sex, gender, consciousness, and 2012

Thank you for opening this thread or topic.

My first inquiry is who takes care of the children and whose children are they? You noted in the first page of your book ‘For my daughter’. Who is the ‘my’ in an open sexual society?

Daniel,

thanks for the thoughtful opening to this discussion...when you have a moment, could you say a bit more about "radical transparency" in your context...thanks!

Daniel Wrote:
<<Although a Tantric practice aimed at spiritual self-creation through conscious use of sexuality to explore non-ordinary states is probably reserved for a self-selected elite...>>

ok folks, it seems in america that everyone thinks Tantra=Spirtual Sex.
Tantra is an entire 'vehicle' and to sum it up Tantra is a practice that is:
24/7
well it eventually becomes 24/7
All of Life is viewed as school
the goal of the practice is to take EVERY situation good/bad/whatever
convert it into spiritual growth.
'When life hands you lemons make Lemonade'
if i understand correctly, it is particularly suited for the Kali Yuga,
(according to the Bhavada Gita it is transmitted before the yuga begins to be available)
because at it's core is the practice of turning the seemingly Dark into the Light of transformation.
why people get stuck on the sex part i don't know...
i have been using that energy for transformation
for the last oh (don't tell anyone)
6 years....not that i haven't thought about it...
or acted alone...
but it IS energy, and transformation takes Power
and because it is easier for a woman to lose power in a sexual relationship
(i promise to follow this up...)
i just preferred not to...
now my transformation has it's own momentum soooooo...
we'll just leave it at that...
ahem
going now...
Love
Light
Bow

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your openess. I can feel your depth - your searching heart. Om.... we are finding what we are looking for.

For myself, I love the idea of being mated with One whom I can evolve with magically and sacredly devoloping the gifts inherent in what is to be in Union. I am not opposed to others being in open realtinships, but like an art, the more you get to know one form of medium, the deeper you can go. There is something to be deeply discovered in one on one relationships if there is no fear involved, no expectations other than the mutual respect and DEEP love you both hold for each other to rise up. Although I have not found that certain being yet, I trust in the eternal nature of my being to engage as deeply as I dream it so. Even if takes a few lifetimes.... :-)

I found this to be VERY enlightening, adding even more insight towards my own search for truth.

www.kamakala.com/history.htm <<<<Through this powerful book you will learn in explicit detail how biophobic patriarchal values have played themselves out in our personal lives in the last half of the 20th century, and how these values have impacted our sexuality, our relationships between men and women, and our relationship with the Earth.
You will discover all the historical events they didn't tell you in school, and all the things they still refuse to talk about!

Some excerpts from the book below:

"The repression of humanity's biological nature, became externally manifest in the violent oppression of women and feminine values. The denial and repression of sexual energy, became the fuel for the engines of torture and killing.

"In a certain way, the attack on women can be seen as a extension or externalization of the whole ascetic, anti-sexual program that permeated the Indo-European tribes. Asceticism was based on the idea that spiritual growth depended on the control and conquest of Nature. Human beings set themselves against Nature, supposedly to transcend the Natural World. Once the Female became a symbol of the Natural World, she was consequently set upon as something to be controlled, conquered and even eliminated.

"As young children we are genetically programmed to interact and explore our bodies and everything in our immediate environment. Through this interaction our intelligence develops and expands. As this process proceeds, our parents or those around us, gave us messages about what was good to interact with and what wasn't. When the object of attraction was a fire or a moving truck in the street, strong negative messages were appropriate - our survival depended on such messages. What was particularly inappropriate at this point in our development however, was that many of us received equally negative messages about certain parts of our own body. These body parts of course had nothing to do with survival issues.

"The body was giving us strong messages of pleasure, while our parents were giving us messages of negativity. Because of these conflicting signals our genitals became a source of confusion. The brain-mind system at this stage of development is simply unable to compute such ambiguity. The brain pattern imprints concerning our sexuality and physical pleasure became ones of stress and anxiety. The wedge that was driven between mind and body at our birth, is now driven even deeper. Not only are we left unbonded with our mother, we are now methodically being prevented from bonding or deeply connecting with our own body.

"Physical stimulation of the pleasure centers in the body are a natural part of human development, whereby the pleasure circuits between the genitals and the brain are activated and developed. This neurological integration facilitates our capacity for pleasure. It is an essential part of our genetic programming. Being a powerful interaction between the body and mind, pleasure actually stimulates neurological growth and the development of intelligence. But once again, our cultural programs have attempted to override this natural process. Our belief systems are part of a mythology of conquest, not of cooperation. The way of Nature is seen as chaos, confusion and death. We have been taught that human beings are here to conquer, control and dominate Nature and thereby transcend Nature.

"In this context then, pleasure is perceived as terribly threatening. It is seen as giving in to Nature, and ultimately leads to the loss of control. In the New Testament, we find in a letter written by Paul to the Galatians a clear statement of this polarization: "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other". Galatians 5:17

"If sexual attitudes are repeatedly associated with fear, guilt, and punishment, then sex quite naturally becomes a source of unhappiness, dis-ease and problematic relationships. On the other hand, if our sexual attitudes embrace the cultural values which have a positive interpretation of the Natural World, then sex becomes associated with trust, affection, tenderness and sensitivity towards others. Our biological integrity is maintained, and even strengthened through our sexual expressions.

"The compulsive obsession of our culture to compete, dominate and control, are all symptoms of human beings lacking personal power and the inability to engage in relationship. Sex is entered into from a sense of separation, not out of a sense of connectedness. The symptoms of such a pathological condition are alienation, repression, guilt and violence. This condition is becoming more obvious in every segment of our lives, as the culture begins to manifest some of the more advanced stages of its disease. And probably in no other area of our lives is this negative conditioning more obvious, than in the relationship between men and women.

