Spicy Book Club, sex with Christians

How conservative Christian views on sex have changed over the years

Thou shalt not enjoy thyself...or else.

Regardless of faith, having an intimate conversation with a partner can sometimes feel odd to broach. In the case of many Christian denominations, relationship to one's partner, through sex and similar intimate moments, only gets addressed after marriage. [That's usually a bit late, like it or lump it because now you can take it, but you can't leave it.]

Get far enough from toilet to avoid splash back.

Although it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, this lack of sex-centric discussions creates a difficult barrier for partners who want to be considerate but don’t know the best practices to do so. So what kind of professional help can assist, and how do faith-centric couples handle conversations tied to relationship intimacy? Join delicate host Lair "Bear" Mantle to share their expertise on the matter are sex therapists and educators Clifford Penner and Joyce Penner, who jointly operate the practice Passionate Commitment (passionatecommitment.com) in Pasadena. Resources

• AUDIO: LAFD Chief Jaime Moore speaks with Larry Mantle on changes post-Palisades Fire | LAist
• A Buddhist view? All I Want for V-Day is Sexy, Sadie
• VIDEO: My Dinner with Andre

First time watching porn: standup comedy by Michael Longfellow

Spicy romance novels as 'smut therapy'?

Penners, what about reading spice and smut?

(AOL/RIGBY) After seeing a viral TikTok about “spicy” bookstores, three local reading enthusiasts decided that eastern Idaho is in dire need of a way to spice up access to adult [c]literature.

Bailey Sutton-Moser, Mia Calderwood, and Rachel Moser -- three friends who share a love for reading -- came up with the idea to open Between The Covers after seeing an online video about an Arizona bookstore that specialized in selling romance books for women.

“I was like, ‘What if we just did this?'” Calderwood says. “We talked about it for an hour, and the next thing you know, we’re submitting for a business registration.”

Spicy, smutty, romance fantasy addiction?

Thanks to trends like BookTok, on TikTok, romance novels have become increasingly popular over the last few years, with viral obsessions like Quicksilver by Callie Hart, A Court of Thorns and Roses (series) by Sarah J. Maas, and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros.

“A romance bookstore is a space that women can go into and just breathe for once,” Sutton-Moser says. “It’s a chance for women to break away from reality, to find books that appeal to our natures, and just relax.”

The owners say everyone is welcome at the bookstore, and it is not an adult business because it doesn’t sell adult items, although some content is age-restricted. More: aol.com

Cruisin' 2 Freedom (car show)

Cali car culture creeps into everything.

Join the Slave 2 Nothing® Foundation’s Cruisin’ 2 Freedom™ event to fuel the fight against human trafficking. This high-octane evening features a Car Cruise, Car Show, and Dinner – all designed to drive real impact! From vintage to 4x4s – this is your chance to showcase your car, cruise the California coastline, and raise funds to support the Slave 2 Nothing Foundation. All guests can take part in a raffle giveaway, bid on exciting silent and live auction items, and enjoy a Double-Double®, chips, and a drink from Cookout Trucks: Cruisin’ 2 Freedom | Slave 2 Nothing

• New romance bookstore aims to empower women one ‘spicy’ book at a time:
• January-March 2026: Self-Help Smut Club
• Black Cat Fables | Monrovia, California
• 3-6-2: DEFINITIONS: "Adult arcade" for sex
• ‘Spicy’ books like ‘Heated Rivalry’ are everywhere. Teens might want to read them

What about trans athletes?

Supreme Court hears arguments over transgender athletes in school sports

Colorful intersex flag (LGBTQIA+)

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams. Lower courts ruled for the transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia who challenged the state bans, but the conservative-dominated Supreme Court might not follow suit. In the past year, the justices ruled in favor of state bans on "gender-affirming care" [gay-promoting treatment] for transgender youths and allowed multiple restrictions on transgenders to be enforced. The legal fight is playing out amid a broad effort by Pres. Trump to target transgender Americans, beginning on the first day of his second term and including the ouster of transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth. Presented with files from the Associated Press.

Who'll Bridge ET with humanity? Bridget will

Bridget Nielson (hybridchildrencommunity.com); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Bridget Nielson is the mother of many ET kids | Hybrid Children Community

We are mated/hybridized with Reptilians: Articles | Hybrid Children Community

“We are truly sorry we can't walk this Earth with you,” say hybrid kids raised in space.

Hybrid Children Hangout and Guided Meditations | Hybrid Children Community

.

