Sex On The Brain 1- The Birth Of Shame & Secrets

In the countdown to World Aids Day on December 1st, I will be doing a thorough three part exploration of sex and sexuality, particularly in the Caribbean. Some of the questions I would like to investigate are: Where exactly did our prudery and hypocrisy come from? What are the elements of sexual attraction? What are the dynamics of gender and sexual orientation? Some of the resolutions I would to make are: Sexuality and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. Good sex is also safe sex. HIV/Aids is a viral representation of a deeper syndrome and its cure lies in a holistic approach to sexuality even it means the painful re-breaking and re-setting of a bone (no pun intended) that was badly cast for a very long time.

So let’s being with the first exploration: Where did all the shame and secrets come from?

How Did We Learn About Sex?

You may not remember it now because when it happened you were no older than two or three years old. Your parent caught you innocently playing with “those parts”, “down there”. At that tender age, you had not a single “dirty” thought in your head. You were doing it out of the most innocent of motivations… it simply felt nice. As new sonogram technology is revealing you had been doing it even when you were in your mother’s womb. It was only natural to you. It was comforting stress easing and it often soothed you to sleep, much like sucking your finger or tugging at the end of your favourite blanky.

New sonogram technology reveals masturbation begins in the womb. According to Dr. Daphne Miller of WebMD: “By the age of five, most children deliberately play with their genitals to experience pleasure.”

If your parent was a New Age or enlightened sexually liberated person they would most likely treat the situation nonchalantly when they caught you playing with your own private bit of heaven. If you were doing it at an inappropriate time, like at the dinner table or in front of guests, then, the enlightened parent would calmly without shock or disapproval, find a way to distract you. As you got older, your New Age parent would have helped you to grasp the concept of “privacy” and there is a special time and place for “private activities”.

Unfortunately, for those of us thirty and older, our poor parents had long been corrupted by their own notions of sexuality and for them, the sight of their cutie-pie choonkalonks enjoying the sensations caused by rubbing their naughty bits sent them into a tailspin of guilt and horror.

*SLAP!!!!*

“Nasty! Don’t touch down there!”

And that right there was the moment they transferred their legacy of shame unto you. Thus began your conflicting sexual feelings.

Something about those “unmentionable parts” (many of us would later learn after much crude misnomers are called a penis, testicles, clitoris, vulva and vagina), was shameful and dirty. The conflict for us was these parts were also addictively delightful to touch or have stimulated and what ensued was a foggy landscape of confusion. Who taught our parents, our grandparents, our great grandparents and their ancestors to be that way about sex? When did that first slap happen? Who was the very first prude, hypocrite and liar about sex?

A Long, Long Time Ago…

Ancient dildos, along with thousands of artifacts from around the world show there was actually a time when we celebrated sex, physically, culturally and spiritually.

Long ago, when from Africa to India to Asia to Europe shamanic based religion was the norm, there were rites of passage for birth, puberty, partnering, pregnancy and entry into elder phase of life. These rituals were done with shame-free explicitness that celebrated the pleasure, power and physicality of sex. Older women, mothers, aunties and grandmothers gathered with the young women from their tribes and villages and showed them in graphic detail what sex was and how to experience pleasure and give pleasure. Older men taught the male youths in graphic detail the joys and responsibilities of both penetration and providing for the tribe. Teenaged lovers coupled under the full moon and polyarmorous affairs were the norm.

When it came to sex our ancestors discovered balance was best. So, for example, having too many children was not good as it impacted on the tribe’s resources and the environment’s ability to sustain their population. So, the wise women discovered which herbs prevented pregnancies and ended pregnancies if the time was not right. Their wisdom can still be seen in Amazonian tribes that use the passion flower as birth control.

Shame was not part of the equation for our ancestors lived in close quarters. The night would be filled with sounds of lovemaking from nearby huts or within the same cave or tent. We bathed together and the only reason to cover the naked human body was for protection from the elements, not out of embarrassment. Human sexuality was treated with acceptance and all aspects of sexuality were seen as having some purpose in life’s creative and spiritual functions. The sexual freedom of the ancient civilizations sounds like a hedonistic free for all doesn’t it?

Well, it was not. There were rules for this just as there was for who hunted, who got what part of the kill etc. The difference was these rules were not based on shame or suppression of pleasure to please God. As far as anthropologists can tell, they were based in what achieved balance and benefited the tribe. Humans have built-in, natural bio-feedback mechanisms to regulate our actions. We are learning beings and throughout our evolution, trial and error helped us to formulate rules guiding our behavior. The very first rules were devised from whatever promoted survival and the overall well being of everyone concerned. Our first concerns were eliminating jealousy, promoting tribal harmony and regulating our population.

Female sexuality used to be celebrated and worshipped.

Basic observation of our behavior and those of the creatures around us showed that although it was natural to form a strong bond with one person, we still liked sexual variety. So we devised pragmatic ways to allow for both. The Hudough Dance of the Native Americans is one of many ancient rites where couples can have sexual freedom with any tribe member free of jealousy or disapproval. We still got most of our cues from nature and it had not escaped our notice that among mammals living in larger social groups, there was same-sex behaviour. So it was no big scandal to our ancestors when men and women began to be born with atypical gender preferences. We had already figured out there was no sun without a moon; no heat without cold, no masculine without feminine, no God without a Goddess.

The hermaphroditic form of God Shiva and Goddess Shakti in one body.

The hermaphrodites and homosexuals in our midst were seen as the epitome of balance, possessing both male and female energies in one body, mind and soul and since many of the Gods and Goddess we worshipped were also transcendent of gender, we tended to revere rather than revile these members of our tribes. From Western Africa to China to India to Greece to Europe to the Fertile Crescent they were usually specially selected as our shamans, seers, priests and priestesses.