"As our patriarchal culture plays out its mythologies on the world stage, individuals have become overwhelmed, hypnotized as it were, by the constant barrage of symbols, signals and messages. Just as our culture's ideologies have influenced the manner in which we were brought into this world, and helped shape our attitudes about our body and our sexuality, they've also had a tremendous impact on the relationship between men and women.

"The widespread problems we are experiencing throughout our society regarding the relationship between the sexes represent the bitter fruit of seeds planted long ago. If we examine this problem from a historical perspective, we can gain much needed insight into some of the dysfunctional programs that have been running for the last several thousand years.

"Currently, there are a number of religious groups around the country preaching about a rather abstract subject they call "family values". If we explore some of the sources for their beliefs and ideas, we find a value system reflecting the patriarchy's myth of relationship, in which the intimate bond between men and women is actually devalued and attacked.

"If we begin our examination of some of these ideologies in the context of Christianity, the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians boldly declares "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." I Corn. 7:1. He tries to soften the blow by explaining, that if an individual is unable to live up to this elevated standard of "goodness", then it is better to go ahead and get married, rather than to live in a state of perpetual sin. However the message is quite clear, if a person is serious about loving God, human relationships are to be somehow transcended, especially the relationship between men and women.

"Like an undercurrent of polluted water, this concept has poisoned the well of human relationships down through the centuries. For hundreds of years, anyone who even suggested that people living as husband and wife might be more blessed then those who were celibate, could be excommunicated. The earliest Christian marriages were performed outside the church building, in order to keep the church free from any moral pollution associated with the marriage ritual.

"All the Church fathers preached a sermon of negativity when it came to the relationship between the sexes. St Jerome said that: "every man who loves his wife passionately is guilty of adultery." The explanation being, that one should only love God passionately. St Ambrose said: "marriage was a crime against God, because it changed the state of virginity that God gave every man and woman at birth. Tertullian claimed that marriage was "more dreadful than any punishment or any death."

"As strange as it may seem, for over one thousand years the Christian Church did not recognize marriages in Cannon Law. It wasn't until the year 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council that marriage was granted any legal status. Furthermore there was no Christian sacrament of matrimony until the 16th century.

"During the Middle Ages, the Christian Church published some clear guidelines concerning the relationship between a husband and his wife, called the Rules of Marriage. Within these guidelines, we find explicit instruction to the Christian husband who at one time or another, might find himself with a disobedient wife:

"Scold her sharply, bully and terrify her. And if this still does not work...take up a stick and beat her soundly, for it is better to punish the body and correct the soul than to damage the soul and spare the body...Then readily beat her, not in rage but out of charity and concern for her soul, so that the beating will be to your merit."(46)

"As astounding as this may seem, this document was not some isolated work by a small group of sadistic old men, but generally reflected the prevailing values of the culture at large. Not only were these attitudes widespread, but they literally spanned the centuries.

"In the 18th century, both English and American law established guidelines for marital disagreements based on Sir William Blackstone's famous "Rule of Thumb":

"in order to enforce the solitary restraints of domestic discipline," a husband was legally free to beat his wife, but the rod was to be no thicker than his thumb.(47)

"At the same time, the Anglican Church supported such brutality by officially declaring: "Women are intrinsically inferior in excellence, imbecile by sex and nature, weak in body, inconstant in mind, and imperfect and infirm in character."(48)

"With this prevailing attitude, a husband's right to discipline his wife was not even questioned. And certainly she had no legal recourse. A man's house was his castle, and the "sanctity of the home" could not be breached by the courts.

"This journey in consciousness is not without a direction or purpose. Like a morning glory breaking through a sidewalk seeking sunlight, a New Perspective has broken through the dominant mythologies of our culture and into our collective consciousness, and the world hasn't been the same since. It's as if a door in the unconscious mind opened after being closed for thousands of years, and all at once there She was - The Goddess.

"Whether we choose to interpret The Goddess in terms of a Female Deity, or as a personification for the anima - the interior feminine aspect of every human being, or as a metaphor for the characteristics of instinctual and intuitive wisdom, nonetheless the presence of the Feminine within the collective consciousness can no longer be denied or ignored.

"We can also recognize this breakthrough in consciousness by following a distinctive trail of ideas and beliefs, which were once part of the culture of the Goddess, so many millennia ago. For if we look back at the events of the 1960's, something absolutely extraordinary is revealed. The gestation period for a large number of historical movements ended and collectively we experienced a tremendous birthing process. For in just a relatively short time, a whole list of events and movements broke into our collective consciousness during the 60's:The Women's Movement; The Civil Right's Movement; The Peace Movement (which did in fact stop the Vietnam War); The American Indian Movement; The Environmental Movement; The Neo-Pagan Movement; The Natural Foods Movement; The Home Birth Movement; The Sexual Revolution (when people began to take off their religious straight-jackets and more freely express their sexuality); and the birth of a subculture: rock'n'roll, long hair, psychoactive drugs, wild and colorful clothes and experiments in communal living.

"We are living at a time on the Earth, unlike any other that has gone before. The Culture of the Goddess that had been driven underground thousands of years ago, has re-emerged to open up a whole new horizon of future possibilities. To those who fearfully hold onto the patriarchal ideas of conquest, exploitation and competition, truly it will be the end of their world. But those who are able to see beyond the old patriarchal programming and mythologies, and embrace The Feminine Values of empowerment, partnership and cooperation, for them - a whole new day is beginning to dawn.

www.kamakala.com/vamacara.htm <<<<< Vamacara Tantra

"For the past 5,000 years, human beings have been on a journey in consciousness which elevated the masculine over the feminine, the intellectual over the intuitive and instinctual dimensions of our being. We have structured our cultures with an emphasis on competition and conquest, rather than cooperation. We have collectively formed a reality in which only the transcendental qualities of consciousness are valued, while the inherent spiritual values of the Natural World have been depreciated and almost forgotten entirely.