Call them "fairies," but they really ETs (devas).

As a medium and the mother of hybrid children, one of my highest joys is BRIDG-ing ETs with the people they have impregnated. I bring together hybrid children and their parents and the frequency of our galactic roots…

It is my passion, hence the creation of the website hybridchildrencommunity.com. This is a HUGE puzzle piece involved in humanity’s...

Hybrid parents, I was born to BRIDG-ET. One of the major themes of this transformational incarnation for me is to connect my perceived human-self to my infinite divine expression.

This life, for many of us, is about incredible awakening and the remembrance of our galactic family...

Yoga and meditation in rock cave in Sedona

I do Galactic Counterpart Sessions. These services include channeled artwork and messages. I love connecting people with their cross-connecting galactic incarnations and counterparts.

Hello, everyone! After talking about hybrids for so long, I realized that it is the only topic that people think I cover. 😉 So I wanted to introduce ALL of myself. 🙂 My background is in all types of healing modalities.... It includes meditation to help remember.

Curious if you have hybrid (human-alien) kids? Meet and connect with them today! Get a free... More

[Sirius B] Counterpart and the Egyptian Triad Connection (Bridget Nielson's art)

Is this specimen human, alien, or a hybrid human-alien? Note large, light eyes and tan makeup.

What are the characteristics of hybrid alien beings? Big, light colored eyes, pallor...

The symbols from space that gave us Sumerian, Sanskrit, and other languages on Earth

There are Mantis type insectoids and classic Grey (Zeta Reticuli) types and spirit types

Smoking weed and cartoons (video)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

(The New Yorker/Eric Lewis/art.com)

Is pot (medical-grade high-CBD-moderate THC Cannabis sativa) the greatest invention or the worst? Giggle uncontrollably with slacker friends all heshered out then become Hesher and it's slack, slack, slack. Somebody said, "Weed is spiritual." It seems about as spiritual as sipping rotten malt, which we call brews (the suras of the celestial no-suras). There has to be a better way to focus and concentrate the mind on the present, to be all zen'ed out, jhanified (absorbed in a single subject/object of attention). Pot ain't it, although it might make for a better world than alcohol gives us.

Then paradise all came crashing to an end by getting stoned too much.

COMMENTARY

This bud's for you. - Aw thank you! I smoke it?

(WQ, 3/15/24) It's bad, unskillful, not productive of good karma. Why? It doesn't have to be, but it is for the most part. Yes, but why? The real reason is because there are two opposite meanings of the English word "high." Think about it. We either mean sh*tfaced, obliterated, obtunded, stoned, and similar words to indicate senseless -- deaf, dumb, blind, mute, wasted, spaced out -- which is why they call it "sh*t" as in, "Hey, Man, that is some good sh*t" OR we mean out there, gone beyond, elevated, expanded, seeing the bigger picture, the peace that surpasseth all understanding, and so on. When it's mind-expanding, consciousness-raising, trippy, a Cybernautic journey, unity-producing, one could see how that might be good, useful, causing peace, acting as medicine, reducing anxiety, and so on.

Oh, rose bud. :( I thought you meant weed.

But either way, we foolishly call them both "getting high" when the first is clearly getting low, debased, debauched, heedless, a waste of space... Are we just suffering from the munchies, increasing craving, becoming addicted? And that's another thing. The first kind of drug (or the use of a drug in a foolish way) produces addiction, abuse, bad karma and remorse, whereas the second kind heals it. If you're freaking out, having a bad THC trip (like from too many gummies), don't butt-dial or purposely call the police on yourself thinking that you're dying. There's a better way, a faster way, a natural way to calm down: CBD, the other cannabinoid in cannabis. Iboga, ayahuasca, and natural entheogens in the proper hands, undertaken with the appropriate intention (mindset) and setting, can be used to cure addiction. One purges, sees or is shown by spirit beings how they have been, and this can set one free. People abuse alcohol, and nothing good comes from it. Much bad comes. When cannabis is treated this way, like beers at the end of a day, one is only spiraling down to future MA meetings. Contact your local Marijuana Anonymous chapter to try to make it back to life.

• Stoner thoughts to ponder while stoned (World of Weed)
• The Simpsons, America's favorite TV show, tackles weed bud
• How to move mountains of unwanted weed? (The Guardian)

What is "Refuge Recovery" from addiction?

Noah Levine, M.A. (RefugeRecovery.org), Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Dharma Punx center, Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, for Refuge Recovery

Is it true you're giving away free books tonight?

