[A human Being]

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

No eye-rolling! Re-integrating our sensuality/sexuality into our spiritual lives is so important, it having been stolen by religions for so long now. (By spiritual...(sorry, I hope I don't get too litigation-sounding again here - someone might just pick me up on it) I'm pretty sure you'll know what I mean).......... by spiritual I meant into our whole-selves so that the Superego doesn't keep passing judgement on sensual matters thanks to the way it was conditioned in earlier life; and acknowledging the demands of the id (good old Freud!). Sexuality/sensuality are in the flow of our self expression. I read so many stories here of repression, suppression and displacement that deny our psyches honest expression. Sure, knowingly block them if someone wants to for whatever reason but be aware, kind of thing.

Apologies, I thought talk of integration might sound a little New Age-y to you! But you've said it very well, and I completely agree :) (Slightly tangential, but it's funny you should say that because I've been thinking today about how I relate to my sensual experience and I've become hideously aware of just how very white, English, and male I am in that respect - God, being uptight really takes it out of you :o).

In some faiths/currents the segregation never happened. It doesn't mean they're romping around at sex the whole time, in fact probably less than most because there's less obsession arising from those basic drives and - so much healthier; emotions are less convoluted and closer to ones "surface" (...it seems from my admittedly limited immersion in the culture.)

Also a great point - if you want to give something more power, repress it! Ugh, deary me... it's frustrating that certain faiths/cultures have such a seemingly unhealthy attitude towards sexuality, though I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it (I don't know enough about these things to know either way, in fairness). In my own case I come from a religious background - two Christian parents who handle such matters by basically avoiding talking about them if they possibly can (the most you'll often get is a raised eyebrow), and the church I belonged to when I was younger was stiflingly conservative in most respects. The result is a lot of shame and guilt around sex and sexuality, such feelings being more and more evident the more conscious I become... if nothing else, it's given me an insight into the effect these influences can have on a personal level.

It's interesting that you comment on compartmentalising. It does seem to pervade people's lives. Education | work | play/socialising | sex | religious activities | hobby | etc. I've always thought of education as life-long, not something that ends as you exit the school gates for the last time. Same with hobbies, incorporating them in some aspect of work, even if only to regard work as a way of financing them (which helps to divert selling out to the great corporate trick)!

You're right, the compartmentalising does seem to pervade most aspects of our lives - a reflection of our tendency to create rules and laws in a bid to contain and regulate our various desires and impulses, it seems to me. I absolutely agree about education being life-long, it's a mistake I think to imagine that we've reached a point at which there's nothing left to learn.

Anyway, the topic made me think - something I've been warned against many times plus it gives me such a headache.[/b]

(Anyone got any spare morphine....?)

I know, I keep failing to heed the warnings too! Sadly no morphine to spare, either