No One Gets Out of Life Alive


The symbolic rebirth of spring and visions of growth are masked by shadows of death. Though the sun is warm and wheel still turns, the face of war and the realities of death weigh heavily. Daily, I see the Iraq Body Count rise a little higher. I'm faced with the reality that my mom, at age 78, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Finding balance in a world where the power is shifted, the parent-child structure flipped, the power of democracy dying, and the simplicity of being threatened by invasive authority, is a daunting task. David Steinberg, whose erotic poetry is an expression of beauty, writes Comes Naturally. His latest:

Life to Hold Onto While Death is Passing
by David Steinberg

It's hardly surprising that we are powerfully drawn to sex during death-ridden times such as these. If death is the ultimate expression of the limitation and powerlessness of the human condition, sex is just the opposite -- the ultimate expression of human expansiveness and personal power.

When there are so many arenas in which we feel afraid, where we are lacking the power to make the world be what we want it to be, it becomes especially important that we affirm and exercise the real power we still hold. Sex is one way to do that. The right and ability to be deeply sexual in satisfying ways is a profound source of personal empowerment. That's why so many governments and religious institutions try to control that most personal part of our lives, and God knows their antisexual efforts do take a toll on us. But, despite the debilitating effects of sex-repressive attitudes and prohibitions, most of us retain the ability to turn to sex as a way of reminding ourselves that we are vibrant, effectual, repositories of the power of life.

Each time we have sex in meaningful ways we make that statement -- to ourselves and to the world outside of ourselves. [more]

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