Whether we knew it or not, we had back then a far more advanced and sophisticated idea of what elements comprised our sexuality. We somehow figured out there was more to this pleasurable, powerful urge than just making babies. There was something else, something spiritual and creative about it that connected us to something much greater than ourselves. We figured out there was magic there to be used. But in other parts of the world, certain tribes and nations were having a very different experience with sex.

Procreation Trumps Pleasure



Communities of people began to arise and their mission was empire, among these the Hebrews and Moslems who would later influence the cultures of Egypt and Ethiopia. Their spirituality recognized either a male God only or ranked their male Gods higher than their Goddesses. It was among these peoples, strange new practices began to occur, like genital mutilation and complete suppression of the feminine Divine and along with that female sexuality.

In the 15th century Jacopo Berengario da Carpi an Italian anatomist, identifies the foreskin as the most sensitive part of the penis, more sensitive than the glands. Later in the 16th century, Gabriele Falloppio describes function of the foreskin to provide lubrication and increase pleasure during sex.

The medical and scientific community has long debated on whether there is any hygiene justification for circumcision and the verdict is now that there simply isn’t one. It is a practice rooted in religious control of human sexuality. This was powerfully confirmed during the First and Second World Wars when uncircumcised European troops were stationed in the Arabian and Saharan desserts among the circumcised natives. Those with foreskins were told by those without, that the heat, dessert climate and sand dictated circumcision just as much their religious reasons. Yet, the Germans, Italians, Scandinavians and French and experienced none of the so called hygiene or “sand in the foreskin” issues used to justify the practice.

Whether you believe there is a Divine purpose to our development on earth or our present anatomy evolved sans Divine guidance, the foreskin obviously serves a function. In the 15th century Jacopo Berengario da Carpi an Italian anatomist, identifies it as the most sensitive part of the penis, more sensitive than the glands. Later in the 16th century, Gabriele Falloppio describes function of the foreskin to provide lubrication and increase pleasure during sex, similar to what the mucosal skin cells in a woman’s labia minora does when she is aroused. Aristotle’s Master-piece, a popular sex manual throughout the eighteenth century, states that the main source of male sexual pleasure arises from the friction of the foreskin moving back and forth over the glans. Without that delightful, built-in friction, the man is now totally dependent on achieving friction from vigorous penetration, placing unnecessary discomfort on the woman. The “not quite” satisfied feeling results in needing frequent coitus to make up for quality of orgasm with quantity.

Old anti-masturbatory device. The Abrahamic religions and later the Roman Catholic Church will go to extreme measures to ensure the non-procreative sex was eliminated.

Why would certain tribes agree to rid themselves of a natural and purposeful piece of skin? The justifications vary as do the type of circumcision practiced. For the Egyptians and some aboriginal peoples in Australia and Africa, circumcision was done as a boy’s rite of passage. In these rites, the entire foreskin was not removed. It was just spread to allow easier protrusion of the glands. Mummies have been found that show a tiny slit in the upper side of the foreskin, or dorsal slit. This is a very different practice than the one in Abrahamic-rooted societies. The Hebrews and Moslems demonstrated their covenant with their male deity Yahweh and Allah by completely removing the foreskin. In some cases, radically as described in the Mishnah (commentary on Torah) which gives details of periah, or radical circumcision, involving tearing back the foreskin and ripping it from the glans, (*OUCH*) not just cutting off the tip, as done previously.

Why? To sacrifice pleasure for procreation, so that the seed of Abraham should multiply according to the Covenant, “as the grains of sand on the earth.”

A 2003 Australian study found that men who ejaculated more than five times a week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer. Regularly flushing your system, so to speak, keeps your semen healthy and prevents the build up of cancer-causing chemicals.

In the 17th century, William Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, found that circumcised men have less pleasure in sex. His research revealed the proponents of circumcision named among their justifications, dampening men's amorous propensities and most importantly facilitating conception. In order to ensure fruitful coitus a long foreskin must be removed as it hinders transference of all the seminal fluid. The bloodthirsty aggression of the ancient Hebrews and Arabs as they tried to conquer occupied lands which they believed to be their birthright, required keeping massive armies and enough citizens to subdue the large expanses of land. They began to revere semen (not realizing of course that the woman contributed the other 50% of genetic material) as the very essence of complete living souls. As the morality tale of Onan in Genesis illustrates, there was an abhorrence for any wastage in non-procreative sexual activities.

Philo (c.15 BCE to c.50 CE), a Jewish philosopher in Alexandria, defends circumcision on the ground that it is a valuable curb on sexual indulgence: "The legislators thought good to dock the organ which ministers to such intercourse, thus making circumcision the symbol of excision of excessive and superfluous pleasure."

Most uncircumcised boys discover the joys of masturbation because their first erections require them to manipulate the glands out of the foreskin to experience relief. On the other hand, a boy circumcised from infancy will never have to jostle with a tight foreskin and learn that he can experience solitary pleasure. Within the Jewish/Arab and later Judeo/Christian/Moselm Abrahamic triad, to waste one’s seed was evil and unclean. The Roman Catholic Church under St. Augustine’s doctrinal admonishments would also become a fierce opposer of all forms of non-procreative sex as it pushed towards replenishing armies and building empire in the wake of defeat in the Holy Land. Indeed, when Christianity took (despite Paul’s letters stating the Old Law on such matters was fulfilled in Christ) a decidedly Puritan and legalistic turn in Europe, Victorian doctors became very keen to introduce circumcision to curb masturbation.

