The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/27737
Keep Up Now! Don’t fear death, live life “I reach beyond my arms, the stars, the planets to where my thoughts suspend until I find my self again. It takes just one, and soon he will declare that truth be told; no need to fear. And in that truth we will know; we are one _ Love, united _ and the illusory world of fear will be no more.” _ Rob Ludwig Do you suffer from thanatophobia; fear of death? Most of us are afraid of dying, entrenched in our human conditioning or religious background. All of our fears stem from this one belief _ we are go- ing to die eventually. Ironically, it is our belief in death that prohibits us from truly living. When we dare to contemplate death, the question naturally arises: Who or what dies? We know the body ceases to exist, but am I the body? Do I really cease to exist? We experience ourselves as bod- ies, yet we know intuitively we’re something greater. Lately, more people are daring to ask the question — Who or what am I? When anything seems to fill you with terror, making your body tremble as the cold sweat of panic comes over it, remember it is It’s OK to not be promiscuous Recently, a young friend (we will call him “Jasper” for ease of refer- ence) came to me concerned about an event in his life. Despite our age difference (Jasper is 25 while I am 44), we have become very good friends. The night before Jasper had a visit from a friend that troubled him. Jasper’s friend, who has a boyfriend of his own, wanted to hook up and, as the story goes, this guy threw himself down upon Jasper’s bed. Ultimately, Jasper found he didn’t want to consummate anything with the guy. Jasper’s inability to follow through on any physical relationship with his friend troubled Jasper so much that Jasper worried if some- thing was wrong with him when we met the next day. “What is wrong with me?” he asked me. “I had the chance to have sex, and I couldn’t. What’s wrong with me?” Guest Column It’s time for you to “undo” your conditioning and start living. always for one reason; the ego has perceived it as a symbol of fear, a sign of sin and death. Your conditioning has created this reaction. It’s time for you to “undo” your conditioning and start living. Most major religions lecture on eternal life. The implication of this is so abstract we blindly nod in agreement without fully compre- hending the significance of this life-altering truth. You fear death, yet you call it and bid it come to save you from your pain. It is the attrac- tion of death that makes life seem ugly, cruel and tyrannical. Death is perceived as a savior from suffering as well as your demise. How could it be both? Overcome your fear of death by means of confront- ing your mortality issues. Only then will you will understand your true nature and relinquish your belief in death. Accept your self as who and what you truly are _ a magnificent, eternal being of light. Disengage from your ego mind. Connect to your Source and allow power to flow through you. In other words, stop playing “small”; it’s just not working. “Keep up Now! with the stream of higher consciousness and stay connected to the Source.” —Terry Ludwig Terry Ludwig’s brother, Rob, passed away in 2004 after battling AIDS. Before he passed, he shared his message. “Keep Up Now!” is the result of that communication. She can be reached at keepupnow@gmail.com, and followed on Twitter and Facebook. “Absolutely nothing,” I comforted. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.” The truth is, as I ex- plained, Jasper was suffer- ing from a stereotype that he was imposing upon himself. For a long time, a dominant theme of those in the straight community who wish to os- tracize gay people and minimize the validity of our relationships holds that gay people are incapable of long-term committed relation- ships because they are interested in nothing but sex. To support this conclusion, they often point to the promiscuous multi-part- nered anonymous bathhouse-style sex that represented a portion of the gay community from the sexual revolution of the 1960s to the outbreak of the HIV epidemic of the 1980s. Of course, they fail to recognize or admit that many straight individuals were engaged (and still are engaged) in similar sexual practices during the same period. The truth, as we know, is far from the stereotype that was and is often presented. However, the stereotype’s impact is perni- cious, as Jasper’s concerns demonstrate. In the absence of alternative narratives, gay (especially gay male) youths have been swayed by characters like Brian Kenney from “Queer as Folk” that they must spend their youth partying and engaging in a variety of sexual conquests. They internalize the stereotype and sometimes, like Jasper, feel themselves a failure when they don’t live up to them. It is important for us to develop more posi- tive and wide-ranging stereotypes for LGBT individual to emulate. It is important that long-term gay relationship gain recognition so that LGBT youths can internalize these stereotypes. _ Brian Haak Brian Haak is a graduate of Albany Law School and a lawyer with the New York State Assembly. Originally from Montgomery County, he now lives in Latham. March 24, 2011 O-Town Scene 27 the Diversity Scene March 24-30