Conference moira::naturism

Either this topic is

	a) too boring.

	b) too close to the truth.

	c) too irrelevant.

	d) too vague or unclear.

	e) none of the above.

	f) all of the above.

	e) none of the above.

You just make us think too much! ;-)  And it is a sensitive subject...

I think there is too large a cross-section of people, from all walks of life,
to build any correlation between politics and naturism.  

Now spiritually speaking, I feel closer to my God while participating in the 
wilderness or outdoors, because the outdoors is my 'church'.  I do not feel
my church or anyone else's church is the only place you can be close to God
but there may be more special times felt when there.  I've experienced some
extraordinary feelings while 'communing' with nature...and the feeling were 
NOT enhanced by any drugs, alcohol or otherwise.

It is hard again to have any correlation between specific religions and 
naturism.  And the variety of people that participate in naturism is awesome.
Tough questions!! :-)

Judy

    Your characterization of "isms" is probably a pretty good caricature
    of naturism, and particularly of nudism (especially as it existed
    30+ years ago).  By "caricature" I mean that there is an element of
    truth, but that it would be a great distortion to imagine that to be
    the whole picture.  As Judy said in .2, naturism encompasses far too
    wide a variety of people to be summed up so neatly.
    
    In any case, please forgive me for suspecting that you wrote your
    characterization of "isms" specifically to create the parallel with
    the "cult" aspect of nudism, rather than because it is a
    particularly accurate characterization of "isms" in general.
    
    A political dimension to naturism?  Well, many naturists have found
    that, for a minority group which is strongly opposed by significant
    and outspoken elements of our society, political activity is a
    necessity for continued existence.  This is very different from
    there being an intrinsic political element in naturism, though.  I
    would assert that the only "political program" or naturism is that
    people should be free to practice naturism.
    
    A spiritual dimension?  Well, many people have found nudity
    *consistent* with some religious world view, whether from the point
    of view of the goodness of the human body or of oneness with nature.
    There are even a few people on the fringes whose religious views
    mandate nudism or nudity.  There are probably many people who would
    agree with Judy's comments in .2, that nudity in nature can be a
    spiritual experience for them.  However, cliches about "sun
    worshippers" aside, I think it would be a distortion to see nudism
    or naturism as a movement as having any significant religious or
    spiritual content (as distinct from the spiritual feelings that
    individual participants may bring to it).
    
    	-Neil

        I believe Naturism *could* be a political movement.  But, unless
there's some sort of lobbying going on that I'm not aware of, it probably
is too loosely organized at present to become one.

	The matter of Naturism as a spiritual experience would pretty much
depend on the perspective of the individual.  I would hypothesize that,
since Judeo-Christian tradition and evolution theory both emphasize that
our roots are close to the earth, it would seem to be more conducive to
creating a consciousness of that relationship to put oneself in as purely
natural environment and conditions as possible ;-).

	Well.....?

Richard

    Wow !  WHAT RESPONSES ! Incredible depths have been reached into
    our subconsciousnesses, activating whims of fantasism for exploration
    of attitudes in our conscious realistic world.  We've reached new
    and unexplored hypotheses searching for the one common element in
    all naturists (no matter how different we may be as humans), to
    find the ONE answer to the the most significant question asked of
    all the naturist groups in the world during the 21st century.....
    
    	Why do Naturists as a group prefer to be naked ?
    
    and I can answer the question, with one simple answer.....
    
    	"Uhhh... cause it feels good !.  :-)"
    
    Or, I can answer the question with another question that is almost
    equally as tough....
    
    	"Why do you like Miller Beer better than Bud Light ?"
    
    Yes,...I think its time we changed our names to "Freud".
    
    	In my opinion, Political Movement ?  Gimmmee a break !
    Religous cult ?  Hardly!  Spiritual realm ?  Well,... call it what
    you will.  To me its' more like a psychological uplifting experience
    I create whenever my mind encounters the sensitive signals of what
    I deem as pleasantness, wholeness, and harmony with my surroundings.
    And I can reach this plain of existence quicker when I'm nude. 
    
    Darrell
    
   

    Speaking of politics....
    
    One of our local municipalities, Nepean, celebrated it's 10th birthday
    as a city recently.
    
    When local television news reporters interviewed Nepean citizens,
    they asked the citizens what they would do for Nepean if they were
    mayor.   One man replied:
    
    	"This is the greatest city in the world, but it needs more 
    	 growth, more businesses, more housing, more people....and to
    	 get that we need to attract some attention.  I propose that
    	 we have a city-wide NUDE week-end, with the main event being
    	 a Nude parade down main street, and just show the rest of the
    	 world how uninhibited and free our city is.  People from all
    	 over will want to come and live in Nepean."
    
    The Reporter provided this comment on the man's response:
    
    	"Well I know now who *WON'T* be mayor of Nepean."
    
    	Ah hell, it sounds like fun to me. :-)  See you in the parade!
    
    Darrell
    

    Nudity is common in the neo-Pagan ranks.