Naked
Last night, I stayed up till 2am reading about 140 pages of commentary on the book Song of Songs for my Theology of Eroticism class. I was captivated by the erotic and sensual nature of the book. Of course reading, "To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots I liken you my, darling." (Song of Songs 1:9-10) doesn't exactly sound romantic to our modern sensibilities. However, Longman III (2001) says:
Can you imagine a woman so beautiful and sensual that your strongest urges are brought forward and you cannot even operate heavy machinery safely?!? For the ladies, can you imagine a guy who would do the same for you?!? And we must not forget that the stallions are distracted by raw sexual energy. Kind of approximates the feeling of attraction one has when the raging hormones are at full blast around puberty, right? Heheh.
And the entire book is poetry between lovers who are so captivated, drawn towards, and attracted to each other that they utterly cannot resist each other and must find ways of reaching each other to make love. They go back and forth praising each other's qualities, pining for each other, and yes...have glorious sex (and not so glorious sex is included - in book 5 they are in the beginning of making love and the man leaves the woman, then she goes out to find him and gets abused, but then they eventually reunite in book 6 and re-consummate. It is also interpreted that the woman is actually having a dream/nightmare about his abandonment. So I should say that even sex that doesn't go as planned is included).
I mean, I had heard before that the Song of Songs was like the Judeo-Christian Kama Sutra, but I wasn't prepared for the beauty and longing that the woman and man had for each other. There was vivid sexual imagery, but there was also vivid desire and poetic longing sung back and forth from lover to lover. We are not just looking at physical attraction, we are talking about a consummation of deep romantic desire that is connected to being fully wanted by another that is fully wanted.
In class today we talked about how Song of Songs is also to be read in context to Genesis 1 and 3. In Genesis, God creates man and woman and they have perfect union. They are naked - physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually - and unashamed. When the fall occurs, they become ashamed and that level of intimacy was lost. In Song of Songs we see how that intimacy is still possible. In the reading of it, we capture some of the desire that God intends for lovers to experience - highly erotic, sensual, unencumbered, longing and fulfillment that is physical, emotional, and spiritual. Fully being wanted by the one that is wanted in a way that is deep and fulfilling - deep, glorious, mutual, passionate love.
Near the end of class, we also talked about how wherever there is desire there is danger. We have all experienced how being in relationships has caused wounds and tragedies - whether it is being the child of parents who "love" each other or don't "love" each other, or in being in "love" ourselves and having our hearts broken, or even in having people ruin "love" for us in abuse. To dream and hope for our desires to be fulfilled is fraught with hope and danger. As the biblical story's trajectory moves in the direction of redemption, restoration, and reconciliation, I am moved to imagine what it might feel like to experience intimacy (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual) in a way that redeems, restores, and reconciles in ways that I can only dream of. Dare I hope dangerously and passionately?
Longman III, T. (2001) Song of Songs, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.Standing in front of you
I find my skin delighted in
Every inch of me you take in
Taken in
Tasted
Touched
Smelled
Seen
Thought about
And thought about again
And thought about again
And thought about again
With all the blotches and scars and speckles and hairs
How unruly and asymmetrical my body must seem
But you take it all in like the cool forest air
Like the dew on the morning leaf you waited for me all night
As if I was the scent of the forest shade on a warm day
And my touch was like the warm ray of the sun on your goose bumps
You take me into your desire and I am undone
As if that deep deep deep desire that had been stored away
It had finally been unlocked to dance and jump and romp and run
Released to play
You dance and jump and romp and run with me through the trails
When will we stop?
When will your feet grow weary?
When will you tire of me?
But you smile and gaze deeply with assurance
And I am confident with my heart leaping before me
Dancing and jumping and romping and running
Both of us with the wind on our skin and the earth and air grazing our feet
Unencumbered
I want to cry because I am naked but I am not judged
I want to laugh because I am naked and I can fly
I want to dance because I am naked and I am loved
Unashamed and fully accepted
My broken body, flaws, wounds, sorrows, nightmares
My healed body, beauty, character, ambitions, dreams
And even the pieces that were scary and secretly locked away and shrouded
They were taken in and cared for
The parts that I feared even to expose to myself were seen
And you loved
You loved it all
Even my passionate, voracious, longing desire
The urge to explode in overwhelming glory
Even the urge to linger on the blade of danger’s edge
And the desire to curl up as if I were a baby once again
Overwhelming
You loved it all
Even when you feared and turned away
You returned and loved me
So I…
Thrive
Live
Love
Naked
Last night, I stayed up till 2am reading about 140 pages of commentary on the book Song of Songs for my Theology of Eroticism class. I was captivated by the erotic and sensual nature of the book. Of course reading, "To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots I liken you my, darling." (Song of Songs 1:9-10) doesn't exactly sound romantic to our modern sensibilities. However, Longman III (2001) says:
| Pope, however, puts forward an attractive hypothesis for the meaning of this verse. He first reminds us that chariot horses were usually stallions, not mares. He then describes an attested defensive strategy against chariot attack. As the stallions rush toward their intended target, a mare in heat is let lose among them, driving them to distraction so that they cannot proceed with attack...To paraphrase the thought of the man, he is saying that she drives all the men crazy with her attractiveness, with the implication that she drives him to distraction as well. (p. 103) |
And the entire book is poetry between lovers who are so captivated, drawn towards, and attracted to each other that they utterly cannot resist each other and must find ways of reaching each other to make love. They go back and forth praising each other's qualities, pining for each other, and yes...have glorious sex (and not so glorious sex is included - in book 5 they are in the beginning of making love and the man leaves the woman, then she goes out to find him and gets abused, but then they eventually reunite in book 6 and re-consummate. It is also interpreted that the woman is actually having a dream/nightmare about his abandonment. So I should say that even sex that doesn't go as planned is included).
I mean, I had heard before that the Song of Songs was like the Judeo-Christian Kama Sutra, but I wasn't prepared for the beauty and longing that the woman and man had for each other. There was vivid sexual imagery, but there was also vivid desire and poetic longing sung back and forth from lover to lover. We are not just looking at physical attraction, we are talking about a consummation of deep romantic desire that is connected to being fully wanted by another that is fully wanted.
In class today we talked about how Song of Songs is also to be read in context to Genesis 1 and 3. In Genesis, God creates man and woman and they have perfect union. They are naked - physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually - and unashamed. When the fall occurs, they become ashamed and that level of intimacy was lost. In Song of Songs we see how that intimacy is still possible. In the reading of it, we capture some of the desire that God intends for lovers to experience - highly erotic, sensual, unencumbered, longing and fulfillment that is physical, emotional, and spiritual. Fully being wanted by the one that is wanted in a way that is deep and fulfilling - deep, glorious, mutual, passionate love.
Near the end of class, we also talked about how wherever there is desire there is danger. We have all experienced how being in relationships has caused wounds and tragedies - whether it is being the child of parents who "love" each other or don't "love" each other, or in being in "love" ourselves and having our hearts broken, or even in having people ruin "love" for us in abuse. To dream and hope for our desires to be fulfilled is fraught with hope and danger. As the biblical story's trajectory moves in the direction of redemption, restoration, and reconciliation, I am moved to imagine what it might feel like to experience intimacy (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual) in a way that redeems, restores, and reconciles in ways that I can only dream of. Dare I hope dangerously and passionately?
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