Oneness Ministry

We are One

Oct 4

What does it mean to be Gay

by Sequoia Elisabeth

I have been asking myself this question most of my life. I remember commenting on how the “Gay community” had ruined a good word way back in the 70’s. To me it means being upbeat, happy, and jovial. It doesn’t really have anything to do with sex as far as I am concerned. That word is homosexual. Call it like it is. No sense trying to sugar coat things. Not that being homosexual is a bad thing. Who you love makes no difference to anyone else. Love in any form is a good thing.

I think the word gay got attached to homosexuals because they are often flighty, lighthearted, and jolly. Which to me is quite positive. I enjoy being around joyful people who don’t take life too seriously. Though I am not big on pranks or juvenile behavior. Somehow over the years the word “Gay” turned derogatory. The ego mind has its own agenda and creating more egos is one of them. Homosexuals don’t reproduce, so in the early days this was a big part of it. The more the merrier! (NOT) The other part is “guilty by association”. Fear motivates prejudice and thus the negative label. “They” don’t want to be labeled as “gay” just for being friends, so “they” choose to be enemies. The fact is, human nature is loving, we are social animals and enjoy hugs. Light unassuming contact can be affirming or offensive depending on a person’s point of view. When coming from love, its affirming, and when coming from fear its offensive. We all have the choice, fear or love. To me the acronym F.E.A.R = False Evidence Appearing Real, fits perfectly. Assume the best of others until proven otherwise! Just because someone has a negative experience with a person, does not mean all experiences will be negative. In 99% of our encounters with each other there is no need to even mention or think about sex. The ego would have you believe otherwise.

Being gay means so much more these days and this is both a good and bad thing. I often feel “gay”, though I have been heterosexual all my life, bedsides one adventure to the other side. My friends fall to both sides of the isle, and some are in the middle. I have chosen to not even play the game. My focus these days centers on agape love and non-sexual love. In the Spirit world, Love is all there is, so human/ego designations don’t matter in the end. For the sake of identity, which the ego just loves, I identify as a gay non-sexual male woman. Perhaps this puts me in the middle, I don’t even know, and have not been able to figure it out in 60 years! I doubt I ever will. It doesn’t even matter to me anymore. If you’ve read my eBook, Sex and Sexuality, you’d know sex is a distraction for most of us. A rare few use it as it is intended, as an expression of God’s Love. We are this Love, expressing. A small aspect of it includes sex.

Sequoia Elisabeth

OnenessMinistry.info

Gender Related Spirituality Transitions

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Feb 12

Celebrating Diversity Revisited

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Transitions Blog is meandering along and in keeping with topics related to Gender and Sex I am re-posting a blog from 2010.  It is fairly basic, but I bet many of you have not thought of sexual orientation as I present it here.  Thanks for reading and please share your ideas for new topics.

Sexual expression comes in many different flavors, and is possibly as unique as the number of people on our beautiful blue planet.   The old school wants us to conform to the old ‘boy meets girl, girl has baby’ scenario and while that does serve its purpose as a race we are moving beyond that.  Relationships are so much more than adding one more baby to the rising population, or even the aspect of replacing the self.  The world may appear to be a binary system with only men and women, but I can assure you it is not.

Sexual orientation is an aspect of gender that Dr. Carl Bushong describes as “Brain Sex”.  “Our love/sex patterns, and how we relate to others on a social and interpersonal as well as sexual level, often referred to as our “Sexual Orientation”.” (1995) This aspect, like gender identity, is hard wired from birth, which means our brains, being much like a computer, are programmed to be attracted to certain physical attributes, genders and personalities.

To restrict every person on the planet, all 6.8 Billion +, to being either heterosexual or homosexual is unrealistic.  Instead it is much more feasible that each person on earth has their own unique sexuality which falls into several categories.  The categories as they exist today are, heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, bisexual, and pansexual.  There are a few other words being used but overlap these so I will stick with this list.  Within each category will be a sliding scale so that each person falls somewhere on the scale and is not necessary stuck exactly in that spot, although they will stay within a category.

