A very interesting book on accelerated learning offers indications that it is sexual energy which fuels our capacity to learn and store information. The authors recommend, 20 minutes learning any subject, (a language for example) followed by a 20 minute nap listening to Baroque music. As part of the learning environment, it is recommended to use all the senses. One of the best tools for learning, is to speak on a particular subject, then to act it out as a theatre drama and then to listen to a ‘dirty’ joke. The risqué joke works wonders in helping the information to be absorbed because even contemplating sex, and the experience of laughter activates all the senses and opens the brain to become receptive to new information on a deeper level.

It is no wonder then, that advertising of all kinds uses blatant sexual imagery to sell their products. If we look deeper into the psychology of sex, we can ascertain that it is because of the sex act that we are all here, and therefore, it is perfectly natural that we are preoccupied with this divine creative force. When a man and woman are in the sex act, it is actually a mirror of what is happening throughout creation on a grand scale. Bees, birds, animals, flowers, trees, sky and earth, all come into being through sexual contact. The opposite polarities of male and female meeting, is the catalyst for life.

A beautiful sutra from Karpatri, a Tantra scripture, says:

“Universal energy, the substance of the world,
Is represented by the Yoni which grasps the Lingam.
It is only when the phallus, the giver of semen,
Is surrounded by the Yoni,
That God can manifest
And the Universe appear.

If you really absorb the meaning of these words, it becomes obvious that sex is a most sacred subject. In actual fact, sex needs to become a priority for research and learning if we are to have happiness and well being as human beings. This brings the question, why has sexuality been so condemned and repressed down the ages? Below is a quote from Osho which offers insight:

“SEX IS THE MOST POWERFUL INSTINCT IN MAN. The politician and the priest — they have understood it from the very beginning: that sex is the most driving energy in man. It has to be curtailed, it has to be cut.

IF MAN IS ALLOWED TOTAL FREEDOM ABOUT SEX, THEN THERE WILL BE NO POSSIBILITY TO DOMINATE HIM. To turn a slave out of him will be impossible.

Have you not seen it being done? When you want a bull to be yoked in a bullock cart — what you do? — YOU CASTRATE; you destroy his sex energy.

AND HAVE YOU SEEN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BULL AND AN OX? What a difference! An ox is a poor phenomenon: a slave. A bull is a beauty. A bull is a glorious phenomenon, a great splendour. See a bull walking — how he walks like an emperor; and see an ox carrying a bullock cart.

THE SAME HAS BEEN DONE TO MAN. The sex instinct has been curtailed, cut, crippled. Now man does not exist as the bull; he exists like the ox.

AND EACH MAN IS CARRYING THOUSAND-AND-ONE BULLOCK CARTS. Look and you will find behind you thousand-and-one bullock carts; and you are yoked in them.

Why can’t you yoke a bull? — The bull is too powerful. If he sees a cow passing by, he will throw the bullock cart and you. And he will move to the cow. He will not bother a little bit who you are, and he will not listen. It will be impossible to control the bull.

SEX ENERGY IS LIFE ENERGY; IT IS UNCONTROLLABLE.

And the politician and the priest are not interested in you. They are interested to channelize your energy into certain other directions. So there is a certain mechanism behind it. It has to be understood.

SEX REPRESSION — TABOOING THE SEX — IS THE VERY FOUNDATION OF HUMAN SLAVERY. And man cannot be free unless sex is free. Man cannot be really free unless his sex energy is allowed natural growth.”

Osho, The Tantra Vision, Vol 2, Ch #4:

In the new dawn, it is very apparent that we need to throw off our shackles and become liberated in our sexual expression. Some people reading this may think, “Ahh, but that will be dangerous as it can lead to perversion and licentiousness”! Sexuality leads to perversion only if it comes out of repression. As a case in point we can refer to the phenomenal amount of sexual abuse which has been done by priests with young children as the victims. In Ireland, the gag dissolved, and the trust in the church collapsed as thousands of grown -ups disclosed the abuse they had received at the hands of priests while they were in their care as children.

The moment you repress anything, it immediately gains much more power over you, working through the labyrinth of the subconscious. I had a client once who had a powerful dream that monsters were coming to get him from the dark basement. When we did dream work, allowing his dream to reveal what it was trying to communicate, it turned out that the monsters were his repressed sexual energy trying to get out of the prison of his subconscious. He had been raised as a Catholic, and had some unwinding of his conditioning to do before he could allow his sexuality to become really natural and free-flowing.

It is true that our animal instinct is very strong, and seeks myriad ways of expression. When people go into licentiousness, it is usually because they have not been living their sexuality in a free and easy way, with full acceptance of who they are in regards to this powerful life force.

The master key to live sexual energy in a healthy way is to apply meditation to it. Bring your awareness, love, creativity and sensitivity to it and you will discover heaven on earth. This is the experiment that was done for thousands of years in India with Tantra. The mystics and sages of old, refined the sexual act to an exact science leading to spiritual liberation. They recognized that we have only one energy. In its raw unrefined state, it is sex. This same energy, can become the fuel for expanded consciousness. It all depends how you use it. What is your attitude to it? Do you hate your life force (sex) or do you love and respect it? If you hate sex or are disgusted by your own body, you have some homework to do. It is only by owning our sexuality, embracing it, and learning from it, that we can grow into love and into spiritual awakening.

Another aspect of sexuality which is very important is to understand the differences in the way female sexuality and male sexuality function. A very simple way to realize this is through the symbol of the Circle (female) and the Pillar (masculine) The male energy is focused, directional, linear, single pointed, powerful, hot, all expressions of Yang. Female energy is liquid, changeable, circular, vast, cool, all expressions of Yin. When these two opposites come together it is the pure spirit of alchemy. Both are refined in the power of their meeting to become a third manifestation, which could become a new human life, or it could become an outpouring of energy and emotion, or it could become a new creative endeavour. It is good to remember that whatever is born into this world is born out of sex. Conscious sexuality means a conscious world.

Shiva Lingam at temple in Varanasi

The powerful message contained in the symbol of the Pillar and the Circle is enshrined in the carving called Shiva Lingam from India. This symbol is placed in the inner sanctum of Tantra oriented temples. I could write a whole blog only on this carving, it has so much to impart through its presence. It offers the message for a harmonious society by revealing to us the importance of an equally balanced feminine and masculine energy. If you want a direct transmission about the circle and the pillar, you can participate in Kohrogi Sensei’s group, Natsukashi. He offers us teachings coming from the ancient continent of Lemuria (which is most likely to be the original cradle of the Tantric approach to life).

It is my supreme wish that sexuality finds again its rightful place in our society as the holy of holies it is. I know that this will be the right ground for a conscious, loving and blissful humanity. To find your way on this garden path, I highly recommend to read Tantra books, attend Tantra groups, follow your nose to the best flowers of Tantra which are currently blooming in this world, and celebrate your liberation, your ecstasy, and your empowerment. It is your birthright, to know the ecstatic potential offered to you through birth. As you dive deeply into sexual exploration in a conscious way, you will automatically discover it flowering into love. And as you dive into love in a conscious way, you will automatically find it flowering into spiritual awakening. It is the same tree. The roots of this tree of life are in sex. The trunk is made of love. And the branches and leaves are made of spiritual awakening.

Love Sarita