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November 2009 
SEX The Good, The Strange and The Sacred
Posted on Feb 15th, 2009
by 
Albert
Albert
The new Issue 43 of EnlightenNext March -May 2009 is again picking up this:
SEX The Good, The Strange, and the Sacred
In the
Editorial
Andrew Cohen is reflecting about the relationship of spirituality and sexuality since the spring/summer 1998 issue and the current one. (see bold marked areas). I hope this issue is really as provcative as announced. And affronting peoples sensibiltiy is always needed when something radically new is emerging in evolution.):)
In this case as much sexual, poltical and spirutual correctness as sirupy Pseudo Tantra and forms of sensual narcissism. I appreciate highly that this magazine once again is a pacemaker for these discussion and deepest existential reflections.
"As I sit down to write this, it's only a few hours since our new President was sworn into office. We are still flying high on the ecstatic afterglow and the promise of change that his victory represents for us all. I recently turned fifty-three, and never in my lifetime have I witnessed so many people from all over the world experiencing and publicly expressing so much hope for what is possible. It seems as if literally multitudes are allowing themselves to actually believe that this world can become the kind of place we all want it to be in our better moments. This unprecedented suspension of cynicism and the outpouring of faith in our highest human values are exhilarating to behold. After so many decades of false images and double standards, with the inevitable ensuing disillusionment and disappointment, the fact that so many are permitting themselves to have faith in the moral fortitude and trustworthiness of another human being is quite an extraordinary event indeed. It's a very exciting time to be alive!
This is especially moving for me because at EnlightenNext we live and thrive daily on a similar unselfconscious positivity, conviction, and deep faith in what is possible. That is why it is such a thrill for us to witness so many having the experience of the liberating release that occurs when trust and conviction in the potential of our shared higher values are driving our actions. Oh, but I'm letting myself get carried away . . . I'm supposed to be writing an editorial for this issue of EnlightenNext. And boy, is this a hot item you are holding in your hands!
It's been a very long time since we've done an entire feature section on "the birds and the bees"-eleven years, in fact. The title of our Spring/Summer 1998 issue was "What is the relationship between sex and spirituality?" and it included in-depth interviews about the time-honored spiritual practices of tantra and celibacy as well as the relationship between both of these paths and our higher development. The provocative issue we have put together a decade later is a very different animal. It is not so much about sex as it is about postmodern culture, philosophy, and the different perspectives we assume as we strive to make sense out of the human experience. It probes into the factors that influence the way we think about sex and the role that lovemaking plays in our ever-more-complex lives. It's about questioning our social mores as they relate to sexuality and spirituality. Sex is one thing, but how we think about it and the context in which we think about it are something else altogether.
I'm sure that if nothing else, we will have succeeded in getting many of our readers to start thinking and talking about sex and the role it should play in their lives in ways they haven't before. In our main features, we've taken on some pretty avant-garde approaches to this alluring topic, so I want to apologize in advance to anyone who may be offended by the graphic content. The nature of the terrain we are covering simply is what it is; therefore we had to dare to affront some people's sensibilities in order to objectively wrestle with some big and important questions. If you can roll with the punches, I'm sure that after you give this issue a thorough reading, your ideas about sex and the role it plays in your life will have been influenced for the better-at least that's our hope."
SEX The Good, The Strange, and the Sacred
In the
Editorial
Andrew Cohen is reflecting about the relationship of spirituality and sexuality since the spring/summer 1998 issue and the current one. (see bold marked areas). I hope this issue is really as provcative as announced. And affronting peoples sensibiltiy is always needed when something radically new is emerging in evolution.):)
In this case as much sexual, poltical and spirutual correctness as sirupy Pseudo Tantra and forms of sensual narcissism. I appreciate highly that this magazine once again is a pacemaker for these discussion and deepest existential reflections.
"As I sit down to write this, it's only a few hours since our new President was sworn into office. We are still flying high on the ecstatic afterglow and the promise of change that his victory represents for us all. I recently turned fifty-three, and never in my lifetime have I witnessed so many people from all over the world experiencing and publicly expressing so much hope for what is possible. It seems as if literally multitudes are allowing themselves to actually believe that this world can become the kind of place we all want it to be in our better moments. This unprecedented suspension of cynicism and the outpouring of faith in our highest human values are exhilarating to behold. After so many decades of false images and double standards, with the inevitable ensuing disillusionment and disappointment, the fact that so many are permitting themselves to have faith in the moral fortitude and trustworthiness of another human being is quite an extraordinary event indeed. It's a very exciting time to be alive!
