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Originally Posted by helgi  Whenever I see a man that is open and joyful my gay-o-meter lights up -- it is as if 'enlightened' qualities are somehow more common in gay men. One of the reasons I've come up with is that gay men seem to have less need to identify with things, status and so on, and that they are somehow more comfortable with simply 'being.'
Anyone noticed this? |
Eckhart Tolle comments on this in his book "The Power of Now" with his usual grace and simplicity:
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"In the quest for enlightenment, is being gay a help or a hindrance, or does it not make any difference?
...the realization that you are 'different' from others may force you to disidentify from socially conditioned patterns of thought and behavior. This will automatically raise your level of consciousness above that of the unconscious majority, whose members unquestioningly take on board all inherited patterns. In that respect, being gay can be a help. Being an outsider to some extent, someone who does not 'fit in' with others or is rejected by them for whatever reason, makes life difficult, but it also place you at advantage as far as enlightenment is concerned. It takes you out of unconsciousness almost by force.
On the other hand, if you then develop a sense of identify based on your gayness, you have escaped one trap only to fall into another."
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I think Eckhart's hit the nail on the head. I'm gay and I know some gay people who are extraordinary self-aware and conscious. But I also know some gay people who live there lives almost exclusively through their sexuality and everything they do has to have a gay connection. I think sexuality is incidental and I don't live my life through it, but I can see why some people choose to.