In Taoism, as in Tantra and pre-Christian traditions, sexuality and spirituality are inseparable. A love relationship between a man and woman can be the embodiment of spirituality, as it is through profound union with a loved one that a person can understand ultimate harmony and spiritual union with the Universe, with God.
Many people would agree that ecstatic happiness and transcendent states of consciousness are experienced more from making love and uniting with a beloved than by going to church to worship God. When a couple make love there is the possibility to escape the sense of being a separate “I” as they unite and connect through merging with the other and reach into the universal. This is one of the reasons why the Church has always suppressed sexuality, and only sanctioned sex for the purpose of procreation. Indeed the Church has branded sex with the same negative stamp as the mystical doctrines which celebrated the fact that human beings can be united with God, and sought to inspire man to reach for such high ideals.
Deep connection and union with a beloved partner can bring a person back into harmony and spiritual union with Nature, the Universe, the Absolute, and their own inner essence, which has been suppressed and restricted. Many religious and spiritual teachers have talked about this fact.
Real spirituality lies in reality. Each one of us carries the Divine essence within. As mentioned earlier, in Taoism, Tantra, and pre-Christian religions, sexuality and spirituality are inseparable. Spirituality is embodied in the reality of life, in relations between men and women, in their basic experience of life, in love. Spirit embodies every aspect of the physical world, including the body. In many religions and cultures love is spontaneous, natural and unpredictable, whilst in Taoism a harmonious system was established through which physical, earthly, sexual energy “chin” can be transformed into vital bio-energy, the energy of life, and then into the energy of love and creativity – which is “chi”. Continuous cleaning and development of the vital energy transforms it into spiritual energy shen. In fact all three types of energies co-exist in the organism. They are in continuous union and self-regulation. We are talking about differences in quantity only and in particular the excess of one type of energy. What is known as the “communion of souls” is the result of an interaction between vital and spiritual energy. The peak experiences of making love are actually considered one of the most important components of life. Tantric ideas and Taoist techniques help to transform an orgasm from a purely physical experience into a spiritual one, and raises the connection between a couple from the physical level to an energetic exchange at a spiritual level, that directs their life forces into the spiritual sphere.
Nature created woman for erotic love. We were created by sex. We talk and read about it, make jokes, listen to anecdotes, watch sensual films and pictures, dress to be more attractive, and get satisfaction from compliments.
By her nature a woman is always ready; physically and psychologically a woman can make love every day of her adult life; even during pregnancy and breast-feeding. A woman is the expressive creation of nature. Besides the human being no other species in the animal world possesses this ability or possibility. Apart from women all other females in the animal kingdom, have a very strictly defined time for sexual interaction. There is a physiological rhythm which defines the times when a female animal can become pregnant. However when a woman will get pregnant or not, no one knows; we can only speak about the greater or lesser probabilities. If a woman wants to conceive a child she must make love constantly!
It is not only women who are programmed to make love constantly – Men are too. If the sexual act were only to ensure the continuation of the human race, why did Nature/God create the male organs with an impulse to have sexual realization with a woman up to 2 or 3 thousand times in a life-time, and not only to produce sufficient off-spring? How can we explain the fact that human sexuality awakens long before there is any biological possibility of conceiving a child? Even the hormonal system in human beings impels a person to make love constantly. In animals the female hormones cause excitation, but in women sexual excitement is activated by the masculine hormone testosterone. Oestrogen – the female sexual hormone is only necessary for reproduction. All these factors suggest that it is within the plan of Nature for human beings to make love constantly – every day.
Ask yourself: do you like it? Do you want it? How is sex connected with morality, religion and spiritual development? Which is more acceptable to you: monogamy or polygamy? Have you only ever had sex with one partner? Are you satisfied with your sex life? Do your views about sex correspond with your religious stance and moral and social standards of behavior? Do you feel that sex limits personal freedom in any way? Is sex connected with violence, art, creativity or politics? Is sex connected with guilt for you? Did you know that absence of sexual desire is the sign of dis-ease? Did you know that the expression of sexual energy influences our thinking, behavior and self-development? Why did the psychiatrist Sigmund Freud become so famous throughout the whole world? Is your knowledge of love-making complete? Do you want to learn something new? Do you have answers to all these questions?