This is especially moving for me because at EnlightenNext we live and thrive daily on a similar unselfconscious positivity, conviction, and deep faith in what is possible. That is why it is such a thrill for us to witness so many having the experience of the liberating release that occurs when trust and conviction in the potential of our shared higher values are driving our actions. Oh, but I'm letting myself get carried away . . . I'm supposed to be writing an editorial for this issue of EnlightenNext. And boy, is this a hot item you are holding in your hands!
It's been a very long time since we've done an entire feature section on "the birds and the bees"-eleven years, in fact. The title of our Spring/Summer 1998 issue was "What is the relationship between sex and spirituality?" and it included in-depth interviews about the time-honored spiritual practices of tantra and celibacy as well as the relationship between both of these paths and our higher development. The provocative issue we have put together a decade later is a very different animal. It is not so much about sex as it is about postmodern culture, philosophy, and the different perspectives we assume as we strive to make sense out of the human experience. It probes into the factors that influence the way we think about sex and the role that lovemaking plays in our ever-more-complex lives. It's about questioning our social mores as they relate to sexuality and spirituality. Sex is one thing, but how we think about it and the context in which we think about it are something else altogether.
I'm sure that if nothing else, we will have succeeded in getting many of our readers to start thinking and talking about sex and the role it should play in their lives in ways they haven't before. In our main features, we've taken on some pretty avant-garde approaches to this alluring topic, so I want to apologize in advance to anyone who may be offended by the graphic content. The nature of the terrain we are covering simply is what it is; therefore we had to dare to affront some people's sensibilities in order to objectively wrestle with some big and important questions. If you can roll with the punches, I'm sure that after you give this issue a thorough reading, your ideas about sex and the role it plays in your life will have been influenced for the better-at least that's our hope."
Access: Public
Where can I find this issue?
Its the March_May Issue. You have to order it, Jeremiah.:)
Just go to the given link.
Albert, being a spiritual practitioner and having seen the gift and the potential - along with the dangers of sexuality regarding spiritual development - I’ve come to believe the sex is not at all what causes us the difficulty, it’s the death that causes the difficulty. And also the lack of sincerity towards the work. If you seek transformation, there will be death. You must be willing to take it all the way or you are playing with fire. And having to resist psychologically the change is stressful, maddening. So much depends on the practitioner’s true intent. Buddha’s statement “It is the rare person that can follow this path”, I think is quite accurate.
There’s been so much repression, just for a person to get to their sex is a process. But once there, sex causes no difficulty or problem….it’s the death, the losing ego, losing boundaries, trying to cling to old, entering a gap….and lack of understand…and foremost, to me, not truly wanting to be transformed. Just looking for some escape from pain brings the difficulty….
If you are sincere, you can transform entirely, but it is arduous work. No question.
So much repression in such a precious part of our development. It is no wonder it must go many ways before finding a center stream.
Sincerely,
Cheyenne
I absolutely concur Cheyenne. You must be willing to embrace and love everything that is driven up when one uses their sacred life force or you will run away or get lost in the sex, where sex is the object rather than the tool to arrive at what Neale Donald Walsch calls Indenticality or Oneness with All.
Experiencing Oneness with All has one be at the Gate of Higher Soul Mind. The attachments to people, things and beliefs will present the fear of being nothing as you bang your head into the gate.
My own NDE gave me the non-fear of death that permitted me to get on the trampoline bouncing between the 3rd dimensional plane and All. It isn’t scary, but the thought/emotions of the drop can be destructive if one doesn’t fully embrace them in each moment.
Blessed IS,
Jeremiah
Cheyenne,
you are absolutely on spot. its refreshing and empowering to read you balanced AND powerful approach to these tricky regions.
Indeed the true intent is the core challenge. And it may take lots of time to come to this point of discriminative intelligence.
I see lots of values in a postive, balanced sexualty too. Given all amounts of freedom too. However it should always be clear whats the name of the game.