Just briefly hetero means opposite sex attraction, homo means same sex attraction, The (a) in asexual means no sexual attraction, The (bi) in bisexual means both sexual attraction, and the (pan) in pansexual means all sexual attraction.  I do not like the term bisexual because it implies there are only two sexes, male and female.  This is the old world paradigm and no longer works (if it ever worked).  Pansexual includes everyone and applies to anyone that is sexual but not strictly attracted to the opposite or same sex.  This term is far more appropriate in today’s society.

The whole labeling game gets a little absurd after a while because the terms become contradictory and putting people into boxes is both confining and inaccurate. For instance, a transwoman who is attracted to women is lesbian or are they heterosexual since they were born into a male body?  And what about the woman who was attracted to this person not realizing they were transgender?  Does that make them a lesbian?  So what if it does?

The world is coming out!  We are becoming more aware of gender identity and sexual orientation, which is leading to more understanding and eventually to more acceptance.  I ask only that you stay away from the labels as much as possible and simply love the person.  This is why I like the Pansexual label best because it is defined as “A sexual orientation characterized by the potential for aesthetic attraction, romantic love and/or sexual desire for people, regardless of their gender identity or biological sex.” (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pansexuality#English, 2010)

Who you are attracted to should not be grounds for discrimination. (In reality there are no grounds for discrimination) Could you imagine if the world judged you on the grounds of your attraction to hair color?  “Oh you like redheads, uggg or ewww”!   Actually Blondes often get joked about and while it may be in fun, it is only fun to the person joking.  Sexual orientation is just another of many category’s that are used to separate or define humans.  Being unique is a gift, and it makes us lovable and desirable.  Just think of a rare diamond or rare flower.  Uniqueness is a desirable trait in our society, so why not extend that to your relationships.  Celebrate differences and LOVE the person – stop separating!  We are One – one big family of Human.  Love the One your with!

😀 Sequoia Elisabeth

Unity in Gender Diversity

Gender Related Transitions

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Mar 20

Sexual Taboos

by Sequoia Elisabeth

A taboo is “proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable behavior.” (Dictionary.com)  Thus, depending on the society, what is acceptable may vary.  Each society has a prescribed set of rules of conduct which evolve over time.  We all follow these constructs either consciously or unconsciously. 

Sex is often a volatile subject which goes way back depending on the founding society concerned.  In the USA, we are very conservative when it comes to issues of sex behavior stemming from our strict Christian foundations.  The sexual revolution of the sixties and beyond has tipped many of societies norms on their proverbial head!  In my humble opinion this is a very good thing although it has come at a price.  Anything surrounded by fear will create challenges.  AIDS was born of this fear!  It will be undone by its opposite, Love. 

A few of the taboos that have been set aside are homosexual sex and polyamorous relationships.  In some more conservative communities these remain taboo, but for the most part (esp. cosmopolitan cities) it is no longer taboo.  The level of acceptance varies by community of course.  Society can be thought of as a tribal consciousness and as this consciousness shifts so do the taboos.  This consciousness will vary by community, but is still connected to the greater whole, like clouds on the horizon. 

The consciousness which you embrace will be the governing factor in your acceptance.  Let’s say you grew up in the Catholic Church which says it is taboo to have same sex intimate relationships, so as long as you remain in that community or consciousness you are bound by those taboos.  Sometimes the community changes to embrace the consciousness of its members.  For example DignityUSA is a catholic LGBT organization which embraces those life styles.  This to me demonstrates the interdependency of the individual with the larger tribal consciousness. 

Polyamorous relationships have been taboo until recently because frankly I don’t think the average person was mature enough.  Polyamorous means having multiple consenting Lovers /intimate relationships.  It means all parties are aware of each other and respect each other’s freedoms.  It means the individuals have to be mature enough not to slip into jealously or possessiveness.  I see this as being common in societies of the future, because it is natural for most humans.  Unfortunately, the ego based ruling society of yesterday did not support this behavior and often suppressed it though the media, education, and social/religious avenues.  However, as your individual consciousness shifts, so does the greater tribal consciousness.  (which came first the chicken or the egg is an ongoing debate that I will not address at this time)

The bottom line here is that we each have choices that we make every day and these choices determine our individual path, but also influence the greater tribal consciousness as well.  If you wish to explore a sexual taboo, then by all means do so, but do so with caution in an environment that is supportive and safe.  If you do a little searching and this is important enough to you, then you will find those who support you. 

