Sexuality-- A Bridge to Higher Consciousness

taken from the book: Bringers of The Dawn
by Barbara Marciniak

Sexuality is so misunderstood on this planet that, when it is exchanged between two persons, very seldom is there an intent to connect spirituality with it. Sexuality invokes a spirituality that is free and that looks at itself as a creator. However, very seldom is sexuality used as a bridge to take you to higher levels of consciousness.
The sexual parts of the body are avenues to pleasure
that create frequencies that heal and stimulate the body
and potentially lead it to its higher spiritual self.
When finding the proper partner~
it is possible to achieve very high states of being.

It shows you yourself outside of yourself when you have open communication within sexuality and deep intimacy, and when you are not using sexuality as a distraction for getting close. Many of you have used sexuality as a distraction and a way to avoid intimacy rather than to develop it. You begin to get energy and to look into one another's eyes and to feel all hot and excited. Then, instead of exploring each other intimately and spiritually, you shut down your feeling centers, put on your armor, and have shallow, genital sex because it is too frightening and to intense to go the deeper route of full body and full spiritual connection. Sometimes hot sex feels great and is wonderful. We are simply saying that there is more. There is much more, and no one is keeping it from you except yourselves and the beliefs and fear you have of letting down your boundaries and walls.

Sexuality is a frequency. It represents what was not taken away from you even though your history, your memories, and your identity were removed and scattered. The way you were left intact with the ability to discover who you were was through the sexual experience. Of course, you were never taught this. We are going to do some church bashing here. So sorry for anyone who is a member of the churches. The churches came about as organizations-..-businesses to control religion and spiritual development and to create jobs and to create a hierarchy
Very few churches came about with the idea of bringing information to people. You don't usually think of religion as something that keeps you informed, do you? Any religion that brings information is a religion operating on the vibration of truth.
And there have been very few of those thru out the course of human history


Because sexuality was an opportunity
for human beings to regain their memory,
Sexuality was promoted as something very bad
Because sexuality was a way to connect
with the spiritual self and spiritual creator
it was promoted as something very bad
Because sexuality opens an avenue into the spiritual realm
people were sealed off from it
The churches promoted sexuality for procreation purposes only

They taught you that the only reason you had sexuality
was to produce offspring

Women were told that sexuality was something they had to undergo to serve men and that they had no control over the birthing process. Women believed this; hence, even to this day, women believe in general that they have no control over that portion of their body. You must realize that only you decide whether you are going to birth a child or not. This is not such a complicated thing as you have been told. Decision and intention are what bring the experience into your being. You can control whether you have a baby or not. If women had had this ability for the last several thousand years, and if she had been able to explore her sexual self without fear of having a child, perhaps men and women would have discovered that they were much freer than they had been told they were.
Within todays society Sexuality continues to be mis-..interpreted

The discovery of the highest frequency of sexuality arises from the love experience. It has nothing to do with relationships being either homosexual or heterosexual. It has to do with two human beings bringing pleasure to one another in a way that opens frequencies of consciousness. You have bought many ideas about what is proper and what is improper within sexual expression.

Love is the essence that is to be created in all relationships. If you love and honor someone, it doesn't matter what your composition of density is. What matters is the love vibration and how you explore this love, which ideally is gifted and coupled with the integration of the male and female counterparts that make the twin flame.

Ideally, sexuality is explored through feelings. The third and fourth chakras connect you to the emotional and compassionate selves, which connect you to the spiritual self. The spiritual self is the part of yourself that is mulitdimensiona..l-- through which you exist in many forms simultaneously... It is your assignment and agreement and task to be aware of all these realities in the identity that you are. When you are aware, you can tune into the different frequencies, remember who you are, and change the vibratory rate of this universe.

We love to talk about sexuality because it is so mysterious upon this planet. Certain mystery schools have held some of the knowledge about the potential uses of sexuality in secrecy. You are electromagnetic.. creatures, and when you come together physically with another human creature, you bond your electromagnetic.. frequencies together. When your frequencies are attuned and joined by the love frequency, incredible things can occur

Vegetarians Make Better Lovers

Facts for Men: Meat-Eating Causes Impotence


Medical evidence indicates that meat-eating does indeed cause impotence, because meat clogs up the arteries going to all organs, not just to the heart. Meat-eating is also linked to numerous other health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and stroke.