And in what cultural context one lives and breathes.
Hopefully this new issue will clarify these points again in a broad context.
Jeremiah,
thanks for your take.
This way to the no-thing is a radical one. I want to focus on the starting points too.
Radical honesty in practicing diverse forms of sexuality is essential too. In aclimate of poltical, spiritual and sexual corretness certanly lots of loosening the roughest contractions is necessary. To make clear:
its not about fundamentalist denial of sexuality. Even the different forms of living together could be a theme. Including the different forms of acting responsible!
Life conditions, cultural settings, cycles of life, family, relationship, connecting shadow and spirituality, practicing advanced yogic forms or recognizing transcendental potential in ordinary sexual encounters (as Jenny Wade describes in her book) etc. etc..
All these aspects deserve the most careful and comprehensive consideration possible.
Thank you,
Albert
Albert,
I agree to a point. Humanity is attached to or should I say addicted to having a logical mental discussion. The egoic side of us rules the brain mind and talk will only get one in touch with the faintest glimmer of what is there.
Only those who are willing to dive deeply into their own stuff will come out the other side. Meanwhile the mentalist will keep going with what I call mental masturbation.
Connecting with the All requires moving through the fear of nothingness and dropping the pablum of organized religions,
Blessed IS,
Jeremiah
Jermiah,
yes.
However, as in Spiral Dynamics Integral is seen, there are complex landscapes of codes, nodes, conditions and adaptive intelligencies which demand this broad approach.
Would see this not as mentalistic poses but to a certain degree as pragmatic, view of spiral facettes.
Alone in Scandinavia there is this discussion with a radical different tenor.
No mater if you say SEX, GOD, TOLERANCE, GENDER , CULTURAL CREATIVES or whate ver I gave this example with Phil Zuckermans globally discussed book
Society without God
Personally, I found on the outside path that I could not control circumstances, time and situations….and it gave a look of behaving radical, out of control…no moral boundaries, and sheer disaster really. Looking on one would think the devil was acting - no sign of the divine! But this was only an appearance. To break social conditioning within, an outward rebellion can take place, creating chaos.
But within, this is not so, one must stay stunning accurate to the work, to the practice, and supreme understanding and intelligence is needed. Not to mention commitment, discipline and energy! You cannot make up rules and move as you wish for true development within. And the deeper the development the narrower the path, but greater the freedom!
Fear is still a penetrating experience for me! Not only in consciousness, but the body too will react, an instintual reaction to the transformation. It takes such discipline and skill in means to get to a certain alchemy and a slight reaction can kill the process. It is challenging! Over the years I’ve learned through the experiences to remain steady, but still there can be moments the whole soul stands on end!
And certainly I don’t mean to get cornball (big smile) about it, but I have found that practicing intense loving attitudes toward others, yourself, circumstances and life makes the whole process smooth….love is the greatest alchemy! One can die more easily if this is in the blood! One can transform willingly if the heart is fulfilled. One does not even notice the lose of self if devotion is complete.
April 30th, 2009:
Now that I have read the issue and diverse takes on the work of David Deida, Jenny Wade and the One Taste comunity I am not completely d`aacord with the WIE resume. As ususal sharp insights into Pseudo Tantra and Tarantino like styles of teaching like David Deida.)
They should have added these Confessions from Stuart Davis or some Dutch consideration from mysticism.nl about polyamory. it seems a subtle advaita-like tensions remains in the teaching of evolutionary enlightenment. Imersing in the causal spheres so much that evolutionary experiements in the gross spheres are neglected or not fully inspected.
Now this could have been offensive. This issue had no single grafic content in my eyes which would offend anybody:):) Or only people who had lived under a stone for the last decades:):)
In the article “Their stroke of insight”n the
OneTaste Community
is mentioned. Founded by Nicole Daedone.
Well done, however escaping real provocative questions.
Like this NYT article from Daniel Bergner:
What do women want?
A real playful approach can emerge which isnt bound to ANY specific form….and even fully embracing integral perspectives.
Cheyenne,
regarding love, devotion and penetrating deepest darkest emotions (of course seen in their potential!) I want to offer two aditional takes which might be interesting for you:
Spiritual Cannibalism
Integral Play
As I personally do not subscrbe to so called unconditional ove (in the sense Marianne willamson et el do it) I see lots of concrete options located in the spectrum between Spiritual Cannibalism and playful engagement and experimenting.
