In today’s inane environment and moving into the next phase of this tiresome pandemic, I simply don’t have the heart to discuss anything that doesn’t bring about respite, inspiration, and pleasure. Let the fuss and folly have its day and the chips fall where they may. (Even the obliteration of Roe v. Wade can spur more passionate activism…I’m sure of it!)
I do think that at this time we can do more for one another by taking this time to nurture ourselves and emphasize the inner quality over the outer quantity in our personal lives.
Also, I’m trying to funnel my juice into writing a new book about sexual enlightenment and the new humanism. I’m loving the vibe of it, so I thought I’d share some of it here, in the spirit of pulling for the team in these trying times. I hope it will pique your interest, and spark inspiration.
What do I mean by Enlightenment? Simply stated, enlightenment is the removal of ignorance (and thus suffering). Fully realized, you might call it the highest expression of conscious being.
Why Sex? (Believe it or not people often ask this question.) Sex is a prime mover. It is our prime mover. The energetic foundation of our livelihood, as living beings, is sexual. For a vibrant, healthy existence all the energy that moves through the human body must at the very least have a sound bottom line. Therefore, because of our unenlightened sexual history, this foundation is in need of a great deal of XXX-TLC.
Why Enlightenment (or why not just healing)? Healing is a good thing. It repairs damages, putting things back into working order so that we can become more functional human beings. To be certain, this would be an awfully good start in the sexual realm, and there are great books and outstanding therapists that aid and serve this effort. There’s nothing wrong with healing—it’s just that, from a philosophical point of view, there are built-in limitations.
Enlightenment, on the other hand, represents pure gold. It is the ultimate refinement of our conscious existence, leading us into the limitless frontier of inner freedom. Expanding the framework from sexual healing to sexual enlightenment places our aspirations into an exalted context (and in my opinion, a far more powerful, and promising one).
There’s no glory in blundering through the flotsam and jetsam of an unexamined life. Why settle for mediocrity? Why not go for the gold and start the noble journey immediately? Let’s ask ourselves right now: Is our functioning intelligent, intentional, and meaningful or is it mindless, compulsive, and unintelligible? Is our view one of crisp relevance and lively insight or is it more like a grainy, worn-out snapshot carelessly passed along to us like a ratty old polaroid?
Enlightenment is limitless in potential because it means not only freedom from suffering, but freedom in every conceivable dimension. We are here, why not find out what we’re really capable of?
Why Humanism? Who else can save us from ourselves? In all practicality, I don’t see that anyone else has come through for us yet. At this juncture in history, we’ve come to an impasse, and that impasse is us. We can only truly progress and evolve—as individuals and as a society—if we are whole (which is why we absolutely must resurrect the sexual part, hence sexual humanism).
(For those of you familiar with philosophy, it’s important to note that sexual humanism is a concept, a philosophy, and system that is beyond any conversation about religion versus atheism, as in the usual Humanist discussion. Therefore, I strongly de-emphasize the religious element stressing instead the human element, because we all have bodies that are sexual in one way or another. Indeed, humanism itself cannot stand without the sexual part fully intact. And, as history shows, it’s clearly the missing ingredient in religion, since most of us come out of traditions that detract from sexuality at the expense of human health, happiness, awareness, and well-being.)
Early humanists of the Renaissance era looked to the teachings of antiquity to bring light to their existence deep within the Dark Ages. We can do the same now. No sense reinventing the wheel over and over. Let’s scramble up on as many broad sets of shoulders as we can here, and pull ourselves up out of the darkness. It’s high time to reach down deep within ourselves, grab onto the bootstraps, and heave up hard.
In a purely pragmatic sense (and minus humanism’s emphasis on worldly concerns), if you distill Buddhism down to the Buddha’s essential teaching on enlightenment, what you get is actually a fine-pointed form of humanism. Historically, humanism (based on Cicero’s humanitas from the first century BCE) has meant the development of human virtue to it’s highest form (think honesty, responsibility, and awareness in sexual humanism). It’s a way of understanding the world, and functioning in it, that strives to improve the human condition here and now, using evidence and reason rather than dogma and superstition.
And this is exactly what the Buddha did. The Buddha distilled the wisdom from an unfathomable depth of bold and rigorous inquiry to a handful of rough-and-ready bullet points for those lionhearted souls eager and willing to hazard their own journey of awakening, right here right now.
To be continued...when I come out with the book! I’m developing an outline for sexual enlightenment anchored in the profound principles of spiritual enlightenment. I’m excited about it, keeping my head down working hard, but in the meantime…
…Here’s the HotBlooded Holiday recipe: Meditate…Masturbate…Fornicate…Liberate. ‘Tis the season! (And don’t forget to Respirate!)
My love to you all.