MisterL

I have been thinking about the nature of a calling lately.  Especially as it relates to the roles we take on within D/s and BD/SM lifestyles.  In my academic life I spend most of my time puzzling over the ineractions that occur between the individuals psychology, the influence of the cultural matrix (and it's evolution through time) and situational behavioral choices.  It strikes me that often we have instances of misery and illness when the match between psychology and culture is poor.  In America, and most of Western Europe, old ways of being have long since been replaced by modern constructs.  Man as machine, human as consumer, rather than by opportunities for us to live out the roles we may have been born to live out, our individual callings.   I believe that there are only a finite number of human roles within a society, and that these roles were ingrained in our genetic structure far before the advent of written history (we have been in our present form for 200,000 +/- years, yet only about 8,000 years of history has been recorded).  In that there may be many roles from the distant past that are unavailable for us to live out in the modern world, the wizard or shaman for one, the slave and servant for another, it is not unrealistic to expect that those who have a strong affinity for this lifestyle have a calling to it.  The clues lie in the strength of affinity for archetypes such as "O" and the more recent Anne Rice "Beauty" series.  Applying to the slave role only, the dominant role is another animal altogether.

Recent research has shown little pathology associated with the expression of dominant or submiussive roles in women or submissive roles in me (in the sexuality research literature-see Zurbriggen UCSC)  However for men to express a dominant aspect in this scenarioes there is a significant corellation to pathology.  Ironically low self-esteem, a lack of social skills within the larger social structure and other factors conspire to prevent many men as Doms from unfolding into a true expression of their inner calling.  This is, of course, with many exceptions.  The role of "teacher" is one of those exceptions.  Some individuals sincerely feel called to instruct, discipline and guide the slaves that come under their hand.  One can only hope that they themselves have experienced the lessons they seek to impart in some manner or the other, less a lack of empathy lead them into the realm of pure and sadistic abuse.  Of course there is that role as well, the role of the "monster" as expressed by the Marquis de Sade.  The "monster" seeks only an expression of power, will expressed without personal responsibilty through the destruction of another.  I suspect that this is an honest archetype and has it's expression within the fairy tales of ogres, trolls and the like from ancient history.

As for myself, what role am I seeking to express in the world today?   I am certainly a teacher, but more than that I am a "founder", an agent of cultural revolution.  My heritage, my kin are the Byron's and Toulouse Latrec's of history.  I glide along histories romantic thread seeking to create another utopia, another society, in which my kith and kin can escape the false and destructive nature of this modern world.

Ciao bella-
L.