Let me know what you are honestly thinking about it:):)
Best,
Albert
Dear Albert!
Thank you for recommending my reading these articles and websites!
the Spiritual Cannibalism was so insightful. He surprised me with his overall reflection in so many expressions of life.
I'm still reading. There's a lot material!
And the Intregal Play…oh, we need more play, yes? Yet I know mind and the seeming unpenetrating wall it can produce between the bliss of interacting and the pain of being entrapment by your own reflection.
That seemed to be one of the gifts of sexuality. A place where nothing distracts you, you are the game, and all the energy is there supporting your attention, your bliss. The other is a field of knowing and exploring, feeling their bliss as your own. Opening emotionally till you don't exist any longer…only the play and its uncontrollable pleasures giving you a glimpse of spiritual, emotional and physical wellness and the experience of freedom and spontaneity. Its such a beautiful place to play because no outward goal is sought…each moment is entered as the goal itself with no outcome to hold. Adult play….now, how to take this outside? To become freedom itself, spontaneous and alive at every moment. hmmm?
Wonderful teachers out there right now! I remember when you could find nothing on any shelf. You had to contact India and talk to someone with an awful accent!!!
I once asked my children, “please teach me to play. it has been so long and i have somehow lost the art.” My son said to me, “it's easy to play, mommy, just whatever you are doing, have fun!” O, can you imagine? I spend much time trusting them, following them around doing whatever they do…they lead, I follow.
You know, Albert, I came to teach meditation after a lifetime of studying, practicing and sincerely as possible following the system of religous thought that I gave myself to. And I gained so much from each practice.
Yet in the end, I saw the system as a barrier. Every thought becomes your limit. Even if the thought is “I will play..i will enjoy, be free.' A person is limited by their thinking, even if it is beautiful thoughts. By experiecing yourself with no-thought you know your unlimited nature. So I distilled every system to its practice.
When I read people's work, I applaud, I see the benefit, then immediately my mind rushes to “only when a person can penetrate their own thought system, will they see this gift before them. Be able to accept the invitation, the challenge.'
Education, education, education and acceptance, acceptance, acceptance….and a field that I can meet you on beyond right and wrong.
I did enjoy the articles and I feel anytime someone is inviting you to an experience beyond your daily grind, educating you to be aware, you grow. I Iiked very much the mystics words about relationship. i know this in my own heart. That it is through the relationship with an enlightened one that you begin to change and grow.
Thank you, Albert…I know I am more chatting with you, than responding to your question of what I think.
You know, your words say it all….regarding love, devotion and penetrating deepest darkest emotions…oh, Ja! Some of my friends think of me like a devil….I always ask and challenge my intimate friends, please show me your demons…I thrive on knowing you this way, hungry to know you this way. The look is one of shock! But I am sincere! Only when I know your demons will i know you…show them to me, so what is dark in me responds and we both become brilliant. Your words are so 'spot on.' If we just took those three words and lived them…we'd come to pure emptiness!
And how can one come to unconditional love until all their conditions have resolved?
I so much adore you Albert…
thank you again…
always with love…unconditional (big smile)!!!
Che
Thank YOU, Cheyenne!
You have grasped what Patricia and I wanted to express in this article.
i know its so challenging. Two very well known global leadership eperts even reacted quite agressivlely to the article:)
Your deeply felt response to this issue is strongly resonating with me. You express the fire as much as the light, the potential and liberating power of deep play.
Even beyond sexuality. Including so much. And opening the space beyond polarities, opposites and dilemma.
Regarding collective Karma and personal Karma simultaneously. Smiling from the core of beeing:):)
Deep bow,
Albert
Thank you Albert for the link.
I rose and fell with each perspective and take of this subject. I said Yes to all of it. Why Not? Why Not should all this be what it is in consciousness play. What resonated the most is what Attainment said with these words below.
