Life with a Promise

I am in the middle of a confronting and empowering weekend at a Landmark Education course entitled Power & Contribution. If you've ever taken it, you know what I'm up against - life with a Promise for the World.

Let me explain...

A Promise for the World (per Landmark Education, highly paraphrased by moi) is something worth living my life in the pursuit of fulfilling... something that lights me up, that is worth taking action toward in the face of disagreement or lack of results, and that I've likely been committed to for much of my life.

In my case, my promise is that by 2016 all people are free to choose and free to live the style of intimate relationship that inspires them. I look back to when I was 33 and discovered BDSM... for the first time, I felt that I made sense to myself, I fit, and I was not broken. My next thought was, "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?!" And I've been moved to get the word out ever since. However, I can look at the underlying themes in music whose lyrics moved me in college, high school, middle school, and still see a commitment to full sexual self-expression. It truly has been there all along.

"Wow," you say, "that sound great. Now, how are you gonna do that?!"

No joke! That's where I've been grappling for the last two months, and the key is this - I don't have to do it alone. Amazing people are already out there doing great work in the area of my promise - Reid Mihalko, Megan Andelloux, Sarah Sloane, Midori, Barbara Carrellas, Anita Wagner, Baba Dez Nichols, Charles Muir and SO many more. (Who do YOU know who's up to something in this area?)

"Well," the demon in my head might say, "if they're out there doing it, why do we need you?"

"No kidding," I've thought. And this is why I've spent the last two months in a funk. Here's another key point - my promise is not Me. I, M. Makael Newby, the identity, the ego, is terrified to contact the aforementioned people, thinking that *I* have nothing of value to offer. But my PROMISE is not afraid to contact them and offer itself up, saying, "Here's what I'm up to, and where do you see yourself in this?" As soon as I take my own, little, personal identity out of the picture, detach emotionally for a particular desired result, and dwell in what's available for the World... well, there's a space to take action, eh?

I've already started creating a team of committed individuals to fulfill on my Promise. I see the need to write Mission and Vision statements next. And I need a few people willing to be a part of that conversation whose livelihoods are NOT connected to the realm of sexuality in any way - impartial partners, if you will. If you or anyone you know is inspired by what would be possible in a world where all people are free to choose and free to live the style of intimate relationship that inspires them, I invite you/them to contact me. I'd love to discuss what that could look like. (I'd also benefit from conversations with people who may NOT want that to happen.)

My next blog will fess up to where I, until last week, had sold out on being free to live what inspires me, unwilling to even desire beyond the reasonable. Yep, I'm gonna dish the dirt on myself. Stay tuned!


M. Makael Newby, 2010 - All Rights Reserved - http://mmakaelnewby.blogspot.com