Excerpt from The Alpha Omega Male book – Religion and Sex

Michael Winn, President of Healing Tao USA, suggests that “The decline of religion in the West may have begun in the 60s when the experience of sex became more powerful than the spiritual experience offered by religion in prayer or fellowship.[1]”

For most people, sex became a drug, an opiate for their discontent. However, this unabated sexual freedom that exploded in the 60s did not supply the stability or complete satisfaction people needed most. Over time, people started turning back to either marriage or religion to seek their sense of an absolute.

The Taoists, on the other hand, will only encourage marriage as a solution to stability if it is to be the wedding of the subtle energies of yin and yang. For the most part, they prefer that everyone simply to cultivate their natural inner life-force or chi. In this way, the ancient Chinese developed a highly refined method for increasing the sexual vitality of single and married man.

East and West Vs. Tao

Sexologists in the Western world often dismiss the Taoist methods of sexual energy management, believing it has no verifiable scientific foundation.  However, there are some Western religions, like Evangelical Christians, that are against recreational sex, as well as Eastern ascetic schools, like the Hare Krishnas, that believe spiritual enlightenment can only be achieved through austerity that includes sexual abstinence. However, not all Hindus believe this.

The late Osho[2] once wrote:

“Religions are against sex because, down the centuries, they have come to know that sex is the most enjoyable thing for man. So [the strategy is to] poison his joy. Once you poison his joy and you put this idea in his mind that something is wrong with sex — it is a sin — then he will never be able to enjoy it, and if he cannot enjoy it, then his energies will start moving in other directions. He will become more ambitious [and easier to control].”

Osho’s premise is valid in that many religious leaders do try to enslave the minds of their followers through manipulative psychological techniques like condemning biological urges to redirect the energies of their students to the ambitions of the guru and his institution.

However, the selfish interests of gurus aside, the fact is that many of the early Taoists and Indian sages were scientists who based their practices on precise observation of human psychology and biology. They were pragmatists and sought a middle ground to create a spiritual and harmonic balance between men and women, following the natural laws of the universe.

The profoundly philosophical poetry of the Taoists, from the I Ching to Lao-Tse’s “Tao Te Ching” to the “Secret of the Golden Flower,” all testify to the sublime heights of their foresight.

In his book, Taoist Secrets of Love, Mantak Chia writes:

“Religions have nearly always tried to control the sexual habits of their followers. Their success seems to swing in cycles of the public submitting and rebelling, but I would guess that ultimately, they have failed because, for most people, the experience of sex is more powerful than their experience of religion. As a biological impulse, sexual drive so completely permeates our actions and desires that it is not easily harnessed by any system of belief, however dogmatic.

Hence the adage that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession.”

The efforts by modern religious institutions to dictate the sexual morality of their practitioners are a remnant of an earlier, more enlightened era when the spiritual experience was more powerful than the carnal pleasures of sex. The earliest Mystery Schools or Fertility Cults understood the role of sexuality in spiritual growth, which is why their rites and practices held such commanding experiences for their followers.

“Many modern spiritual leaders, whether Catholic, Jewish, or Hindu, etc., have forgotten the link in their religious rites that connect [the power of sex with] spirituality. Circumcision rites, Spring fertility festivals (e.g., Easter), and communion ceremonies are all remnants of a time when the esoteric and hidden meaning of sexuality was understood and incorporated into religion,” explains Chia.

The mission for the twenty-first-century man is to peel away the limiting layers of his exoteric religious beliefs and liberate his mind to experience the ecstatic inner self. Only by doing so can the crusty beliefs of the old religion fade away and take on a profound new meaning. In other words, only by accepting the act of sex as sacred can the role of religion be revitalized in society as a guiding light and not as a sharp prodding rod of conformity.

Taoism, on the other hand, is much different in that it is a spiritual philosophy of life and not a rigidly organized institution filled with frightened believers obeying a “holy” agenda written by so-called “enlightened seers.” Chia explains that “Faith in God (or the Tao) is not enough for the Taoist; devotion to higher harmony must be accompanied with the self-knowledge that comes from cultivating one’s own energy.”

The point is that a true Taoist does not blindly follow but attempts to elevate his consciousness to gain knowledge of the higher self fully. Every one of us has the same spiritual essence within, albeit uniquely individual, but unless this potential is properly nourished, its bearer will never experience its delicious fruit.

“The divine world within man is patterned after the natural world—as a child will never know his [or her] full self until adulthood, so must a man cultivate to maturity his subtle spiritual energy if he wishes to enjoy and participate in the fullness of the Tao,” explains Chia.

[1] From the introduction to Tao Secrets of Love by Mantak Chia

[2] Rajneesh, also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Shri Rajneesh, Osho Rajneesh, and later Osho, was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime, he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic; however, some of his opinions on sexual freedom are considered progressive today.

Excerpt from The Alpha Omega Male – A Spiritual Journey to Balanced Masculinity by Paul Rodney Turner, out soon. Visit AlphaOmegaMale.com to stay informed.