Religious Undergarments

Do you wear your underwear over your shorts or pants?

No? That’s what I thought.

Do you wear your socks over your shoes or boots?

No? What a surprise!

Whether you remain anonymous or not, I will never know the color or style of your socks and underwear. Unless you purposefully go out of your way to show me, it’ll remain a mystery.

What benefit do I get knowing what they look like and how they feel? I’m not wearing them and I certainly wouldn’t appreciate if you took them off and handed them to me. We all wear what makes us comfortable, no? Keep them, their yours.

What makes you feel comfortable may not be what I would consider a perfect fit. I’ve tried on many different styles, some being either too tight or so loose that they fall off. I’ve even tried leaving the house with nothing underneath, remembering to protect my sensitive areas.

Will people recognize that I’m walking around fancy free? Not likely, unless I advertise my lack of wearing any. Maybe a hat or bumper sticker? Is there a hand symbol or gesture one can make to give my secret away? What exists underneath should and will remain a mystery.

Now, one day I will meet someone. We may develop a relationship that goes beyond friendship, causing me to question whether or not it matters what I’m wearing underneath. They may catch me off guard and get a glimpse of my undergarments, but without me explaining the rest, they’re left to assume.

As we get closer, it may not matter as much what style and color I wear. If I feel comfortable enough, I may even show them one day, if knowing that it'll never change the way they feel about me. Their reaction to what is underneath my clothes will dictate how they see me and could ruin what has been building up to that point.

No one should care what color or style my socks and underwear are because they too can be removed. Leaving yourself bare and exposed leaves nothing to the imagination and though there is beauty throughout, we may never see it if we remain wrapped up in what makes us comfortable.

Nowadays, our clothing is so tight that if one looks hard enough, they can make out a faint picture of what style you happen to be wearing. This seems to be the new norm, where everybody wants you to know what makes them comfortable ahead of getting to know them.

Some even judge others for the style and color they wear from a distance, because they could never fathom wearing the same thing. This has caused many to feel threatened and in turn, look for others who wear the same. They refuse to believe anything else is comfortable to wear.

It helps to shop around once and a while and try on new things. Wearing the same thing for too long can wear the them out and cause them to appear stale. This requires frequent cleaning in order to renew the comfort that has been lost over time.

You may even decide that you are better off not wearing anything at all, in hopes to dispel any judgment or ridicule over the choices you’ve made in the past. Ironically, there are those who comfortable wear what you choose not to, that will judge you regardless.

In the end, it is best to wear what is most comforting to you while allowing others to do the same. Get to know the person before removing their clothes and it may not matter what is beneath them. After all, you should have never saw them anyway unless you were prepared to cope with the unexpected.

Live and let live. Judge not, want not.

When we judge someone else we are living out our human evolution by discerning how the other person is meeting our needs. Are they friend or foe? Will they compete or collaborate with me? Will being with them cause me to lose more energy than I will receive in return? Is this relationship worth engaging? Though judging and discernment is natural behavior, too often our judgment surfaces as more of a habitual response that harms relationships or disconnects us from life-giving conversations or actions. For instance, you might judge your parent, spouse, or child as “wrong” when they do not show up on time or clean up after themselves. Your response might be to withdraw from relating, or retaliating with verbal domination or violence. There is another way.

When you find yourself judging another, concentrate on what the judging says about your values and dreams. Our judgment about another says more about us than anyone else. Maybe you are irritated because your spouse did not do something he or she said they would, such as cook dinner. This tells you have a need for support, sustenance, ease, and dependability. Rest for a time in the energy of these needs without trying to fix the situation. Then consider the needs of your spouse in this situation. What needs were they attempting to meet? Perhaps some of the same ones apply, as well as fun, diversion, autonomy, and balance.

The hope is to open your heart to the full humanity of the other person, and to learn more about yourself and the other. When strategies for meeting needs to do not satisfy both parties, you encounter a wonderful chance to learn what values are important, what you long for, and how healing it can be to hold the other person tenderly in your heart as a precious being. Out of this spaciousness and presence, relationships can flow more from love and possibility, than from constricting unfulfilled expectations. Do you believe this? Try it and judge for yourself.

Of course, then there are the people who ask you to engage in things that would cause you to get an enormous wedgie if you took part, and when you say no, they get mightily offended. These days, the even want you to either discard your underwear and participate or participate in spite of your underwear and the discomfort it causes, and they are actively seeking to use force to make you do so.

a reply to: eisegesis

I started out with My color-coordinated pair.. The ones that were brown in the back and yellow up front, but folks accused me of being a Steeler fan, so I tried the pair but couldn't get that peanut butter stain out and I scrubbed and scrubbed..

Then I scrubbed the whole idea and will from here out go with some swim fins and a catcher's mask.. I hope this cuts down on any question of which toi toi I'll use.. That is if I don't go "Full Bear" and that doesn't mean what You may think.. It isn't full bear naked but I'll just 'snip' in the woods like a Bear...

Ha ha ha ha, a slow day I take it........ha ha ha.... carry on.....

a reply to: eisegesis

Why is this in religion faith and theology? Other than using the word religion in your title I don't see the connection.

a reply to: Joecanada11 I wondered them same thing and kept reading to get to the possible Mormon church undergarment requirements as the topic.

OP, interesting thoughts. Some people are weird about judging what kind of undergarments one wears and I've never understood why it matters to them.

originally posted by: Joecanada11
a reply to: eisegesis

Why is this in religion faith and theology? Other than using the word religion in your title I don't see the connection.

Pretty sure its a metaphor for religious beliefs being as personal as your undergarments, and that we shouldn't assume random strangers want to 'see' our religion any more than they want to see our underwear.

Either that, or I've missed the boat and it's in the wrong forum, lol.

originally posted by: new_here

originally posted by: Joecanada11
a reply to: eisegesis

Why is this in religion faith and theology? Other than using the word religion in your title I don't see the connection.

Pretty sure its a metaphor for religious beliefs being as personal as your undergarments, and that we shouldn't assume random strangers want to 'see' our religion any more than they want to see our underwear.

Either that, or I've missed the boat and it's in the wrong forum, lol.

Your post makes way more sense than what I was thinking... that the OP was literally about judgments of what sort of undergarments people wear.

a reply to: eisegesis

Forgetting the Religion factor. We are all brought up to wear some type of underwear, and i did this for most of my life. However, when i came to live in SE Asia it became a problem with sweating and rashes etc. So out they went, and freedom and comfortability now reign supreme.

Religious undergarments?

That would actually explain something that has long puzzled me.

Has anyone else noticed how a pair of discarded knickers, those left lying about on the floor, always manage to orient themselves towards the Sun?

Even escaping socks follow the same Solar path. The little buggers are all Sun worshippers.

How they must feel denied when they spend all day covered up. Most of them only seeing the 'light' at night long after the Sun has gone.

No wonder they resent us. Think about that next time your knicker elastic fails in public or your socks go awol when you need them most. They're all Hell bent on wreaking terrible revenge against their oppressors - us.