Just the sound of the word can send chills up your spine. Stripped-down. Uncovered. Nude.
Are your hands starting to get sweaty? Can you feel your heartbeat quicken? Does the word naked make you squirm?
I don’t know why it’s such a big deal, after all we were all born naked. Humans only started wearing clothes about 72,000 years ago. That means that for more than half of our existence, we’ve been nudists. It’s so natural.
I think life would be a lot more fun and interesting if nobody wore any clothes.
When I was 24, I went to a nudist colony just for fun. I built up my courage and dropped my drawers. I remember how freeing it felt. I thought, this feels so natural.
All around me were varying degrees of body types. In my mind I was hoping for “Bay Watch,” but what I got instead was, “Throw Momma From the Train!”
After a while I forgot I was clothe-less. Being naked was a liberating experience! Somehow I felt like the playing field had leveled. There was less inclination to judge or categorize each other. I felt more inclined to accept myself for who I was and others for who they were, rather than be influenced by the style or fashion of the clothes they were wearing.
We’ve all heard the expression, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” As a society we’re quick to judge how someone looks on the outside. Going beyond the superficial gives us the opportunity to get to know the person on the inside. What you wear does make a difference in how you influence the world around you.
Behavioral scientists tell us that this first impression is a strong one. The process of sizing you up takes place on the subconscious/emotional level of the brain.
Your evaluation by a stranger takes 30 seconds or less and can be so strong that it could take as much as five years to erase. So, how do I look? Is how I look more important than what I’m saying?
A good example of how you look, being more important than what you say is the first Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate. Radio listeners thought that Nixon had won, while TV viewers gave Kennedy the win. Kennedy looked fresh and vigorous while Nixon appeared tired and rumpled.
The TV audience gave more credibility to what they saw rather than what they heard.
Oh what freedom lies behind this thin veil of cloth! To me, clothes are like rules and regulations. Confining. Constricting. Sometimes uncomfortable. But there are deeper layers yet to be uncovered.
I stand before you naked. Emotionally and psychologically naked, without preconditions, positions and viewpoints. Neutral. The more you understand this, the more freedom you have.
Just as a bubble in the ocean can know itself as bubble, it can also know itself as the ocean. Were all the same. Encapsulated by skin. Vulnerable. Squishy.
Discovering that commonality engenders understanding, acceptance and compassion. We learn to see ourselves in others.
“To be simple means: without projections, without conditionings, just a clarity, a silence, an understanding.” Osho
