junkyard
Posts: 107
Joined: 3/13/2005 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: EmeraldSlave2 Which implies that a) the Owner doesn't care about me as much and b) that I don't care about my boyfriend of partners as much as monogamous/limited/closed relationships do. This of course is absolutely false. I am really not trying to pick fights with you EmeraldSlave2, really and truly... But c'mon - you are 25-27 years old. You dispense youthful opinions AS IF they were wisdom, which is probably something I was guilty of when I was 25 too. But time, the only real teacher and the only real way to gain wisdom, tells me you don't know as much as you think you know. How do I know that? Because in some ways I would assert that I know even less than what you might claim to know. I am so wise that I have come to realize that I don't know very much, and when people tell me what they know I am very suspicious of their assertions. And when I was 25 I thought poly and a bunch of other stuff was brilliant too. The universe centered on me and my desires and I saw that it was wise enough to account for the likes of me. Not bloody likely... When I was 25 I very much doubt I understood what love was - much less understand the greater social ramifications of the emotion. You will just be stunned to look back upon these formative years and realize how little you understood when you are 30 or 35 or even 40 or 45. I can tell you this, and you will think I am just lording my 15 years senority on you - but honestly, no. It's not like that at all. And be grateful that you are a woman, because it culturally puts you at a minimum 5 years maturity advantage on the guys. Well, on average that is... What I would like to say as gently as possible is that you don't know what the fuck you are talking about, but you are too smart to even know that yet. You think you have the answers, while I would suggest that you haven't even figured out the right questions yet. Human beings are generally serial monogamists - not quite poly, but getting there maybe. We know this through study - through physical and cultural anthropology. I have several years on you EmeraldSlave2, and in that time I have seen almost every poly relationship around me turn to shit, and far worse than mere shit - I have seen some of them turn into the most awful, horrifying disasters you have ever seen. I say *almost* because there are people that can make poly work - a very few, but most cannot - and they have some great rationalizations for when it doesn't work too. Very nice and tidy. Longer term I see monogamist couples have a far greater success rate, as in the multiple 100%s type of greater success. Vastly greater success. After a lapse of 20-50 years there will still be plenty of very solid monogamist couples around, and nary a poly combo still around to be seen. You might now claim that you don't measure poly's success in years - but then what is your basis for comparison and how does it serve the poly union in staying together? Or is the whole point just to get your kicks? Poly is a great idea that I find very attractive. I think it has many advantages over traditional relationships - mostly if people can make their unions work longer term, which on average I observe that they can't, so it's a washout. It is a further observation that many people that try to make it work have many other motivations at play than actually just trying to make it work - in fact, I am jaded enough to claim with some certainty that many can't make it work, they know that fact, but use poly as an excuse to get what they want anyway. There is zero downside to claiming to be poly even though you have no discernable success rate. And in the BDSM scene - poly, bisexuality, and switching are very much the rage and have been for a long time. But on the other side of things, the more traditional side of things, there's a reason as to why *most* people do some things a particular way. The reason is simple: higher success rate. I'm not much of a believer, but the following words have the ring of wisdom to my ears: ""A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows. And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and offend the other." - The Gospel of Thomas, from the Nag Hammadi Library Anyway, if poly works for you - that's great! I wish you well. My unsolicited advice: travel light and keep your bags packed.
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