Simple Truths -Familiar bondage, unfamiliar freedom
The scourge of pornography is real and it spares few, especially since it is now available at the click of a button on your ‘personal device’. And since one has access to it on a ‘personal device’ there seems to be both a sense of ‘availability on demand’ and a feeling of security from supervisory eyes.
This is your device and no one can figure out what you’re viewing because you have the password and the possession of the device. In a flash you become a voyeur into the world of people acting out what ought to be so intimate between two people. You can now throw open the window of a bedroom and watch a sexual act as if you were sent an invitation to view; and there is no dearth of windows to choose from.
Unfortunately, what seems like a time of pleasure is really a bondage which has now become too familiar. Now that you have walked into the parlour of the spider you find yourself entangled; getting out seems difficult. This familiar bondage is bitter sweet, for there are some who seeks it as recourse from their stresses only to find that the world it invites you into stresses you out more, if not messes up your mind. This is not reality but sadly even many married people have come to believe it to be true. Ironically they are left unfulfilled in what should have been the most fulfilling intimate act between two people.
Pornography is a mask the devil wears to offer us comfort. God on the other hand confronts us. Ironically we have grown comfortable with the comforting voice of Satan and are unsettled by the confronting voice of God.
Fr. Warner D'Souza is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He has served in the parishes of St Michael's (Mahim), St Paul's (Dadar East), Our Lady of Mount Carmel, (Bandra), a ten year stint as priest-in-charge at St Jude Church (Malad East) and at present is the Parish Priest at St Stephen's Church (Cumballa Hill). He is also the Director of the Archdiocesan Heritage Museum and is the co-ordinator of the Committee for the Promotion and Preservation of the Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church.
