tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75853543447526368812024-02-20T09:50:28.227-08:00An Essential Introduction to our Continued SeriesRichardADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14011471845435878270noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585354344752636881.post-52043783197573500362011-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:002011-04-08T16:13:21.259-07:00<span style="font-size: 11pt;">We've recently posted a series of articles to give a better understanding for the various communities that comprise the full array of the alternative & adult culture. They are as follows: </span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A Glossary of Terms: <a href="http://sceneterms.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://sceneterms.blogspot.com/</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Hosting Your Own Party: <a href="http://planyourownparty.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://planyourownparty.blogspot.com/</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">An Essential Introduction to Our Continuing Series: <a href="http://anessentialintroduction.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://anessentialintroduction.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">An Insiders Guide to the BDSM Community: <a href="http://understandingbdsm.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingbdsm.blogspot.com/</a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fantasy, Role-Play, & Fetish Based Desires: </span> <span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://understandingfetishfantasy.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingfetishfantasy.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Understanding Swingers, Poly, & Lifestyle Culture: <a href="http://understandingswingers.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingswingers.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Understanding the True Nature of Sexual Identity: <a href="http://understandingsexualidentity.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingsexualidentity.blogspot.com/</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A Core Foundation - Understanding Sexual Repression: <a href="http://understandingsexualrepression.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingsexualrepression.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The full body of work is here: <a href="http://www.themetrounderground.com/Resources.html" style="color: orange;">www.TheMetroUnderground.com/Resources.html</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Brought to you by Richard A.D. & The Metro Underground...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Our intentions are simple: <i>to serve as a fundamental gateway for the entire spectrum of the alternative, underground, & adult scene (for DC, Baltimore, & the Mid-Atlantic Region), to lift the fog for what's going on in & around the area, assist the promotion of the scene as a whole, & ultimately to provide a forum through which that bridges can be built - from one culture to another, & from one group to the next.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">We hope you check it out, </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Rick D~<br />
(RichardAD)<br />
<br />
The Metro Underground & DC Fetish Ball. <br />
<br />
Metro: <a href="http://www.themetrounderground.com/" style="color: orange;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://www.TheMetroUnderground.com</span></a> <br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">DCFB: <a href="http://dcfetishball.com/" style="color: orange;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://DCFetishBall.com</span></a> <br />
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Follow us on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheMetroUnderground" style="color: orange;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://www.Facebook.com/TheMetroUnderground</span></a><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Join us on Fet-Life: <a href="http://fetlife.com/groups/4756" style="color: orange;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://FetLife.com/Groups/4756</span></a> <br style="color: orange;" /> <br />
Also on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/MetroUndergrnd" style="color: orange;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://Twitter.com/MetroUndergrnd</span></a><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Quarterly Newsletter on LJ: <a href="http://metroundergrnd.livejournal.com/" style="color: orange;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">http://MetroUndergrnd.LiveJournal.com/</span></a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">===================================================== </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">An Essential Introduction: </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Part I to a full series of the adult & alternative lifestyle… </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">It’s only through a sense of understanding that we’re able to grant a true depth of empathy, consideration, & acceptance for one another. So even though we may or may not have a personal interest in a particular desire, if we can come to understand the basic dynamic that belies a certain culture then we can at least carry a deeper appreciation for that which we see & those who move within it. This stands for 'all' interactions in life, but even more for the sub-cultures of the alternative scene. <br />
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Indeed, regardless of your interests - be it to simply go to a club & be in the scene, perhaps to lean more toward that of an open relationship, a personal exploration of sexual desire, a want for the more intense aspects of BDSM, or even if you're drawn to a fetish based fantasy or bisexual orientation - the greater reality is that there’s really very little which separates us. After all, each is simply a subset of the greater sub-culture for the Alternative Community. And in truth, there's all too often a very definite cross-over from one cultural interest to another.<br />
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So regardless of your focus, what follows should provide for you a basic but fairly well defined guide to just what the various aspects of our culture & the communities that encompassed it are really all about. If you’re on the outside looking in, then you’ll at least be granted a sense of awareness for what it is you see. If, however, you’re a fully entrenched member, then perhaps it will grant you a deeper insight so you can further explore the journey before you. <br />
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Found here, however, we won’t try to answer the elements of "How-To" <br />
but will instead offer an open discussion more inclined to <b><i>What </i></b>it’s all about... </span><br />
<h3><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
A Night without Armor - the core issue of personal judgment & sexual desire... </span></h3><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br />