”A place where nothing distracts you, youare the game, and all the energy is there supporting your attention, yourbliss. The other is a field of knowing and exploring, feeling their blissas your own. Opening emotionally till you don't exist any longer…only theplay and its uncontrollable pleasures giving you a glimpse of spiritual,emotional and physical wellness and the experience of freedom and spontaneity. Its such a beautiful place to play because no outward goal is sought…eachmoment is entered as the goal itself with no outcome to hold. Adultplay….now, how to take this outside? To become freedom itself,spontaneous and alive at every moment. hmmm? Yet in the end, I saw the system as a barrier. Everythought becomes your limit. Even if the thought is “I will play..i will enjoy,be free.' A person is limited by their thinking, even if it isbeautiful thoughts. By experiecing yourself with no-thought you know yourunlimited nature. So I distilled every system to its practice. Yet in the end, I saw the system as a barrier. Everythought becomes your limit. Even if the thought is “I will play..i will enjoy,be free.' A person is limited by their thinking, even if it isbeautiful thoughts. By experiecing yourself with no-thought you know yourunlimited nature. So I distilled every system to its practice.”
I would say a field of knowingness knowing nothing exploring. Playing with intent of intense loving. Following the resonance of the moment. No boundaries. Loving all in the life dynamic. We can try to hold it in with our thoughts, and that ultimately limits the passion of the spontaneous moment that will explode forth if allowed. I find it incredibly hot to be penetrated by the moment and the not knowing how whoever is there will pierce me and I will respond spontaneously.
I have had deep sexuality discussions with Lesbians that were every bit as good as intimate loving making. To see how we connected would melt butter. We hugged, I kissed their hand, and was enraptured with the exchange. Where does one draw the line on sexuality? I don't draw it anywhere. anymore.
I see it is all given, as a play, spontaneous response, resonance, and love from the most authentic heart, and what that looks like… is beautiful even if we were taught originally or in our beliefs that its not.
Can I be that vulnerable.You damn well betcha! It is who I am. The Divine Plays Me! Some days its all one big orgasm! Nothing I do. Pure Giftedness.
Ben
its a never ending cycle of discoveries. Of beeing and beccoming. Thats why Eckhart Tolle is a bit lame duck for me. The evolving world of forms with its ecstatic urgency, the all quadrantic affair of mangifying more and more….and, yes, the potential of making deep errors..
it all cannot be escaped for everybody who embraces it all. its even beyond sexuality in the body-mind. Its about an endless play of subtle, causal and psychic energy and consciousness. And it demands for certain to break the spell of spiritual, poltical and sexual correctness.
No single person person on earth is beyond this constant dynamics. Nobody can look into the crystal ball.
So here we go:):)
Albert
Hi Ben, thanks for the hint regarding intention. Guess there is this play of always grasping it in one form or the other. And then letting it go. More pulse of endless shifting and shuffling.
As in this story:
Zen Master Ito Tenzaaa Chuya: The Marvelous Cat
Perfect.
I re-read The Marvelous Cat from time to time. It is one of my favorites stories given from Albert.
Thanks so much!
Ben
My, my, Ben!
“Can I be that vulnerable.You damn well betcha! It is who I am. The Divine Plays Me! Some days its all one big orgasm! Nothing I do. Pure Giftedness.”
You're hot!!! prrrrrrrrrrrrr…….
And Albert!!! I sat for a moment silent…did I read your words right…that Eckhard Tolle is a lame duck for you??? I honest to god thought I was the only one on the planet!
Love!
Che
No Che, he's been behind a long time, although his books used to be good primers for those not quite ready to own their experience of life.
June, 7th, 2009:
Check out some articles online now:
THE GURU AND THE PANDIT Is Sex a Path to God?Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilber
Can tantric sex be a fast track to enlightenment? Or is the attempt to unite lust with liberation inherently fraught with peril? The Guru and the Pandit explore the multidimensional relationship between sex and spirituality.
Transcendent SexDevelopmental psychologist Jenny Wade takes a ride on the mystical side of sexuality with her groundbreaking study of strange awakenings in the bedroom.
The Genesis DeviceDeep below the surface of the earth, the Large Hadron Collider is poised to answer scientists’ most pressing questions about the origin and structure of the universe. What new conceptions of the cosmos await us?
The Buddha of the NorthDiscover the life of Emanuel Swedenborg—scientist, statesman, and mystic extraordinaire—whose easy access to altered states made him one of the world’s foremost cartographers of human consciousness.