We have a finite amount of purity—innocence lost.
Once we were innocent, like Adam and Eve in the garden before they ate the apple. And once it’s gone, everything is different. Can purity be regained?
Like the force from Star Wars, our actions effect who we are. We do something good, we shift ever so slightly to the light. And the reverse is also true. Whether it’s Anakin slaying a village of sand people or going too far on a first date, our actions have consequences.
Purity, I perceive is like an energy we possess. We can build up and store that energy—or we can spend it. Like stamina, it diminishes with exertion. Like the tides it wanes and ebbs. Our actions effect it. Some have more purity than others, like all things. Some are gifted with intelligence, beauty, wit, charm, an athlete’s drive and body; some not so blessed.
I believe we all have the ability to perceive this energy.
Some people you trust immediately, yet with others you feel apprehension. The innocence of a newborn is tangible. It elicits immediate feelings in the observer of compassion, love and you just want to come up and look, even at a stranger’s newborn. In the grocery store, you’d walk up and speak to someone you’d never consider otherwise, “What a beautiful baby”, you say, your heart full of emotion. Walk down an aisle in Toys R Us, or wherever people gather with their kids, and you’ll see what I mean. You smile at parents, at their kids.
I think this all a subconscious reaction to how we communicate and is relative to this sense or degree of purity.
Good, but not great?
What happens when you have a casual intimate relationship? Many teens see sexual encounters as matter of fact. I suggest that when you are intimate, you give away, you spend this energy, you lose purity. And it can really do you harm. Not harm, as in sexually transmitted disease, but harm you might not even consider.
When you have a casual encounter, you give away some of this energy. It takes time and actions to recharge.
There are many theories about attraction. Many tell us that subconsciously, as we meet someone, we find likes and dislikes, pair positives to negatives and seek opposites to fill the voids in our lives. Where you are weak, your partner is strong and vice versa; you each provide what the other is lacking. This results in a powerful connection; a couple who need each other, and are stronger, greater than the sum of their parts.
In modern society this notion of purity doesn’t factor in, at least consciously.
I suggest that when in any relationship, we give away or spend this energy. And it can run out.
Will you miss out on the love of your life, because that potential partner just didn’t sense that purity? When you spend some, are you less likely to find, to attract or be attracted to someone who might be a more perfect match? Did we trade good for great?
We are taught to be sexual. Media, movie, tv, magazines, romance novels and talk shows, we’re sold that we need to be sexy, young and vibrant. Many see sex as a sport. We’re bombarded in every possible media with sex. Nothing is left to the imagination. Before you’re ever intimate you probably have seen more than any generation before you. And that’s not a good thing.
Part of the wonder of sex is discovering your partner, learning over time, getting to truly know someone. In our casual culture, we lose this aspect of it. Alas, the world seduces away your purity, your innocence. Paradise Lost.
This world will surely think this concept of an energy which defines us and communicates who we are, is silly. Not quantifiable or measurable, many will assert this is just a fantasy or an attempt to shove morals your way.
Can a soul be measured? Yet, are we not animated with an essence of life that causes us to think, to feel, to be? So too, our life force possesses a quality, which I’m calling here, purity. When we spend it foolishly or squander it with little regard, who do we become?
It can be one of life’s greatest blessings, to find someone we want to share our lives with.
As we read the headlines and hear stories of teens becoming pregnant, abortions and abuse, I have to wonder what harm we each cause ourselves. Are we robbing our future for the present?
Campaigns that talk about abstinence seem ridiculous in this day and age. If we truly have a limited amount of purity, though, where would you choose to spend it? In saving up for something worthwhile, we can choose to be excellent; to wait for something, to earn something precious.
Don’t you wonder why there are so many failed marriages? Did you grow up in a family divided by divorce or even know both of your parents? As you see the effects of people around you, I ask you to try and see how loss of this purity works in the lives of those you are close to.
It seems a noble cause to save yourself for that one true love. Many, bitter with disappointment say there’s no such thing. A self-fulfilling prophecy, perhaps, but as I close, ask this question: Are you worthy of a life filled with love and happiness? I think you are and wish this on you, dear reader.