I stressed before that Tantra isn’t all about sex. So that begs the question of why is Tantra associated so often with sex? Why do people who teach, or claim to teach, Tantra mention sex and sexuality so much?
We’ve established that Tantra is an energy management system. We use our energy to improve the quality of our lives physically, emotionally, spiritually, and materially. Sexual energy is the most powerful form of energy that we are able to access at any given time. It is always available to us and it is very highly charged. It is our greatest spiritual gift.
Just as new physical life comes from the act of sex and the exchange of sexual energy; all new things come from sexual energy. That energy is the raw material, the building blocks of all manifestation. In the classic book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says the following:
“Sex desire is the most powerful of human desires. When driven by this desire, men develop keenness of imagination, courage, will-power, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them at other times. So strong and impelling is the desire for sexual contact that men freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it. When harnessed, and redirected along other lines, this motivating force maintains all of its attributes of keenness of imagination, courage, etc., which may be used as powerful creative forces in literature, art, or in any other profession or calling, including, of course, the accumulation of riches.”
Enlightenment and achievement produce the same chemical processes within the brain as a physical orgasm, the release of hormones like oxytocin and endorphins. The physical process of arousal, followed by a buildup of tension, followed by an ultimate release and climax, is the same as the process of achievement. We become aroused with a new idea, a vision of something that we want to achieve. We experience the tension of struggling against resistance to bring our vision into fruition. And when our goal is finally achieved then we have an emotional climax and we feel the tension released and there is nothing but bliss. Taking something from an idea into a physical reality that can be observed is the ultimate orgasm.
Life coaches and experts on creating wealth often speak of the benefits of “self-suggestion” or “autosuggestion”. These words basically mean making a statement to yourself that the subconscious mind accepts as truth. The two emotional states best suited for suggestion are — deep relaxation and emotional intensity. Sex can easily get us into both of those emotional states. The reason these emotional states make it easy for us to “program” ourselves is because of the way the brain works. I don’t have space here to fully explain the science of that but I will state that if the brain is slowed down then it becomes easily suggestible and if the brain is made highly active then that’s the best time to form new neural pathways that make it easier for us to perform certain functions.
I’m saying all of this just to make the point that this energy is very powerful. And the following might be why it’s so powerful. In mathematics, if A = B, and B = C, then A = C. Every time…if all things come from God, and if all people and 99% of animals come from a sex act, then God = Sex. Math doesn’t lie. Sexuality and spirituality/divinity are intimately connected and it is the separation of sexuality from spirituality that makes most spiritual practices ineffective.
The Tantra master Shantam Nityama says:
“…the relationship between spirituality and sex is like the relationship between a butterfly and a caterpillar. If the caterpillar is not in good health and not strong, then you’re not going to have a butterfly, or you are going to get a very weak and scrawny butterfly…in order for people to open up spiritually, they had to come back and totally embrace their sexual energy and be clear about it in order for them to take that same energy and transform themselves.”
Tantra teaches us how to fully embrace our sexual energy and begin to consciously use it to transform our lives.
Complete Constructive Change 