Money, Sex, Power
Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors
Is it fair to say that at one point in your life, just about every daily choice you made or thought you had was related to you maintaining, obtaining, or securing some abstract form of money, sex, power, or granting a privilege to someone. Each is a required essential for survival, safety, security, ego, etc. You probably had monthly expenses, raging hormones and was very ambitious. Your curiosity for excitement and pleasure was intense. Your desire for adventure and advancement was at an all-time high. When you craved all three at the same time, you believed that once you reached your financial goals, sexual conquests and professional status, your life would be the epitome of happiness and success. Although money sex and power are human basic needs or important desires of the average person, each can be weaponized to bring down important people. They can be utitilized as a monitaztion tools to get a job or to launch someone’s career or fabricated to get someone fired and destroy their life.
For some, the descriptive words (money, sex, power) are just too raw for the palate. We have the words, sex, money and power on our logo because at Straight Raw Wellness, we often keep things raw but classy. Sure, in a private conversation while amongst friends is okay. Sex is a buzz word. You wouldn’t want anyone outside of that conversation to hear you talking about you having sex last night or anyone hearing you talking about someone you want to have sex with. Out of the three words in our logo, the word sex if overheard, would draw the most attention, criticism and judgement. Sex is a word that’s associated with carnal pleasure but also assault and harassment. So, to make all three words more palatable, let’s call them rocks, paper, scissors.
As a child, you probably played or observed others playing rock, paper scissors. It’s a simple guessing game that can be played with two players and the loser has to do whatever undesirable task(s) that’s in front of them. In the game of rock, paper, scissors, you just have to know what component can beat or defeat the other. After the count of, say 3, your hand configuration illustrating Each component has power over the other but can lose to the other. You have to gd right in the right combination. Although simple, there is a strategy and people have tendencies. You will hide your hand in life to keep people from knowing what you really want. People will eventually reveal what they want from you.
At some point in everyone’s life, either money (rock), sex (paper) or power (scissors) was high on their list of priorities. Everyone at some point in their life, participated in a type of rock, paper, scissors game. Some people crave rocks paper, scissors. Although sex is used to gain money and power, sex can be used to bring down the most powerful people with money. Sex Some people may be offended by the use of Think of sex,
The Duality of Money, Sex and Power
Fuck it! Let’s call it what it is. Money, sex and power can be used to make people feel good or to fuck over people. There exists a duality in just about every facet of human existence. Good/bad, light/dark, white/black, pleasure/pain; the truth and lies are just a few of the polarizing elements that will impact everyone’s life. A reasonable person wants only to reveal to others what is good about themselves and conceal all that is considered bad. It’s natural for a person to shine a bright light on a good quality and keep their pesky demons and shameful secrets shrouded in darkness. Both white and black may be pure in concept but when they blend, they can create any shade of gray. Depending on what concept is most dominant, the new gradients create different stimuli and take on new identities and meaning.
Because what we desire and what we fear are very personal, we will hide from others what gives us the most pleasure and what causes us the greatest pain. The truth, being good and a lie being bad, both have the ability to build or destroy, or to free or imprison. There are blurred lines between fact and opinion and a thin line that separates fact from fiction. Light is not only used to expose the truth but to create a glare so bright that it can blind us from seeing what is true. We hate being lied to but ironically, we don’t always tell the truth. It’s okay when we lie to ourselves to keep doing what we need to survive and to keep the pain of the truth away. All these concepts are opposing forces that have some connection to a personal desire or personal fear. The duality and conflict between desire and fear is a constant tug-of-war in the areas of money, sex and power.
Money, sex and power, when you have access to them in abundance, can make you feel good and feel safe. However, when they are threatened or gone, you can feel a plethora of negative emotions. They can feel like a reward one day and be a consequence the next. These three essential needs create greed and fear, love and hate, admiration and envy globally. wh but they also reveal our insecurities and vulnerabilities.
Money, sex and power may use different currencies, have different partners and structure different hierarchies globally but they all speak a universal language that can be understood worldwide. They can create deep division and chaos—as well as—strong connections and unity between white and black, men and women, family and friends. The reality of duality is we will take turns being predators to be dominant and becoming prey to be dominated.
The description Money, Sex Power are raw titles. Some people may be offended be turned off by this raw usage of these three words. Some might even be offended by the above commentary. Here’s a thought to make them more mentally palatable. Don’t think of money in terms of greed or evil. Think of money as a must have to survive. Don’t think of sex as something used to Think of sex as an act to relieve stress and Power as having rights.
