Sex, religion and spirituality(Part 2) Some examples.

I shamelessly looked up wikipedia for some references and found a few interesting things that surprised me:


Judaism: “Many Jewish sources describe the overall attitude towards human sexuality and sexual behavior in Judaism as positive ...The basic Jewish positive attitude towards sex and sexuality is especially opposed to Western Christianity, which does not view the matter much in favor, due to a belief that sex has been contaminated by original sin. ….Some Kabbalists view the sexual pleasure as a possible path leading to a sublimation of devoutness”

Taoism: “Some Taoist sects during the Han Dynasty performed sexual intercourse as a spiritual practice, called "HeQi" ("Joining Energy"). They especially like to try erotic things. The first sexual texts that survive today are those found at the Mawangdui tombs. While Taoism had not yet fully evolved as a philosophy at this time, these texts shared some remarkable similarities with later Tang dynasty texts, such as the Ishinpō. The sexual arts arguably reached their climax between the end of the Han dynasty and the end of the Tang dynasty. After 1000 A.D. [CE], Confucian puritanism became stronger and stronger, so that by the advent of the Qing dynasty, sex was a taboo topic in public life.”

Hindu concepts about sexuality are a broad topic best covered in another post.

These are some of  the major religions, but tribal cultures across the planet  have had sex as an integral part of their religious or spiritual practice and communal life. Examples can be found amongst tribes in Papua New Guinea (“Most of the tribal patterns of sexual activity were rationalized as mechanisms to gather the spiritual force residing in sexual fluids, i.e., sexual power, and redirect it to social and material aims, such as improving the growth of boys or strengthening the clan’s reproductive powers, both human and agricultural”) and the  Tarahumara in Mexico etc.

Although the following example is not connected to religion, I'm noting it here because it shows the practice of sex in a very open-minded and natural manner, not disconnected with society. In India, the Ghotuls of Central India have sexual mores and practices that would probably put even the most liberal of the cosmopolitan crowds to shame. They see sex to be as natural as hunger or sleep. "Boys and girls 'date' from an age of ten onwards, no distinction is made between love and sex...Because of their sexual freedom, at the time of marriage, neither is the bride a virgin, nor is the groom inexperienced." The section describing the manner in which tribals impart sex education to their young is particularly fascinating.

I can only speculate why this might have been so, or rather the advantages of this connect between sex and spirituality. If sex is intimately connected to spiritual practice (albeit with strict rules about when, where, with whom and how to practice it, but minus the stigma), it becomes accessible to virtually everyone. You no longer have to practice strict celibacy or intense penance to feel closer to God. There remain no mediators between you and god, and in a sense spirituality gets democratized. Women get equal or more power in the scheme of things because without their participation, men (with some exceptions) would not be able to practice this. More significantly, it becomes something that everyone aspires to and practices while leading a regular life.

While reading about this, a pattern emerged. As puritanical beliefs, sects and religions started dominating the scene, sex came to be viewed as sin and a disconnect happened between sex and spirituality. And the stigma is quite pervasive, even in the West. At a micro level, this is seen when adults laugh nervously or giggle if someone brings up the topic of sex in a public space. I think the nervous laughter helps to release the tension they feel when thinking about sex. Wonder how it would feel to not have this stigma when you are growing up into adulthood.

For God or a lover? Part 1

I have noticed this to be a common theme across other forms of devotional and spiritual poetry too and have often wondered about it. This includes Kabir’s dohas, Sufi poems, Meera bai’s bhajans, and works by other Indian mystics and saint poets. (Wish I knew about other religions and cultures more). They almost universally address god as their beloved, they talk about god in very personal and endearing terms; love supersedes respect (respect in the conventional sense of fear of being punished by God. A side note: What I like about this form of devotion is the absence of a putative Hell. There is no mention of god punishing anybody for straying off the rules laid by him/her. They seem to be primarily concerned with leading a humane life - not because you’d be punished for not doing so, but so that you may come closer to truth or love).

Of course I suppose that concept gets periodic revival. For example this hindi pop song:

He is one of my favorite singers, the song is okay - not that great, but I remembered this song because in one interview the singer explained how it was made. They set out writing a romantic song and even while composing it, they realized that the lyrics could be considered devotional. And so they shot the video with a religious and spiritual theme instead of a romantic one. Same song, same lyrics, just the interpretation changed. I found that pretty interesting.

This recurring theme was one of the reasons that got me thinking about the connection between spirituality and love/sex/eroticism/romance.

Now, merely talking about god in words that one would use for a lover is obviously different from making a connection between sex and spirituality. One could argue that love does not (always) lead to or imply a desire for sex and it probably doesn’t. In fact platonic love for anyone is often given a higher moral authority. But therein lies the catch. What if this view of sex as something lower than platonic love is a recent phenomenon? What if, at some point in the past, sexual love was considered equal to or higher than platonic love?



For the moment, drop the negative connotations that are now associated with sex, and consider only the act. Even now, intercourse with a lover or spouse is considered to be a wonderful (sacred?) manifestation of love - something beautiful to be celebrated and cherished (This is declining of course but there are still many folks out there who do not look at sex as merely as an enjoyable biological process). Would it be so surprising that the act of communion itself could take on properties of the sacred, a means to reach and realize the final Love? At the molecular level, the hormones and neurotransmitters released by a genuinely intense orgasm, the muscular tension and its subsequent release, the sounds, all the sensations, the warm body besides one’s skin could make that person feel that this is almost a divine experience. Centuries of mystics and oracles have used and still use drugs, marijuana, opium and whatnot to achieve that high, that trance-like state to reach closer to god. Orgasmic sex, removed from its present cultural context and performed for the purpose of worship, could also be a means to achieve that high in earlier times. It does not seem that improbable. There’s an academic book I have barely skimmed, though it is on my reading list, (Sacred Sexuality: The Erotic Spirit in the World's Great Religions) with the message that ‘all of these (religious) teachings share the hidden message that spirituality is, in essence, erotic and that sexuality is inherently spiritual’.

(Excerpted from private letters)