"Just as the cells of our body are set to the rhythms of the rising and setting sun, our mind is set to the cycle of our birth and death. But within that framework there exists strata of consciousness, aware of our continuity beyond the confines of time and space. And all our myths and religions attempt to translate that reality into a temporal and rational story.

As early as 30,000 B.C.E. human beings no longer applied their creative energies solely for survival, but applied their tools to carve stone, ivory and bone. Archaeologists have discovered thousands of engravings, reliefs and sculptures across a vast expanse of land stretching from the Pyrenees in Spain to Lake Baikal in Siberia, all images of the Mother Goddess.

On these early Goddess images are various signs and symbols: lines; triangles; zig-zags; circles and spirals. And many of these images have been found stained with red ochre.

At first archaeologists and anthropologists really didn't know what to make of all this. They were at a loss as to how these images and symbols fit in with their current picture of early human development. So they more or less dismissed them as some kind of fetishes related to the erotic. On the other hand, because most of the images were naked, with large breasts, protruding buttocks and pregnant belly, they also interpreted these images to be nothing more than primitive man's projections of human fertility.

It is interesting to notice, that most all of these early archaeologists and anthropologists were men. It wasn't until much later, when an increasing number of women began to enter the field that more serious evaluations were entertained. They began to see these images and symbols in an entirely different light, not as the crude, naturalistic representations of the erotic as formerly thought, but as the symbolic language of the organic and generative process of Nature. It is now commonly understood, these carvings represent the first human attempts to creatively express the great mysteries of birth and sustenance. And quite naturally, at the very center of these mysteries is the Female.

We have to step out of our twentieth century programming, and move back in time and consciousness well before any written history began, back before writing and the wheel were invented, back to a time perhaps when humans were first learning to speak. It is here, that we find ourselves in a world where the Female embodies the mysterious and miraculous powers of Nature. The biological functions of the female body were seen as manifestations of the sacred and magical powers of some greater reality.

What more profound miracle were these people to witness, than the process where one of their own kind came forth from the Female body? The Female was, in the most observable way, the natural mediator between worlds, between the spiritual and the physical dimensions of Life. Through her the invisible suddenly becomes visible. The unmanifest becomes manifest. That which was released at death, now finds a new home in flesh and blood.

Those of you who have participated in or witnessed this awe inspiring event, can begin to appreciate the impact it had on our early ancestors. Their numbers were very small, and life sometimes hung in the balance by a thread. A birth represented in practical terms, the very survival of the new species. And appropriately it was seen as a mysterious and sacred event

Another manifestation of this magical power of the Female, was that from her own body came the food to keep the young alive. She not only brought forth new life, but she became the very source of life-giving nourishment as well.

Given the natural associations between the Female and the living processes of the Earth, it's not surprising then to find these aspects of life-giving prominently displayed in the images of the Female form. For a span of over thirty thousand years, these statues were kept on household altars, in the fields and all places of communal activities.

These primordial images speak to us of a perception of the World as organic and whole. They represent a reality where Spirit and Nature were united, and therefore always manifesting the mysterious and the sacred. Everything was interconnected, woven together in a life-giving, nourishing and regenerating universal form - The Goddess.

One of the earliest and most used symbols for the sacred powers of the Goddess was the vulva.(3) This symbol has been found from Spain to Siberia to India, marking special places of power. It has been found to have seeds and sprouts drawn over or beside it, representing the primal source of Life. The image of the vulva has also been found with indications of rippling movements of water issuing from it, symbolizing the nourishing waters of Life.

At the entrance of many caves - the most sacred places of our early ancestors, the sign of the vulva was carved to indicate the sanctuary of the Great Mother, and the source of her regenerative powers. Caves were seen as the womb of the Mother, a place of not only protection, but a place of initiation where the bond with the Mother was renewed. It was also a place where the individual was returned in death, to be regenerated and reborn.

The vulva has been used as a sacred symbol to indicate a wide range of life-affirming concepts and perceptions for over 30,000 years. And what is truly amazing, is that it is still being used in this context today. From one end of India to the other, one is still able to see this sacred symbol used in its original context in numerous temples.

The concept of the temple itself, evolved as an extension of the primordial womb-cave of the Mother Earth: the two pillars of the front entrance representing the upraised legs; the doorway - the vaginal entrance. The sacrifice was made with the shedding of sacred blood. This blood which contained the powers of Life and regeneration, was then shared by the people as a sacrament. Sometimes the initiates were literally drenched in the sacrificial blood of an animal.

The Culture of the Goddess >>>>> The Culture of the Goddess

In the ancient and almost universal culture that we have been examining in detail, women didn't dominate men as in the later societies, where men had absolute power over women. We do not find any indications of a pyramid social structure, or hierarchy dominated by a woman or a group of women who gathered most of the wealth and power for themselves, leaving the rest of the society fighting over the crumbs, as we repeatedly find in the later societies ruled exclusively by male hierarchies. Rather, we find cooperative communities where the primary ethic was based on sharing, the sharing of food, natural resources and work. By every indication these early communities sought to live in harmony with the organic and cyclic processes of Nature, rather than to dominate or exploit their environment, a process that begins to be so typical in the later Bronze Age developments.

