I believe it can be enjoyed standalone but also makes a lot more sense for someone who has already read the first 3 parts in the original book.
Check out the Chandler’s Honesty page on my blog to read the first 2 parts for free on my blog. The story of how I met Honesty the unicorn is rather interesting and quite personally transforming. The cover image that shows on Smashwords and on Amazon is a variation of the first book cover combined with my midnight rainbow picture from years ago. The subtitle “A Horse in the Night” is a parody of “A Thief in the Night” which symbolizes how Honesty came into my life when I least expected at the lowest most depressing points in my life and acted as a therapist to help me process my emotional trauma.
Chastity thought she had it all figured out. She knew she was on the perfect path of ethical veganism and celibacy. She knew who she was and life seemed pretty good, but Honesty had warned her once before that she would in the future be tested even beyond anything she had experienced. She wondered what this test could possibly be and wondered if perhaps there was still some great fear or challenge coming that would break her soul. She didn’t know it at the time but it would be this very fear that was her greatest enemy. She could be the strongest, most honest, and most excellent example of someone who followed the Golden Rule. But life has a delicate balance and there is a dark side to everything and everyone, even Chastity. When this test Honesty mentioned happened, would she have the strength to resist her greatest fears? Or will it be her doom?
I asked to talk with Poffo on the topic of sexuality and how our response to it is an essential aspect of any person’s worldview. Poffo and I disagree on whether there exists a healthy and purely good form of sexuality. To me, sexuality requires a worldview in which to explain the meaning and purpose of all things. Unlike Poffo, I believe that Nature made a mistake.
Poffo’s statement: ** Sex & Sexuality ** I believe that sex is a healthy, wholesome, incredibly powerful activity/experience, that should be embraced and enjoyed by all, but only in the context of yourself or two or more *consenting* adults, and only if your activities are not harming to yourself or damaging to others. Obviously, this would imply that procreation and human reproduction should be discouraged, because it violates both of these principles, in that it is a non-consensual act (from the viewpoint of your offspring), that imposes the inevitable hardship and suffering of life onto the potential child being born, since it will inevitably cause harm to them or to others, in some way, shape or form. For modern humans, intentional breeding is ALWAYS a selfish act, that is guaranteed to cause sickness, death, pain, discomfort, trauma, turmoil, suffering and disease, to your potential child and those around them (this is the view of all Anti-natalists, but it is not something i have incorporated into Biopan in any significant way). Getting back to the subject of sex, another important point to consider is this: if it is not a desirable thing to someone personally, then it should in no way be forced or imposed upon them (as in the case with anyone on the asexual spectrum). Romance, passion, sensuality, intimacy, and physical pleasure should be encouraged under the parameters of the guidelines i mentioned above and in the video. Marriage or committed, monogamous relationships are not a required or necessary prerequisite, but a healthy mind and body are. Pre-marital sex, extra-marital sexual activity, masturbation, fornication and promiscuity, are not condemned, but the exploitation, manipulation, or glorification of our bodies, physical intimacy, and erotic or sexual sensation, that is co-opted and usurped for selfish or financial gain, recreated falsely as an illusion to others for money and portrayed in a dishonest way, as in the case with strippers, pornography, prostitution, escorts, or any form of sex-worker activity, that is superficial, dishonest, one-sided or isolated, without any other emotional component, will inevitably lead to problems (not necessarily for those choosing to do this, but for the observers on a psychological and emotional level). Aside from these forms of hijacking and manipulation, humans can engage in committed, monogamous, polyamorous, same-sex, opposite-sex, virtual-sex, or solo-sex, as long as they want, any time they want, with whomever they want, in whatever way they chose, as long as it doesn’t induce guilt, shame, self-hatred, self-loathing, self-condemnation, or become an unhealthy preoccupation or fixation, that interferes with other areas of life and inhibits your ability to function in a holistic way. Sexual desires should be pursued and fulfilled mutually and intentionally, not repressed or suppressed, demonized, judged or condemned. Sexual fantasies should be pursued and experienced in a balanced and healthy way, that allows for the exploration of pleasure, intimacy, sensuality, and the release of sexual energy and tension in a deliberate and wholesome way, that does not interfere with other aspects of life, or cause psychological or emotional problems to the individual. The Biopantheism outlook on sex is that we are all animals, and that this activity/experience, served a necessary utilitarian function, that allowed all species on this planet to evolve and proliferate… and in the higher organisms, facilitate certain important bonds and strengthen familial ties needed for survival. This was a necessary and useful adaptation, and i do not believe that Nature in Its unconscious wisdom, made a “mistake” by creating or allowing it to exist. As with anything else in life, context and intention is key and how it is used or experienced in each situation, determines whether or not it is a healthy and wholesome action. Any preoccupation, fixation, or obsession, that leads to a dysfunctional or destructive imbalance of mind and body, should be avoided and discouraged. AND, that includes the demonization and phobic response/reaction and aversion to it, based on past traumas and negative experiences. Basically, in my ontology, you can have any view you want when it comes to sex under the Biopan paradigm, as long as it is not a *negative* view and your actions don’t involve children, family members, non-human animals, or doing something self-destructive or obsessive. As long as it is being experienced between two or more consenting adults and no one is being harmed, I will always view it as a good thing.
