"In the state of innocence, absolute trust prevailed…. Afterwards, shame took its place.
"After describing the first sin, Genesis 3 records God's words to fallen man.…
"… God describes how woman will relate to man in the state of sinfulness: 'Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' (Gen. 3:16). These words describe a fundamental violation of God's original plan…. His original plan was for man and woman to find happiness in giving themselves fully to each other. This joyful self-giving was to be fully expressed in both body and soul….
"The words of Genesis 3:16 seem to foretell how God's original, beautiful plan for sexual union will be distorted in man's heart by lust. Sin broke the original communion…. Their sexuality — which was intended for union — became a point of divisiion.…
"… Every person is called from eternity to exist in communion. Sin… added a new, destructive element to sexuality — lust.
…
"…The 'rule' of man over woman is a distortion of God's original plan for the communion of persons. Because of the man's 'rule,' the woman appears in his eyes as a lesser entity, an object to be desired by the lust of the eyes.
"Lust is a barrier to unity. It keeps men and women from experiencing sexual union as a pure, self-giving communion of persons. This is the root of sexual shame."
Note: John Paul II speaks of man and woman, and he believes that it is only the self-giving union of man and woman that can fulfill God's plan. But even if you disagree, I think the words about lust as a distortion of sexual union as a communion of persons can be applied to all sexuality.
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4 comments:
I talked about this with a group of gay Catholics today. It was interesting...for some of them sexual lust fills this desire and craving of love for them. It is a substitute. For others, self-less lust was a means of controlling and having power over others.
Not only does lust get between a sexually pure union, but it might give birth to many other negative/immoral conditions of the mind.
I can't help but feel that this is a rationalisation for the division between the sexes.
Personally I don't view sexual lust as perforce an impediment to spiritual love, it can be a natural and desirable extension of it.
I won't contest the point that some people use sexual lust as a means to power over others. That is the very foundation of most sexual abuse, a subject of which I have considerable subjective knowledge.
Thanks for the comments.
@ James — That's very interesting.It seems to me that JPII would find both approaches deficient. For the first group, lust should not substitute for love. They should be at least trying to transcend lust and have genuine love. The second group should not be seeking domination.
@ Old Midhurstian — It seems to me that sexual attraction is not exactly the same thing as lust, certainly not the same as sinful lust. I think people can mix themselves up very badly if they try not to be attracted to others. But in everyday life, it may not be easy to draw a clear line between attraction and lust and say, "Now I've gone too far."
But certainly there should be sexual attraction in a loving sexual relationship.
Adam and Eve could have had sex without lust before the Fall. But not having lust doesn't mean that they would not have had pleasure and joy or that there would have been no physical attraction.
To me, what is significant here is the contrast the Pope seems to be drawing between lust and self-giving. When I want to give myself as completely as possible to another, that's love. If all I want is to possess the other, that's lust. But I can accept the other's free gift of self to me.
That's my take on it.
So I'm not sure if there is an actual disagreement here, or a difference in vocabulary.
i started reading this a while back, but i got distracted. (i blame the ADD)
JP2 was an amazing thinker. I find this work to be bother deep and excecible.
what he says about innocence is remarkable. it is an important idea in the present sex obsessed society.
i wonder how the early christians delt with trying to be Catholic in a sex obsesed society. hm... that might be worth looking into. I've been meaning to read St Augustine's "Confessions." There is probably something in there about that.
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