Did you know it was only just before the twentieth century that the British medical profession unanimously rejected and effectively banned clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris)because it is an irreversible mutilation and often performed without informed consent.

In the 1860s circumcision as means of curing or preventing masturbation in boys becomes widespread medical dogma in Britain. For the next 100 years (and in the USA 150 years) doctors insist it is a scientifically proven medical fact that the foreskin is harmful to the physical and moral health males and must be surgically removed before they even become conscious that it was ever there.

In 1865, William Acton, in the many editions of “Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs”, condemns foreskin as "source of serious mischief" because of its sensitivity and responsiveness to touch.

Around this same time, women were also being targeted by the esteemed Puritan police of sexuality and reproductive function. Their clitorises were being removed to treat “hysteria”. The practice of female genital mutilation was of course, already an old one. Early Arabian writers mention infibulation (sewing or pinning up the labia) and clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris), it seems likely that the practice originated in southern Arabia and from there spread to Africa, spreading along well-established trade routes. Once more we ask, why tamper with something that serves a purpose?

Elaborate dress that hinder movement and deny easy access to the vulva; constant chaperoning even for activities like dressing, reducing the need to cleanse the genitals by mutilation of the mucosal membranes and removal of the clitoris are all tactics used to control females from discovering their superior sexual prowess.

The same excuses of hygiene are given but the truth is that infibulation makes personal hygiene more difficult. Cosmetic reasons can be discounted since the operation does nothing to increase the attractiveness of the pudendal region. It does nothing to aid childbirth, except to make it extremely painful. The operation is in fact nothing but an attempt to rob a woman’s autonomous sexual pleasure, turning her into a mere childbearing vessel. It is extremely punitive in nature.

The removal of this lascivious tissue was not the only way to turn women away from pleasure and place their focus on procreation. As Europe became more Christianized and less pagan, clothing evolved to be increasingly impractical and layered to restrict her movement, keep her easily contained and make access to her genitalia very difficult. Females were allowed less and less alone time and placed in situations where they would be supervised at all times, even while bathing and dressing.

While girls in the Eastern and pagan cultures were taught intimate knowledge of the secrets to pleasure and sex and female genitalia continued to be presented as beautiful, a flower or garden of delights the girls in places touched by Jewish, Arabic or Christian sentiments were having a completely different expereince. They ceased to be educated about that part of their body. They were told shameful lies instead that it was ugly, cursed, incomplete or designed purely for a man’s satisfaction. They were taught that men were the ones who gave them pleasure and controlled their ability to experience that pleasure. They were told that procreation was their sole function as a living, breathing being and any seeking of pleasure branded them a witch in consort with evil spirits of lust and degradation.

Spreading The Shame Worldwide

When they encountered the temples of India, Victorian British were scandalized by the progressive sexuality of a civilization far older, wiser and more enlightened than they were.

What happens when prudish societies conquer sexually progressive ones? Just read the Old Testament, read how the Hebrews reacted to the sex worshipping Canaanites. Read how the British reacted to the erotic temples in India, their gender-bending deities and Rajas with hundreds of concubines. Read the shock of the Dutch as they reacted to the Edo era Japanese and their geishas and homosexual samauri. Read of the outrage of the Portugese as they invaded the Africa’s Cape and found near naked, beautiful black people moving their hips and engaged in the kind of free sexual congress these close-minded Europeans could only envy and condemn.

Sexuality is often the first aspect of a nation’s culture to be attacked by an invader or colonial power because it is the most vulnerable and power hungry nations are well aware it is the fastest way of unraveling the fabric of a society. In response to foreign interference, people under siege hide or suppress their indigenous sexual practices in order to protect sacred traditions for which the invaders have no respect. This is exactly how our African, Indian and Asian ancestors responded to invading European and Arab nations. They also became equally or more reserved and regulatory of their sexuality in order to avoid any excuse for foreign interference.




The severity with which they do this depends on how oppressive the colonial conqueror was and in the case of the European and Arab colonists, they too came from a legacy of oppression. They had long abandoned their shamanic roots and the more liberal sexuality of their Norse, Celtic and Pre-Islamic cultures.
Today, African nations conquered first by Arab slavers, then by the highly prudish European powers still cling to their foreign laws on sexuality for dear life and have completely given up their pagan sexual birthright, as have their Diaspora in the Caribbean and Americas. On the bright side, India is finally reversing sexual laws imposed upon them by British colonists and Japan is returning to its Edo-era sexuality.

Many who remark at the rampant sexuality in modern Japan today as a decline in traditional morals are wrong. The nation only became prudish after being exposed to Christian/Western inspired shame. Sexuality is often the first aspect of a nation’s culture to be attacked by an invader or colonial power because it is the most vulnerable. Today, Japan is actually returning to its traditional Edo-era morals by embracing sexual openness and homosexuality.

Guilt and shame are not only powerful. They have built-in perpetuation mechanisms. Take a group of people brimming with remorse and feelings of undeservedness for any pleasure they experience because they believe they have committed crimes against God and inherited a “sin” nature. Part of resolving this “sin nature” is denying themselves of the gifts of pleasure given to us, especially sex. Now, expose them to another group of people with the completely opposite view! You are bound to have friction between the two groups and not the pleasant kind.

The response the religiously prudish have to those whose approach to sex is free from censure save the regulation to "harm none", is similar to what people on a strict diet feel when they encounter a slim person who can eat what they want and never gain weight.

Prudes cannot stand to allow others to enjoy what they have decided to deprive themselves. They must resort to, “I am better than you for depriving myself and if I must sacrifice then so must you!”, further validates their sacrifice and boosts their self-esteem.