In Russia I hear the expression "conjugal commitment" a lot. It’s very common. Wives leave their husbands because they don’t fulfill their “conjugal duties" or even worse "he refuses to fulfill his conjugal duties". It’s already reason for divorce! Do you think that a wife really wants her husband to wash the dishes, or go to the supermarket and pick up the children from school? You’re wrong! It comes down to whether she is fulfilled from making love. In truth it is more important for a woman that her husband meets his “conjugal commitments" than whether everything is in order and he is bringing home a good salary.
Religions in patriarchal society have suppressed man’s natural sexuality. In Pagan, or other primitive religions which existed during matriarchal periods however religious and sexual experience were unified. Once the shift from matriarchy to patriarchy took place however, and natural right gave way to class distinction, sexual experience was separated from religious practice, and they have remained on opposite sides of a divide ever since.
Nevertheless despite the fact that sexuality and spirituality were separated in this way, the basis of all religious experience was still rooted in sexual energy. The same sexual hormones help to raise a person to a state of religious ecstasy. Psychiatrists say that the state of religious ecstasy is the same as the state of sexual arousal of the nervous system, except it doesn’t lead to ejaculation.
Whether we accept it or not religion and sexuality are connected. For some this connection is natural and hormonal, but for others it is deformed and terrible. People who practice yoga know about the connection between Kundalini and sexual energy. But the expression of Kundalini is at the apex of spiritual understanding. Significant religious and spiritual experience is impossible without arousal of Kundalini energy.
Modern medicine is aware of the important connection between the sperm in men and the ovaries in women with the hypophysis. The hypophysis governs the intellect, thinking and memory and regulates the activity of other glands. On an energetic level however it is connected with the "third eye" which is why esoteric schools focus their attention there during meditation practices.
Civilized humanity lives in great fear of the original sin, the sin of Adam and Eve. A sinful woman tempted a good man; but tempted him with what? It is understandable with what – what can a woman tempt a man with? With her body. It is said in the Bible that they were naked! Artists have illustrated this biblical scene. The act of temptation has been portrayed in the famous painting of the prostitute who entices the respectable family man into the basement. In reality the temptation of the first man and woman had nothing to do with sex; for them sex was as normal and natural as day and night, Sun the Moon, food and sleep. They didn’t have any concept of what was spiritual and what was not, what they could do and what they couldn’t, what was correct and what wasn’t. Even clothing was unnecessary; they were always warm, and they lived freely. But then they were suddenly expelled from Paradise out into the world of duality. This is the world which we live in now. Now we divide everything, classify it and stick labels on it. Some people even say that unless we know evil we cannot know what is good. Others go further and say: "If you don’t sin – you can’t repent". People can sin at home and work, and then go to the Temple/Church to repent these things. But we are at home everyday. If the most religious person only goes to the Temple once a week; does it mean that they live in sin for the other six and a half days?
Civilized society has somehow failed to acknowledge the fact that Eve tasted the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. She saw that the world is dual; that she was a woman, and he was a man; that there is good, and there is evil, that there is black and white, poor and good, day and night, hot and cold, Yin and Yang. She gave this "poison" to Adam too. But how does this poison of duality work? It divides man from God, from the Absolute and from unity, and if we search for the devil we will find him precisely here, in this duality, and not in the fact that sometimes they were naked. Wise men have overcome this duality, and regained unity with everything, because everything is united!
Maybe from our understanding they didn’t actually make love, perhaps they were just constantly in the state of love, in the state of unity and happiness. It is not important what parts of the body they used. They had no concepts of “this is good and this is shameful”, and “if we do this mother, priest or our guardian will punish us”. They had no fear; there were no prohibitions or taboos, except to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps sexuality emerged after God expelled the happy pair from Paradise? Read the bible again. Adam felt bored being alone; there was no happiness or harmony in his soul. So God gave him a wife. And "he got to know her". Even according to the biblical version, lovemaking was not only a norm, but also a necessary element of harmony and happiness for man. And undoubtedly this was what they did in paradise. They didn’t have to struggle for survival.
