Celebrating Togetherness Authentically

Peeling away the layers to find the authentic self.

I spoke the last day about censorship and how we censor ourselves in order to protect ourselves, or at least that is what we believe for the most part regardless of whether the perceived threats are real or a construct arising out of our fear.

Naturists and nudists know only too well the fear that holds one a prisoner to clothing. We each take a long journey of self-discovery in search of “self,” a heroic journey that is described by Joseph Campbell.

Authenticity in relationships. Nothing is hidden from the other.

It is only after conquering the initial fear of self-exposure that we begin a different journey that leads us to accept the truths of the body, our individual body. We then take that truth and take another risk, that of presenting our authentic self to others. We risk others seeing our naked body, others who risk us seeing them as well. It is a difficult individual journey that rewards the individual with a sense of relief that comes with letting go of fear.

Many, if not most of us, find ourselves caught into shared journeys – we fall in love with another person. Not fully aware of what has just happened, we simply call it love. We don’t realise that most of what we see in the other person, who for the most part is a stranger in so many ways, especially when it is love at first sight, is based on projections from within the self, projections buried deep beneath the level of consciousness. Over time the projections get withdrawn as we bump into the reality of the other’s differences. They don’t seem to want to stay within the bubble we have constructed, the pedestals we have placed them. It’s a rough awakening that often has us engage in conflict with the other person, blaming them for not being who we fell in love with anymore. And thus begins another journey of shared awakening if we dare to enter that journey.

That shared heroic journey leads us to lay ourselves psychologically and physically bare, everything exposed, totally vulnerable. It is only in this way that we can finally come to see the fullness of the other, the roots behind the initial falling in love. The, we can, like the couple above, joyfully celebrate togetherness with no other agenda than being together.