Gay Activist and Spiritual Writer Toby Johnson Gives His Erudite Take On The Goddess Mythology of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" Video

 Lady Gaga Walks the Weird Wall: Toby Johnson Reflects on the Goddess Mythology of BORN THIS WAY

 Lady Gaga's new music video for “Born This Way” begins with a powerful creation myth.

In a voiceover with eerie and dramatic space music, Gaga begins: “This is the manifesto of Mother Monster.” She then describes a birth of magnificent and magical proportions: it was the infinite birth of the mitosis of the future, infinite wombs giving birth to infinite new life—and it is eternal! It is the birth of a new race within the race of humanity, an evolution into a race that is without prejudice, without judgment, only boundless freedom. This is the birth from the Eternal Mother of the Multiverse.

But at the same time, there is another birth: the birth of Evil. And She Herself is split in two, rotating in agony between two ultimate forces. It seems so obvious that everyone would choose good, but the Mother wonders, “How can I protect something so perfect without evil?”

Then begins the song “Born This Way.” The song is unabashedly gay positive, with lyrics like “Don’t be a drag – Just be a queen” and the closing verse, “No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life / I’m on the right track baby / I was born to survive.” The rest of the verse then recaps with another layer of division among humans: “No matter black, white or beige / chola or orient made.” So all difference—sexual and racial—is celebrated as love for life; to wit, “I was born this way.”

To read the entire article follow the link to My Out Spirit here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toby Johnson, a former Catholic monk turned activist, psychotherapist and spiritual writer, was a student of Joseph Campbell and has a Master's in Comparative Religion and a doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Among his many books are Gay Spirituality: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness and Gay Perspective: Things Our Homosexuality Tells us About the Nature of God and the Universe. From 1996 to 2003, he was Editor and Publisher of White Crane: A Quarterly Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality, Johnson's central idea is that as outsiders with non-gender-polarized perspective, homosexuals play an integral role in the evolution of consciousness--especially regarding the understanding of religion as myth and metaphor--and that for many homosexuals gay identity is a transformative ecological, spiritual, and even mystical vocation. www.TobyJohnson.com

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