April 2014

Eros and Agape are One, another excerpt from The Unseen Journey (working title)

The primary reason we created VenusPlusX a few years ago was to establish a repository of our solutions for freeing humanity of its many misconceptions about an individual’s direct connection to cosmic technology. It is also the reason we decided to capture the essential premise of our work in book form. Here is another excerpt of our upcoming book, tentatively entitled, The Unseen Journey, that may prompt some comments and criticism, both of which we crave and adore.

Anira/WikiCommons Fair Use/Educational

Anira/WikiCommons
Fair Use/Educational

We declare that eros and agape are one with unified Love. We declare that the erotic is a major component of cosmic Love. We declare that the ability to experience Love, either as physical or spiritual, is one and the same gift of the Supreme to all creatures. We declare that the erotic has a functional purpose in any vitology (way of living in dedication to destiny) and that failure to acknowledge this underlies the social stagnation and oppressive belief systems that characterize human society today.

© VenusPlusX, 2013, All Rights Reserved.

What we are talking about here is a non-religion, transhuman in nature. There’s more about these ideas in our Library and all over this website, including a preliminary reference that will become an Appendix to our new book, A Course in Immortality (and in Spanish, Un Curso En Inmortalidad). And, in connection with the relaunch of VenusPlusX last week, we’ve added A Manifesto for The New Age of Sexual Freedom.

In order for humankind to fully explore and manifest its destiny, we start by accepting everyone where they are, as they are, of course, but that doesn’t stop us from railing against the coercive systems established by governments, religious hierarchies, and corporations that enslave us to false values and principles and interfere greatly with happiness, both individual and collective. Immediately important to this cause is sexual freedom, global equality rights, the end of racism, and tangentially things like net neutrality. In connection with the relaunch of VenusPlusX this month, we have published A Manifesto for The New Age of Sexual Freedom, which covers these matters further.

Right now, there is so much garbage and senseless noise all over the globe, piled higher and deeper with each succeeding generation of misinformation, all of it interfering with all good will efforts to recreate a world where every human retains from birth the inherited and inherent freedom of self-expression and is mutually respected, even revered, as a cosmic citizen, a living vessel of love from, and part of, this cosmic reality.

Like the agrarians, marxists, and feminists that paved the way, we aim to preserve that which is old and good, and disappear that which is old and bad, sometimes very bad, and build on or create new and better systems, voluntary associations, that uplift humanity within an atmosphere of mutual support where no one is enslaved to another.

 

Net Neutrality: Who is minding our store?

FCC’s Reported Capitulation around Open Internet Protections is a Major Step Backward

“If true, this proposal is a huge step backwards and just must be stopped,” said Michael Copps, a former FCC commissioner who now serves as a special adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. “If the Commission subverts the Open Internet by creating a fast lane for the 1 percent and slow lanes for the 99 percent, it would be an insult to both citizens and to the promise of the Net.”

Susan Striech, WikiCommons Fair Use/Educational

Susan Striech, WikiCommons
Fair Use/Educational

Technologists, activists, and regular people like you have been trying to get the rest of us to pay attention to one of the most destructive efforts afoot in government today — the dismantling of the Internet as we know it, a beloved creation bestowed upon our culture that it cannot and should not be without, a method of worldwide communication, a tool of epic proportions to make the world a better place, right up there with clean air and water.

Most people know that the Internet was first developed for the Department of Defense as ARPANET, circa 1970 in order to facilitate communication between contractors and various agencies within the government for research and development purposes. (It so happens VenusPlusX Co-Founder Dan Massey was involved in this project professionally, so we were among the first to “go on line.”) Only after the Internet became available for public use, making every user an instant author, were the full dimensions of Internet potential realized. First in, pornographers, who at one point in the 80s were responsible for 50% of commercial Internet traffic. As the first generation of adults to start using the Internet, we quickly realized what the Internet meant to us personally, how it would change our lives, how we could use it to build a better future, how even the most vulnerable among us would finally have a platform to be heard in our new “town square.”

We started writing about the importance of preserving net neutrality a couple of years ago, when it was threatened by congressional efforts of control content and its flow to users (SOPA, PIPA), and even the White House’s proposed Online Privacy Bill of Rights. It’s always been somewhat a mystery why this subject doesn’t draw more attention and activism. Perhaps now that we are about to lose the best aspects of the Internet, more people will take this on as a primary issue.

Were we lulled into the belief that Obama, having campaigned on a platform of securing net neutrality both in 2008 and 2012, and a seemingly cooperative Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would be enough to stave off the opportunistic, profiteering, parasitic special interests by providers such as Verizon and Comcast? After  a judge struck down the FCC’s ruling that disallowed charging different rates for different content, the Commission is now circulating new draft rules that would in practice allow corporations to control the Internet and the speed at which information moves across it. Everyday people, small business owners and organizations, the voiceless, will all be shut out. Payola used to be a dirty word for it but what we are about to experience is a complex pay-to-play scheme whereby providers name the price that Netflix, HBO, and other users must pay to stream their material, costs which will be passed onto to consumers.

Like every other part of our government lately it seems, special corporate interests have trumped the will of the people, and, in the case of net neutrality, the needs of the deserving, the voice for voiceless.

Get off our couches, and do something about it!

To learn more go to: Common CauseThe Washington Post and The Huffington Post.

 

 

 

 

 

The Sexual Freedom Project: Covert Inter-Communal Discrimination

También en Español

Why do you think discrimination remains so prevalent within our LGBTQ activist community?

Join The Sexual Freedom Project cast with your own video or essay (via columbia@venusplusx.org), and we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

More videos here.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.

