Thursday, August 18, 2005

Does it Really Mean 'Falling' in Love?

So I was talking about how it all connects and then I wandered off, heh heh. Ever since I started doing this the essays run, almost to the paragraph, to a certain length and then close on me. Even at the other site, they are always the same size. Whatever is doing this, while I sit in for the process, certainly has precise space considerations.

It’s been my experience that if you are embarking on; or I should say, consciously recognizing your movement on the spiritual path, since knowingly or unknowingly, we have always been on it, that the first thing that has to be considered; besides your determination, is the sexual force.

For most people the sexual force is just that; the urge to merge, the urge to define or express yourself upon another. As solitary entities in the vastness of this environment there is always the sense of personal incompleteness. Look at life and you will see from the plants on up that all life forms are engaged in this dance. The complexities of the rituals are astounding. They seem to enter into everything we do. We base our sense of self worth upon our attractiveness to our opposite numbers. All that we do in the fields of commerce and acquisition seem to be directly or indirectly related to making us appear more worthy and desirable to the opposite sex. Money, power, temporary and artfully constructed or reconstructed appearances, creative acts, force of mind and heart. It goes on and on and so does the continuous appearance and disappearance of the characters in the drama.

This force which appears to be some sort of biological imperative is much more than it appears. The most profound expressions of Love are an elevation and refinement of the same force expressed in violent rape, in murder, in many an act of terrible impact. Most everything we do is powered by this force. There is much wisdom to be had in the biblical take of the wise and foolish virgins.

There is an inner world and an outer world. This force has much to do with all that happens to us in each one. For hundreds of years there have been priesthoods that require celibacy of their members. Swamis in India and yogis of various dispositions and intentions, Catholic priests; to point out just a couple of areas, practice this discipline. The reason for this, cosmically, is that the force naturally wants to go in one direction... outward. It can be channeled inward... and that will open flowers in the subtle bodies that make illumination possible.

In the Catholic tradition we have seen an epidemic of child abuse by priests, almost exclusively of ‘same-sex’ application. The reason for this is that, unfortunately for the adherents of this church, they work to repress this force and not to channel it. It is something they fight to control. One cannot win in this manner. The force is stronger than you are. You can point it but you can’t subdue it. Think of the water going through a fire hose. Think about stopping the water from coming out with your hand. Think about a wrestling match with a bear. The idea of water is a good one. Water can find cracks. It can find cracks that you cannot see. Water has an uncanny ability to seep out, sometimes it can travel right through the container.

I imagine there are some people who think that the condensation on the outside of a glass pitcher is some portion of the water finding it’s way through the container. I bring this particular image up because thinking about it might provide useful insights.

One maxim you can take as absolutely true in respect of the sex force is that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This force can lift you to the heavens or it can send you straight to Hell. It is something to respect and to think about; but I don’t have to remind anyone to think about sex, do I? (grin)... Thoughts of sex dominate the landscape of the mind, individually and collectively. After all, you don’t really have a personal mind. The idea that you have a personal mind is the source of all your problems. Hanging on to this idea is the origin of the prison that contains you. The sex force is liberating and it is confining. It’s still the same force. The alleged fire that sinners burn in is just another relationship to the fire that is also the one the saints rejoice in. The serpent in the garden is God, after another fashion. This is why it says in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation.”

In Hebrew the word for Messiah and tempter is very much the same. Oh, it’s not for everybody, not at this specific time. It isn’t for everyone to channel the sex force into spiritual awakening, nor is celibacy of the life long variety a requirement; that part of it is a choice. Celibacy for a certain period of time is necessary to get the juices flowing in the right direction. For this, your Creative Imagination is key. A reading of The Song of Solomon might not go unrewarded. The Rubaiyat comes to mind as well. A love affair with the world outside, or a love affair with God; they are the same in many ways. The writings of mystics are filled with sensual imagery when commenting on union with the divine. It is a truth that union with God is an unbelievable act of ecstasy; words fail.

Union with God is not as easily achieved as a summer romance. As far as actual human romances go, very, very few live up to expectation or endure for very long in a pitch of intensity. The higher pitched human passions often lead to tragic results. Romeo and Juliet are but one example I could give. Heloise and Abelard were even more tragic.

You spend your substance in various ways. It is like money but far, far more valuable. The safest way to channel the energy upward is to let it ride on Love. Devotion takes care of the technical needs. Very few teachers of authentic Tantra exist and very few aspirants are capable of the process. Tantra also can be fully realized through devotion. I would scratch any process other than devotion off of my list. It makes me smile, with no small amount of sadness, at those who sit in rooms where some individual purports to teach the willing about Tantra. Don’t go there. One of the larger problems is that of Magic. Romance is magic and Tantra is surrounded by magic. Magic can get you into big trouble. I speak from personal experience.

Powers awaken as a result of channeled sexual energy. The imagination can go wild from it. Look at the world around you. Really look at it. We seldom see into things. Our glance bounces off of what we observe. Look at the world around you. Someone once said that the proper study of man is man. Another person said “know thyself” We perhaps consider such statements trite. Hey, I know who I am. Sure buddy.

We are God going through the process of realizing ourselves as God. This doesn’t mean that at some point the world turns into our own combination of Las Vegas, Disneyland and the Mohammedan afterlife. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t either. It means that it won’t be what we now imagine it would be. Free is the place. Free is the goal. Freedom means the freedom ‘from’ more than it means the freedom ‘to’.

So when you seek God’s company; you few... Love and devotion is the key. You’ll get there without needing a manual. You will get tested by the very thing you seek so that it can seem as if your lover is your greatest adversary. It will destroy you in the process. Oh, but that is wonderful and a consummation devotedly to be wished. I love it when people speculate about the object of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Get a clue.

Why, I do believe we have come to the end again. Look at that. It just seems to wind itself up at the same place every time. God bless you one and all.

Visible sings: God in Country by Les Visible♫ Spread Your Wings ♫
'Spread Your Wings' is track no. 1 of 11 on Visible's 2001 album 'God in Country'
Lyrics (pops up)

God in Country by Les Visible

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Les. I've had "Spread Your Wings" playing on repeat in my head all week (and actually gone and listened to it when I've had the chance). Great tune. Also, I was very moved by the song for Cindy Sheehan. You did good there.

So help me here, in this context, is the sex force the purely physical/animalistic 'urge' for sex or the emotional/psychological aspect (involving feelings of love)? This isn't the first place I've read about channeling the sexual force.

ben

Anonymous said...

Now that is a work of art. You paint with a masters brush my friend. Anyone who reads this knows that you are intimately familiar with your topic. I get more from the atmosphere around the words than I get from anything actually written. It just keeps evolving and improving and I didn't think the latter was possible.

z a

Anonymous said...

Oh, by the way, interesting point
I think I noticed it about a month ago and you mention it here today. The thought came into my head that the essays were all similar in length so I did a line measurement calculation and most all of them are within 4 or five lines of each other. Some of them are the exact length. Trippy.

z a

Anonymous said...

sweet work, very.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you don't hear this kind of stuff every day.

Braja Rani Devi Dasi said...

You will get tested by the very thing you seek so that it can seem as if your lover is your greatest adversary. It will destroy you in the process.

"destroy you" and yet there is no victory and no loss. no winner and no loser.

Anonymous said...

I hope you will write again soon. I've become attached to your work and I've finished with the archives.

a fan





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