Original Prompt, Final Week

Kathleen Norris's "Celibate Passion"

In her first paragraph, Norris addresses two common views of celibacy, one a Conservative Catholic reading of it as "an idealized, angelic state" (396), the other a feminist theological view that "'celibate hatred of sex is hatred of women'" (qtg Uta Ranke-Heinemann). After this concession about tendencies in regarding celibacy, however, Norris shifts her focus to what she calls "celibacy that works," which she describes in this way: "[These celibates] manage to sublimate their sexual energies toward another purpose than sexual intercourse and procreation" (396, 397).  Norris negates assumptions that such celibates are "perverse" or their lives "necessarily stunted" (397), and focuses instead on how these rechannelled energies invite deeply meaningful friendships with people of "all ages [and] social classes" (397).

Norris herself is a monogamist. When she develops a strong friendship with a man (she calls him Tom) who is pledged to celibacy, she recognizes mutual signs of infatuation and sexual attraction. But instead of grounding their love for one another in "utility," Norris says they ground it in grace, which encourages a "respect for each other's commitments" and clarifies the boundaries of their relationship (400). This "celibate passion" leads to "an underlying sadness, the pain of something incomplete," but Norris then says that "human relationships are by their nature incomplete" (400). She calls Tom's commitment "celibacy at its best, a man's sexual energies so devoted to the care of others that a few words could lift me out of despair, give me the strength to reclaim my life" (400). She ends with this sentence: "Celibate passion--elusive, tensile, holy" (400).

Prompt:
Norris makes an unexpected defense of celibacy which makes for an interesting essay in itself, but she gives herself credibility on the topic when she reveals the finer details of her relationship with Tom. Although both her and Tom found it "all too easy to fantasize about expressing [their mutual] responsiveness in physical ways," they rechannelled those energies to deepen their friendship and honor their respective vows.

With this in mind, can you think of a commitment that you feel strongly about in your own life, one that you're motivated to keep despite how difficult or misunderstood it might be? Marriage vows might be too obvious, but you could widen your scope by thinking about a commitment to purchasing only cage free eggs, for example, or of visiting a lonely neighbor once a week. Once you've got something in mind, jot down the obvious, go-to reasons people might list for keeping that particular commitment, as well as the most obvious defense and critique of your topic. Then move on to unchartered waters, so to speak, to make an unexpected compelling argument for your decision. If you have a relevant confession, make it in your argument to add credibility to your essay.