing our choices.
Why do we fear our children learning about, talking about, and embracing their bodies, and understanding the purpose for which they were created? Why are we attaching the same thick layers of shame and stigma to something so natural and meaningful as breastfeeding that we’ve sadly used to suffocate our own sexuality?
Dysfunction thrives in an environment of restrictions and conditions, where the essence of who we are is stifled, unexpressed, forgotten. Love unexpressed mutates into a “conditioned” version of love. Sexuality ignored mutates into shame and confusion, rendering ourselves unable to appreciate and celebrate each aspect of our divinity fully, blurring the lines between who we think we should be and who we actually are…and what we imagine is happening and what is really going on.
What will YOU do if this particular toy finds its way to your child’s Christmas or birthday “wish list”?
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
“Ours is not a better way…ours is merely another way.”
This concept is one of the basic tenets of the “Conversations with God” material and the prominent underlying message in this poignant movie I recently had the pleasure of watching called “The Music Never Stopped.”
Based on a true story, this film revolves around the relationship between an estranged father and son who use the gift of music to bridge the painful emotional and physical distance existing between them. When Gabriel’s overly strict father forbids him to attend a Grateful Dead concert in his teenage years, Gabriel runs away from his family home and becomes homeless. 20 years later, his parents learn that their son has a massive tumor growing in his brain which requires immediate surgery, and they are reunited once again to care for their son as he moves through this complicated and risky medical procedure.
The unfortunate consequence to this delicate surgery is damage to Gabriel’s short-term memory, resulting in his inability to distinguish between the time period of the 1960s and today, and communication becomes frustrating and nearly impossible due to his almost catatonic state.
Determined to reconnect with his son and repair their fractured relationship, Gabriel’s father, Henry, seeks the assistance of a renowned music therapist, whose research reveals that the key to unlocking Gabriel’s mind lies within the notes and melodies of the beloved music from his youth: The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Steppenwolf, and the Beatles. This new revelation invites Henry to overcome his sharp distaste for anything but classical music and venture into the world of classic rock-n-roll so that he may forge a new relationship with his son.
This film is compelling in that it demonstrates how adopting a new perspective can be transformational and healing. Life is a never-ending process of change. When we fear change and resist change, clinging tightly and begrudgingly to our thoughts and beliefs, as Henry did, we may very well find ourselves so stuck in “our way” that we miss the opportunity being presented to us in “another way.” Our relationships invite us to experience life in ways that gently, and sometimes boldly, challenge what we hold to be true by offering us an opportunity to see – or in Gabriel’s father’s case hear – things in an entirely new and different way.
I highly recommend and encourage you to consider adding this wonderfully original film to your next movie night!
“The Music Never Stopped” can be found on Netflix and is available on video from most movie rental sources.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, President Barack Obama was re-elected to serve four more years as President of the United States of America. This particular result may be cause for celebration for some and perhaps feel disheartening for others, depending on where you personally stand in this year’s heated election. It is not unusual for clashing belief systems and opposing views to quickly turn an election into an experience of conflict and discord, even among those who most often are agreeable. But no matter who the perceived “winner” of this presidential race is, let us not lose sight of Who We Really Are.
There IS something much bigger going on here.
Many people hold a belief that politics and spirituality do not mix, that they are opposing energies. However, the freedoms and liberties we enjoy in this country provide us the perfect opportunity to flex our spiritual and intellectual muscles and to demonstrate and experience individually and collectively why we are here. Because while our Ultimate outcomes are guaranteed, we do have the ability – the gift – to choose how we desire our human experience to be, where we want our human experience to go, and, of course, who we desire to be in relation to ALL of it.
Therefore, the most important “win” of all is the one in which we use an experience like this, the election process, as a catalyst to unite and connect, not to divide and segregate. Even if in this year’s election there was an absence of a candidate that embodied ALL of the concepts and ideas and visions that are important to you, continue to lean your energy in the direction of what you would like to see our world evolve into and watch that consciousness create and give birth to that future leader. That is spirituality in action!
The most important win of all is the one that facilitates an experience of Oneness, not division; the one which holds our relationships with each other as Holy, not negligible; the one which uses our differences and diversities as a context within which to experience our Highest Self, both as aspects of Who We Are and Who We Are Not in this never-ending process of experiencing, expressing, demonstrating, and remembering.
It is not possible to lose in this Life Game…so who will you choose to BE in relation to what it is presenting you now?
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
…for a candidate whose platform does not emulate my highest thoughts, core beliefs, and creative visions for our world.