The person on the diet experiences self-doubt and envy. This is often converted to condemnation and then over justification of their diet and exercise regime as “morally superior”. In other words,
“How dare you experience such bliss when I do not deserve such freedom and joy! No! If I don’t then nobody does! ”

You see, it is not enough for the prudish to deprive themselves as their personal, private decision and be content with that. They want everyone to know what a big effort they are making and how special that makes them. They want brownie points for choosing not to do something that is natural and that everyone is perfectly free to do. Most of all, they secretly want those who invoke that envy in them, punished…severely! Those who indulge must suffer for them to feel content with their deprivation. It comes across as sanctimonious and their confidence in their moral superiority can be very convincing. However, there is a side you do not see. There is a state of torture, self-doubt while their minds see sexual temptation around every corner, in every song, movie, dress, smile, dance.

What often sends that deck of cards crashing down is when a difficult challenge in their life reveals they are not more “special” or “blessed” than anyone else for sticking to a harsh, unnatural, sexual regime. Nothing upsets a sanctimonious person more than to see the ones they label as “sinner” or “deviant” having a better go at life, love and material success than they are. Reminds me of an incident in Globe, long before Movietowne took over and you had to mingle with low class patrons who gave running commentary on the movie. Some man sitting in the back of me started steupsing and cursing because there was a gay character in the movie. When it was revealed that the said character was also rich and successful, the homophobe griped aloud,

“All dem f***ing battymen always have all de money! Fire had better bun dem oui!”

Judging from the movie-goer's appearance, manner and vocabulary, the poor guy was probably totally confounded as to why he was struggling to feed his pickny and satisfy his quarrelling baby mothers when Jah supposed to be blessing him for being heterosexual.

The most outspoken on sexual purity according to their religion, are often made to face the reality of their own hypocrisy on the subject. Even while they preach, their own marriages fail, they engage in adultery, film sex tapes, have secret gay affairs and solicit prostitutes.

It is often hard to see when outrage and condemnation is envy and deprivation in disguise. I challenge you to pick any preacher who makes sexual matters his or her personal crusade. Take some time to truly listen to them and also observe them in day to day life. I remember preachers in my church who would go into graphic detail of the lust, the fornication and inflamed desires, blindly exaggerating the negative aspects of sexual freedom. I can swear after a while, it started to sound like when jealous girls bitch about the popular chic in school. I guarantee you will pick up the underlying resentment and their sexual frustration. It is no wonder these types are always the ones humiliated by the collapse of their own ideal as their marriage ends in infidelity or some other hidden sexual scandal is revealed as was the case with Anita Bryant, Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart and so many others.

What can we resolve from this exploration so far? We now know that this current double standard, hypocritical, fearful, condemnatory approach to sex was not always the “traditional way” as touted by certain people. You know that there was a time when sex was treated in a much more holistic, pragmatic fashion. You also know that we have tampered with the pleasure and procreation scale, tipping it in favour of procreation in order to build patriarchal inspired religious empires. You probably are also beginning to see this was not a good thing to do. It most likely upset the delicate balance of spiritual and physical elements that holds our sexuality in harmony with the Universal ideal. This means that many of our present attitudes towards sex probably does not reflect not an authentic, natural and purely Universal approach. It came from man-made, cultural and religious rationales, some of which are not even in harmony with our biological make-up.



So the question is, how can we go back to an authentic, natural and purely Universal sexuality? Were our pagan ancestors really closer to it than we are presently? In the next installment I will delve even deeper into what the spiritual and physical elements of sexuality are; how they influence sexual attraction, orientation, gender and even creativity and pleasure. Then we shall take a very unflinching look at what happens when shame and guilt reeks havoc with those elements. Stay tuned!

Further reading:
Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, "To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah: Legitimization of Male and Female Circumcision", Medicine and Law, Vol. 13, Nos. 7-8 (July), 1994, pp. 575-622

You can learn about the roots of circumcision here.

The $2,000,000.00 Hasely Crawford Stadium Flag

This was just TOO priceless! LOL!

Traffic Solutions

I decided that this year, instead of just writing letters of complaint, I will write about ideas, solutions, encouraging news and inspirational thoughts to cheer up my citizens. So after a while of spiritual stuff, it's nice to delve into something more pragmatic. This is something that has most people completely at their wits end- the traffic problem.

Now we can wait for the rail system to come in about twenty years or so or we can start doing some practical things to aid the situation ourselves while rallying the powers that be around some much cheaper solutions.

For Me & You

Remember the days of the "Family Car"? It's time to bring them back.

If you rent, try as much as possible to live close to where you work. This now makes it possible to walk, bicycle or take a short taxi ride to your job. Are you job hunting? Try to get work close to where you live. And is it really necessary to buy a car for each member of your household? When most of us were growing up, we had a “family car”. You worked your schedule around the “family car”, even when you got your own license. Even if your parents were well off, you only got your first car (usually the old family car when your parents upgraded to a newer family car), when you could pay for one yourself. That usually meant you were also at a certain age and level of responsibility.

Try to live near where you work or find work near to where you live. That way you can bike or walk to work.

We have far too many irresponsible, impatient, spoilt brats on the road endangering their lives and those of others. Tell me, how is the quality of your family life today when all your kids are off speeding in their own cars as soon as they get their license compared to the days when more quality time was spent traveling together? Somehow we still got everything done back then with one family car and there was less traffic on the roads and much less stress. All it takes is patience, planning and communication, which by the way, are good attributes for families and young people especially to adopt.

