Naked and NOT Afraid.
On a drive back from a military funeral, one that a team and I performed as an honor to a lost World War II veteran, we hear it.
"Want to look better, naked?"
The phrase intrigued me. It was a commercial for a company that I would eventually work for.
It was the breaking down of that phrase, that indicated to me, that being naked is our most pure form, in this world. There are no hidden flaws behind mountains of sweaters and scarfs. There is no makeup or cover-up. There is the self, vulnerable, exposed.
Now, one may think that words like, nude, naked, bare, are synonymous with sex and immorality, and trust me, at the time, I too thought, I probably need a little help in the nude. Consumed by an all-or-nothing thought process of, "bigger is better," figuring that tight sleeves were all I needed, realizing that being shirtless, or even more intense, pant-less, brought about inadequacies. It was the idea of exposing my hidden parts, that someone else is inevitably going to see, whether in sexual act or not that shook me. Being naked seemed to be the catch-all for vulnerability.
In scripture, Jesus was whipped, beaten, put on the cross to die. Scripture says Jesus was "stripped"- Matthew 27:28, before being placed on the cross to die. Whether or not he was completely naked is beyond the point for speculation is an unhealthy clothing of a naked truth. The point of crucifixion from my brief research and common sense, was to make a public display of the killings, a shameful way to hang, and die. If one was naked I could only imagine it making the situation all the more painful. It was even in Jesus's last moments with his disciples that, "He got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself." -John 13: 4. The vulnerability of servitude, a light to a dark world. For this King came on a "donkey's colt."- John 12:15
When we are naked, we are exposed. The truth of our skin is no longer able to be hidden. We change a bit. It changes how we see someone. When we see someone's angles only darkness graces, all the curves, the parts we could only imagine. When we see the vulnerability, or like bath time with my daughter, a lack of any shame, it is very beautiful. WE are the ones that tend to incorporate a negative with the exposed body, just like WE are the ones that make nudity a pornographic thing.
"To look better naked." A catch phrase I still hear today and one that has such a pure ring. When we break it down, when we look at what is being imposed, it has such meaning, so much value. We are not vulnerable any more. We tend to clothe and clothe, cover, conceal, alter, we take away our "naked" selves, not just on the outside, but in. We cover our true selves up, never allowing the person inside to see the light of day, discounting the need to be vulnerable. We fear. We fear exposure, for the world we might have seen says that we should. If I am vulnerable, or if I jump off, are you coming too? Are you sure? 1....2....3....(wait you didn't jump) as we are in midair, left with a tinge of deceit, and humiliation crashing to the ground below.
Yet we land, we get up. When we get up, after exposing ourselves, we are stronger, more able to take on challenges. More able to be authentic and genuine in our response, because we know what it was like to fall, and it is no longer a foreign concept intoxicating us with fear.
Being "exposed" is typically referred to as "getting something off someone's chest" and it is usually revealed by a relief, no matter the consequences. The funny thing is that typically if we would have been "naked" in the first place, that we wouldn't have had anything to, "get off our chest."
Be naked in self, expose the vulnerable parts in a relationship, it will only grow from there. Showing all parts of self, allows the world to see that you are not defined by it, nor are you going to bow to its perceived whims.
Castle-Broken: When appearances are everything, a book of my own shame manifested into the cover up of an attempt at an ideal body. Muscle Dysmorphia a clinical problem where one obsesses over their attempts to be, muscular or,"hyper-masculine" and the destruction it causes. The funny thing is that it was in my attempts to be, "perfect" on the outside that made the inside disgusting. Click Here.
"Want to look better, naked?"
The phrase intrigued me. It was a commercial for a company that I would eventually work for.
It was the breaking down of that phrase, that indicated to me, that being naked is our most pure form, in this world. There are no hidden flaws behind mountains of sweaters and scarfs. There is no makeup or cover-up. There is the self, vulnerable, exposed.
Now, one may think that words like, nude, naked, bare, are synonymous with sex and immorality, and trust me, at the time, I too thought, I probably need a little help in the nude. Consumed by an all-or-nothing thought process of, "bigger is better," figuring that tight sleeves were all I needed, realizing that being shirtless, or even more intense, pant-less, brought about inadequacies. It was the idea of exposing my hidden parts, that someone else is inevitably going to see, whether in sexual act or not that shook me. Being naked seemed to be the catch-all for vulnerability.
In scripture, Jesus was whipped, beaten, put on the cross to die. Scripture says Jesus was "stripped"- Matthew 27:28, before being placed on the cross to die. Whether or not he was completely naked is beyond the point for speculation is an unhealthy clothing of a naked truth. The point of crucifixion from my brief research and common sense, was to make a public display of the killings, a shameful way to hang, and die. If one was naked I could only imagine it making the situation all the more painful. It was even in Jesus's last moments with his disciples that, "He got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself." -John 13: 4. The vulnerability of servitude, a light to a dark world. For this King came on a "donkey's colt."- John 12:15
When we are naked, we are exposed. The truth of our skin is no longer able to be hidden. We change a bit. It changes how we see someone. When we see someone's angles only darkness graces, all the curves, the parts we could only imagine. When we see the vulnerability, or like bath time with my daughter, a lack of any shame, it is very beautiful. WE are the ones that tend to incorporate a negative with the exposed body, just like WE are the ones that make nudity a pornographic thing.
"To look better naked." A catch phrase I still hear today and one that has such a pure ring. When we break it down, when we look at what is being imposed, it has such meaning, so much value. We are not vulnerable any more. We tend to clothe and clothe, cover, conceal, alter, we take away our "naked" selves, not just on the outside, but in. We cover our true selves up, never allowing the person inside to see the light of day, discounting the need to be vulnerable. We fear. We fear exposure, for the world we might have seen says that we should. If I am vulnerable, or if I jump off, are you coming too? Are you sure? 1....2....3....(wait you didn't jump) as we are in midair, left with a tinge of deceit, and humiliation crashing to the ground below.
 |
| Uh, Mark, James, you didn't jump. |
Being "exposed" is typically referred to as "getting something off someone's chest" and it is usually revealed by a relief, no matter the consequences. The funny thing is that typically if we would have been "naked" in the first place, that we wouldn't have had anything to, "get off our chest."
Be naked in self, expose the vulnerable parts in a relationship, it will only grow from there. Showing all parts of self, allows the world to see that you are not defined by it, nor are you going to bow to its perceived whims.
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