Naturism, this unknown...
"Naturism is a movement that promotes respect for people, living beings and the environment through a less artificial contact of the human being with the natural environment, which can also be expressed in a state of nudity, considered as a natural condition for the human being." from Wikipedia (IT)
Love your neighbor as yourself.
My freedom ends where yours begins.
In the collective imagination, naturism mainly means going to the beach to swim in the sea without a swimsuit and get a full-body tan, at most going to some dedicated campsite or sauna. This is roughly what animates the imagination of the common man, dedicated to reading pseudo-serious, scandalous, sensational or "trendy" news magazines, when he hears the word naturism, a fantasy often tickled by more or less latent, more or less legitimate desires of voyeurism, more or less repressed, and the common propensity for easy moral judgment, which is so beneficial to the embellishment of one's ego and its defense mechanisms.
Of course, naturism can also be this, but not only, and not necessarily. Because naturism is mainly a form of love and respect for oneself, for others, and for Nature as a whole. You can very well be a naturist even with a bathing suit, and not be one even without one!
Naturism as a social movement, as we know it today, was born mainly in the countries of Northern Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, so it is not a strictly modern phenomenon, indeed if we think of the schools of ancient Greece, where physical activity and athletics were an integral part of philosophical teachings, with a less clear demarcation between body and psyche, and where athletes trained and competed in complete nudity, we can see that we moderns have not invented anything new. Just think of the traditions of other cultures, still alive today, such as the hammams of the Middle East or Japanese ritual baths, Roman spas and Finnish saunas.
So it is anything but a modern thing, and when someone objects "I am old fashioned" I smile, probably they do not know what it was like in the old days.
Section of the ancient Roman Baths of Diocletian
Image Credit: National Geographic
Doing some bibliographical research, the most interesting texts regarding naturism date back to the 20s/30s/40s of the last century, and something interesting can be found up to the 60s/70s, after which our Western culture has gradually had a frightening decline, in every field really, an increasingly palpable void has spread in these last decades, filled only by empty and misleading chatter and debates. In unsuspected times therefore, when we think that morality and customs were more rigid and backward, unexpectedly we discover a freedom of thought and a consideration for the human being in his totality, much much more advanced and elevated than what we so-called moderns have today: we have lost a lot of dignity!
This "new" philosophy, which is therefore more of a re-discovery than a discovery, aimed to pursue psycho-physical well-being and the integration of the individual with nature and other beings, to valorize him as a being of body and spirit in harmony with the natural elements: air, water and sun mainly, and laid the foundations of a sober and healthy lifestyle based on love and care for one's body, on a healthy diet preferably vegetarian, on natural cures and remedies and on the social equality of individuals. From these roots were born some of the practices that are still in vogue today, such as vegetarian cuisine or homeopathic medicine.
Once the concepts expressed above in the subtitle, on love and freedom, have been assimilated, everything else comes as a consequence, Naturism is a philosophy of life that totally involves spirit, thought and body and is realized in practical and daily actions, in real life. One of the great problems of man seems to be his separation between mind and body, between spirit and matter, often attributing arbitrary connotations of value to them, without realizing that these two aspects are two sides of the same coin, that shape each other, that are the consequence of each other.
Naturism is therefore also an attitude, of respect and understanding mainly, towards one's own psycho-physical well-being that involves the emotional, affective, spiritual and physical sphere of every aspect of one's existence. Therefore, beyond the swimsuit or not, the naturist will always try to consciously evaluate his actions in every area of action and thought: in nutrition for example, in movement and physical activity, in the way of shopping, of using one's money and one's time, seeking a modus operandi as ethical as possible. And there is no need to become a martyr or a saint, quite the opposite, but a compromise can be found that is both ethical and joyful.
It is a way of seeing and searching for the essence, beyond the illusory external aspect of things. Trying to penetrate the mystery and perceive the connection that lies behind everything, small or large, from the distant and immense starry sky to the smallest pebble in the river. Naturism is a microcosm, but always a reflection of the macrocosm, where everyone in their own way can free themselves from the sleep and physical and mental "armor" that daily keep them chained to a role, to a sort of part in a comedy, to be able to feel lighter and freer, a sort of decompression space, and to be able to explore the world inside and outside of themselves, and perhaps discover with surprise that even this boundary is not as clear as it may seem.
It can be a strictly personal or socially shared path, but in any case you will feel the presence of a "powerful force" that everyone will call as they see fit (soul, freedom, instinct, kundalini, etc. etc.), a force that brings with it a social and also "political" message with multiple implications, I would dare say a revolutionary message, as revolutionary is the message of the two opening sentences, always current even if very ancient. A peaceful revolution, and that can also be only internal, individual, because perhaps this is the only way to actively change the world, to change yourself.
For me there is no naturism that can be defined, that can be explained or enclosed in a definition, there are many naturisms, one for each individual, and giving a definition is an act substantially contrary to its nature. To claim to give a definition, as well as trying to limit or regulate it, would be like caging it, killing it, trivializing it, and that is what we always try to do, perhaps in order to trivialize it to make it harmless, perhaps transforming it into a source of profit, a commodification, a typical attitude of our society that does not understand anything other than within these logics.
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