Our Desires and Fears Must be Balanced
If we are living our lives according to social norms, we normally have a personal life that we try to keep very private life, and a professional and social life that becomes very public. Consciously, the choices we make in either area of life are a reflection of what we view as being good for us. Or, what we perceive as being the best path to success or the best option to provide happiness. Subconsciously, we make choices to fill our voids and to satisfy our ego. In either case, we are always trying to put ourselves in position to have more. If we are not using leverage, we are hedging to mitigate our loses. We use proverbial masks to hide our alter ego and cover up our fears, vulnerabilities and insecurities. We have to create these smoke and mirror personalities to deflect what is real and true about who we are in public and at the workplace. There is nothing shocking about anyone hiding the bad, dark and painful elements of life from others. There is a code of conduct that sets boundaries and regulates behavior in society. A reasonable person knows what’s appropriate and inappropriate. Although behavior has its place, some people have issues staying inside the boundaries they set by themselves and set by society.
If life was perfect, we would want to feel and safe good all they time. We are cautious about who we share ourselves with financially, intimately and politically. In the right hands, they are used for good. In the wrong hands, they can be abused to do bad. They can turn good people into bad people and cause good people to lie, cheat and steal. People can use each desire as leverage to elevate their own lifestyle or weaponize them against others to make their lives miserable. There are people who aggressively pursue sex, money and power to make themselves feel good or make their lives feel complete. Those who claim not to care about having either desire will one day feel the wrath of someone or some group who has access to all three in abundance. In the dog-eat-dog world of duality, we will seek pleasure but encounter pain. The desire and fear they create within us keep our lives balanced.
Although needed for our survival and they bring us feelings of pleasure and pain. Each desire can make us feel good one day and bad the next. One day they can bring us pleasure and the next but can cause us pain. We put energy into to obtaining them and have anxiety about losing them. As much as we desire them, we also have fears of losing them. The obtain them we sometimes have to tell lies or hide the truth. A person with great qualities and abilities also has his or her share of diverse insecurities and vulnerabilities. There is nothing unusual about someone being selfish seeking pleasure or doing what they feel or think they need to do to survive or get ahead in life. What we were willing to do at one time to obtain more money, more sex or more power? Sacrifice their happiness and dignity to not lose them. With money, sex and power come more responsibility.
Aside from our private life, some people have a secret life. This is a life that is that exercised in total darkness or expressed exclusively with others who they can share their desires and fears. There are many who appear to be normal and pretend not to have any impulses and urges. Those people who are the biggest fakers and phonies have to do in absolute secrecy the deviant things that excite them and hide from the world the common things that scare them. The optics construct a false narrative to plant seeds of untruths in the minds of others. Those people who start believing their phony self-image and lies they created, become self-righteous and drawn further away from who they really are. The deeper we fall into our own deception, the more likely we’ll start fulfilling the desires of others in an attempt to hide our fears and protect our image. No one is perfect or has lived a perfect life. Light and discovery can ruin the lives and reputations of many people.
Some people, are honest about what they desire and it’s obvious what makes them feel good. Some people have hair like triggers to easily reveal their tendencies and temptations. Some can be out of control; hedonistic, constantly pursuing someone or something to feel good. Some people can’t hide their agendas while some can keep who they are very private and act like they have no self-serving agenda. To some people, optics and self image are everything. To others, only the truth and what’s real matters. No one can be happy always pretending what they truly desire or fear. We can’t hide who we are, and what we are not forever. We all have e desires in common. We can’t lie to get every desire we want. we can’t be honest about every fear we have. Value importance respect control
There is one concept of life that is a clear open secret that drives our emotions and behaviors. Can you think of one person who doesn’t desire three (3) desires that we pursue universally and downplay collectively. As much as we are different, at our core, we have some need that causes our survival instincts to kick in or cause us to be selfish. Where there is desire and euphoria, there can exists simultaneous feelings of fear and insecurity. When we feel threatened to lose what we desire, we will backstab our coworkers and loved ones, betray our friends and throw whoever is in our way under the bus to obtain or protect these desires.
