2015-09-01 – Truth. The Duggar family had a code word to suppress sexual thoughts. Are you kidding me? I just learned this. The word was “Nike.”

Are you kidding me?

Supposedly, when Duggars have sexual thoughts, they say “Nike!” and they look to the ground, as if they are ashamed. And, I guess, the sexual thoughts are supposed to just vanish from their lust-filled mind.

I’ll bet they did.

More likely, the repeated association of the work “Nike” with sexual thoughts trained the Duggars to be triggered in the opposite direction, to lust in their hearts every time they saw a pair of gym shoes. (And sometimes the lust wasn’t confined to their hearts.)

As the Nike slogan says: “Just do it!”

I hope this story isn’t true. Are people so unaware of the ways a human mind works that they would have a safe word like this?

Nike. Nike. Nike. . . . Oh, God! Oh, God! Oooh, Gahhh!

(If you are interested in safe words in another context, click here.)

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The problem with people like the Duggars is that they think that sexual arousal is something that happens to you—from the outside. But that isn’t how it works at all. Sexual arousal is internal. It happens first in your head and then propagates out to your extremities (if you know what I mean).

It’s like hunger or thirst or the need for sleep or the need to breathe. Yeah, these urges may be influenced by outside stimuli. You may feel hungry is you see your neighbor barbecuing. You may feel thirsty when someone hands you a cool one. You yawn when you see someone yawn. You gasp when you see something amazing or frightening.

But these urges happen without any stimulus. You feel hungry when you need to eat. You fee thirsty when you’re dehydrated. You yawn when you are tired. And you breathe when . . . we’ll all the time.

Sexual urges are . . . all the time. For the Duggars, they are all the time PLUS whenever they hear the word “Nike.”

The insanity is thinking you can turn these things off. (Many religious groups think they can accomplish this by adopting “modest” dress. They are just as deluded as the Duggars.)

* * *

Recognizing that these urges come unbidden is not the same as saying you must always give in to them. You eat too much, you get fat. You drink too much, you spend your time at the toilet. You sleep too much, you get nothing else done. You breathe too much, you pass out.

Responding to every sexual urge isn’t a good thing either. But attempting not to have the urges in the first place? It’s not going to happen.

That’s the truth.

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And speaking of truth: A month from today, on October 1, we will be celebrating Diogenes Day. Diogenes Day is a holiday devoted to truth! It is the anti-April Fools’ Day. For more information, click here, or go to the Diogenes Day link at the top of my blog.

#DuggarFamilyValues #DiogenesDay #honestyday