How does your spiritual background influence your current nudist practices and beliefs?

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• ME

  Member

  Jan 14, 2020

  As a Wiccan/Pagan, many rituals/ ceremonies are practiced outdoors, barefoot & totally nude in a completely non-sexual way. In short, it is a way to commune with nature in the natural way. Yes, being a Wiccan influences my nudism to a very high degree!:-) MM & BB
  Hundo

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• SA

  

  Stone AndyOriginal Poster

  Jan 14, 2020

  I grew up with a bipolarized view of nudity. My immigrant parents were body positive as per their Nordic culture, whereas we settled into a strong ethnic evangelical enclave in the Midwestern US suburbs. As a result, I often feel like Im a recovering Puritan who drank the Kool-Aide because it was the only beverage around. When this healing started in my 20s I realized I didnt want to go from one extreme of body shame to the other of being a body slut, but had no idea of how to find some mystery golden middle.

  Nudism has been a good teacher of body and sexual acceptance, openness and positivity. It fits in well with the Swedish disdain for hypocrisy, or double morals as they say. The golden middle continues to prove itself simple in theory and hard in practice: show up naked in body, mind and spirit and let go of the results. Whereas I like to avoid terms ending with ism, I acknowledge nudism as a good teacher.

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• SA

  

  Stone AndyOriginal Poster

  Jan 14, 2020

  [quote]As a Wiccan/Pagan, many rituals/ ceremonies are practiced outdoors, barefoot & totally nude in a completely non-sexual way. In short, it is a way to commune with nature in the natural way. Yes, being a Wiccan influences my nudism to a very high degree!:-) MM & BB Hundo[/quote] Your Wiccan/Pagan practices sound amazing. I have explored them here and found them primarily either Goddess-oriented or exclusively gay male. I've also explored my Nordic paganism called Asatru to find it more white supremacist than spiritual. Paganism has a ways to evolve here in the Midwest!

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• ME

  Member

  Jan 14, 2020

  For sure! Not many fellow Wiccans in Indiana...but I persevere!:-)
  Hundo

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• ME

  Member

  Jan 15, 2020

  So well put my friend. I couldnt agree more with all that you said.

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• ME

  Member

  Jan 15, 2020

  So well put my friend. I couldnt agree more with all that you said.

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• SA

  

  Stone AndyOriginal Poster

  Jan 15, 2020

  [quote]My Christian faith is important to me and I've wrestled with issues of nudity/sex/body acceptance for many years because of my faith and the conservative culture I come from. However, as I get older, I'm slowly realizing those two areas of my life (Christianity and nudism) don't have to be mutually exclusive. ... Also, the more time I spend naked outside, the more of a connection I feel to the Earth and to my Creator. I become more in tune with some of my senses that are muted when I'm clothed. And it stirs in an awe and a deeper desire to worship God as the Creator of all.[/quote] Although nudist Christian sound like an oxymoron, I agree it doesnt have to be. Theres a term in Christianity called panentheism, that Gods spirit is embedded in everything. That has many similarities to the outdoor nudism you describe. Keep on rockin!

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• SA

  

  Stone AndyOriginal Poster

  Jan 15, 2020

  [quote]If Im to tell the truth ( a truth thats perhaps true for most ) I dont fully understand how Ive gotten to where I am as a man and a naturist. However I can say with certainty that my spiritual / religious upbringing has been centrally formative. As a man who was raised conservative Roman Catholic and knew Cardinals, Archbishops and bishops etc personally growing up I might have been expected to become a priest. But I quietly rejected the shame culture as soon as I was capable of thinking independently - perhaps from about 8 yrs old. Sadly I became one of the betrayed children and was sexually abused by a member of the clergy. ... My naturism exemplifies core beliefs of celebration of the beauty of our humanity and of all of nature, a belief in equality and liberal openness ... but most of all an abiding gratitude for the beauty of creation and our part in it.[/quote] Thanks for your post which is both profoundly sad, moving and inspiring. You are the gift.

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• ME

  Member

  Jan 17, 2020

  It has no influence on my nudist practices. I'm a lifelong Christian. I'm exactly the same person on Saturday at the nude beach and Sunday at church. I think clothes were plan B! Adam & Eve only made them after they were ashamed.

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• BE

  

  Ben

  Jan 27, 2020

  nudity bringing us closer to god
  a beautiful concept taking off our mask and letting love (life) in

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• EA

  

  EarlD

  Jan 31, 2020

  No sure if it does but I do know that I feel more whole and more connected the life the universe and the world around when able to fully practice naturism

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• AL

  

  Alberto

  Feb 7, 2020

  Is any Wiccan Brother from Italy? Best wishes!

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• SA

  

  Stone AndyOriginal Poster

  Feb 9, 2020

  [quote]It has no influence on my nudist practices. I'm a lifelong Christian. I'm exactly the same person on Saturday at the nude beach and Sunday at church. I think clothes were plan B! Adam & Eve only made them after they were ashamed.[/quote] Can you talk about church at the nude beach on Saturday or talk about the nude beach at church on Sunday? That to me is a sign of being the one and same person. I find Christian principles supporting nudism but I haven't felt comfortable to talk about them in church. I'm already quite a rebel as it is, but I believe churches badly need such dialogue.

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• NA

  

  NakedBadger

  Feb 9, 2020

  Anders, youre really cutting to the chase with that question. Ive always found it much easier to talk with other nudists about my Christian faith than to talk with other Christians about my naked-getting proclivity. What does that suggest about religion and the fear of negative judgments? Or about nudism and trust?

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• SA

  

  Stone AndyOriginal Poster

  Feb 9, 2020

  I find both nudism and Christianity exclusive, having a "let the right ones in" approach. I can bemoan resorts for their male chaperoning policies and churches for directive to have a personal relationship with the divine as long as it's within church confines, but does that change anything? I can see why people vote with their feet and pocketbooks to make these attitudes and organizations irrelevant, and then what?
  Maybe it's not a matter of pointing out the hypocrisy, but learning to state our beliefs in positive ways, such as: I'm so glad that the church and nudism help me affirm that I'm created in God's image, able to show up and fully enjoy being alive naked and clothed, alone and with others, because God's honest truth is goodness and love.

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