On the Canadian prairies, it gets cold in the month of August, especially on those mornings on either side of a full moon. This morning’s temperature was 4 Celsius. As we sat watching dawn approach from our love seat, looking out at the prairie hills in the distant, we saw what looked like mist just at the base of the hills. It reminded both of us of the expression, “frost in low lying areas. Because it is Still August, the temperature is supposed to warm up to 23 C with sunny skies. We’ll definitely take advantage of the sun and the temperatures when we take our usual walk down gravelled country roads. There will be no free-hiking today as that is something I do when I hike alone.
Yesterday I picked three five-gallon pails of crab apples which will have to go to the community compost pile just outside of town. I will again pick today leaving the apples at the top of the tree for the birds. The intention is to pick enough to eat, and prevent our lawn from becoming a slick compost zone of rotting crab apples.
It’s my second full day back at home. Selling books is good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to being able to spent time with my wife, or to enjoy my home and yard without too much worry or need for clothing. Naturism seems to focus on the issue of clothing, something that is essential to the definition of the word. Yet, we can get too caught up in nakedness and lose sight of the larger experience of transparency and authenticity. When you think about it, nudity is quite simple. If weather and conditions permit, then one can choose to be naked. Otherwise, clothing becomes essential. Living on the Canadian prairies teaches one the value of clothing in a hurry as summer approaches autumn.
Of course, for many, it might just be about nudity. For me, there is another dimension. Shedding clothing is almost a religious act, or perhaps more spiritual than religious. I think here of how meditation involves both body and spirit. Walks in the countryside involve both mind and body. One learns to be present within one’s body rather than trying to escape the body to live only in the mind. Even doing dishes can become a “mindful” act where one knows and senses the body while performing a task. I used to do dishes in the past where my mind was frequently elsewhere. My body was on autonomous function not needing any thought at all. As long as I didn’t spill water on my clothing, nothing drew my attention to the fact that I had a body while washing dishes, well other than water temperature when the water got cold.
My wife calls the slipping away from being fully present, a journey to la-la land. I used to take many, many such journeys in the past. Now, thanks to meditation and nudity, I am rarely taking such journeys. It sure makes for a better relationship. This is who I am; an older man who is typically naked and satisfied doing little things like dishes and picking apples, a man who is honouring his body with good food and exercise, and a man who at home in the inner psyche. This is my reality.
Thank you, Robert. I’m certain that for me “to live naked as much as possible” is not simply about “being without clothes”. You make the point well when you assert that “nakedness” and “mindfulness”, together, bring one into a subtly different dimension of “being”. As one spiritual teacher put it, “Be Here Now”: that is, “be present, as mindfully as possible, to the task at hand” … whether the task is doing dishes or carrying out the garbage, “Chopping wood, Carrying water.” And it seems that one can be the more “mindful” or “attentive” to the task when one is naked. Unless, I suppose, it’s too cold: but then attentiveness to the chill is a part of the whole experience, is it not? There are times, I guess, when one must wear clothes. But I share your assertion that there truly is a “spiritual” (or “religious”?) dimension to being naked, and thus the more transparent, or (one hopes) the more authentic.
BTW, thanks for another evocative image: one of a man, naked, deep in thought or meditation in the early morning light. Your work is inspiring.
Thanks as always, Allen. Believe it or not, it is the responses to the posts that provide me with the will to keep on writing.
It seems to me an impossible task to connect with our spiritual selves while altering or ignoring all together our physical selves, for are we not the same spiritually and physically. To practice one without the other is impossible. To not be in pure physical splendor while attempting spiritual splendor is not natural.
100% in agreement, Bob. Thanks.
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Thanks first of all for the good post and beautiful images again.
I totally agree that the connection mind and body is much better when you are naked. It matches: acceptance of ones mind and of ones body. No need for prejuices, no need for clothes.
One of my most recent experiences has been a group of naked yoga that I joined in my town. It is so natural to do yoga naked, and I asked myself why this option is not available in any of the yoga centers. I fortunately found the group in meet up, and the bad thing, it is that it will be extremely uncomfortable for me to pratice yoga with clothes again. When I try some activity naked and I feel so good, it feels so bad to do it with clothes.
Thanks again, David. You are so right, when one does some activity naked, it is hard to feel as good doing it while clothed. Yet, we do need to live in a larger world, at least most of us.