Many healthy vegan foods are loaded with natural aphrodisiacs—nutrients and chemicals that boost your and your partner's sexual arousal and performance. Research has shown that vegetarians enjoy greater amounts of the nutrients that help boost sexual health and performance—such as vitamins A, C, and E and potassium—than meat-eaters do.

*On a side note; a beautiful source brought to my attention that eating pineapple and eliminating meat will leave men tasting better to their lover, which is a win win situation if you get my drift.


Want A Healthy Prostate?


A vegan diet can lower the risk of developing prostate cancer, say researchers. They have found that men who eat a vegan diet have lower levels of a growth factor that is associated with prostate cancer than either meat-eaters or vegetarians.


Men who ate four daily servings of vegetables were 35 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who ate only two servings a day. But the guys who included veggies from the cabbage family like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale just three times per week had an even greater benefit: They were 41 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who only ate one serving a week. Researchers speculate that to digest these vegetables the body needs to produce an enzyme that also happens to fight cancer-causing compounds.





Vegan Aphrodisiacs


Try serving your lover these scrumptious vegan aphrodisiacs to help put both of you in the mood:

* Asparagus:Asparagus is high in vitamin E, which increases blood and oxygen flow to the genitals, and potassium, which is important for healthy sex hormone production, making this veggie a well-known aphrodisiac. Its suggestive phallic shape makes it as enticing to the eye as it is to the mouth. To get the best effect, eat this delicious and healthy vegetable at least three days in a row.


* Bananas: A fruit with a sexy shape, bananas are said to contain chemicals that can lift your mood and make you more confident. Bananas are also famously high in potassium, a nutrient that aids in sex hormone production and boosts energy.


* Berries: The perfect foods to feed your lover, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are high in vitamin C, which is important for making sex hormones and neurotransmitters

* Carrots: Carrots are bursting with vitamin A, a nutrient needed for producing sex hormones. For guys, vitamin A is vital for sperm production.


* Chili Peppers: These sizzling veggies will spice up your meal and your evening! Adding chili peppers to your dishes gets your heart pumping and produces neurochemicals known as endorphins, which make you happier.


* Chocolate: Nothing shows your love—or your compassion—better than a box of vegan chocolates for your sweetheart. Chocolate contains the chemical phenylethylamine, which is believed to stimulate romantic feelings by making you happy and excited. Its natural caffeine provides an added boost by giving you more energy.


* Ginger: Seasoning your meals with ginger will enhance blood flow to all parts of your body as long as your arteries aren't clogged up from eating the cholesterol and saturated fat in meat, eggs, and dairy products.


* Licorice: A fun food to hand-feed your lover, researchers have found that the smell of licorice mixed with cucumber is the most sexually stimulating scent for women. Licorice is widely believed to produce feelings of love and lust—particularly in women.


* Nuts: Men should eat cashews, pecans, almonds, walnuts, and other nuts to take in a healthy amount of zinc, which keeps men potent and prevents prostate problems. Nuts are also high in protein, which gives you the energy to keep you going throughout the day—and night.


* Pumpkin: Neurological research has shown that the scent of pumpkin pie is a sexual stimulant for both men and women, increasing male penile blood flow by 40 percent. Pumpkin seeds are one of the best vegan sources of zinc, which for men is crucial for potency and in preventing prostate problems.


* Soy: Soy isn't just protein-packed and amazingly versatile—it's also great for the sex lives of both guys and gals. For women, soy's natural nutrients have been linked to less PMS and better lubrication . The benefits for guys are even better—soy has been found to lower men's chances for developing cancer of the prostate (a vital gland for keeping everything pumping in the bedroom). Researchers at Kansas State University found that soy protein was just as good as beef for guys trying to gain muscle mass. But quite unlike cow flesh, tofu and veggie burgers have zero cholesterol and almost no saturated fat, substances that lead to heart disease, impotence, and other not-so-sexy stuff, like bad breath and body odor.

DEER EXERCISE: For better sexual health and a higher consciousness

As you do the two steps of this exercise, "feel" the fire or energy
generated in your sexual glands and feel it rise upward along the spine into
the breasts and the head. (Never try to use visualization to help the energy
rise.) Linking mind and body is a prerequisite for the harmonious and
powerful functioning of vital energy. Bringing this energy to the pineal
gland in the head is the Divine purpose.