One other feature that was conspicuously absent from these early communities, is any sign of violence. We find in their extensive artwork no indication of any symbols of domination - spears, swords, or thunderbolts that we find in later societies, where the ruler or deity demands obedience under the threat of killing or violence. Rather the emphasis was on bonding, reinforcing the primal connection with the Source of Life and the cooperation between all Life forms.

We are not looking at some isolated region where one or two tribal societies lived peacefully for a couple of centuries and then mysteriously disappeared. But rather we are examining a continuous culture of shared beliefs and customs that spread out over the Earth in a vast expanse, and lasted for over 30,000 years. Because of this fact, we are literally forced to reevaluate our current ideas about civilization, culture and the nature of human societies.

In this Cosmology all Life was seen to be born from the darkness of the Earth and proceeded toward the Heavens, to ascend toward the stars, the realm of the ancestors. As a symbol then, the tree was seen as a cosmic bridge between the worlds: the Underworld, the Earth, and the Sky. And the serpent was perceived to be the one creature to be able to cross this bridge at will and make its home in all three realms.

The serpent then, entwined around the Cosmic Tree of Life became a universal image with many levels of meaning. In the most general terms perhaps, we find in this symbol the energy of the Earth, the dynamic self-renewing life-force, rising up and embracing the Celestial realms, the invisible and transcendental dimensions of Life. The Earth and the Heavens are here perceived to be united through the organic processes of Life-Energy. Spirit and Nature are recognized as a unified field in which the creative energies of the Universe ebb and flow in a continuous process of transformation.

In order for the Male leader to carry out these responsibilities of rulership, he first had to receive the blessings and power of the Goddess. It was still clearly understood, of his own nature, the king could not assume such a responsibility or function.

The high priestess or the queen, was now regarded as the incarnation of the Goddess on Earth. And through sexual union with her, the king gained the necessary power and right to rulership and ensured the continuity of the ever flowing abundance of the Goddess on Earth

The union between the God and Goddess, the king and queen, became known as the Heiros Gamos or Sacred Marriage. The Sacred Marriage was to become the most important religious ritual ever to evolve out of the 30,000 year old culture of the Goddess. The union of the God/king and the Goddess/queen was seen as the marriage between Heaven and Earth: the union of the transcendental or invisible realities beyond birth and death, with the visibly manifest cycles of the Natural World. And through this sacred union, the fertility and abundance of the Earth was regenerated. Just as the Earth awaited the regenerating waters of Heaven to bring it to life, the union of the king and queen was perceived to renew the fruitfulness of the womb, the abundance of the community and the fertility of the land.

The Sacred Marriage was celebrated in the Spring, when Life appeared to be miraculously resurrected. This was the beginning of the New Year. It also happens to be the true origin of the most celebrated of Christian Holy Days: Easter.

The word "Easter" is derived from the Babylonian name of the Goddess Ishtar, the Greeks called her Astarte, the Germans, Oster. Surprisingly, this ancient festival is still being calculated by the same means today, as it was some 5,000 years ago. It is found by using the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Traditionally, this was the time when the long absent God had returned from the womb of the Underworld and the darkness of Winter. The new plants were beginning to break ground and show themselves to the sun, now also gaining in strength. The Moon was pregnant in her fullness, and all of Nature was awakening once again, resurrected from apparent death.

Within the ancient temples there was a special room, the Holy of Holies. It was the bridal chamber where the Sacred Marriage was to take place. In preparation the temple was filled with an abundance of food and drink. Red colored eggs were distributed as symbols of fertility and rebirth.

In the presence of the whole community, the God/king was sexually united with the Goddess/queen. The king was anointed with her life-bestowing waters and thereby infused with the creative energy pouring itself through all things. Sexual ecstasy was seen as the highest sacrament, a direct participation in the mysterious power of the Divine Creative Process.

Through this ecstatic union new life was assured, abundance restored, and well being was enjoyed. The whole community participated in this sacramental ritual. Through the Sacred Marriage they all shared in the creative power and blessings of the Goddess.

This was the high tide of the sacred annual cycle. It was the religious and cultural reflection of Nature's power of regeneration, renewal and rebirth, and it spoke to each individual, biologically as well as spiritually. Through the act of sexual intercourse it was believed that one not only participated in that mysterious act of bringing new life into the world, but that one was actually engaged in a sacramental ritual which allowed the grace or creative power of the Divine to manifest more abundantly through one's life.

The concrete and immediate evidence of this Divine blessing was the experience of pleasure and ecstasy of the union itself. It was believed that through this act, not only was one uniting with one's partner, but that one was also consciously entering back into that primary bond with the Earth, with Nature and with the Divine.

This one fact, perhaps more than any other, holds the key to the entire metaphysical and religious structure of the Goddess culture. And if we can somehow gain this understanding, we will be able to unlock many long locked doors to our understanding not only of their spiritual lives, but ours as well.

The first physical evidence we have of the Sacred Marriage, was a statue found in the Catal Huyuk dated from around 5,750 B.C.E.. From this date, gradually the evidence becomes more prolific and widespread, until around 3,000 B.C.E. we have numerous artifacts covering a vast expanse of the globe.

But what is particularly important about the evidence we find from 3,000 B.C.E. on, is the fact that in the Sumerian cities in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, people actually began to write down their religious beliefs. Archaeologists have uncovered, literally tens of thousands of inscribed clay tablets.

By no means have all of these tablets been translated. But from what has been translated so far, these people had a rich and mature literature consisting of epic tales, hymns, proverbs, fables and essays. What is particularly significant about this, is that all these writings existed well before the Aryan Vedas, and at least a thousand years before the Bible or Homer's Odyssey.

