It knows not yet the union of male and female, and yet its virile member may be excited;Well, Ron Hogan certainly cut to the chase with this line!
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
He has not experienced the union of man and woman, but is whole.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
They do not know of sexual union but can manifest arousal
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
He hasn't had sex,
but he can get an erection.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Back when I was a social worker, there were two divergent schools of thought about sexual stimulation and the young child. One school held that anything remotely sexual amongst young children (by themselves or with other same age peers) was horridly wrong. Most of the people I knew who held this position were, unsurprisingly, bible-thumping Christians!
The other school held that, so long as there was no violence or victimization involved, it was a normal part of self-discovery. We are, among other things, sexual beings and we have to learn what that means in the context of ourselves and others.
Wanna guess which school I was aligned with?
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
This has less to do with sexual activity, than primal energy. Anyone who has diapered a baby boy is astonished and awed at his little erections. It is a primal physiological energy, a manifestation of the vitality of yang. Fathers and mothers may regard this differently.
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