Some sexual taboos are still too far out there at this time and cannot be embraced by society at large.  Till the day comes where society is more accepting, there remains constructive methods of dealing with the compulsion to go beyond the law.  Prison is not one of them.  I would suggest contacting a professional sex counselor if you need guidance on these issues.  There is nothing wrong with you or these acts per se, but staying within the law is conducive to a healthy life (for everyone). 

What I do know is that God loves everyone, no matter who they are and no matter what they have done.  Forgiveness comes from within your own heart and is supported by actions that put everyone’s safety first.

 😉 Sequoia Elisabeth

Unity in Gender Diversity     Discover Sex and Sexuality click here

Gender Related Spirituality Transitions

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Aug 3

Celebrate Diversity

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Sexual expression comes in many different flavors, and is possibly as unique as the number of people on our beautiful blue planet.   The old school wants us to conform to the old ‘boy meets girl, girl has baby’ scenario and while that does serve its purpose as a race we are moving beyond that.  Relationships are so much more than adding one more baby to the rising population, or even the aspect of replacing the self.  The world may appear to be a binary system with only men and women, but I can assure you it is not. 

Sexual orientation is an aspect of gender that Dr. Carl Bushong describes as “Brain Sex”.  “Our love/sex patterns, and how we relate to others on a social and interpersonal as well as sexual level, often referred to as our “Sexual Orientation”.” (1995) This aspect, like gender identity, is hard wired from birth, which means our brains, being much like a computer, are programmed to be attracted to certain physical attributes, genders and personalities. 

To restrict every person on the planet, all 6.8 Billion +, to being either heterosexual or homosexual is unrealistic.  Instead it is much more feasible that each person on earth has their own unique sexuality which falls into several categories.  The categories as they exist today are, heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, bisexual, and pansexual.  There are a few other words being used but overlap these so I will stick with this list.  Within each category will be a sliding scale so that each person falls somewhere on the scale and is not necessary stuck exactly in that spot, although they will stay within a category. 

Just briefly hetero means opposite sex attraction, homo means same sex attraction, the (a) in asexual means no sexual attraction, the (bi) in bisexual means both sexual attraction, and the (pan) in pansexual means all sexual attraction.  I do not like the term bisexual because it implies there are only two sexes, male and female.  This is the old world paradigm and no longer works (if it ever worked).  Pansexual includes everyone and applies to anyone that is sexual but not strictly attracted to the opposite or same sex.  This term is far more appropriate in today’s society. 

The whole labeling game gets a little absurd after a while because the terms become contradictory and putting people into boxes is both confining and inaccurate. For instance, a transwoman who is attracted to women is lesbian or are they heterosexual since they were born into a male body?  And what about the woman who was attracted to this person not realizing they were transgender?  Does that make them a lesbian?  So what if it does? 

The world is coming out!  We are becoming more aware of gender identity and sexual orientation, which is leading to more understanding and eventually to more acceptance.  I ask only that you stay away from the labels as much as possible and simply love the person.  This is why I like the Pansexual label best because it is defined as “A sexual orientation characterized by the potential for aesthetic attraction, romantic love and/or sexual desire for people, regardless of their gender identity or biological sex.” (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pansexuality#English, 2010)

Who you are attracted to should not be grounds for discrimination. (In reality there are no grounds for discrimination) Could you imagine if the world judged you on the grounds of your attraction to hair color?  “Oh you like redheads, uggg or ewww”!   Actually Blondes often get joked about and while it may be in fun, it is only fun to the person joking.  Sexual orientation is just another of many category’s that are used to separate or define humans.  Being unique is a gift, and it makes us lovable and desirable.  Just think of a rare diamond or rare flower.  Uniqueness is a desirable trait in our society, so why not extend that to your relationships.  Celebrate differences and LOVE the person – stop separating!  We are One – one big family of Human. 

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Unity in Gender Diversity

Gender Related Spirituality Transitions

Leave a comment »