Is talking about sex as spiritual just a justification for doing something we enjoy and desire, trying to repurpose this fundamentally human activity into a highway to heaven? Sex certainly can be a highway to heaven, but that may be a bit different than what I'm talking about.
There are traditions that see sex as a pathway to enlightenment, greater compassion, empathy, and self control. Although those traditions have made small entrances into Western culture, they haven't really gained a foothold as commonly followed spiritual practice. Instead, as is so often true in the West, we are left to follow our own way, to carve out a journey, carrying bits and pieces of relevant ideas that do seem true when tested against experience.
This is how I've built my own understanding of sexuality, pulling snippets of conversation, phrases from reading, and insights from experience into a constantly shifting edifice that includes sexuality as a form of spiritual knowing and understanding.
What does that look like?
Sex can be transcendent, and may be as close to God as we can come, without years of meditation or drugs or the random intrusion of eternity into our daily life, which does appear once in a great while. Joseph Campbell said that we don't look for meaning, we look for the feeling of being alive and connected. Sounds like sex to me.
The issue is that, like anything else, the feeling fades and we're left staring at the ceiling, avoiding the wet spot. Maybe good sex is a glimpse of immortality and transcendence. And bad sex, at its worst, a glimpse of purgatory. Or hell, in the even worse case.
Sex can be transcendent, and may be as close to God as we can come, without years of meditation or drugs or the random intrusion of eternity into our daily life, which does appear once in a great while. Joseph Campbell said that we don't look for meaning, we look for the feeling of being alive and connected. Sounds like sex to me.
The issue is that, like anything else, the feeling fades and we're left staring at the ceiling, avoiding the wet spot. Maybe good sex is a glimpse of immortality and transcendence. And bad sex, at its worst, a glimpse of purgatory. Or hell, in the even worse case.
Go Deeper is another.
How does sex lead to spirit? A question to ponder. But right now, my lover is calling me. Sounds like God knocking at the door...
No comments:
Post a Comment