First Stage

1. Sit so that you can press the heel of one foot against the opening of the
vagina. You will want a steady and fairly firm pressure against the
clitoris. If it is not possible to place your foot in this position, then
place a fairly hard, round object, such as one of the steel balls commonly
sold in boxed sets in Chinese shops, against the vaginal opening. (You may
experience a pleasurable sensation due to the stimulation of the genital
area and the subsequent release of sexual energy.)

2. Rub your hands together vigorously. This will cause heat in your hands by
bringing the energy of your body into your palms and fingers.

3. Place your hands on your breasts to that you feel the heat from your
hands enter into the skin.

4. Rub your breasts slowly in outward, circular motions. Your right hand
will turn counter-clockwise; your left, clockwise.

5. Rub in this circular manner for a minimum of thirty-six times or a
maximum of 360 times up to two times a day. It will not be necessary to do
360 hand rotations once a woman has succeeded in stopping her period. Less
than 100 rotations, twice a day, will suffice to maintain a suspension of
menstruation once it has stopped. A woman is the best judge of when she
should suspend or resume menstruation. Resumption occurs after cessation of
the exercise.)

Second Stage

This exercise can be done sitting or lying down.

1. First, tighten the muscles of the vagina and anus as if you were trying
to close both openings, and then try to draw the rectum upward inside the
body, further contracting the anal muscles. When done properly this will
feel as though air is being drawn up into the rectum and vagina. Hold these
muscles tight for as long as you can comfortably.

2. Relax and repeat the anal and vaginal contractions. Do this as many times
as you wish.

NOTE A You may insert a finger into the vagina when you do the contractions,
to determine the strength of your contractions.

NOTE B The lips of the vagina are sensitive and must be massaged and
stimulated during the Deer Exercise. Sitting on the heel of a foot or a ball
serves this purpose. Finger pressure also serves this purpose, but if finger
pressure is used on the vaginal lips, it is important to rub the lips and
press each of the twelve pressure points surrounding the opening in a
clockwise motion. Alternatively, your partner can rub the vagina. This is
very beneficial because the energy that flows through the hands of one
partner flows into the body of the other. (In the man's Deer Exercise, the
woman can do the rubbing and holding of the testicles.)

If a woman finds it tiring to use both hands at once to do the breast
rubbing, she can use one hand on the opposite breast while the other hand
rests. Or, the free hand can be used to stimulate the vaginal opening in
place of the heel. Another method is that the man rubs both breasts while
the woman rubs or presses her vagina with her hand. As you can see, this is
very flexible exercise which can be adapted to individual preference.

The first few anal and vaginal contractions may be hard to do. Eventually,
though, you will be able to increase the number of times you can do it as
well as the length of time you are able to hold the contractions. When done
properly, a pleasant feeling will travel from the base of anus through the
spinal column to the top of the head. This is caused by the build-up of
sexual energy and its movement up through the glandular system to the pineal
gland at the top of the head.'

The outward rubbing of the breasts is called "dispersion," and it helps
prevent lumps and cancer of the breast. It will also decrease the size of
breasts that are too large and flabby. Reversing this direction to an inward
motion, so that the right hand circles clockwise and the left hand circles
counter-clockwise, is called "stimulation" and its effect is to enlarge
undersized breasts.

Do this exercise in the morning upon arising and at night before retiring.

When you practice the Deer Exercise, try to avoid touching the nipples. A
woman's nipples are very sensitive and easily over-stimulated.

If the exercise is done correctly, a woman will notice an increased
sensitivity in her nipples.

Menstruation

A woman's sexual organ system consists of four inter-related parts: the
vagina, the uterus, the ovaries, and the breasts. Their inter-relationship
can be observed during the course of pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing.
Menstruation ceases during these events, and the blood that would be lost
during menstruation goes to nourish the baby. After the child is born, the
energy is converted to milk for nursing. Menstruation resumes only when
nursing stops.

So, stimulating the breasts whether through nursing or massage, as in the
Deer Exercise, actually stimulates all the sexual organs. Most women find
the exercise very pleasurable, many even reaching orgasm with it.

