Actions, intentions, and a whole lot more besides

They say that actions speak louder than words. But what about when actions speak louder than intentions?
We are judged on what we do, not what we think.  So far, Kafka's thought police remains merely a nasty idea in this country. So only our actions can be known.  Unless we decide to discuss what we are thinking - in which case we open ourselves up to criticism of our thought processes.

But we are seen by others through the lens of our behaviours.  This has led me to realise that what I think and feel are secondary to what I do.

Everyone has thoughts, feelings and urges. This is human nature. Human nature has been debated by religious scholars for thousands of years with a lot of different theories and arguments in existence.  The extent to which we can control or suppress our urges is a topic under increasingly intense scrutiny since the growth of globalisation - the more we learn about other cultures and beliefs, the more we question our own.  That questioning can then lead to a renewed sense of faith in our beliefs, or a crisis in which we question what we know and what we believe to be true.

Religious devotees choose to reject the pleasures of the flesh in order to commune with their deity. Buddhist monks, Catholic nuns.... As I've said before I have the utmost respect for this practise, and of course I do not cast aspersions on their devotion.

But I do wonder - do they really never have any sexual thoughts?  Is that even possible, to train the mind to focus only on religion? Can you talk yourself out of human instinct?  Of course it's possible to never express any such urges.  It's even possible to never say that you have these thoughts.  But can you ever really lie to yourself and convince yourself?  Do such sexual thoughts disappear over time?  I know a lot of older people don't have sex.  They may not even talk about it.  But it doesn't mean they don't want it, or remember how good it was.

Maybe when shielded from the world and its pressures, living a life removed from what so many of us call reality, electing to be in a single-sex grouping and not leaving the confines of the monastery / convent, it is easier to circumnavigate sexual urges.  But when out in the world, continuing to work and live and socialise with others who do have sex, it is a much harder thing to do to give up sex.  Quite a few of the responses I have recieved to this piece of information have been shock, disbelief, and refusal to accept that I will maintain it.  Maybe I will, maybe I won't, but I'm determined to give it a damn good try.

And if the Whirling Dervishes of Konya can see their dizziness as communion with God, when there is a physiological reason for their heightened emotional state,  surely an orgasm constitutes a direct link to God, especially when so many people say "Oh my God" as they come?

Not trying to be controversial or disrespectful, I'm just thinking.