Marc, this is excellent. Recent statistics show Gen Z coming back to church, not just pursuing some personal spirituality but finding something good in participation in faith communities. I wonder if the terrible isolation that technology and western culture have normalized is finally being rejected in favor of real human relationships among people who recognize their need for friendship, mutual support and comfort, and a safe place to engage in self-examination and growth.
You're so right that masturbation turns us inward, when we were created to be reaching out for significance in friendships and love and service to others. So many people are simmering in the stew of their own loneliness and grief and neuroses, because choosing isolation is less risky, but also so terribly harmful to our hearts and minds. Keep up the good work.
Top article I’ve read this month. The insight that romantic pursuit and desire are meant to “lead us out of ourselves and into relationship” really struck me—I’ve never thought about God’s design for beauty and desire in that way before. The way you framed masturbation as both a symbol and a consequence of the auto-erotic society was both clever and deeply prophetic. Thank you for writing this. I'll be processing this one for a while.
Marc, this is excellent. Recent statistics show Gen Z coming back to church, not just pursuing some personal spirituality but finding something good in participation in faith communities. I wonder if the terrible isolation that technology and western culture have normalized is finally being rejected in favor of real human relationships among people who recognize their need for friendship, mutual support and comfort, and a safe place to engage in self-examination and growth.
You're so right that masturbation turns us inward, when we were created to be reaching out for significance in friendships and love and service to others. So many people are simmering in the stew of their own loneliness and grief and neuroses, because choosing isolation is less risky, but also so terribly harmful to our hearts and minds. Keep up the good work.
This is great!
I find Roger Scruton's work on Sexual Desire and elaborate study of this for anyone who is interested.
Top article I’ve read this month. The insight that romantic pursuit and desire are meant to “lead us out of ourselves and into relationship” really struck me—I’ve never thought about God’s design for beauty and desire in that way before. The way you framed masturbation as both a symbol and a consequence of the auto-erotic society was both clever and deeply prophetic. Thank you for writing this. I'll be processing this one for a while.
Super useful essay, and why aren’t those CS Lewis comments more widely heralded? Pure gold!
Thank you! And, I know, right? My guess is because talking about masturbation is a fairly uncomfortable topic to discuss.