The Deer Exercise stops menstruation for the same reason that nursing
prevents it. When the Deer Exercise is performed, the body reacts just as if
a baby were regularly sucking on the breast. The body rushes blood to the
breasts rather than the uterus. Taoists refer to this phenomenon as "turning
back the blood" because it reenergizes the entire body, expecially the
sexual organs.

For thousands of years, the Deer Exercise was used as a technique of family
planning. But its main use was for maintaining a youthful countenance.
Historical records show that women famous for their beauty consistently use
the technique even after giving birth to many children.

The length of times required to stop the menstrual cycles varies by
individual. Most women accomplish this within two weeks to six months, but
some require as long as a year. All that can be said is that if you practice
the exercise diligently, it will happen.

Women should not perform the Deer during pregnancy. The energy generated by
the exercise combined with the accompanying increased stimulation of the
sexual gland might induce premature labor. Using the Deer Exercise during
the menstrual period is permissible., In fact, it usually brings almost
immediate relief from menstrual discomfort.

Doing this exercise will correct menstrual irregularities. It will eliminate
menstrual cramps and strengthen sexual ability. If you do the exercise with
more than the recommended minimum of thirty-six hand rotations twice a day,
— as much as 360 times twice a day — you can stop menstruation totally. But
on one condition. You must not let your thoughts wander to other matters.

When doing the Deer Exercise, it is important to concentrate on the divine
purpose, as it is very easy to become sexually stimulated. If the menstrual
period does not stop, practice the Deer more frequently. Work at it a little
harder and concentrate on the Divine purpose, even when the body becomes
stimulated.

The Deer Exercise will not prolong a woman's fertile period. Menopause will
still arrive on schedule at the time specified by the individual's
biological clock. However, the problems usually associated with menopause
will not appear.

The biological aging process will stop at the point where the Deer Exercise
begins to work. If you stop your period at age twenty, you will never look
older than twenty years of age. So as you can see, the earlier you begin the
Deer Exercise, the younger and healthier you will be. (This also applies to
men.)

Furthermore, many students used this method to assist family planning. There
were extremely satisfied with it because no chemicals, surgery, or side
effects were involved.







*********************************************
The Deer Exercise for Men




The Deer Exercise achieves four important objectives. First, it builds up
the tissues of the sexual organs. Second, it draws energy up through six of
the Seven Glands of the body into the pineal gland to elevate spirituality.
(There is a hormone pathway that leads from the prostate, connects with the
adrenal glands, and continues on to the other glands.) Concurrently, blood
circulation in the abdominal area is increased. This rush of blood helps
transport the nutrients and energy of the semen to the rest of the body.

When energy is brought up into the pineal gland, a chill or tingling
sensation is felt to ascend through the spine to reach the head. It feels a
little like an orgasm. If you feel a sensation in the area of the pineal
gland, but do not feel the tingling sensation in the middle of the back, do
not worry. Your sensitivity will increase with experience. If after some
time you still cannot sense the progress of energy, certain problems must be
taken care of first.

Self-determination is the third benefit derived from the Deer Exercise. If
one gland in the Seven Gland system is functioning below par, the energy
shooting up the spine will stop there. A weakness is indicated, and special
attention should be given to that area. For example, if the thymus gland is
functioning poorly, the energy will stop there. The energy will continue to
stop there until the thymus gland is healed. When the thymus is again
functioning normally, the energy will then move further up along the spine
towrad the pineal gland. If the energy moves all the way up to your head
during the Deer Exercise, it indicates that all the Seven Glands are
functioning well and that there is no energy blockage in the body,. If you
do not feel anything during the Deer Exercise, a blockage is indicated. The
movement of energy can be felt by everyone if no dysfunctions are
encountered.

The fourth benefit of the Deer Exercise is that it builds up sexual ability
and enables the man to prolong sexual intercourse. During "ordinary"
intercourse the prostate swells with semen to maximum size before
ejaculating. During ejaculation, the prostate shoots out its contents in a
series of contractions. Then, sexual intercourse ends. With nothing left to
ejaculate, induce contractions, or maintain an erection (energy is lost
during ejaculation), the man cannot continue to make love. But, if he uses
the Deer Exercise to pump semen out of the prostate in small doses, pumping
it in the other direction into the other glands and blood vessels, he can
prolong intercourse.