Put aside your false pride and walk when you can! It is what even successful, famous people in First World cities do. Stop seeing status as driving a fancy car, that is SOOO 1980s. Minimalism, conservation and planet consciousness are now the IN thing among people who are educated and well off.

Carpooling works and it saves gas. Try it sometime. I know buying a car and being seen in your own car is status symbol in this country but do keep in mind that many successful and wealthy city dwellers in first world countries opt not to own or drive a car. Those that do choose fuel efficient, hybrid cars and keep them for longer, using them only for long trips. Minimalism, conservation and planet consciousness are now the IN thing among people who are educated and well off. So take a second look at your benchmarks of status and success. This is not the tacky and superfluous 1980s. If CEOs of blue chip companies can take the train or ride a bike to work, who are you? If you live just two miles away from where you work, what is preventing you from doing the same? Why do you need to change your car so often? Why buy gas guzzlers or cars you cannot truly enjoy because they were not made for our challenging local road conditions? Is your male endowment so miniscule? Does your self-esteem need that much boosting up? Why? Think about it.

For The Private Sector

Employers, why can't your employees work from home at least 30% of the time? Flexi-time saves your company money. Base performance on the timeliness and quality of finished projects, not on punctuality. We do not live in the British Colonial industrial age, so stop running your business like a factory unless it is a factory.

Employers try to offer incentives to attract people who live within your immediate area. They will be far more productive workers than those who have to spend four hours in traffic everyday. Their salaries will be going further into building their quality of life than in gas and car maintenance, leading to happier more fulfilled employees who do not need to keep asking for a raise or salary advance all the time.

If you can, tailor working hours to job function. Not every single employee’s skills are required at the same time. Many employees arrive early and have nothing to do until a certain hour of the day anyway, so use systems like flexi-time and working from home. In a wireless world, there is no need to see everyone’s face every single day. Make work less about micro-managing and more about the end result. The only punctuality that really matters are those of deadlines, targets, presentations and meetings. Otherwise, it does not matter how much time your employee spent in the office to achieve the desired results as long as the end results were achieved to deadline and budget. This not only un-clutters the roads but saves you time and money in office supplies, maintenance and electricity in the long run.

Why not provide showers and dressing facilities at work to encourage more staff members to walk, jog or bike to work and still be able to start the day clean and fresh? Air-condition your premises. Not only are you reducing traffic but enhancing the health and well-being of your staff. Imagine four hours sitting in a car and eight hours sitting behind a desk, feeling harassed and only having time to eat and sleep when you get home. No time for exercise. No time for family. No time to improve skills or enrich life with hobbies. No wonder people are becoming more stressed, fatter, sicker and not as productive. A healthy staff means less sick leave and lower group health costs.

Workers who spend 70% of their life sitting down at a desk or behind a wheel will be unhealthy and less productive in the long run and cost your company money in group health insurance

Last year, England ran a “Walk To Work/School” campaign to boost health and reduce commuter congestion. Why not sponsor one here for those living and working in the same general area? While we wait for the government to provide school buses, why not provide company sponsored school buses for your staff’s children, so your employees don’t have to worry about picking up and dropping their kids to school, often leaving work to do so. You can use these vehicles as your very own moving corporate billboards.

It’s time for more companies to de-zone. Everything does not always have to be located in Port of Spain. Start looking outside the city to build office headquarters, entertainment centers, fine dining and more, especially if you know a lot of your employees come from outside the city. I know a married couple living in Penal, both university graduates with good jobs and lots of disposable income. On a weekend, if they want any kind of quality entertainment, they have to come all the way up north to see a play, show, movie or enjoy a variety of fine dining.

Please, business community, do not forget, there are educated, professionals in the eastern, central and southern parts of the country too, in fact more so than ever. If you give them job options, culture, shopping, recreation and aesthetically pleasing family environments close to where they live, there will be less clutter on our roads. Yes a capital city will always have a certain pull just like London does. But the residents of Croydon don’t have to go to London every time they want to eat at a fine restaurant or see a good play. Neither should the people in Penal have to come to Port of Spain every time they want some quality diversion.

The Government

Billions cheaper than rail is a well functioning bus system with 24/7 service and reliable arrivals and departures down to the last second.

I saved this audience for last as this is the hardest and slowest group to respond pro-actively and pragmatically to any situation. So after we have done our part, here is what the government can do, if indeed they can get their act together. Before you bring in a rail system, let’s get our bus system right first. Truth is that if you cannot even get people who have cars to opt for an efficient bus system, it makes no sense building a rapid rail which is far more expensive to use, because they will not use it either. Using public transport as a first option, is a culture you need to instill in a wider cross section of the population for it to have any impact on the traffic problem.

We need hundreds more air conditioned buses. We need a wireless, digital bus system with a schedule that runs like clockwork, 24/7 along every single route. We need safe bus stops and car parks with CCTV and police patrol. We need on-line digital displays at every bus stop telling you when the next bus will be arriving down to the last minute. If we cannot ensure safety and get carefree Trinis into the kind of meticulous punctuality efficient public transport systems have around the world then don’t even bother with the security issues and exactitude of trains. It will not work!

If Trinis cannot even get a bus system running like clockwork, how can they possibily be ready for the exactitude of trains?

Yes, maxi drivers will be put out of business by an efficient bus system but that may not be such a bad thing. Maxi drivers are hustling to earn a private income. More trips and less vehicle maintenance mean more money for them. Therefore they endanger lives with their pollution-mobiles and reckless driving. Compensate them and funnel them into a new bus system as properly trained bus drivers. If they earned a standard salary, they can be made to adhere to road safety standards. We can use small maxi drivers as hired taxis for in-neighbourhood routes once they maintain a certain standard of service. They can also become corporate sponsored school buses. The ferry service from South to Port of Spain is still a good and far cheaper idea than the rail. Bus stations should be at ferry stations and car parks as well, to encourage more people to park and then use the public transport system.

