True Sex

Scott Bradley

"Think neither good nor evil. What is the True Self of Scott Bradley?"

Personally, I don't think there is any such thing. When it's all said and done, what's the difference between one illusory self and another? If they are both illusory, they are essentially the same. True self and false self are but two ways of living in the world, neither of which survives death.

So, what is true self? A happier way of living. To my thinking, that's all the recommendation it requires.

True? False? Think neither true nor false. What is the happiest way to be in the world?

I have spoken definitively above; something it is best to avoid. Whether there is something which survives death or not, I really can't say. I don't know. Nor do I believe I can know. But there I go again, speaking definitively. I don't know, and doubt that I can. That's better.

Someone tells me they have realized God. Really? God's a pretty big 'thing' to encompass. How could one know this? However vast and wonderful and, yes, convincing the experience, how could one define it as God? For that matter, why would one feel compelled to do so? Isn't the experience enough in itself without definition? Why does it need to be an 'answer'?

For my part, I'm all for the god-experience. Why the hell not? I'm also for good sex. But I wouldn't call it True Sex. It's still just sex.

It's all about exploring the full potential of human experience. There is, it would seem, potential for a vastly wider sense of being. The 'false' self inhibits this experience in that it is insular and confined. The 'true' self is the experience of living beyond that confine. There's no need to add grandiose absolutes to the equation.

Or is there? Is it necessary to believe a myth to realize a fuller human experience? One would think so, given the multitude of myths on offer and the multitudes who proclaim their chosen one to be the true and fruitful way. In any event, it would seem that the pursuit of a myth of this nature can be helpful in the realization of that experience which the myths mythologize. Fortunately, you don't have to get it right to get it.

But alas, some of us, like a Zhuangzian Confucius, are victims of Heaven. Events have conspired to render us impotent in the game of belief. (Events like Copernicus, Descartes, the Enlightenment, Sartre, post-modernity, true belief, and lost belief.) Is there no way for us? Yes. Perhaps there are many. For my part, I like the way of Zhuangzi: knowing nothing, just hand it all over to the inevitable. Release into a vastness too vast to be mythologized.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.