Under ordinary circumstances, when the Deer Exercise is not used during
intercourse, it will be harmful to interrupt orgasm or prolong intercourse
by ordinary means. Under ordinary means, the prostate remains expanded for a
long time, unrelieved by the pumping action of the ejaculation, until the
semen is carried away by the blood stream. But the prostate is somewhat like
a rubber band: it must be allowed to snap back to its original form,
otherwise continuous extension will bring about a loss of elasticity. When
the prostate loses its elasticity, its function is impaired and it is
damaged. The Deer Exercise prolongs orgasm and intercourse, but it protects
the prostate by relieving it.

The Deer Exercise is a physical exercise as well as a mental and spiritual
exercise. It improves one's sexual abilities as it builds up the energy
reserves within the body. Over time, the mental processese are heightened as
well, and the outcome is often a glowing feeling of inner tranquility, which
is a necessary prerequisite for the unfolding of the golden flower.

This exercise may be done standing, sitting, or lying down.

First Stage — The purpose of the first stage is to encourage semen
production

Rub the palms of your hands together vigorously. This creates heat in your
hands by bringing the energy of your body into your hands and palms.

With your right hand, cup your testicles so that the palm of your hand
completely covers them. (The exercise is best done without clothing.) Do not
squeeze, but apply a slight pressure, and be aware of the heat from your
hand.

Place the palm of your left hand on the area of the pubis, one inch below
the navel.

With a slight pressure so that a gentle warmth begins to build in the area
of the pubis, move your left hand in clockwise or counterclockwise circles
eighty-one times.

Rub your hands together vigorously again.

Reverse the position of your hands so that your hleft hand cups the
testicles and your right hand is on the pubis. Repeat the circular rubbing
in the opposite direction another eighty-one times. Concentrate on what you
are doing, and feel the warmth grow. For all Taoist exercises, it is very
important — indeed, it is necessary — that you concentrate on the purpose of
the physical motions, for doing so will enhance the results. It will unify
the body and mind and bring full power to the purpose. Never tro to use the
mind to force the natural processes by imagining fires growing in the public
area, or any other area. This is dangerous.

Second Stage — Tighten the muscles around the anus and draw them up and in.
When done properly, it will feel as if air is being drawn up to your rectum,
or as if the entire anal area is being drawn in and upward. Tighten as hard
as you can and hold as long as you are able to do so comfortably.

Stop and relax a moment.

Repeat the anal contractions. Do this as many times as you can without
feeling discomfort.

As you do the second stage of the exercise, concentrate on feeling a
tingling sensation (similar to an electric shock) ascend along the pathway
of the Seven Glands. The sensation lasts for fractions of a second and
results naturally. Do not try to force this with mental images.

Some teachings suggest that thoughts should be used to help or guide energy
flow. Those who make these suggestions misunderstand the nature of energy.

There are six forms of energy: mechanical energy, heat energy, sound energy,
radiant energy, atomic energy, and electrical energy. We emit electrical
energy. The electrical energy in man differs drastically from that used to
run a house, for example. The electrical current in the average house
fluctuates at 60 cycles per second; in men, 49,000,000 cycles per second.
The latter figure is about half that of light, which travels at 186,000
miles per second. So when a man starts to think or breathe, the electrical
energy will have already reached its destination. Our thoughts, breaths,
etc. are too slow to guide the flow of electrical energy.

What occurs at the unconscious level was not meant to be subject to the
control of the conscious mind. If the conscious mind interfere with
something it was not evolved to control — helping or guiding electrical
energy through visualization, thoughts, etc., — it can cause a great deal of
damage. Its interference with the natural progress of energy can cause
schizophrenia, brain damage, and a host of other problems. Taoists call
these calamities "Disintegration into Evil."

The Deer Exercise is extremely safe — provided, that is, it is not
supplemented with techniques of other teachings. For show, various
incompatible techniques are often thrown together to create spectacular
techniques, but the results are often disastrous. Lao-Tse said, "My way is
simple and easy." And true Taoist methods ARE simple and easy.

NOTE A At first you may find that you are able to hold the anal sphincter
muscles tight for only a few seconds. Please persist. After several weeks
you will be able to hold the muscles tight for quite awhile without
experiencing weariness or strain.

