I really like The Marginalia, and she posted about Alcott being single her whole life.
Thoreau's listening to his own inner voice leads perhaps to an unconventional life that doesn't attract a mate.
I find it amazing that I was basically in a relationship from 16-53. I really like being single, and I'm not really seeing the appeal of online dating, or maybe I want to be single longer.
In buddhism, monks a celibate. It's considered beneficial to not have romantic and sexual relationships on the path. The Buddha said it was better to stick your dick into the mouth of a snake than it was to put it in a woman. It's not something they lead with and the path of Buddhism isn't a prescriptive morality, it's not against sex for people not on the path. And there are some highly evolved house holders, people who were not monks. But it's just easier if you can let go of that.
I struggle relinquishing the mating mind. I judge women's bodies, fantasize and yearn for intimate release.
Thoreau doesn't really talk like that, and we don't know much about his sexual life.
Links:
Thoreau's sexuality: "Although Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) has often been described as lacking in sexual drive or at most a rather reluctant heterosexual, a close study of his life and writings indicates the presence of a pronounced vein of homoeroticism--although there seems to be no concrete evidence of any homosexual activity on his part."
I tend to think he took friendships with young men quite seriously, but that doesn't mean there was no sexual element. Sexuality is intertwined in us, overlapping with many things. He certainly was a great teacher and friend.
In those days there were not all these provocative flesh exposure, it was probably easier in those days to be celibate.
Laying Flatism is a weird name for being single.
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