Independence, Options, Tools
At Straight Raw Wellness, we believe that money, sex and power are the universal desires of all human beings. We may not be always engaged in the pursuit of pleasure or completely devoted to a life to pursue pleasure but we would all rather experience more pleasure than pain. We are all driven by having access to some form of money (financial resources and independence) sex (intimacy or companionship) and power (control or leverage). On some level consciously or subconsciously, we are thinking on ways to sustain what we have or how to acquire more of each desire for survival or happiness. Having one desire that is sought after or valued others, creates a gateway to the other two. For someone to get their hearts desires, this requires being in position or striving to win, succeed or be accepted in some area of life to attract others. Some people pursue money, sex or power in an attempt to be happy while others use them as a distraction to not focus on their issues. The closest connections start to become less emotional and too transactional or political. Everything we do or give someone has a string or expectation attached to it. Energy and effort are feelings and thoughts geared toward being in a position of power, maintaining or protecting some aspect of finance or romance.
Maybe everyone doesn’t have an agenda or ulterior motive for connecting with people? Maybe there are selfless people who only think of others first with no benefit to themselves in their connections with people? How can anyone exist without food and water? How can anyone navigate life or survive without having a desire or having a fear? How does anyone survive without taking care of their own needs? The real question is how can anyone be happy always taking care of the desires and needs of others? Or have a level of peace always being in fear of the people they value? Can you think of anyone who **** or has to compromise who they are morally to maintain ? Although fear has always been thought of as a weakness or a crippling emotion that prevents us from succeeding, reasonable fear can strengthen and protect us. Desire may make us feel alive but reasonable fear is what keeps us alive. We need something to motivate us but simultaneously balance and control us. We need something to manage the alter ego that exist in all of us. Situations in life are constantly pointing us to various rabbit holes. When we lose our way emotionally and spiritually, we lose perspective to finances, intimacy and politics.
We are motivated by what we desire and controlled by what we fear. Until we are ready, we will hide or disguise our desires and fears. When there is a stigma attached to fantasy or insecurity, we may not open up about what we deeply desire or deeply fear. People get so good at hiding and pretending that they lie to themselves about what drives and inhibits them. When people suppress who they are, they create a veil of secrecy. They misplace their own purpose in life and start living for others. You have to be willing to shine light on any darkness to unveil truth. Desire and fear are opposing energy forces that coexist on a conscious and subconscious level every moment of our lives. When we create the optics of not having either, we lose balance and control of our lives with people we value. When desire and fear become asymmetrical emotional components, our connections start to deteriorate. When desire in dominant, we become too selfish. When fear is dominant, our lives start to deteriorate. People start operating from a place of fear in relationships when they have anxiety about losing people, abandonment and being alone. When we are fearful, we exhibit behavior that demonstrates we value their needs and happiness over our own. When desire and fear become unbalanced, it’s difficult balance our priorities while dealing with others. Sacrifice has to be balanced or, we will throw our own happiness under the bus.
Many people take care of the needs or desires of others first because they have a fear of losing them. Their issues and insecurities make them vulnerable to other people’s selfishness. They fail to speak up about the injustices and inequalities that are both pervasive and obvious with people they value out of fear. The dynamics of friendships and relationships can move us off center and make life unbalanced and make us too eager to please. We allow our fears to control and dominate us. We can be too eager to please and jump through hoops to maintain our connections. Introspective Intelligence tells us that we need to have reasonable desire and fear. Their desires and fears are inverted. They are out of balance and operating from a place of dominant fear. All these states of being or mind states of have triggers, tendencies or temptation associated with them. and polar opposite states
With Introspective Intelligence, a person understands that winning, succeeding and being accepted are personal accomplishments that can only make us feel good for a short time. Each goal is not intended to bring long periods of happiness. As a person increases their perspective on losing, failing and rejection, they will increase their skill set to mitigate their traumatic impact and become better at managing disappointment. Alter ego With fantasy comes insecurity. More importantly, you won’t chase some form of money, sex or power (desires) believing that securing them will fill the void of emptiness.
Generally, humans have a desire to achieve financial freedom in order to create a lifestyle that is comfortable and, in some cases, lavish. We have a desire to secure sexual relationships in order to achieve human connection and companionship. Also, to fill voids of the past. We have a desire to create the leverage that opens doors of power in careers and relationships. For some, having more of each desire is better, and the fear of losing them is strong. Desire and fear are powerful emotions and are often driving forces behind mood and attitude. Both feelings have to be reasonable and balanced to be in control. Achieving a high Introspective Intelligence helps one to become self-aware of the origin of emotion and behavior with regard to the driving forces of desire and fear. The higher your level of Introspective Intelligence, the sooner you can put things in perspective to regain control.
