Being a naturist is being good in your body. This does not mean that you are not trying to make a bead disappear here or there or that you do not take care of yourself. On the contrary! But we fall less in the tyranny of the gaze of the other, of the appearance and of perfection.
The pressure of society
Stop in front of a newspaper stall. The covers of the so-called men and women magazines only show people smiling, tanned, well dressed, fine and muscular. At the same time, look around. Do you see many of these same people in real life? Not really.
In the Tyranny of Beauty, the author says that “beauty is unfair because very unequal”. Just go to a naturist beach to realize that the famous cannons of beauty are only very few. On the other hand, you will see many “normal” people. Small, tall, wrapped, thin, tanned, wrinkled, athletics, in short of everything but very few Barbie and Ken. We are all equal before the fact that we have a body, not a body with a perfect plastic that the company calls beauty.
In Marie France’s article entitled Nudity and you, I found these testimonies of two women : « Today I do not even leave my sarong on the beach! Not that I feel bad but I do not want to impose to others this body that I no longer love » and “It’s de-complexing, too, to realize that no woman resembles those of magazines ».
On the one hand, one does not want to impose on others what one does not like, on the other, one realizes that the plastic beauty of magazines is an illusion. But the pressure is there!
Accept and love each other
And it is this pressure of perfection conveyed by society that naturists refuse. It’s also the never ending conflict between being and looking. As the author of the article This tyranny of appearance that prevents us from being happy writes speaking of television: “Under the disguise of entertainment, these programs all have the idea that to be happy, you have to be excellent and especially at the top!”
At the top from all angles: professionally, personally, bodily, psychologically, etc. And this is precisely what the naturism and its philosophy oppose. It is not to what you look like, but who you are. As is writing the author of the article Freedom, equality, nudity?, « This practice [Naturism] has no purpose other than the freedom of the body with compounded sensations: The breeze, the caress of the water and the sun, tingling of the sand… According to the followers, savoring these pleasures gives access to well-being and connects with the essential. »
The Basics! Be well with yourself. Appreciate this carnal envelope to our soul. Finding humanity hidden by layers of clothes and the diktats of the perfect body. On a daily basis, The world is pushing us to feel guilty. « Guilty of not being constantly happy, at the height, satisfied, in full form, employees and parents “exemplary” “, as in the article What do we feel guilty about?.
But the sentence that “kills” us is extracted from the same article: « The question of the body no longer arises in the erotic field, but in the context of a social judgment ». For, this is what the naturists are aware of: they are socially judged! Nudity equals sexuality and perversity. Society has perverted the very essence of wellness.
It is not possible to find this happiness without first giving up our response to the judgment of others about our own choices and by giving grace to this body that hosts our soul and consciousness.
Get bare, get naked, forget perfection
To be naturist is to get naked. At home, at the beach, with other naturists. It’s also baring our soul. This is fully assuming our choices. This is to agree to receive a negative judgment from someone who does not share our vision of nudity, as simple, natural and fulfilling.
Finally, accepting oneself is, by getting naked, becoming oneself. Charity begins at home. This Christian precept is fully applicable to the naturist context. By learning to accept and love oneself, we accept and love others better. We’re more listening to use. No wonder that when you hear neo-naturists finding that naturists are more relaxed, kind and joyful.
So, yes, personal development can, I have no doubt, go through naturism, abandoning the diktats of perfection. By taking control of this well-being provided by simple and social nudity, we take control of our happiness and participate in that of those we love.
Get Naked, Stay Naked, Live Naked and Share the Naked Love!
Photo by Jonathan Hoxmark on Unsplash