The city centres of developed countries are dominated by pedestrian traffic.

Traffic is re-routed to the outer fringe of the cities as much as possible.

Streets are allowed to be turned into pedestrian walk-ways on certain days.

Once a decent public transport system is up and running its time to impose a hefty road tax. We need to restrict the number of cars per household. Those who insist, despite a safe and efficient public transport system, on having more than two private vehicles per household and buying a newer model private car every year, should be charged a hefty road and pollution tax. Incentives should be given to those who carpool, and maintain their vehicles for longer. Those who are capable of buying a vehicle and opt to do the planet and country friendly thing and use public transport instead should be given a tax break. Companies that enforce measures to reduce traffic and pollution on our roads should also be given a tax break as well.

Once an efficient public transport system is running it is time to impose heavy road and pollution taxes on those who insist on having a car for every member of their household.

I’ll say it again; the city center should be mostly cobble-stoned, pedestrian walkways with special permission given only to merchant delivery vehicles and business owners to drive and/or park. Parking on the heart of the city’s roads, should be outlawed. It’s time for a meter system every-where else. Taxi stands should be re-routed to the outside of Port of Spain’s downtown hub. It’s high time for Trinis to get up and out and walk like they do in every other metropolitan city they travel to, without shame. If we say we want to be a first world nation let’s start acting the part. In New York, Paris, Amsterdam, people, rich and poor choose to walk or cycle inside their city center rather than drive. Perhaps if more walked instead of seal themselves off in air-conditioned vehicles we would appreciate the value of city aesthetics a little better and feel more motivated to preserve historical landmarks, improve the look, smell, safety and ambience of Port of Spain. We will start to make it a beautiful place to walk through, shop; have a meal on the sidewalk or enjoy outdoor art and music.




Trinidad and Tobago is a small island. We can only accommodate a certain number of cars safely and conveniently on our roads. We can only widen our highways so far. We can only deal with so much noise and pollution. Let’s all do our part to move ahead, out of the traffic and into a free flowing and still beautiful country. If we want truly want it, it will be so.

Spiritual Ships 4- Big Ship? Small Ship? Your Ship? My Ship? Which Ship?

Just joining this discussion? Please read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 first.



There was a time when we existed in smaller tribal groups. These groups would have a shaman/medicine man/witch/doctor/priestess/guru/Master... whatever you will. This person was the most proficient at navigating and exploring the ocean (God/Universe) and served as the chief Navigator/Sailor. He/she would lead group expeditions into the ocean. But rather than everyone board his/her ship, each member of the tribe journeyed in his or her own little sailboat. They made up a fleet along an ocean route with the Shaman’s boat at the head. That way, every tribe member, man, woman and child alike, became a proficient sailor and navigator in their own right. The reason this could be done was that the population was smaller and manageable. The priestess, Shaman, witch doctor was truly accessible and had time to spend with every member of the tribe to offer advice, healing and sailing instruction.

There was a time when every tribe member, man, woman and child alike, became a proficient sailor and navigator in their own right.

Even though the tribe had an expert, all were expected to learn mystic arts, communication with animal spirits and ancestors and the secret properties of plants. Little children knew exactly what to do to see visions to guide them home if they were lost in the wild. All were expected to work towards a level of mastery at these things. Should an ocean storm separate them, set their dingy adrift, they were not helpless. They could navigate safely because their “map” was ingrained in their hearts and minds and reading it involved real-time interaction, observation and adaptation to the ever changing ocean.

Super Ships (Great Religious Empires) were built, not necessarily to help ordinary passengers and crew to fully explore the ocean (God/Universe) but to support the interests of civilization’s elite, among them a new class of Navigators/Sailors. Any student of history will clearly see that Super Ships and empires were almost one and the same with interchangeable interests.

This kind of personal and instinctive oceanographic intelligence, sailing skill and navigation was almost lost to the world. We can still see it among some of the First Peoples and among the few of us spiritual adventurers trying to keep it alive by advocating for more personal questing and less religious dependence. But what almost killed it in the first place? What made us so scared of sailing on our own? What caused us to give up the freedom of being Navigators/Sailors and join massive populations of Passengers on board Super Ships (populous empire-based organised religions led by an elite class of priests); trusting our exploration of the ocean to an elite group of crew with one all-powerful Navigator/Sailor at the helm?

The ability to Navigate and Sail used to be imparted into our hearts from infancy. It was an instinctive thing. Even little children knew exactly what to do to see visions, which plants to eat and how to guide themselves home if they were lost in the wild.

The necessity for Super Ships has nothing to do with God. From its inception it was always designed to serve entirely human, economic and political needs. When we began settling into larger civilizations and these started to become empires, our relationship with the ocean changed completely because of competition.


Competition for earth’s resources, land and people required power...every kind of power. It was not long before this mentality started to reflect in how we explored the ocean (God). In a world made smaller by trade and population surge, many Navigators/Sailors, fearing a challenge to their position and status deliberately hid knowledge to secure their power and value to society. Others corrupted by greed and power did more than just conceal oceanographic knowledge, they deliberately misled. Others hid knowledge not for selfish reasons, but to protect it when their people were conquered and enslaved.

When it became necessary to write down secrets to exploring God/Universe in coded language, in order to preserve and protect it it, the average human could not be a Navigator/Sailor and was forced to depend on someone else who could read the secrets for them.

