250 yr old book on Evils of masturbation & cures

While I claim (for lack of better words) my family's religion, I've not ever really been particularly religious myself. I've heard and read that most religious texts do actually advocate against masturbation in some way or another. Is that not correct? Also, I was and am just like you in that regard. I've read for years garbage online about how consuming porn, masturbating and ejaculating without restraint are "normal and healthy" but I've known for just as long that it's all pure and total bullshit.

 

Was the pastor also insinuating porn use? Masturbating very occasionally is very different form masturbating using porn and snowballing into an addiction. But its kinda of funny because in my case porn came first and masturbation came second...

 

Men who worship money and acquire vast amounts of wealth successfully are some of the most powerful forces of evil and destruction in this world.

 

https://odysee.com/@wayoftheworld:7/basedteacher:2

 

Its very weird because in the Torah I believe it clearly states to not lend money but then Jews have this reputation and repetitive history, it seems. Also its funny how he is calling lending money wrong but investing money isn't, how are those two things any different, in essence?

 

No he wasn't advocating porn use. These were the days before the internet, and I had little access to porn and wouldn't have kept it due to shame and guilt if I got it. I did have access to R movies which was a porn starter for me. Anyway, for me I know it was compulsive, and addictive. I also know my fantasy world was degenerate. In my immature mind, I couldn't articulate all that other than I felt it was wrong for me to do and I felt guilt and shame when doing it.

 

Here's something I got out of the preface: "My design was to write upon the disorders occasioned by masturbation, or self pollution, and not upon the crime of masturbation. Besides, it is not the crime sufficiently proved, when it is demonstrated to be an act of suicide? Those who are acquainted with men, know very well that is is much easier to make them shun vice by the dread of present ill, than by reasons founded upon principles , the truth of which has not been sufficiently inculcated into them. "

Yea, that's basically the nofap approach. He realizes it's easier to motivate someone to virtue by explaining the harms of the vice as opposed to discussing the morality of the action. He obviously believes it is immoral based on the use of his descriptive words. From the examples he gives, it seems most in his culture agreed with him. Yet he knew that a compulsion like this cannot always be abandoned just because you believe it bad, you must understand the harm it is doing and can do to you. The reference to suicide is also insightful. This is an act of self harm, but the harm itself is evidence of the immorality of the action.

The funny thing is no one ever told me it was possible to remain abstinent, or what to do with pend up desire until nofap. About 12 years ago before nofap I studied some online resources based on Taoism that semen retention makes you stronger and it is better to retain to maximize your masculinity. That was good, and I believed it in principal, but I didn't completely buy it because I was married and wasn't sure it was possible (could it be a Eastern myth?). It did motivate me for a short time, but I was edging so I couldn't maintain it.

 

My personal experience has been similar. It's been quite some time that I've been somehow naturally aware of the harms of p/m/o. I'm in my mid 30s now but in my late teens and early 20s, it seemed everyone I tried to go to for help (therapists, psychologists and so on) were keen on either suggesting I was overly religious and dealing with guilt or dismissing my suspicions and theories altogether and offering me drugs to mask any symptoms I was experiencing as a result of excessive sexual activity.

I've been into edging for damn near two decades and there's absolutely no denying the toll it's done on my body and mind. I consider myself to be one of many who had to learn the hard way about the truths of p/m/o the hard way. Today, my attention span is shit, I continue to have very little energy physically, I'm not successful in any measurable way, etc. I've cut down my rate of ejaculation from 7-10 times per week a decade or so ago to 1-3 times per week and that's at least allowed me to lessen the frequency and severity of anxiety I tend to suffer with.

 

Thanks for sharing. I have been able to get almost 80 days now without self masturbation/orgasm. I was off porn first (over 6 months now), but still struggled with masturbation and fantasy. It wasn't until I could let go of the fantasy and any self indulgence that I could really stop. Like the book, I had to focus on the harms if I failed and the benefits if I succeeded. What I found was benefits I didn't expect. I had struggled with insomnia all my life, but when I got in the habit of not indulging in the night, I could get back to sleep. Strength, focus, motivation, confidence all increased as I kept sober. There are times that are harder than others, but I just want you to know it is possible, and once you can break through without any compromise, it gets better and better.

 

Someone told.me that the divine punishment for masturbation is poverty.

 

https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/ulysses-resists-ongoing-journal.356154/page-4#post-3755340

Lot's of wives tales circulated about MO when I was a kid: You'll go blind, your will grow hair on your palms, you will run out of semen and not be able to have babies. But the divine punishment is really bad thinking, centered on guilt. I struggled with this a lot. If you want to read more of my story related to this, please see my recovery journal here: https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/ulysses-resists-ongoing-journal.356154/page-4#post-3755340

 

There is a reason some of those were outlandish. It was intentional. Think of the Truth "anti-smoking" campaign. They always used people who represented the worst case scenario of what can happen to you if you smoke for decades. It was a psychological operation. No one sees that shit and thinks it'll happen to them so they better stop. Masturbation is harmful; THEY just don't want anyone to be wise to that fact.

 

Idk if I agree with you guys on this. The "myths" are really based in reality.

blindness - loss of semen makes you unaware, unable to focus, unable to see the invisible, many on this forum call it brain fog

hairy palms - guilty people tend to scratch or rub their palms (as a classical motif and also as a natural phenomenon), masturbating makes you feel guilty so your palms feel itchy like there is hair growing on them

run out of semen - we know that semen regenerates but it is also a known fact that when a couple struggles with fertility they tell the man to retain his semen until the couple tries for a baby

acne - I've noticed that I touch my face a lot more after relapsing just from the anxiety, when I'm on a good streak my skin is clear

I'm catholic and attend the traditional latin mass; guilt is an essential part of the eucharist. Jesus Christ suffered because of our sins, because of what we did and continue to do.

 

I didn't argue otherwise. But a lot of what you wrote isn't exactly based in reality in the conventional sense – it's metaphorical. Deteriorating eyesight is a real symptom or phenomenon that can and does occur with regular or excessive loss of semen. Hairy palms? Not so much. In the sense that you described, sure, yes. Considering the nature of people in the past vs that of people today, you're probably onto something. They didn't write and discuss everything in literal, "scientific" terms as we do nowadays.

I personally am a huge believer in the power of abstinence or semen retention.

Did anyone catch this post on Reddit earlier today?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Semenretention/comments/1baukcy/weird_benefit_with_teeth/

 

This is my last refection on the preface:

"I was in hopes of stopping the progress of a corruption more baneful perhaps than small pox, and the more to be dreaded, as by its working in the shades of mystery, it secretly undermines, without even those who are its victims thinking of its malignity. ... Let the eyes of youth be opened, and let them learn by degrees the danger as well as the evil; this would be the surest means of preventing that decay which is complained of inhuman nature, and perhaps of restoring to, in a few generation, the strength and power of our ancestors,"

Interesting that in that generation, they perceived the lack of strength and fortitude of their generation as compared to their ancestors. If they only knew how we look at them now. They probably looked upon masturbation as we look upon porn today. They saw it as a debilitating compulsion that drained a man of his masculine strength, which it is.