Michelangelo sculpts a woman in the nude & it becomes a classic work. Da Vinci paints a couple coming together & it’s unquestionably a work of art. And yet, take a photo of two people having sex, & most without hesitation would see it as pornographic, perhaps even obscene. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Why is that? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">What if I told you that this same photo was a couple deeply in love, married, & it was during this moment that they had conceived their first born? Even then, most would still shy away. <br />
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Why is it that throughout history so many have had such deep issues with the sexual nature of their kind? All too often we see people acting as if it was a great & perilous wrong, sometimes even seeing it as nothing more but a necessary evil to the propagation of the species! Indeed, western theology has been all but steeped in the need to deny one’s sexual desire.<br />
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This in my mind is an absurd way of looking at something that’s not only a part of our core fabric as a living being, but also something really quite beautiful as a manifestation for the caring desire to please another or develop a deeper intimacy with that individual. <br />
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Sure, on a purely physical level it perhaps doesn’t carry the impact & virtue of two people in love sharing a sense of true connection & deep intimacy. But even as a casual encounter, it’s still not much more than the mutual desire of one person giving simple pleasure to another - similar in a sense to that of giving a massage to relieve the day’s tension. And yet, because of its personal nature we attach so much more to it without any real thought or consideration as to <i>why</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">So the question remains: <i>why are we as a society, so often, so deeply repressed about something that carries such a place of clear prevalence in our fundamental nature? </i><br />
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The answer is actually rather clear albeit often overlooked. If you want to come to know a person, or even a society as a whole, then there are three areas that you must come to understand: their politics, their theology, & their sexual practice. Indeed, most of all we must come to understand what drives one's sexual practice. For it is when we look at ourselves sexually (& can do so in the glaring light of honest awareness) that we then bare our souls & offer a clear glimpse into the deepest aspects of our inner nature. To look at ourselves in a sexual context, then what we ultimately see is a clear reflection of the personal aspect to who we are as a person (or as a people). To be judged in this view is to literally cast a light on the deepest aspects of our most inner nature & the core values we hold within.<br />
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Quite obviously, it takes a level of serious strength for a person to lay it on the line like that, for such actions are indeed a night without armor, & <b>this </b>is to be truly naked with clear vulnerability. So is it really any wonder that history has continued to evolve within such themes of sexual repression & denial? With this in light, we can then see why it’s so much easier to just throw oneself into a theological debate &/or to cast the nature of one’s sexual desire into the shadows of arbitrary denial… <br />
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But herein lies the beauty of the Alternative Community (& for that matter, the whole realm of the adult culture). Such pursuits not only provide an avenue for physical & sexual gratification, but also a realm by which to provide the means for personal discovery. To then share that journey with an equally suited partner (if one does so from the perspective of personal & interpersonal growth), then a profound dynamic can take hold that is built on the continued evolution of trust, open communication, absolute passion, & potentially a level of love that is experienced by few. <br />
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Once a level of mutual understanding & acceptance can be achieved, then the issues of sexual & personal repression are all but removed & a level of open & honest communication is created to an almost infinite degree. There is no longer a sense of pressure or the need to relegate your inner desires to the shadow. What's left is quite the opposite - the inner desire to willfully give of yourself to that of your partner in a nurturing environment with the mutual gratification of all. <br />
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The interactive nature of such a dynamic then finds deep satisfaction in both living the experience through the other, & through a heightened sense of inner-connection. Like the calm surf just below the surface of a turbulent storm, this round & round cycle can create a complex interaction that yields a sense of synergy & connection that is almost insurmountable in any other forum.<br />
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<u> </u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">From here, we offer the following articles for your consideration - each a subject onto its own, but all coming together to comprise the full spectrum of the adult & alternative community: </span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">An Insiders Guide to the BDSM Community: <a href="http://understandingbdsm.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingbdsm.blogspot.com/</a> <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fantasy, Role-Play, & Fetish Based Desires: </span> <span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://understandingfetishfantasy.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingfetishfantasy.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Understanding Swingers, Poly, & Lifestyle Culture: <a href="http://understandingswingers.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingswingers.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Understanding the True Nature of Sexual Identity: <a href="http://understandingsexualidentity.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingsexualidentity.blogspot.com/</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A Core Foundation - Understanding Sexual Repression: <a href="http://understandingsexualrepression.blogspot.com/" style="color: orange;">http://understandingsexualrepression.blogspot.com/</a> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The full body of work is here: <a href="http://www.themetrounderground.com/Resources.html" style="color: orange;">www.TheMetroUnderground.com/Resources.html</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Brought to you by Richard A.D. & The Metro Underground...</span>RichardADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14011471845435878270noreply@blogger.com0