Improvised Myths

"One of the things that interests me most about sex is that it is a conspiracy of improvised myths."

-- Susanna Moore. In the Cut, p. 125

I've got to admit -- I don't know what the hell Susanna Moore is talking about, but I like it! The phrase "a conspiracy of improvised myths" seems both inscrutable and fragrant with meaning. But hey, not knowing what I'm talking about has never stopped me from speaking before, so here goes.

Sex takes place on so many levels. It's not just the mechanics of "insert part Part P into Slot V." On the psychological, and even behavioral, levels sex is all about our stories, our myths. And we make them up as we go. The powerful energies of sexuality, the shifting and melting of boundaries that come from relating intimately with another, change our very self-definition. We are different people after each intimate encounter, whether we know it or not.

The conspiracy is in pretending together that our stories are not stories. Hell, if we all just laid our worst qualities, warts and all, right out there upon first meeting, no one would ever have sex! And so we share our stories selectively. We read the other's responses and we make up our myths on the fly. And our would-be partner does the same. And we both wordlessly agree to pretend that we don't know that either of us is doing it! A neat and sweet little game.

And that little game produces the human race. Packs of lies produce progeny. And yes, Susanna Moore, it's all so interesting!

And, so what am I going to suggest that you do today? Go out there and tell some stupendous lies and have some super sex! Sure, go right ahead, but that's not actually what I had in mind. What I have in mind is looking for the other places in your life where you are involved in "a conspiracy of improvised myths." In what other areas of life do both you and another make it up as you go, massaging, stretching and inventing so-called truth while all along implicitly agreeing not to comment on the process?

Job interviews may be one example. Actually they're alot like dates -- each person tries to put their best foot forward and usually somebody get screwed in the end! The news, especially as reported on television, may be another. Politics, yet a third. Actually, the whole of what most people experience as life may be just a dance, an intense interplay between established myths, like religion, and improvised myths, like sex.

The funny, sad thing is, we don't realize it's all myth! Your story, your partner's story, Barack Obama's story, John McCain's story, everybody's story, is just myth, not truth. As long as we understand that, we can enjoy the play. As soon as we get lost in the illusion, it all becomes way too serious, and the lightness, consciousness and fun drains out of life.

So, where was I? Ah, yes, right here, right now, today. Today simply notice that you are swimming in a large lake of myth. You don't have to change that, just notice it. You don't have to make better myths, or give up myth-making altogether, just notice. Consciousness alone produces real change. Strategic plans, the latest technology, and ball-busting effort are not needed. Awareness is. And enjoyment. Today consciously enjoy all myths, improvised and otherwise. Welcome to the play.