As generations died and ancestral knowledge of the ocean navigation became threatened it became necessary to write it down in order to preserve it. In order to protect it, it was written in secret, coded language. For the first time a special kind of literacy become necessary to understand the maps. Since populations became larger and education was afforded only to a select few, the average human could not be a Navigator/Sailor and was forced to depend on someone else.

Thus began the age of the Super Ships.

These were built, not necessarily to help ordinary passengers and crew to fully explore the ocean but to support the interests of civilization’s elite, among them a new class of Navigators/Sailors. Any student of history will clearly see that empires and Super Ships were almost one and the same with interchangeable interests. The Egyptian Super Ship and Empire were one and the same. The Babylonian Super Ship and Empire were one and the same. The Greek Super Ship and empire were one and the same. The Roman Catholic Super Ship and empire were one and the same.

Priest blessing a tank during war.

Empires grow because the Super Ships require massive crew and massive wealth to control and regulate the vast numbers of passengers on board. Increasing their numbers in turn could justify building bigger and bigger Ships to the fleet and taking the resources needed to do so through even more plunder, genocide and war.

The race to create massive fleets to rule the ocean had begun. New passengers and crew were press ganged on board using varying degrees of coercion from the clever to the charitable to the cruel. In addition, the elite class of Navigators/Sailors discouraged passengers and crew from leaving the ship or becoming empowered enough to navigate and sail away on their own. The Hebrews committed atrocious acts of genocide as part of their empire building because “God” told them to do it. Spain slaughtered the native peoples of the Americas with the full support of the Roman Catholic Super Ship it served.

Super Ships brought with them fundamentalism and persecution of anyone who wanted to empower themselves to sail or navigate independently.

In this new world of conquest, war and empire, many found themselves cast adrift in foreign lands as refugees, slaves or prospectors, without a Navigator/Sailor in their own language and tradition. The sea longing in these refugees, slaves and immigrants was of course as strong as ever and even after assimilating into the traditions of a Super Ship it was hard to give up their traditions and their own instincts. The Semitic peoples constantly battled with their past memories of and longing for the Goddess despite the newer patriarchal Yahweh Super Ship that now dominated them. As the Hebrew monotheistic empire grew stronger, their beloved Goddess was banished as Ashtoreth, a female demon of lust. Navigators/Sailors decided to homogenize and control the growing and diversifying population. They decreed that it was best if everyone was made to submit to one map, one way. Fundamentalism now entered the picture.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British heralded the end of the Roman Catholic Empire.

The elite crew and Navigator/Sailor of Super Ships discouraged access to any other maps from other explorers in other parts of the world and denounced modern technology that could aid anyone to become a cartographer independent of the Super Ship’s Navigator/Sailor. Galileo can attest to that. These Super Ships often crashed into reefs and countless passengers would drown when ancient map reading clashed with the realities of science like the superstitious killing of cats which increased the rat population leading to the massive spread of Plague.

Throughout history, when a Super Ship encountered a smaller one, it would mow it down and press gang the new members on board.

If anyone dared to build a boat and try to navigate on their own, the Super Ship would mow them down, sending them into the depths of the ocean for all to see, increasing the fear of individual navigation. Passengers and crew fearing a similar fate submitted blindly without question or at least public question. If one Super Ship should encounter a smaller ship from a different culture, using a different method of navigation, sailing and design, they would pirate it or destroy it, calling the smaller ship’s Navigatiors/Sailors and Passengers/Crew primitive, lost or degenerate as justification. If one Super Ship met another Super Ship from a different culture, they would engage in protracted wars for supremacy, with passengers and crew being forced into battle on the Navigators/Sailors behalf. There would be causalities in the millions.

Violent mutinies happen aboard Super Ships, like the Sunni/Shiite division that leads to devastating sectarian violence.

Sometimes though, the conflict did not come from an outside a Super Ship but from within. Navigators/Sailors would disagree on ancient map interpretation, leading to violent mutinies in the middle of the ocean as a Super Ship broke apart. Suddenly hapless passengers and crew became casualties again. We all know the violent history of schisms in religion that resulted in sectarian violence. Unfortunately, many of the new ships built by mutinous Passengers/Crew and Navigators/Sailors, once they got going, still employed the same approach of their predecessors- acquisition of passengers by any means and then the control of their behaviour on board to prevent them from becoming Navigators/Sailors so that they can become Super Ships too.

Some Super Ships are so huge and have so many passengers on board they might as well be floating countries. When you are on board, you don’t even feel the ocean rocking the ship (those who have been on a cruise ship know what I mean). In fact, you can spend your entire life on that ship and barely even see the ocean because there are so much people, so much on ship activities, so much rules and competition for a window seat or balcony view. In fact, some ships start to require large offerings to get a window seat or balcony view. As for getting the chance to navigate or sail that Super Cruise Ship you can forget it! There is a high level of intricate bureaucracy is involved in becoming a Navigator/Sailor.

It is very easy for a passenger or crew member on a Super Ship to live a life that revolves entirely on the ship and not as an explorer of the ocean. Some eventually get so frustrated they have not seen the ocean and disgusted by the bureaucracy and ills aboard the ship, they become Dry Land Dwellers or simply take a lifeboat and try to explore the ocean on their own. For some on board a Super Ship, their sea longing and their love of the luxuries and activities aboard the Super Ship and respect for its posterity keeps them on board. Every now and then, they get a blast of ocean breeze or glimpse of the sea and that keeps their heart content.

So here you are, standing at the shore. Before you several ships are docked, each inviting you to come aboard.

