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ones that see God as a father figure - have one thing in common: the misguided notion that the naked human body is an utterly reprehensible, prurient object a terrible thing that must be covered up from public view. In such a society, it's okay to exploit the poor and deceive the masses so long as you keep your trousers on!

How else is it possible that some humans can wander into an old-growth forest with all its splendor and majesty and breath-giving beauty and whip out their chainsaws? Me, I could only think of whipping off my clothes and jumping into the nearest river with a wild whoop of pure abandon. Call me a pagan. The raw beauty of Mother Nature is the only embodiment of divinity on this Earth that can make me fall to my knees and weep for joy.

A few years ago I was walking with a friend through the jungle towards a magnificent waterfall when I came upon a Land Rover full of forestry officers. I nodded a friendly greeting and one of the men came over, ogled my companion, and asked me point blank: "Have you seen anyone swimming naked around here?" I was taken aback. Was this guy a mind reader or something? I responded evenly: "Why do you ask?" The fat forestry officer with the sleazy aura of a Hollywood-type South American border guard explained conspiratorially: "We don't want people to come into our state forest reserve and do immoral things."

If I could beam myself back to that instant in time and space, I would have retorted: "Do immoral things? What, you mean like LOG the place? You don't wish to see this beautiful country DENUDED, is that right?"

Instead, I merely smiled sardonically and walked on, shaking my head in disbelief. For hours afterward I felt an involuntary shudder whenever the image of that sleazebag flashed into my head. Good heavens, the wriggling can of worms some folks have for brains! Perhaps I ought to put up a sign outside every forest reserve: "SNOG, DON'T LOG!" Or "DON'T BE RUDE, COME IN NUDE!"

Is it any wonder, then, that in a patriarchal society, prominent people are often the target of sexual innuendoes and outright scandal? The idea of "immorality" is always applied to sexual indiscretion, but never to breaking the Golden Rule - Do as you would be done by which is, essentially and ultimately, the only true measure of morality.

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