The Inquisition of recent times, during the Middle Ages added fuel to the fire. The "Holy fathers" feared the manifestation of feminine natural power, female energy, because female sexual energy is more powerful than masculine energy. True, men have physical power, money or authority, but a woman has wisdom, craftiness, instinct and sexual energy. Christianity fought against other religions and ideologies and destroyed everything and every person who didn’t agree with their doctrine. From having once been the persecuted Christians became the persecutors. As a result the entire edifice of spirituality was torn from sexuality, and spirit was made to contradict the body.
In the middle of summer in Russia people have always celebrated Janco Kupal's day, when naked girls would gather flowers and bathe at night in the river.
Do you remember Tarkovsky’s film "Andrey Rublev"? In this film girls not only make garlands of flowers; this is the only day of the year when a woman could allow herself to express her true female essence and sexuality. These are echoes of the ancient Slavic rites, that became assimilated and mixed with Christian holy-days, but many other traditions and rituals were wiped out. The significance behind the Easter cake came from somewhere pre-Christian, and it clearly resembles a very sacred Tantric symbol. And why are eggs painted red? Almost no-one knows of the ancient myth that this tradition recalls, that told of how evil spirits were frightened away by the "lunar blood of the woman". No one reads the Evangelists, except specialists, but in it we learn of how Christ had related with Magdalene in a very natural and normal way. She did not only pour oil on his head -- she also massaged his body: the massage that was written about. His male disciples reproached Christ for spending more time with Magdalene than with them.
That there is a connection not only between sexual energy and spirituality, but also with violence, cruelty and crime is well known. Some psychologists consider that a person who is motivated to enter politics having come from a different background is almoste certainly suffering from some disturbance in their sexual life. Maybe that’s why one of the requirements demanded of presidential candidates in some countries is proof that they have a “normal” family. Everybody would agree that the likes of Lenin, Hitler and Stalin were deviations from the norm. But just how many people live constantly in deviation from the norm?
The Church attempts to maintain humanity under some control by inducing fear and regulating sexual expression and experience. I do not have objective data, but it seems that the violence and cruelty displayed in much of the Christian world is no different from so-called primitive societies or tribes. But these primitive peoples literally laughed at how Christian missionaries made love. Contemporary prophets are declaring with one voice that humanity does not have any alternative besides the spiritual way of self-development. Will humanity cease to make love?
It seems to me that besides the real integration of body, consciousness and Spirit, you and I, in this so-called progressive humanity have no other way. From duality and the contradictions of competition we must arrive at unity and harmony. That is the spiritual paradigm shift we are experiencing, because the Kaliyuga age -- the iron century devoid of spirituality must give way to the Satya-yuga phase - the Golden Age of spirituality. There are quite a large number of people of the opinion that Russia will be the center of humanity’s spiritual revival. I also want to think that. Moreover, I hope that the basic conditions of Tantra will contribute to this process. What is there to indicate that this assumption is true?
1. Predictions of saints.
2. Strong spiritual roots. A natural inner spirituality of the people.
3. There is a special spirit and energy of Russia.
4. An inner tendency toward the search for new ways of development and self-improvement.
5. Courage to sacrifice oneself for an idea.
6. The ego is not so deeply felt as in other "civilized" nations.
Along with the above mentioned points there is a general opinion that Russians are natural tantrics. The massive manifestation of Kundalini and spontaneous Yoga further strengthens my ideas on this.
Christian asceticism and yogic abstention (Brahmacharya) share the same concept at the heart of it all. For spiritual development, and spiritual growth it is necessary to have a constant flow of sexual energy. It doesn’t need to be suppressed or destroyed, but it needs to be sublimated and can then be used for rejuvenation and spiritual development. If this energy was not necessary on the way of spiritual development, then what would be simpler than castration? But no castrated man has become brilliant or a saint. That’s why abstention, sublimation and transformation of sexual energy give the energy of life and fuel the energy of the spirit. Medieval alchemical terms about the transformation of lead and mercury into gold conceal this process exactly. Even in order to meditate sexual energy is needed. The best time for meditation for many people is the early morning, as this is when the channel of the liver and the channel of sexual energy are active.
Hindus believe that the cosmic energy of creation is sexual energy. It manifests on the terrestrial and planetary level in a macro-cosmic scale of the entire Universe and on the micro-cosmic scale in each person.
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