FREE, tonight only (6-13-14)

Yes, the publisher is making them available at the BLVD Open House and Book Launch Party.

So it's already out?

Yes, there were a lot of pre-orders. It's now shipping. Anyone can pick up a copy at the Melrose Center (AgainsttheStream.org, East Hollywood on Melrose Ave. next to Los Angeles Community College).

Why would anyone want to read this book or practice it?

Noah Levine, M.A., drug recovery counselor

Refuge Recovery is a nonprofit organization. It is our vision and intention to build an extensive and comprehensive network of Refuge Recovery meetings, communities, and treatment options [that don't depend on "God" as one's higher power].

We are actively seeking donations to build treatment centers with both residential and outpatient services.

What would these donations be for?

Our goal is to raise the capital to start treatment centers with tax-deductible donations, so that all the profit that comes from providing these services can go back into the community in the form of reduced rates for residential treatment for those without insurance coverage, as well as to scholarships to meditation retreats, access to outpatient services, and building of the nonprofit's infrastructure.

• A Buddhist Path to Recovery from Addiction
• BLVD for residential and outpatient services

Introduction to the book Refuge Recovery

The book that started it all (ATS)

Refuge Recovery is a practice, a process, a set of tools, a treatment, and a path to healing addiction and the suffering caused by addiction. The main inspiration and guiding philosophy for the Refuge Recovery program are the teachings of Siddhartha (Sid) Gautama, a teacher who taught in India 25 [26 or more actually] centuries ago. 

 

Sid was a radical psychologist and a spiritual revolutionary. Through his own efforts and practices he came to understand why human beings [and devas] cause and experience so much suffering. He referred to the root cause of suffering as “uncontrollable thirst or repetitive craving.”

• [Actually craving is the proximate cause and is focused on because we can do something about it immediately, unlike the other causes and conditions outlined in the formula of Dependent Origination of suffering.]

Dharma Punx tee (dharmapunx.com)

This “thirst” tends to arise in relation to pleasure, but it may also arise as a craving for unpleasant experiences to go away, or as an addiction to people, places, things, or experiences. This is the same thirst of the alcoholic, the same craving as the addict, and the same attachment as the codependent.

 

Eventually, Sid came to understand and experience a way of living that ended all forms of suffering. He did this through a practice and process that includes meditation, wise actions, and compassion. 

 

After freeing himself from the suffering caused by craving [and ignorance and aversion], he spent the rest of his life teaching others how to live a life of well-being and freedom, a life free from suffering.

 

Eva's 66-Day Meditation Challenge (WQ/ATS)

Sid became known as the Buddha, and his teachings became known as Buddhism. The Refuge Recovery program has adapted the core teachings of the Buddha as a treatment of addiction.

 

Buddhism recognizes a nontheistic [one not dependent on any God] approach to spiritual practice. The Refuge Recovery program does not ask anyone to believe anything, only to trust the process and do the hard work of recovery. More

Sounds good. Very modern. Thanks, Noah. See you at the party.

Meditation Guidance by Phone

Jhanas Advice authors, meditators Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder

One-on-One Spiritual Guidance

If one has simple questions that can be answered by email, or via a brief phone call of 15 minutes or less, the authors are happy to provide advice freely or on a dana basis.

• Jhanas Advice

For extended inquiries, individual spiritual guidance sessions are available to Dharma practitioners by phone. These calls are either 30 minutes or 1 hour, either as needed or on a regularly scheduled basis, either biweekly or monthly. The focus of these sessions is the caller's Dharma practice, as well as how practice and understanding integrate into worldly life.

• Life Coaching

For work or life coaching, please visit our website at http://www.enteleky.net/. We offer a different set of services and fees for work and life coaching.

• BOOK: Jhanas Advice from Two Spiritual Friends: Concentration Meditation as Taught by Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw (Endorsements)
• DESCRIPTION: Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw of Burma is considered by many to be the leading Buddhist jhana teacher alive today. Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder were taught personally by the Sayadaw, who has endorsed them to offer their experience to others. Their very accessible and direct experiential account of jhana practice has been endorsed by the Sayadaw. They now offer several services to practitioners interested in the practice. Their services are for both experienced meditators interested in deepening their concentration practice, as well as new meditators beginning a concentration practice.

Contact them for one-on-one spiritual guidance; guidance for solo retreats; monthly jhana practice groups; free downloads of Dharma talks on the jhanas practice