This is a very personal topic and I apologize for forcing it on you, but something has happened to me that I wonder about.
Most of you that know me online (and that's almost everyone in my life except for family), know I've been a spiritual "seeker" for almost four years. I think at the beginning it was a curiosity, then it began to become more and more serious, almost like a hunger or need. The past month it seems to have become so intense it has consumed almost every waking moment. I'm spending most of my day contemplating the spiritual realm. It dawned on me a few days ago that I haven't had a sexual fantasy in a month or more. While I was never a sex addict or anything, like most grown humans I experienced the occasional sexual fantasy. I wonder if this decline in fantasy is normal for most spiritual seekers. I am not at all worried about it; in fact, I think this is a good thing for me because it shows I'm automatically purifying myself as if readying myself for more growth towards a higher level, in which animal needs have no place.
13 comments:
Do you think that it possible to have sex at a purely spiritual level?
I have never been there, but I have experienced a couple of distinctly different levels.
IMHO, Sophia, you're better off without the sexual fantasies. They just muck you around for the most part.
sex is a holy thing
when one denegrates the body in favor of the spirit one denegrates both.
All beings by nature are Buddha,
as ice by nature is water;
apart from water there is no ice,
apart from beings,
no Buddha.
–Hakuin
Divinity can be found in this world, and the mundane can be found in Divinity.
Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro, in “The teaching and practice of
Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael,” points out that ultimately these two worlds are one,
though they do not often appear to be so. Reality is sometimes perceived as being
“out there” and other times as “in here.” Both are valid.
They are simply aspects of the same ultimate reality, and both point to ultimate meaning.
–Avram Davis (Best Practices: A distillation of techniques and outlook; found in Meditation in the heart of Judaism)
As a seeker, if you carry on....
you will go through many changes. These changes include a physical body chemistry change.
The trick is not to get caught in the shiny baubles you will obtain along the way...as these are mere temptations, much like Satan tempting Christ in the desert.
"I wonder if this decline in fantasy is normal for most spiritual seekers."
I feel it is since spirituality's purpose is to help we mortals rise above the mundane and material life.
Sex is the highest expression of physical and spiritual love between two persons. That's the reason why it should be held or kept sacred. By having just one partner everytime. Serial monogamy. Very important Christian teaching.
I am not a Christian anymore but I still agree.
What's wrong with spending the whole weekend making love with your husband or wife? Or the whole week for that matter?
It's the highest form of discipline that requires practice and utmost care.
To deny yourself or your partner that is Sin.
Well, nobody is perfect.
You can't be too selfish.
-- Ayn Rand
I'm sure she said one time or another.
to further this discussion something I wrote :...
Jesus saw some little ones nursing. He said to his disciples, “These little ones who are nursing resemble is those who enter the kingdom.” They said to him, “So shall we enter the kingdom by being little ones?” Jesus said to them, “When you (plur.) make the two one and make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below, and that you might make the male and the female be one and the same, so that the male might not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye and a hand in place of a hand and a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image - then you will enter [the kingdom].” –Gospel of Thomas 22
http://magdelene.wordpress.com/2007/09/08/gnostic-sex/
If one actually examines the teachings of the New Testament for example one finds it states more that sleeping around is wrong, not unmarried or same gender relationships.
The ideas of monogamy for instance were largely instituted via the Romans. Romans that have advocated monogamy and celibacy. While practicing orgies and having brothels.
The Jews for instance did not really mention sex before marriage until the 13th century.
Gnostic (persian, aramaic not “classical”) groups sometimes practiced sacred sexual multi group marriages. In these groups one man may have several wives, and one wife may have several husbands. This was not about carnal gratification EVER. This was about sacred sexual energy. Breeding amongst the pure.
The sleeping prophet, Cayce spoke of this, although reluctantly as he felt modern people were still not ready for such revelations (note Cayce spoke of things in the nag hammadi library before it was even found)
“In preparation for the coming of the Son of man, there were those who joined in their efforts to consecrate their lives, their bodies, for a service; for a channel through which activities might be had for the perfecting, as it were, of the material channel through which such an expression of the Creative Forces might come into the earth. See? There were then, twelve maidens in the temple, or of the ORDER of the temple, who were dedicated for such preparation.” reading 649-2
In the Gospel of Philip there are numerous mentions of what is called the bridal chamber. We also find:
“When Eve was still with Adam, death did not exist. When she was separated from him, death came into being. If he enters again and attains his former self, death will be no more.”
The Mandaean texts speak of Manichean sexual mysteries:
“Then I explained to you, my disciples, that there is yet another Gate (sect) that derives from Msiha (Messiah). They are called “Zandiqi” (saints)and ‘Mar dMani” (of Lord Mani). They sow seeds in concealment” –Ginza (right) 9:1
The Mandaeans themselves advocate sex, not celibacy. For them, not breeding is abhorrent and wrong. Texts such as Alp Trisar Suailia state:”Praised be the Treasure of Life, Mother of all works, she from whom the upper, middle and lower worlds emanated, for she is my Spouse,Mara d-Rabutha, since her name is Nasirutha….
And he took a Spouse for Himself and created plants (children) and created worlds.”
The Bonpo Buddhist sect, who are perhaps one of the “oldest” sects state:
“With a pure vow as precondition the important thing is a worthy mate as virtuous companion…Ravishing and gently spoken, yet like the meanest servant..eschewing evil acts and exerting herself in the ten good acts…observing pure conduct and living in chastity.”
So we see sex is sacred. If treated with respect and treated well, be you hetro or homo. Personally I am of the mind no sex act is wrong as long as it uplifts, uplifts, brings you closer to the divine
“He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom”
“Listen! The tantric mysteries are said to be secret, Not because the Tantra is immoral but because it is closed. Closed to the narrow-minded adherants of lesser paths.” –Yeshe Tsogyel
It is perhaps then arguably the divorcing from these “rites” within “classical” Gnosticism, that is arguably, to my mind left it lacking. While some groups marched head long into asceticism, I am sure there were some sacred sexual practioners. As we really have an incomplete view of classical Gnosticism, because it was “heresy” and thus “destroyed” I feel it fair to consider a maybe, a what if…as regards “classical Gnosticism.”
As above so below
As in the bridal chamber, so in the body
This is what I mean…not a horny Jesus
But a SACRED Jesus…..
Cheating is wrong!
Hi Mossy,
I do not know, although I've run across the term "astral sex" in various places.
Don,
I'm sure they are some biological evolutionary tool.
Hi Ben,
I guess the key is to understand that both "in here" and "out there" are parts of the whole. Maybe we can't have one without the other? Maybe they both have a symbiotic relationship in that they aid each other?
Siegfried,
What if you cheat at a game of cards so you can win money to feed your hungry children?
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