Among these early Sumerian writings is a story related to the Sacred Marriage. This is a beautiful story of the relationship between the Goddess Innana and her lover Dumuzi. Here for the first time, we are able get an actual glimpse of sexuality expressed in a spiritual setting. Inanna addresses her lover:

"Bridegroom, dear to my heart,

Goodly is your beauty, honey sweet.

Lion, dear to my heart,

Goodly is by your beauty, honey sweet.

You have captivated me, let me stand

trembling before you,

Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to

the bed chamber,

You have captivated me, let me stand

trembling before you,

Lion, I would be taken by you to the

bed chamber.

Bridegroom, let me caress you,

My precious caress is more savory than honey,

In the bed chamber, honey filled,

Let us enjoy your goodly beauty,

Lion, let me caress you.

My precious caress

Is more savory than honey."

Surprisingly, a very similar story can be found of all places, in the middle of the Bible. This work has been attributed to Solomon, but there's very little doubt it is actually far older than the time of Solomon. It uses many expressions and symbols of the earlier Babylonian and Sumerian writings. It has been called the "Canticle of Canticles", or "Song of Songs".

Archeologists have discovered from writings such as these and numerous artifacts, the ritual of the Sacred Marriage was celebrated for thousands of years in many countries. It eventually became the religious focus of not only the civilizations of Mesopotamia, but of Egypt, Crete, Anatolia, as well as of the Dravidian civilization in the Indus valley, with their great cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.

The Sacred Marriage became the point of fusion of many different currents of associated symbols and beliefs. In doing so, it became the most powerful and profound symbol in the entire spectrum of human consciousness.

Over time, the Sacred Marriage evolved and gradually became institutionalized with numerous symbols, some of which remain to this very day. In temples throughout India, some of the most sacred objects are erect stones symbolizing the phallus of God, and circular stones with hollow centers, represent the vagina of the Goddess. Together, these stones symbolize the Divine Male and Female creative energies that conceive and sustain the universe.

This concept is far older than any of the later Gods and Goddesses of the Aryans or Indo-Europeans. We know this for a fact, because in the earliest writing of the Aryan invaders, the Rig-Veda, the darker skinned aboriginal peoples were derogatorily referred to as "those whose god is the phallus". Rig-Veda 7.21.5. This was written sometime around 2,000 B.C.E. to 1,500 B.C.E..

Amazingly, some 4,000 years later we find many of these people still, much to the discomfort of those more "enlightened' around them, worshipping in exactly the same way as their ancestors did.

The culture of the Goddess flourished in India and produced some of the most amazing and unique temples to be found anywhere on Earth. These temples were dedicated to the creative energies of the Male and Female in a spectacular display of sexual expressions. One can see elaborate carvings on the exterior of some of the temples, and witness an array of sexual attitudes and positions that are truly wonderful. The people of this early culture saw nothing but beauty, pleasure and power in all expressions of human sexuality, and this message is definitely revealed in their art.

The culture and traditions from this period held that any individual of the community could come to the temple and participate in the sacrament of the Sacred Marriage; to participate in the sexual union of the God and Goddess, and thereby become blessed, empowered, healed or made more whole.

In Greece, this practice was called Hierodouleia, meaning: "sacred service". And the women that offered this "sacred service" in the temple was called a Hierodule, or "sacred servant". This special individual represented the Goddess, or was believed to incarnate the power of the Feminine Principle.

Anyone who came to the temple would approach the Hierodule in this spiritual or sacramental context. For it was further believed that if one sexually engaged with the Hierodule, one would actually be uniting with the Divine Herself.(23)

It is most relevant here to understand that the original meaning to the word "prostitute" was: "to stand on behalf of". The individual in this role "stood on behalf of" the Goddess. To serve in the temple in this capacity was considered the most sacred act of service and self-giving that one could perform. In many cultures, it took years of preparation and training to serve in the temple.

.....and read on thru links. ;-)

nice post Daniel... thank you.

and as always.. thank you for writing your book. though i haven't read it yet cause i don't seek out books rather books seek me out., i really appreciate you and words.

first i'll jump in on what caught rebecca's attention. finding peace, happiness and liberation in any relationship requires total transparency. i like to call this "telling the microspopic truth" and this applies as much to what is not said as to what is said.

and touching on your reference to rajneesh i'd like to elaborate. our soul in manifestation must go though four different stages of sexuality in our lives and lifetimes. often we spend our whole lives in one stage.... other times we go through two or three and sometimes we experience all four in one life time of experience.

the first stage is 'autosexual'. this starts as a child and is where many remain for their lifetime/s. in short this is sex with ourselves or masterbation. because so many of us experience a negative reaction from adults near us... we suppress this natural stage and thus often remain at this stage regardless of our intimacy with others... meaning we are in fact getting ourselves off even when with another.

the second stage is homosexuality. after experiencing total sexuality withourselves we are by nature more comfortable and curious about others who are like ourselves. often this stage is also repressed due to social illusion and misunderstanding.

the third stage is heterosexuality. this is true interest in the opposite pole or that which is most different from us. this comes after we have achieved total experience in the first two stages.

the fourth stage is what is called brahmacharya and is when we have discovered the opposite within ourselves and are able to create an energetic loop without the need for another.

polyamory or polygamy is a lifestyle and though they can, they very rarely are conducive to trancending our sexual karma. one on one relationships provide the most stable means to learning what lessons need be learned and thus push us quicker and farther up the ladder toward our goal which is liberation, peace and happiness.

and i'd like to add that yeS... true Love is unconditional Love and that means allowing our partners total freedom to explore what they need to in order to trancend their own sexual stage.

