Erotics

One of the perks of having a son in university are the ideas he brings home for discussion. I found myself reading over his shoulder as he was writing a paper on erotics from one of his texts, Why Study Media? by Roger Silverstone.

The premise being that pleasure is a problem in the sense that:

Pleasure, excitement, sensation, these are constantly offered but seldom delivered; unconsummation is the norm....We spend a lot of time in front of the television set watching our favourite programs, but yet we often feel less than satisfied with the result... For our thinking is still constrained... by the separation of mind and body, and by the priority given to the definition of the human as a rational creature. As a result we can think about thinking well enough, but feeling is altogether another story... The erotic escapes. Shame and reason conspire to repress it.

I guess it would be oversimplifying to say that something truly erotic is something that sparks a deep connection; not just sexually charged.

The passage reminded me about the title of a podcast I listened to called, The Erotic Embrace of Life and Meditation. It was a Buddhist Geeks' podcast/interview with Shinzen Young about his attempts to balance intense practise and daily meditation as a Buddhist novitiate, alongside his day job in construction. It is not often the two paths intersect and it made for a lively discussion about how one way of life can inform the other, bringing insights that might not otherwise come when life is spent in solitude.

I was doing a Google image search of erotics to see if I could find something for this post, and there are certainly no shortage of pornographic images. Interspersed there are some great images of erotic sculptures at Hindu temples. But for deeply stirring erotics, I think Georgia O'Keefe is at the top of my list! (above is Red Canna).