Ok, in a class on Queer Theory, the issue of S&M came up. It was proposed that seen in this context one might argue that safety is the opposite of desire. In an S&M scene, one can also say the bottom/Masochist is the one with the power. They agree to what can and can’t be done in the scene. They have the safeword to end the scene. Thus, in a sense, they ultimately control the scene.

This got me thinking in a weird vein… if safety is the opposite of desire (and passion)… is a safe God a static God, a God without passion… no passion of God or for God? Does the idea of a becoming God, a constantly creating God, then imply a God with passion, that inspires passion?

To get back to S&M… would an S&M scene make a metaphor for the human-God relationship? Is God the S or the M? Think of the New Testament imagery, especially of the last day of Jesus’ life. Jesus… beaten, wearing a crown of thorns, tied to a cross, pierced by a spear… Jesus is the one on whom pain is being inflicted… Jesus is the one with the power, who wished in the garden that the scene didn’t have to play out, but who refused to use the safeword to stop the scene…

Of course that makes humanity the Sadist, the one inflicting the pain on Christ as God incarnate, perhaps as the symbolic stand-in of all creation. The S&M relationship is ultimately one of trust and taking that trust to its limits, isn’t it? Is God showing ultimate trust and love for us by not using the safeword? Are we earning that trust? Are humanity, creation, God all getting what they need from the scene… trust, love, pleasure? Or has the scene gone horribly wrong?

Maybe God is a switch and wants to change roles for awhile… put me under your control God… I give my life over to you… being used in the Bible, the whole master/slave language kind of works here… In any case, maybe our relationship with God needs to be a little less safe, a little more passionate, a little more trusting, loving, pleasuring… and yes erotic.

Ah well, it’s an interesting analogy to play with. I haven’t fully explored it so I don’t know if it really works or not… and if it’s blasphemous, I don’t care and I doubt that God does either 🙂