Okay, so there was all this hype about a Rapture that was to happen on May 21, and how the world was going to end and all the sinners would suffer and the rest of the folks I guess, would float up to the heavens forever protected and loved by GOD. So in preparation I put on some Blondie, got my groove on, and fantasized about how I’d celebrate this momentous event. I’m pleased to report that the Rapture indeed did happen.
Dictionary.com defines “Rapture” as:
- ecstatic joy or delight; joyful ecstasy.
2. an utterance or expression of ecstatic delight.
3. the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence.1
Wow, all three sound delicious, don’t they? I like number 1 and number 3 especially. I am so down with joyful ecstasy.
I think the fundamentalist believers in original sin are really missing a few important stitches in the frock here. One is that there is no heaven or hell that is separate from us here on earth. Hell is here baby. Heaven is here. It’s wishful thinking that if we are just really “good” that GOD, like a Santa Claus in the sky, is going to come and take us somewhere beautiful where we’ll never have to hurt again and all of our needs will be taken care of.
We are here to learn to take care of our own needs and to love ourselves. I think these are two of our most fundamental tasks. These two critical developmental milestones take some people lifetimes to figure out. It’s a big painful puzzle that no one else can be expected to put together for you. You have to do it yourself.
Another critical piece of this is that we have been given all the gifts we need to create our own rapturous state, to connect to ecstatic joy, and to carry ourselves to another place of existence. And guess what? We do that right here on planet earth. The energy we use to do all of these things is our core sexual energy. We all have it. It’s powerful. It is, by nature, creative. It’s gorgeous. You are your own rapture. I am my own rapture. How you live your life can be full of rapture and pleasure, or it can be barren and dull, or angry and cruel. Your choice.
But our choices are scary for us sometimes. That we have that much possibility to create pleasure-full lives scares the living daylights out of us. And think about that phrase, “the living daylights”—our life force gets dimmed. We get scared and small or dark and depressed when we cannot handle this much power. I don’t know about you, but I’m choosing rapture. I want the pleasure-full life.
I went to an adult play event this past weekend when the Rapture was supposed to happen. I’m proud to report, it did. At this event, grown adults created a playful space that is creative, sexy, fun, and pleasure-full. It is so healing. I wish everyone could experience something like that, where a community of people come together to create pleasure and beauty and ecstasy on their own terms without apology, guilt or shame. That is rapture. Inspired and full of life.
We can create rapture all the time if we want. We just need to connect to that awesome sexual energy and decide how we want to use it. It’s the same energy we use to make art, to write, to have babies, to have sex, to love, to connect to our own divinity, to create community, to cook a delicious meal. We can connect to our sexual energy in myriad ways that make our lives feel like heaven every day. Heaven is right here. You don’t have to be saved by some old guy with a beard to have heaven. This is it.
How are you creating rapture in your world? What feels like heaven to you? I hope you are creating it and celebrating it with a silly grin and enjoying every step. You are just that powerful and pleasure is your birthright.
1 Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rapture on May 23, 2011.