multiplicityhugs,

Concepts of sex, gender, and consciousness have been intertwined for a long time. Some of you may be familiar with the work of Harry Benjamin, whose 1971 book "Basic Self-Knowledge" drew upon the teachings of Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way tradition. He was also an expert on the issue of life extension, he himself living to the age of 100. Benjamin was a scientist and monogamist (he was happily married to his wife Gretchen for 60 years). However, he was a radical visionary and pioneer in gender studies, publishing "The Transsexual Phenomenon," the first major book on the treatment of transsexuals, in 1966.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Benjamin

One of Harry Benjamin's patients and early associates was Reed Erickson, who through his Erickson Educational Foundation funded research by Robert Masters and Jean Houston (authors of "The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience"), Stanley Krippner www.stanleykrippner.com (author of "Becoming Psychic: Spiritual Lessons for Focusing Your Hidden Abilities"), John Lilly, and other work on entheogens, psi research, and altered states of consciousness. Sadly, Erickson died in Mexico (in a mansion he called the "Love Joy Palace") as an addict and fugitive:

web.uvic.ca/~erick123

Needless to say, there are some fascinating links in the histories of transsexuality and entheogens. These are hardly accidental and seem consistent with Daniel's current hypothesis "that the realization of a fully conscious and scrupulously attentive sexual (or better, sexual/spiritual) liberation is necessary for the continuation of the human species).

Joanne Meyerowitz' book "How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States"
www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674013794

You may think I'm baiting you here, but I promise I'm not. I'm curious to know how technology and transsexuality figure into your vision.

Hi Daniel: I'm very glad you have chosen to discuss this topic. I wrote a response yesterday on BOTH about my "male orgasm and linear time" post but I wasn't logged in so it disappeared! This is better.

Anyway I've read Paul Theroux as well and am glad you got to meet him. I read his "best of" travel works and especially like his Tibet travel experiences. He stayed in a run-down hotel that was completely flithy and the residents shat on the floor while eating huge chunks of meat torn straight from the animals!! Not exactly the Hollywood version of Tibet.

In fact in my academic research I've found it argued that the true meditation masters in Tibet are the wild tantric hermits who are not part of any monasteries.

Peter Mathiessen encountered one such wild hermit in Nepal -- the hermit attacked anyone who came nearby and the sherpas stated that was the hermit's dharma.

I read about a mountain in India that is devoted to Tantra and everyone is scared to climb it since the tantriks are so wild and dangerous. A couple months ago there was a news report in India about child sacrifice by tantrics.

Sure these are isolated reports and professor Hugh B. Urban is doing much to dispel the westernized myths about tantra. It's not "nuggie nirvana" as Urban jokes in his new review of Professor David Gordon White's latest tantra book "kiss of the yogini."

In fact I strongly recommend you to take a sharp veer from western metaphysics (steiner, evola, Osho, etc.). The West has never had yoga and so the west does not understand how to sublimate sexual energy.

Now immediately everyone will say that's crazy! But guess what people are deeply racist in the West.

If you want a good Eastern expose on Osho read "Karma Cola" by M. Gehta. That book is a must-read expose on the whole esotourism trend started in the 1960s in India. Let's just say that the Osho commune in India had close ties with the U.S. State department since they regularly shipped Osho students back to the U.S. into mental hospitals.

Considering that Jonestown was CIA and the CIA infiltrated UFO cults (Heaven's Gate) and most likely the John Africa movement in Philadelphia -- I wouldn't be surprised if Osho had similar ties.

Here's the books I recommend: "Taost Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" trans. by Charles Luk. This is a hardcore tantra book based on "the single path" using "the small universe" technique. I got to chapter six in this book in terms of practice but it was such a radical transformation causing extreme reactions in those around me that I stopped practicing and did more research.

That practicing was my final self-directed research for my masters degree so I could devote all my time to sublimating my sexual energy. I was only working some 10 hours a week, had access to excellent food, a relatively quiet space and most importantly I was naive and innocent!!

That was six years ago and since then I've read one scholarly book a day in an attempt to process my training!

I received energy transmissions from a Chinese yoga master -- Chunyi Lin -- who was just featured on the most watched evening news show in the U.S. -- an L.A. program. He teaches at springforestqigong.com and there is a forum of his students at learningstrategies.com

Anyway the first books I read after electromagnetic fields filled my body and I needed no water for 7 days and I healed my mom of a serious disability and I accidently pulled the spirit of out someone's head -- those books were

Master Nan, Huai-chin, a yoga master and professor in Taiwan. Master Nan, Huai-chin is a best-seller in Asia and is published by Samuel Weiser but remains almost totally unknown in Western "spiritual" circles. He's promoted by a Buddhist academic program at a NY university but Master Nan is by no means just "buddhist."

People in the West think they understand Zen because of Alan Watts, Paul Brunton, Suzuki, etc. but Master Nan details how even Japan lost the meaning of yoga training because it became too focused on conceptual thinking. Zen is from Chan (China) which is from India.

Master Nan, Huai-chin has about 4 books published in English and I had to read them each three times just for their teachings to sink in. It's very much focused on the body and the necessary steps that are needed to sublimate sexual energy.

People think that "retention" is good enough but the electro-chemical heat (the Jing) of the hormones needs to be transfomed into electromagnetic fields (Chi) which then turns into aura light for spacetime travel (the Shen).

This is all based on ratio theory, as detailed in "Taoist Yoga" -- from music theory! The easiest way to start this training is "the small universe" practice. Mantak Chia has a good introduction book that describes peope's experience with the small universe practice aka "the microcosmic orbit." Mantak Chia recommends people have no sex for the first three months of practice and the trick is that if you are successful in sublimated the sex energy then sex has no real appeal anymore -- it's not nearly as blissful as the pineal gland energy.