NOTE B To determine whether the Deer Exercise is having an effect on the
prostrate gland, try this test: as you urinate, try to stop the stream of
urine entirely through anal muscle contractions. If you are able to do so,
then the exercise is effective.

NOTE C Pressure is being placed on the prostate gland as it is gently
massaged by the tightening action of the anal muscles. (The anus can be
thought of as a little motor which pumps the prostate gland.) Thus
stimulated, the prostate begins to secrete hormones, such as endorphins,
etc., to produce a natural high. When the prostate goes into spasms, a small
orgasm is experienced. By alternately squeezing and relaxing the anus during
the Deer Exercise, a natural high is produced without having to jog ten
miles or endure the side-effects of running.

NOTE D Do this exercise in the morning upon rising and before retiring at
night.


http://www.nine3.com/DeerMan.html

Sacred Sexuality‏

By the same acts that cause some men to burn in hell for thousands of years, the Yogin gains his eternal salvation. - Tantra

For a thousand years, the Western Judeo-Christian, authoritarian male-dominant strategy for handling the emotions, the body, pleasure, and our most basic instincts, was to keep them well in check, and generally disavow as best we could any feelings below the waistline. Freud said that empires were built on the resulting sublimated energy, but the game is over. It turns out there's nothing unspiritual about pleasure, and it's good for your health. It is instructive to ask just how we ever came to feel so bad about even thinking about feeling good. The passions are so overwhelmingly powerful that religions have been warning you away from them since the dark ages. The heightened intensity of the sexual experience soon persuades us that it is the most important one in the world. People get carried away, and begin to believe that the next great orgasm is the only important thing in life. People use each other for lust. The most extreme instance is called rape. When we can't handle our attachments, they enslave us and we enslave others. Yet, ironically, through no other human activity, save dying, is the opportunity for ego-loss, transformation and transpersonal realization so prevalent and powerful as in conjugal love-making. On the direct path of conscious awareness - The Path With No Obstacles - sexual union naturally also means the union of the continuing practice and its realization. This is what the west has come to refer to as Tantric love. (Ultimately, tantra means more than embracing your physicality: all action, thought, and realization becomes spiritual liberation itself.) The high art of making True Love is mystical and miraculous beyond comprehension. It inundates your entire being. It delivers you - body and soul - to unimagined heights of ecstasy. The discovery of the key to the union of spirituality and sexuality is at once a path to, and a gift of Enlightenment. The ultimate consummation of physical love-making is complete transcendental Union. It bestows upon the lovers the experience of a spectacular breakthrough to the Infinite - beyond, but concurrent with our everyday existence. What begins as duality and polarization within time, climaxes as a shared soul-merging experience of Eternity. A transformation occurs which evolves from desire and passion to a level of total and perfect bliss, otherwise rarely known in human existence. Spiritual merging in love is the elusive prize that everyone seeks when they lay down with another, whether they know it or not. Lust is only a call to love, and many have yet to answer it. We may think we are content giving and taking personal gratification, yet all the while the heart seeks nothing less than to lose itself absolutely in love, and be consumed in ecstatic union with the beloved and the Universe. How to achieve such divine deliverance through one of the most common "animalistic" functions we perform is the secret known to enlightened lovers as the direct path of Love. It transcends the trap of the ego-self: In effect, the world's greatest aphrodisiac is selflessness. No one is better than the Bodhisattva in bed. A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who having no further need to be reincarnated into the physical, decides to do so to help others acheive enlightenment. The point of giving her sexual pleasure is to awaken the bliss that she will then combine with meditation on emptiness in order to attain enlightenment. - Miranda Shaw, Ph.D. Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism - (Princeton University Press) SURRENDER The paradox of sex is that the same act can both liberate and imprison, depending upon one's intent, state of mind, and conditioning. Sex can drive you either towards or away from Enlightenment. The great enigma is, how can we transform the trap of addictive physical appetite to the ecstatic realization of Divine Union? It all depends on your true and underlying purpose. It calls for constancy and commitment to the ultimate goal of Enlightenment. Why is the divine gift of lovemaking so often little more than a desperate groping for glandular stimulation in dark rooms, accompanied by feelings of hunger and shame? Ironically, and all too often - when people use each other uncaringly - this most universally accessible mystical experience of orgasm is debased into something dishonorable and dirty. But anti-sex admonitions in turn only give rise to guilt, when - despite heroic efforts to curb our "lower appetites" - we find ourselves indulging in what is, after all, the single most compelling human urge after breathing and eating. We might even say that repression of this primal biological imperative creates rapists and pedophiles. Shame is taught by "authorities" who can embrace neither their animal nor their spiritual nature. They fear one and fake the other, and call this "correct." Certain religions contend that sex must be solely for insemination and procreation, or it is devil-worship. By that logic, one should certainly refrain from using one's hands (not to mention lips and tongue), and get it over with as quickly as possible. Obviously the Good Lord made this procreational pleasure-drive far more powerful than most individual's (and any church's) power to control. A truly relevant and realistic religion would teach us how to consecrate our sexuality, not deny it. We need to unlearn our guilt about wanting sex, even as we realize what a guilded cage it could very well become. Of course men and women compromise their morality and good judgment all the time for sex (although probably no more than for love, money, power, or fame). But the inherent dangers are hardly reason to avoid the experience. Respect for that very danger should make us take care as we take pleasure. Let us celebrate and make sacred our natural, innate sexuality. Copulation as high communion? Is there any better way? SEXUAL SPIRITUALITY Many in today's generation are beginning to re-learn the sacred approach to lovemaking, as in indigenous tribal customs, mystical rituals, Sufi and tantric couples practices, and post-sexual-revolution "high monogamy." Cultures much older than ours have evolved ways for seekers to include their physical bodies within the context of spiritual practice and the enlightened life. Meditation, invocations, breathing exercises, incense, candlelight, ceremonial objects, rituals, music, and potent libations have been used to create a special environment and mind-state in which to sanctify sexual union. Such careful preparations tend to quiet the neurotic mind and increase sensitivity and sensuality, while at the same time engendering the proper reverence. The essence of this conscious sex approach is to transform the very energy of your appetite for personal pleasure into one of cosmic realization, by harnessing your own desire to the happiness, the thrill, and the total fulfillment of your partner. Thus you achieve Unity through duality, by making her (or his) ecstasy your own. Giving and taking merge, and you two become One. The transformation from ordinary mechanical, confused, guilt-ridden sex to the profound gift of natural/spiritual lovemaking depends upon a broadening of one's focus from the genitals to the heart, from passion to compassion. Spiritualized sex opens you at all centers at once, animal to divine. Transcendent love is a religious experience. Every touch is The First, and time stands still. The senses are magnified a thousand times. Your partner becomes a Goddess or God, whom you worship in awe. You notice everything, and it all conveys tremendous meaning and potency. Foreplay is truly playful, breathtakingly tender. The pleasure is immediately and continuously perfect, the passion intense and profound. Time itself disappears and the Holy Universe becomes self-evident. Opening all your centers, engaging all your faculties, the animal/emotional/spiritual crescendo of love lasts forever, and the climax is an exquisite release of the body, the heart and the soul in a spectacular shared revelation of the Universal Self. The after-glow of such a cosmic physical union endures for days.. weeks. The experience is healing and unifying in every way. HOW TO MAKE ENLIGHTENED LOVE. * Consecrate the setting. Make it Holy. * Wait for the perfect moment. * Purify yourself in body and mind. * Meditate. * Dedicate the experience to your highest purpose. * Invoke the Goddesses of Love. * Begin motionless and in silence. * Gaze into each other's eyes, long and deep. * Breathe together. * Fall in love. stay in love. die into love. * Listen for Inner Guidance. * Reside always at the beginning. * Move in slow motion, with reverence. * Worship your lover. Touch only in awe. * Trust your body's deepest impulses. * Give voice to your feelings. * Make love with your whole being. * Transpose taking and giving. * Decelerate until time stands still. * Abandon all gain and control. * Die as a personality. Be born as pure Love in the Universe. EXQUISITE LOVE To lose the self in love, look always to the beginning and keep to the beginning. Worship each other's pure essence as Goddess and God. Everything matters. Use all senses Read your beloved's mind/body. In slow motion abandonment of time itself, Give only pleasure and love, letting hers become yours, ours. Surrender continuously, unconditionally, to the sacred fire within, all consuming, all purifying, all fulfilling. From "Enlightenment in Our Time." by Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D.