I WILL be voting for someone who will champion the type of change that benefits not just a select few, but ALL of humanity. The inclination I feel towards one candidate or another has less to do with issues of money and more to do with freedom, choice, and compassion.
I WILL be voting for the candidate who will tirelessly fight on the side of same-sex couples who desire the same benefits and recognition afforded to heterosexual partners in marriage, someone who will pave the way for gay couples to be afforded an equal opportunity to freely demonstrate their love and commitment both legally and socially.
I WILL be voting for a candidate who understands and supports freedom of choice and promotes women’s health, empowering women to make their own decisions regarding whether or not to have sex, whether or not to use contraception, and whether or not to deliver a child into the world.
I WILL be voting for the candidate that holds the beauty and life-sustaining bounty of our world in the highest regard, enacting laws that protect and nurture our planet earth, creating revitalization in areas that have been depleted or abused, and steadfastly guarding our most precious resources.
I WILL be voting for the candidate who recognizes the importance of affordable and sufficient healthcare, someone who develops and offers programs which enable those whose lives are less than easy to receive medical care and compassion, regardless of age or socioeconomic status.
Will it make a difference when I throw my spiritual hat in the political arena and cast my vote?
I believe YES.
I believe that every problem has a spiritual solution. And I further believe that not only do we all have the ability to recreate ourselves anew within the context of our personal relationships, the ones we hold as intimate and most cherished, but we also have the ability to recreate our world anew through the collaboration of our collective thoughts and an elevation of global consciousness.
We are all in relationship with each other. We are not separate. What you think does matter. Your vote does count. And what you choose will make a difference.
YOU are the author of the New Cultural Story…What will you write?
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
Catarina Migliorini is a beautiful 20-year-old Brazilian woman…who also happens to be a virgin. She will be engaging in her first sexual experience in an airplane in-flight between the countries of the United States and Australia with a man from Japan named Natsu. While this may sound like an unusually exotic and romantic experience, this arrangement’s unique set of circumstances have thrust this story onto center stage, where it is receiving worldwide attention and is being met with overwhelming criticism.
The man known only as “Natsu” beat out several other wealthy men from around the world as the highest bidder in an online auction at VirginsWanted.com where he paid $780,000 to have sex with a virgin.
Where the story gets even more interesting, and perhaps slightly more morally complicated, is that Catarina has pledged to donate 90% of the money to charities that will build homes in the struggling Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.
In an effort to circumvent any laws regarding prostitution, the tryst is scheduled to take place in an airplane flying 30,000 feet in the air. Answering to the outcries of engaging in prostitution, in an article in New York Daily Mail, Catarina responded, “If you only do it once in your life, then you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatically make you a photographer. The auction is just business, I’m a romantic girl at heart and believe in love. But this will make a big difference to my area.”
Do the proposed altruistic intentions of Miss Migliorini outweigh or mitigate the morality questions that this arrangement gives rise to for so many outraged observers?
Why is it that the bulk of the public disapproval is being aimed at Caratina’s involvement in this peculiar relationship and not equally levied against “Natsu” (who is remaining curiously anonymous)?
And perhaps most importantly:
Is there truly anything “wrong” with this mutually agreed-upon rendezvous?
Within the teachings of Conversations with God, God reminds us that there is no such thing as “wrong” or “right,” that if such a concept were true, upon whose definition of “wrong” or “right” would a thing be judged as so? As demonstrated by the mere fact that prostitution is legal in one out of the 50 states in the United States — and legal in some countries around the world, but not others — even laws that have been designed and created to draw a distinction between “wrong” and “right” do not across-the-board define wrongness or rightness.
Setting aside for a moment questions surrounding the legality of this arrangement, does the purchase of the presumed sexual innocence of this young lady create any larger questions around what our relationships are intended to provide? Larger questions around what the sexual experience, both physically and spiritually, is intended to serve? Larger questions around whether sex is best reserved for only the most committed and monogamous partners…or whether it is a gift to be enjoyed freely and playfully between consenting, passionate, creative, spirited adults?
Examining our thoughts and perspectives, and questioning the data that we are relying upon, creates opportunities for us to stretch and flex our “belief” boundaries and helps us to understand more fully what it is we hold true about ourselves, what it is we hold true about relationships, and ultimately what it is we hold true about God.
With the November 6 presidential election right around the corner, stories like this one serve as a bold reminder to me that many, many people will be casting their votes largely — or perhaps even solely — based upon morality issues and deeply held values. However, if we do not know what it is we believe, why we believe what we believe, or even take the time to think about it, how can we expect to be purposeful and creative participants in this Game of Life?
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
