Not One and Not Three

 

I've been riveted by this photograph for years. I've shared it here before. I have no idea where it originated. 

Today it invites me deep into a submerged narrative. The men are photographed from an upper-floor balcony. Another man sits on a couch outside the frame, only his feet visible, with further coils of leftover rope lying scattered. The three men have been carefully, skillfully, and lovingly bound into the triad. They actively hold the outer ropes taut to complete the triangle. Did they themselves participate in tying the knots that bind them, or did they consent passively as others incorporated them into a living mandala? 

Are they erect (so beautifully erect!) with the simple excitement of being tied together nude? I choose to believe that their arousal is itself part of the ritual, even if the ritual consists in simple awareness of the object of meditation that they've become. What are they feeling and contemplating, as energy circulates among them with each small movement of an arm or leg? How many men are participating as witnesses, unseen by us, in addition to the photographer and the man on the couch? For how long have the three given themselves over to this perfection?

And then personal fantasy takes over. I imagine multiple men caressing them to the point of simultaneous ejaculation: their semen becoming a sacramental substance, shared by all present.

But individually driven fantasy rarely creates a ritual structure that can serve an entire group equally. If I dial back my own wish-fulfillment to make space for others, it's enough that these men have become, for the moment, a dynamic, breathing manifestation of sexmagic. At the end of the dedication ceremony, they'll be untied with as much ritual intention as went into their binding--just as a Tibetan sand mandala is created, dedicated, and immediately swept away.

Imagine yourself in that room, chanting to the sound of a steady drumbeat, your own erection rising in acknowledgement. Or: imagine being bound together with two kindred souls into a manifestation of Sacred Eros contemplating Itself. And yet in that union, three open hearts each beautifully and uniquely remaining its own.