Sacred Sexuality

1303 Words3 Pages

Sacred Sexuality Historically, sex and spirituality have been two things that have not been received well in the same sentence. While some ancient religions did include sexuality in their own rites, others sought to control sexuality, either by suppressing it or by severely limiting its expression. Most of the dominant religions in the world today are preaching the suppression of the sexual urge or the channeling of that urge into socially acceptable forms. For example, Roman Catholics used to be very sexually explicit and open people. After a man who, in his youth, was sexually explicit converted to Catholicism and pledged selibacy for himself; he became a priest by the name of St Augustus. St. Augustus arose the birth of moral laws in Christianity when the first law he brought into public light was that there would be no fornication unless it was for strictly procreational reasons. In any case, this moral law led to making adultary illegal, just as it is by today's standards. Though many people today do not necessarily follow "moral laws" or, even their own religion's belief about sex, there is still a connection between sex and spirituality. There are ancient practices such as tantra, tao sexology, and (namely) Kama sutra, which tends to be the most practiced and well known of the three in western culture. Which ancient traditions chose to include sexuality as a spiritual act? Some sects of early Christianity incorporated sexual rites into their religious practices; all of these sects were persecuted into extinction by the Roman Catholic Church once it was able to successfully inundate its political standing on Roma as the sole religious institution of Europe. The Sumerians perfor... ... middle of paper ... ... be subjected to a new kind of lovemaking. Bibliography: klWork Cited Burton, Richard (translator). Vatsayayana: Kama Sutra. Translated in 1883. Original writings are unknown. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Tantra. Columbia University Press: 2000. Chang, Steven Dr. Sex and Rejuvination: Taoist Style. Cosmopolitan Press:1999. Douglas, Nik. Spiritual Sex. “What is Tantra?” Sebastopal, CA: 1995. Griscom, Chris. The Ageless Body. Light Institute Press ISBN: 1992. Melchizedek, Drunvalo. The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: Volume I. Light Institute Press ISBN: 1994. Muir, Charles and Caroline. Tantra:The Art of Conscious Living. Light InstitutePress: 1999. Kouhia, Juhana. Love Teachings of Kama Sutra. 1996: http://www.funet.fi/~kouhia/kamasutra.html

Open Document