The recent furor over Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and subsequent movie has called attention to the apparently new discovery that the divine and the erotic intersect, but this is no new revelation. Barely fifteen years ago, Nicolas Kazantzakis touched on the same theme in The Last Temptation of Christ. Even he was by no means the first to touch on such a sensitive topic. Since the time of Dr. Sigmund Freud, there has been a burgeoning industry in attempting to read sexual imagery into almost everything under the sun, and religion is no different.
In all actuality, every major religion that has ever existed has had some element of the erotic in its theology, and for good reason. Among other things, we are born to breed, which inherently has the reproductive instinct hardwired into our firmware (or hardware, if you will). In fact, just as your computer has a hard drive, a CD drive, and so on, so do we have our sex drive, along with our survival drive and all our other drives. One of the main functions of religion (Latin: religere - to bind back) is to celebrate and sanctify that which binds us to the divine. If you accept the premise that we are divine beings, it only makes sense that even our reproductive functions deserve some celebration.
Of course, the Hindus have been hard at it for millennia with the Kama Sutra, which, by the way, was a spiritual form of yoga meditation which draws upon the creative force of sexuality, eons before it became a kinky fad in the West (and true Hindu practitioners of this art would be indignant to see what Westerners incorrectly understand it to be).
Initiates of the Egyptian Mysteries believed that the Cosmos was created by the seminal ejaculation of the Godhead after indulging in some primordial self-stimulation. Later on, the Greek and Roman 'Mystery-Religions' celebrated the phallus quite publicly in its art and architecture, and its ritual fertility worship is widely known (the wild, licentious 'orgies' came much later as their religious institutions declined). Even the Old Testament relied heavily on phallic imagery in its theology, from Moses raising the Brazen Serpent in the wilderness (itself a sexual allegory) to the very erotic 'Song of Songs' with its very blatant sexual imagery. Even some early Christian sects incorporated many fertility concepts into their scheme (some indulged more so than others: much of Saint Paul's writings concerning chastity and celibacy actually arose from the obsessive sexual excesses of not a few early congregations). Even today, many of the world's religions expend an overabundant amount of zeal over sexuality and procreation, often mistaking the forest for the trees.
So why all this religious fervor about sex and sexuality? Why all the fuss over fertility?
First, let me reiterate that almost every religion has its beginning with some form of creation and/or fertility celebration, no doubt to ensure bountiful harvests and an ongoing supply for a viable gene pool (survivability was not so good in those days). It would only be natural that people in ages past would seek divine favor to fertilize the fields and fertilize the wombs for a safe and bounteous future.
Second, it was understood by almost all the ancient religions that procreation was A purpose for sex, not THE purpose (the common injunctions against 'adultery' were not so much against sex as they were against
violating the marriage contract: 'fooling around' was considered fornication, not necessarily adultery).
Third, since the creation of the Cosmos (according to whichever theology one followed) was itself a divine act, and the fertilization of the fields was understood as part of the divine plan, it follows that procreation was likewise a divine act, and marriage arose as an institution to 'celebrate' this aspect of the Fertility Mysteries.
Whew! Now that we cleared all that up, where does that leave us now?
In the intervening centuries, the Ancient Mysteries fell into disuse (especially in Europe) as compulsory religion became the rule of the day, and with it, compulsory morality. Protestant reformers (and not a few Monastic zealots) attempted to enforce a near police state of sexual chastity, and the obsession with 'sin' came to be almost synonymous with sex (up to this point, 'sin' was mostly concerned with heresy or witchcraft).
The irony in all this is that the out-of-wedlock birthrate among New World puritans was one in four (sometimes as high as one in three). So much for Puritan Values.
In the Victorian age, it was culturally taboo to discuss anything sexual, as it was considered contrary to religion and polite company. Never mind the fact that it was forefront on everyone's minds (as it always was and still is). Even Queen Victoria is now known to have had a wildly imperial libido.
Okay, we digress. Skipping through the 20th Century, we have the invention of The Pill, theological exacerbations over sexuality, the Sexual Revolution, and now cybersex, masturbation, and webcam. What in the world does all this have to do with spirituality?
In the closing decades of the last century, there was a growing interest in other religions, spiritual systems, and interior transformation, largely as a result of modern technology and modern mass communication. People now find more means to express themselves, improve themselves, even satisfy themselves. There is nothing you can imagine that can not be found on Google. Spiritual Sexuality is no different.
There is every kind of sexual adventure out there waiting for us, for good or for ill, just as there is every kind of spirituality out there. For those who want no part of anything spiritual or religious, there is enough out there for them to be happy. Ditto for those who want religion and nothing whatsoever to do with sexuality. Fortunately for the rest of us, there is a happy medium in which both longing desires can find their fulfillment. One can find spiritual joy in sexuality, just as one can find sexual fulfillment in spiritual union. The way to inner physical and spiritual peace is up to you, but if you wish to experience true sexual spirituality, ask yourself three questions:
- Will this bring me closer to the Divine?
- Do I feel a divine spark within me with my partner, and is it mutual?
- How can my partner and I maximize this blissful union and make it forever sacred?
Only you can find the answer to these questions, and even if you contemplate these questions the rest of your lives, even that is a major step toward the Eternal.
Blessings upon you all!
Originally published September 2006 - "Divine"