C: Yes, Honesty, I will keep doing what I know I must do, although I do not see any reason to believe I will be successful. Most people don’t listen to me and I am unable to say the right words at the right time. I stutter when I am nervous and people judge me for my autistic disabilities or because I am not a Christian or because they are turned off by my vegan and transgender ways.
H: Yes but your message is not for those people. Some people are not willing to listen no matter what you say because they don’t want to know the truth. It’s not because of who you are or your perceived weirdness that makes them not listen. It’s that they don’t want to give up what they have.
C: But doesn’t progress require everyone to all come to an agreement? Can there really be peace or an end to suffering if everyone is in their own reality? If half the people see the truth while the other half either remains ignorant or doesn’t care about how their actions affect others, I will never see the world that I would like to see. A world where everyone’s life is respected equally and where we can all be happy. Everyone! Human, cow, sheep, pig, chicken, black, white, male, female, intersex, rich, poor. All of us are the same! All of us are one! How then is it that we are still separated and opposing each other?
H: I have some bad news for you, Chastity. The world may never be as perfect as you would like it to be. Nonetheless, you have seen that life has value even though it is full of suffering. The truth is that every good thing is defined by the very opposite of what you would like. You came to this understanding that all of us are one connected life but you came to this knowledge by great pain. Had your life been easier you might not be the person you are now. The suffering you experienced led you to seek the truth in ways that others cannot because they have too much to lose. Do you remember the story of Jesus talking to the rich young man who asked how to inherit eternal life?
C: The time where Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”?
H: Yes, that’s the one. What do you think Jesus meant by that statement?
C: That those who have things they want to keep have a hard time changing because they don’t want to lose what they have. Jesus told the rich man to sell what he had and give the money to the poor and then come and follow him. After that he just walked away sad.
H: Yes. That’s because a person may not want to hear something because it means that if they accept it, they have to give up everything they have. They could lose friends, family, their job, or even killed for speaking the truth or living according to the truth they have been given. For this reason, narrow is the way that leads to life and there are few who find it. The more you have to protect, the more afraid you are and less willing to change when you find new information.
C: Is this why all the most important people I know in my life have endured great suffering and are often alone without friends or family to support them in hard times?
H: Yes, because those are the people who went against the majority and expected actions, appearance, and beliefs of their culture. They have lost much but gained so much more, although they don’t always see it. It’s not easy to stare the ugly truth in the face and yet still go on living. This is often why so many of the very best people either die by suicide or end up using something else to distract them from the pain of their own lives or the pain they witness.
C: I see. I already didn’t have all that much to begin with and it was easy for me to try things that no one else would be willing to do. I didn’t value my life and so I was willing to take huge risks and do the craziest things. I joined the Navy, I left Christianity and found my own way, I became Vegan, I got a full time job even though at the time I didn’t have a clue how I was going to get to work each day when it was 9 miles away. I fought doctors until I found someone willing to remove my testicles, I published my books which contain almost my entire life history! I did it all because I had no fear!
H: Yes, and always remember to keep this memory of how you did what you did in the past. Many times yet in the future you will be tested even beyond anything you have experienced so far and there will come a time when you will be tempted to tell less than the truth because you will have things and people in your life that you are afraid of losing. But when this happens remember that you have the strength of a unicorn and when these times come you will do what you know is right even if everyone around you tries to tell you that you are wrong. Fear not, neither be dismayed, for I am your Unicorn. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my Silver Horn of Truth!
After the unicorn said these things, Chastity awoke from the dream and understood where she came from and where she was going. She had the strength to not let anyone tell her who she was or what she should be doing. She pondered over everything Honesty had said.
C: Yes, Honesty was right. Living in truth is the only way to truly be alive. I will do my best to remember the message of Honesty the Unicorn and not to do something because I am afraid but because I know I am doing what feels true to me. When the time comes, I’ll know what is right. And I have a feeling that I will see Honesty the next time I need the strength of a unicorn.
Chastity White Rose 