(Job 22:3 KJV) Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
There is no direct reference to masturbation in the whole of the old or the new testament, the closest concept is concealed in the term pleasure, which takes on many forms and behaviours, all of which are wrapped in self indulgence.
As a child it is one thing to explore one’s newly given body and develop an awareness of one’s parts… however, it is another thing to become obsessed with these parts to the exclusion of what is important to life and life’s purpose.
Human self indulgence or self pleasuring takes many forms, shamefully we hide the secret personal ones, but often we shamelessly applaud the ones that have become acceptable in our social circles. Any man that took his penis out at the dinner table and began to masturbate in front of unsuspecting onlookers would be treated as mentally deranged because his behaviour would be socially unacceptable. However, I distinctly remember a school trip to the zoo once, where I lost touch with a group of school friends only to find them all masturbating behind some bushes, I was shocked because it just seemed like a weird thing to be doing in public and on a school trip, but then again I had an interest in zoology and they obviously didn’t. They probably thought I was the wanker.
Remembering when the first ‘brick sized’ mobile phones arrived and were purchased by self indulgent individuals who thought they were so important that they needed to have their own personal phone - they were labeled as ‘wanker phones’ until over the course of many years personal ‘wanking’ publically over the phone became acceptable.
And so masturbation is really a word that should be applied to any form of self indulgence that is in some way exclusive by its very nature.
I came to write this passage after spending an hour or so in contemplative meditation - which brought me to the revelation of my own meditative masturbation. Yes meditation is self indulgent, so is going to the gym, playing sport, music, reading and writing. They are all artificial and self gratifying perversions that have no real significance or value to the greater good…. unless given.
The problem is… 99% of human life in the modern day world is lived like this, we are for want of a better phrase - “a bunch of wankers”… so caught up with our own minds, bodies, toys and pleasure seeking activities that we have lost the meaning of real life, love and truth. And being lost creates a vicious circle, such that in the confusion of not knowing why or how to live or love… we seek comfort in whatever comes our way that takes away the pain or makes us feel better, whether it be right or wrong.
And yet, self indulgent masturbation is better than self indulgent manipulation at the personal expense of another… that is called ‘rape’ at the personal level, exploitation at the social level and capitalism at the financial level.
Ultimately real pleasure or satisfaction comes only through living true to life’s purpose, anything less than this... is self or social masturbation… whether we accept it or not.
(Rev 4:11 KJV) Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
MASTURBATION