The oldest modern human culture, the Koi-San, call this electro-chemical heat, the N/um or boiling energy. It's very hard to control this energy at first and it's also very rare in the West.

What happens in the West is that we eat lots of meat which creates the heat but then we use that energy for sex. Simple as that -- only that our sexual energy comes from the kidneys which then get over-worked and you see guys with gray hair while in their thirties!!

It's common knowledge is West Asia that too much sex causes baldness but this is TABOO in the West. It's supposed to be sophisticated to think that sex does not cause damage to health -- this is a lie -- and the latest research connects loss of serotonin to masterbation.

The problem again is no yoga so no real sublimation. People think repression leads to crime and Freud taught that work enabled sublimation (well he couldn't do it so smoked cigars incessantly while having his daughter cling to his side).

Jung was on the right track but the closest he got to the East was "Turning the light around" -- a technique of mind yoga only from secrets of the golden flower.

China has a specific medical condition for being over-sexed in their traditional medicine.

So for the Koi-San every time they went hunting they spent three days without any contact with females then once a week, after the meat is distributed to the women, there is an all night trance-dance around a fire. The fire helps create the boiling energy and the dancing causes the heat or N/um to rise up the spine which then transforms into electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic field then turns into light called X/ia! This Xia (sp.?) state enables them to see spirit lights and light blockages in other people.

The dancers then go around removing the blockages, transmitted electromagnetic energy, and helping more people achieve the Xia state. But if they go too deeply into Xia then their spirit leaves their body and travels to outerspace!

The women stop this because the men are supposed to be healing not drifting off into outerspace although this skill is considered very strong. Also the visions are used to see into great distances to have safety from lions and to see the prey for hunting.

This is described in the recent academic book "Women Like Meat." Dr. Richard Katz' work gives the best details while the book "The Harmless People" is excellent and Dr. Bradford Keeney's recent "Bushman Shaman" is the latest.

Suffice it to say that the Koi-San culture has been decimated and this traditional healing is rare indeed.

In fact Master Nan, Huai-chin emphasizes that most people in Asia who try to sublimate their sexual energy to create chi end up "falling back into a worldly state."

Master Nan also emphasizes that people who do transform their sexual energy get angry very easily.

See the intention to do this is kidney energy (the internal reproductive organs) but the opposite of intention is fear.

The kidney energy (as testosterone turned into adrenaline) then transforms the Liver energy (anger) into wisdom. People who drink too much damage their liver and that's why they get angry so easily. (Lungs is depression (that's why smokers get sad too easily).

So it's easy to get angry a lot while this transformation is taking place. Then the liver energy opens up the heart energy as Love but what happens is that the opposite of love is blissful excitement.

People get really attached to the blissful excitement (since serotonin has to turn into melatonin and then into DMT).

When people use up the blissful excitement then they get angry and then get fearful (a fall back into worldliness).

Only once the third eye is fully open (i.e. the pineal gland has been turned into a liquid crystal state which activates the photo-receptors in the eyes) then is blissful transformation of the brain permanent.

At that point the person can do long distance healing simply by focusing the mind and opening up the body channels so that strong electromagnetic fields power the healing information (the holographic light) into the target of their intention.

The only way to really know this is possible is that the person can sit in full-lotus with the feet over the thighs, by the stomach, for at least two hours straight -- not only in comlete comfort but with the body full of electromagnetic power.

Now here people say no way that's not necessary! That's elitist, etc.

No elitism is all the fake Western "magic." As Master Nan emphasizes the body must be transformed before samadhi is achieved.

No one can fake the full-lotus so don't waste your time with someone who can not do this.

As I stated I spent a week sitting in full-lotus almost the whole time. I was never hungry, only took a couple sips of water (my brain created water which flowed freely down the roof of my mouth -- a well-known result of alchemy called the ambrosia) and as the week ended I only needed 5 hours of sleep.

Master Chunyi Lin has gone 28 days like this in a cave in China.

Now the problem was that I told people this and they freaked out. Also I had people reacting to the strong electromagnetic fields shooting out from around me. Without me telling them what I had done I got such a response "what are you doing to me!" even though I was a good six feet away and this subject was not being talked about.

As I said I did heal me mom (without touching her) of a significant case of smoker's legs. The person who helped me do this is teaching the Mayo Clinic doctors -- Master Chunyi Lin.

Also I accidently pulled someone's spirit out of their head. They were an old, frail female and I put my hands close to the top center of their skull -- something I was taught not to do. I never touched her, she could not see my face and yet I felt her spirit fly out of her body. The same time I felt that she began bawling and cried non-stop for at least 15 minutes. We never talked and she walked off being comforted by others. I saw her later and she held no bad feelings because we both had understood what had happened.

Then when I sat in full-lotus the room would spin around me with strong electromagnetic fields. This freaked me out but then I read in Dr. Peter Kingsley's work that in shamanic Greece this was considered the necessary step to entering samadhi.

I also had telekinesis and telepathy.

But as I stated I stopped practicing because I wanted to "understand" what was happening.

The important part is that there is consciousness beyond spacetime which can transform all matter into energy. Master Lin then shot energy into the middle of my brain so that I experience bliss all the time and just need to focus to recenter my energy. My third eye is half-open. I could see white light auras and even spirits traveling through the air when I had practiced more.

Once this is really experienced then it's quickly easy to understand why tantra is so wild.

I began dumpster-diving and eating rotten food because I knew I could transform it through yoga.

Once the flu tried to strike me -- I let the symptoms build (nausea, sore throat, shaking, aching muscles, fever, cold, etc.)