Super Ships provide lots of comfort. But your chances of Navigating or Sailing are very slim.

Some ships are gargantuan cruise liners with billions of passengers and a long history of exploring the ocean along a certain route, using a certain ancient map. They have weathered many storms, disasters, epidemics, mutinies and wars at sea. They have done many atrocious things but enough good things to maintain large passenger count. They promise you a great ocean (God) expedition in relative comfort and lots of support systems along the way as long as you remain a passenger or at best crew and submit to the ship’s rules, hierarchy and itinerary. Keep in mind you will never be Pope, Ayatollah or Rabbi and navigate or sail that ship. They only want passengers and crew.

Some vessels beckoning you are smaller yachts and require a certain dress code, status and huge financial offerings to even come aboard.

Some claim to have the most accurate ancient map and/or the most accurate interpretation of a particular ancient map.

Some are military styled with a vigilant crew who monitor your every activity on board from what you eat to how you have sex to what music you can listen to.

Some are pirogues with just one motor and a Rastafarian rudder man holding out a pipe packed with ganga as the map. It will offer you considerably less bureaucracy but less safety on the high seas.

Smaller personal vessels will give you freedom to chart your own course, but require a lot of mastery.

What are you to do?

We return to the question that started all of this,
“Which religion is the best one to learn the truth about where we came from, what is our purpose and where we are going and why?”

If your ultimate goal is knowledge and understanding of the ocean (God/Universe) who says the first step in learning about the ocean is getting on board someone’s ship or boat (join a religion?) Is that truly the only opinion available to you? Remember the Dry Land Dwellers. They do make a valid point, if you want to learn about the ocean, you can study “marine science” (comparative theology, mythology, anthropology, history, mysticism as well as astronomy, geology, evolutionary biology and quantum physics). You do not have to obtain a PhD in every subject you just have to be open to learning about everything. You will have to pull from as many sources as possible, from ancient maps to current satellite mapping systems to the tide pools in your backyard.

Beware of ship passengers who try to scare and hurry you aboard their ship with woeful predictions. Humans and their ships have time-tables and itineraries. The Ocean (God/Universe)is timeless. Remember too that the ocean is unconditional in its offering to you so beware of attempts to guilt you into devotion to a particular ship.

Eventually, you WILL be compelled to jump in and test the waters (begin testing and consciously interacting with the seen and unseen aspects of God/Universe) Start in the shallows, (the basic universal principles) then learn to swim, snorkel and scuba (apply them in order to transform your life). Learn how to be a cartographer (how to read, study and accurately interpret religious books/texts and ask the right philosophical and spiritual questions of them), navigator and sailor (increase your understanding and prowess with the many forces that surround us) and learn the many methods and arts of ship building (the best way to build up a strong mind and body, then extend that to your household and then your community) taking as much time with this as needed.

Take your time! Beware of ship passengers who try to scare and hurry you aboard their ship with woeful predictions. Humans and their ships have time-tables. The ocean does not. Remember too that the ocean is unconditional in its offering to you so beware of attempts to guilt you into devotion to a particular ship. A simple way of diffusing such a tactic is....
Christian: Aren’t you so grateful that God sent his only son to die for your sins?
Me: Well, if indeed that is true, I am certain God will make me undoubtedly certain of this great gesture and why it was done and when THAT happens my gratitude will pour out of me unbidden. Till then, I cannot be grateful for something by taking YOUR word or any man's word for it, especially if they expect my gratitude to manifest as membership in their religion.

When the student is ready, the Master WILL appear!

Really what more can anyone demand? If this is not reasonable and respectful enough, it is obviously a case of a passenger confusing their personal need for validation with genuinely trying to help you with your oceanographic knowledge and skills. Insecure passengers and cannot handle it when people turn down their preferred voyage, their faith in their ship, Navigator/Sailor and their map reading. It causes their faith to waver a little and they might become hostile towards you. Forgive them and move on. Theirs is not a ship you’d be happy on anyway.

When you are ready, choose a ship to test your skills on the open ocean. By this time, you will be more than able to make an informed choice of which ship to venture on board and you will also be extremely careful not to become complacent as a passenger or crew member. Your ultimate goal is that of Navigator/Sailor. Hopefully you will find an experienced, ethical, genuinely ocean-oriented Navigator/Sailor who unconditionally desires your empowerment and will take you on as an apprentice.
“When the student is ready the Master will appear”.

Perhaps, from time to time, you might decide to temporarily switch ships to learn how another Navigator/Sailor does it. Perhaps from time to time, another ship may offer you safe passage or rescue you from a storm and provide a chance for you to relax and regain your strength to continue your exploration. Or perhaps you will explore and navigate totally alone using everything you have and if you die on the ocean, then you are just fine with that. There is nothing better than to be welcomed into the loving arms of the Ultimate Source of life. You have no fear of this. Eventually, one day, you’ll build your own ship and have the acumen to apprentice another who desires to be a Navigator/Sailor.

I’m not here to judge anyone for their ocean expedition approach or lack-thereof. All I can do is urge you to explore the ocean with truth, love, joy and constant vigilance. Don’t get distracted by ship activities and politics. Don’t get beholden to ships and their Navigators/Sailors. Don’t allow your exploration to be limited by one ancient map that only shows one route, part of the globe and currently inaccurate representations. Remember to dive in and see what lies below the surface.



See it, feel it, smell it and watch it change and force you to change in real time, in real life, everyday, giving it the respect it truly deserves. Respect the other ocean inhabitants and explorers you meet along the way. Let the ocean’s vastness humble you and help you realise the more you discover, the more there is yet to learn.

Happy exploring!