The Sexual Freedom Project: You Don’t Think I Was Born This Way?

También en Español Do you think it makes a difference whether someone is “born this way” or just makes a choice? If someone chooses to be a heterosexual isn’t that just as much a choice? Isn’t the distinction irrelevant to fighting intolerance?

Join The Sexual Freedom Project cast with your own video or essay (via columbia@venusplusx.org), and we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

More videos here.

Video by Tiye Massey.

The Sexual Freedom Project: Identifying Within the Spectrum

También en Español

Will the concept of a gender continuum, a spectrum of all different types of gender expression, neutralize the traditional binaries?

How does sexual orientation relate to gender expression?

How will more gender individuality affect our sense of community so deeply rooted in the binary paradigm?

Join The Sexual Freedom Project cast with your own video or essay (via columbia@venusplusx.org), and we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

More videos here.

 

Depending on More than Faith: Comprehensive Sex Ed in Church

Although social conservatives have dominated discourse around religion and sexuality, it turns out that millions of religious and spiritual youth and adults believe that faith, and a positive approach to healthy sexuality, are not mutually exclusive. 

I never thought that I would see that day where I would come across an article discussing how Churches across the nation are moving away from the “Abstinence-only” approach to Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE). In my mind, as with the minds of many Americans, comprehensive sex education and religion seemed to be at odds, especially when it came to same-sex sexuality. So when I read that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) published a faith-based comprehensive sex ed curriculum in 2006, AND affirms human sexuality, including the expressions of sexuality that occur within same-sex relationships, as a gift from God, my mind nearly exploded. Moreover, the United Methodist Church passed an official resolution in 2010 to encourage congregations to take up the issue of sex education.

But this revelation is about (God) damn time!

429px-Brenig_Evergislus_HillebrandFor too long, social conservatives have used religion to keep comprehensive sex education out of the classroom. They especially have a beef with condoms. They have spent more than one billion in public funding within the U.S. to promote abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that distort the health benefits of condoms. They also argued at international conferences that promoting condom use encourages teens to have sex, despite overwhelming research to the contrary: educating youth about condoms does not promote sexual activity. In fact, research indicates that young people who are educated about the health benefits of condoms are more likely than other young people to use condoms when they eventually initiate sex.

So I commend the work of religious leaders who are moving away from this restrictive, scientifically invalid viewpoint. While some religious leaders and institutions, like the Catholic Church in New York City, continue to fight against comprehensive sex education in schools and remind us how there should be a separation between Church and State (because we all know that is NOT the reality in the U.S.), at least others are tackling the issues on Church ground, such as the First United Methodist Church in Madison, WI, who will introduce a comprehensive sexual education program, “Our Whole Lives,” for the first time this year. Not only will discussing human sexuality in a positive light foster a new, cooperative relationship between faith and sexuality, but also will encourage more teens to talk to their parents and Church leaders about their issues and concerns, instead of sometimes relying on inaccurate sources or porn. There will always be barriers to comprehensive sex education to overcome, but at least this is another step towards victory in the fight for youth sexual rights.

The Sexual Freedom Project: The Stigma of the Slut

Why does society set different standards for women and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people? What do we do that may facilitate these standards instead of working to change them?

Join The Sexual Freedom Project cast with your own video or essay (via columbia@venusplusx.org), and we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

More videos here.

 

The Sexual Freedom Project: Activism Intersects With All Walks of Life

What motivates you to be an activist? Was there one radicalizing experience that made you get up and do something, or was it a gradual evolution?How does your activism interact or relate to other aspects of your life?

Join The Sexual Freedom Project cast with your own video or essay (via columbia@venusplusx.org), and we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

More videos here.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.

The Sexual Freedom Project: Sexual Identity

What does sexual freedom mean to you? How does it relate to your sexuality, sexual identity, sexual orientation and/or gender identity?

What do you think?

Join The Sexual Freedom Project cast with your own video or essay (via columbia@venusplusx.org), and we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

More videos here.

Human Rights in Perspective: Your Role in the Fight for Sexual Freedom (Part 3)

Image by Terence Faircloth via Flickr

In providing perspective on The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013, we’ve looked at some of the obstacles ahead, and took a closer look at two of the 200+ countries discussed in the Report. It’s hard to fathom the instances of discrimination that we aren’t aware of, but one thing is clear: The fight for freedom is something that must take place worldwide with people of all types and nationalities participating simultaneously.

It is good to see the United States paying attention to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) issues, but is that enough? Many of the countries listed in the Report (such as Afghanistan) have seen military intervention from the United States, making the state of sexual freedom even worse. Are we wrong to be suspicious of the US government’s ulterior and imperialistic motives when it comes their advocacy on behalf of sexual freedom?

So where are we? So far we have we have established what problems we face, but what can we actually do?
The first step is to recognize your power as an individual. Embody the characteristics that you want to see in the world. Get involved and take charge. We can only predict the future by creating it — a brighter future for all, for our children, and their children and future generations. The world does not change for the better without individuals who are unafraid and willing to step up. Are you one of those people who will stand in solidarity against discrimination, here and abroad? Make yourself heard. Find your outlets and use them, whether writing, rallying, protesting — all non-violent methods of expression. Seek out like-minded individuals and find your strength in numbers.

The human mind is a dangerous weapon, but it is also the greatest tool there is. Through dialogue we can tweak and fix the errors in the human psyche — lack of empathy, hate, and countless other mental diseases, not just in places like Uganda, but in the U.S. as well. Whatever the cause of your reluctance, you must ask yourself whether it is worth considering against the battle for freedom.

Also see: Part 1 and Part 2.