I let the symptoms build for an hour then I just sat in full-lotus (in the library) while reading some books. Then I had to walk home three miles in 10 degrees F. weather. I then sat in full lotus for a few hours while listening to Pacifica news.

By 6 a.m. all the symptoms were 90% gone and by noon it was as if I had never had those symptoms even though originally they had been strong enough to put anyone else out of commission for 2 to 3 days.

This sort of reminds me of a topic that pops up in other tribes and on Nature's First Law... whether or not to shampoo. And it seems some people have fine hair that gets very greasy without shampoo. Or at least they seem to have a pretty good result from shampooing, and their hair comes out enough like the shampoo models' for them to not foment rebellion. And other people, with coarser, curlier, more willful hair are quite certain shampooing is destructive, makes their hair big, unruly, apt to eat anything that gets in eats way. Saponification may indeed be the end of the unverse as we know it, they say. And this comes up all the time, because some people are needing to make and adjustment, and they are not nor will ever be Breck girls.

If you're at a point where you're looking back and you realize you flubbed it early on, and the women screwed you over, and you want a redo, that might well be appropriate for you. And you brought up some sexual abuse, and that's kind of a serious thing to be coming to grips with. I suppose repurposing sexuality is a conversation that keeps coming up because some people don't feel like the flowy haired breck girl equivalent of whatever the ad was that we all got brainwashed with about sex. I know it was supposed to be something perfect and blonde, too, I think.

I find the theoretical nature of this thread interesting.

I feel like Drew has somehow given us the cliffs notes to the meaning of life, and that it would be great to sit down and try to get the long version.

And Gayle has so much knowledge.

And I may the mental lightweight here, but at the same time, it just hits me as odd that mixed in with the theory, Daniel is talking about some fairly personal stuff -- and the theory is what seems to resonate and attract attention.

Why?

Is theory so much more important, you smarty pantses?

I guess there wouldn't be much of a thread if everybody said, "Yeah, Daniel. Sounds like you're going to be poly for a while. Good luck with that, man."

Still, it's just kind of tiresome to witness grounded, non-mystical, plain old basic stuff about how the quotidian world works get overlooked in favor of more flowery stuff. It's tiresome, more than anything, because ignoring the quotidian (and personal) seems to have a way of mucking up theory.

For example, Daniel writes:

>>Wilber argues that this process works differently for men and women, on average. He suggests that just as with IQ, men tend to range more widely across the scale - more geniuses and more idiots - the same is true of this development, so that among men you find more sociopathic monsters and more Gandhis. He proposes that it is actually more difficult for women to attain the higher levels of spiritual development because it tends to be a more deeply embodied process for them - often spiritual transformation involves very difficult and painful physical transformation (think St Theresa). This seems to correspond to what i have noticed, anecdotally and through my own observations.<<

Anecdotally and through my own observations, it seems to me that women who opt out of childbearing or negotiate (somehow) realities in which childbearing does not become their primary occupation (and primarily their responsibility) -- women who are able to basically live as men in some way -- become every bit as likely to do great Ghandian things as men. I have a friend (male) who is delaying having children because of some work he has read suggesting a loss of IQ in parents. And it does seem that men who share equally in childcare may find themselves leading very ordinary lives -- neither gandhis nor sociopaths. That fewer women become sociopaths may be a function of far greater socialization toward being "good" in them. Though I'd say our public schools are packed with any number of female sociapaths.

So far as finding modern examples of sexuality that are potentially progressive, and at least of an interesting contrast, I would recommend to anyone information on modern sexual relationships in Cuba. I was down there at the age of 18, and hanging out with Cuban musicians of the same age. They were very surprised that we would only have one lover at a time. As well, they were so keen to have sexual relations with us Canadian kids, and we were quite intimidated by their openess on the subject (and the actions beyond the subject). Along with this sexual awareness that I consider healthier than that which I was raised with, there is the physical health correlations to be found in Cuba, i.e. a low rate of sexually transmitted disease, low infant mortality (i.e. healthy babies... I feel lost on how to use that term), less societal judgement on abortion... As well, I regognize there is still a great deal of sexism in Cuba, and young musicians are a unique demograph that I was exposed to.

Also, there is the experience of the French 'Instinctos', where a community of about 40 people ended up interacting sexually with groups of 3 being the predominant relationship type, and homosexual relationships also predominating. This was something that evolved over a period of years, in contrast to the community coming together with such an intent. The essence of this model was described to me as "2+1". The observation was that we so often fall in love with other people, and that for those in a relationship our cultural norm conditions a 2-1 reaction, where the standing relationship breaks up to accomodate relations to the new person, or the new person is not received. 2+1 brings the new person in to the relationship. As well, the sophistication required of 3 people meeting each others emotional needs seems to have an unfolding effect on the consciousness of the heart. Communicating EVERYTHING is key.

I would also recommend the Science Fiction of Sherri S. Tepper. She was head of Planned Parenthood in the State of Oregon, and then went on to be an author. Her books reflect many progressive viewpoints on the subject of societal planning, religion, ecology (within very intriguing worlds and storylines). Particularly in the book "A Plague of Angels", there is one region that is autonomous of the stories authoritarian society, carries an aboriginal cultural feel, and has many societal codes for allowing the population to exist harmoniously with the earth and with each other.

I consider that coming to a place in which we are able to communicate our awareness without fear of judgement will allow for a flow that creates the most beautiful and harmonious types of relationships to unfold. If folks have more interest in the "2+1" style relationships I mentioned above, I do have some insiders experience and would love to share story. There's certainly cracks and shards among it, though the experience and growth have been very nourishing.