Sexual orientation and Awakening

[TonySG]

Hi
I was just looking for an opinion on something I am currently facing. As I go through my journey of 'awakening' I am coming to face aspects of my sexuality which I wasn't aware of in the past. I have always identified myself as heterosexual. But lately I am starting to feel I may have feelings towards the same gender.

In the society we live in we are conditioned to be a certain way but as I wake up I notice that perhaps I am not what I always thought I was. I am not suggesting I am 100% homosexual (although I might be) as I have always been strongly attracted to feminine energy. I wondered if this is common during a spiritual awakening? Has anyone else experienced a shift in sexual orientation? Or is it just me? lol

This is requiring alot of courage for me to face due to the stigma attached to being 'gay' particularly for men.

Thanks in advance.

[LiberatedLotus]

I don't believe your "gender" dictates
who you are, therefore I don't believe
your "sexual orientation" does either.
By default, it's nullified. The social
constructs surrounding the two terms
have completely derailed the human
being from living an authentic life.

That is indicative of awakening.
To truly understand what those terms
are & in relation to what you truly are.
They no longer should carry weight.

Personally, I am a female, biologically
speaking, but the masculine energy
is dominant. I say that, because both
energies are present in each individual
but to varying degrees. It has very little
to do with your ascribed "gender" and
who you "orient" with.

The physical is but one component.
You may just find the male physique
particularly alluring or it may be
energies at play. Really depends on
you.

Personally, having high masculine energies
has never equated to resonating
with women more. Sure, I can
honor the physical, but it's not my
taste.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by TonySG

Hi
I was just looking for an opinion on something I am currently facing. As I go through my journey of 'awakening' I am coming to face aspects of my sexuality which I wasn't aware of in the past. I have always identified myself as heterosexual. But lately I am starting to feel I may have feelings towards the same gender.

In the society we live in we are conditioned to be a certain way but as I wake up I notice that perhaps I am not what I always thought I was. I am not suggesting I am 100% homosexual (although I might be) as I have always been strongly attracted to feminine energy. I wondered if this is common during a spiritual awakening? Has anyone else experienced a shift in sexual orientation? Or is it just me? lol

This is requiring alot of courage for me to face due to the stigma attached to being 'gay' particularly for men.

Thanks in advance.

Although I am not a Freudian, it is well known that Sigmund Freud believed in "innate bisexuality" and I hold the same position.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innate_bisexuality

Under a huge grant from Chester Carlson (inventor of the copier/Xerox machine), the University of Virginia Department of Psychiatry/Parapsychology did extensive studies on "post mortem survival" (alternately referred to as past life studies). In the cases of children just beginning to speak, they had vivid VERIFIABLE recollections of "a past life" (not necessarily implying or supporting reincarnation) as either the same gender or the opposite gender. For me at least, this serves as a indication that there may very well be "both male and female" in each of us to at least some degree in accordance with the Freudian position on this subject.

In addition, my own spiritual mentor, who was revered as a sage/saint in India, once said to me: "You realize, of course, that you are both male and female". I responded, "Yes".

During the awakening process, this becomes clearer but that is all I shall say at this time on this subject. Just be whatever you are at this point in time. Know yourself and simply be your self.

I applaud your courage in directly facing what, for many, is indeed viewed as an embarrassing stigma. I do not view it as a stigma. You may want to read about the Kinsey studies on male sexuality which show that there is at least some degree of homosexual orientation in virtually all men. Here's the link.

https://www.kinseyinstitute.org/rese...nsey-scale.php

Originally Posted by TonySG

This is requiring alot of courage for me to face due to the stigma attached to being 'gay' particularly for men.

Perhaps the real question is what are you Awakening too? Every aspect of you - sexuality, thinking patterns, past experience..... will affect your Journey of Awakening because all of those things are a part of who and what you are. They will all 'colour' your perceptions to a greater or lesser degree because your Awakening is happening inside you - it's not some external force. Your sexuality is as much a part of you as your Spirituality. Not being heterosexual doesn't define you, what you do with it does.


You aren't experiencing a shift in sexual orientation, strictly speaking. What you are Awakening to is not just the 'Spiritual you' but the rest of you too. Males are genetically latent homosexuals and every male has those tendencies to one degree or another, it's just buried because of ego and societal conditioning.


Yes it can require a lot of courage and facing the stigma, but if you can't face who and what you are? If you can't accept yourself warts-and-all? If there is conflict within you, how will all of that affect your Awakening/Spirituality? If it comes from a place of conditional Love?



You should have been careful what you wished form because you've got it.

[Miss Hepburn]

Good answers. You came to the right place to ask, Tony.
Btw, since there is Only One...God, the Creator...'He'....who has no gender,
of course, is a homosexual...Who, also, has no sexuality....hahaha, lol.
I'm sure that helped a bunch!

It's all just God loving Himself, in other words.

[TonySG]

Wow thanks for the great responses.

I find the Kinsey Study interesting. It makes sense that each of us are on a differentiating scale in regards to how hetero or homosexual we are. I have always felt heterosexual but also felt I may have some homosexuality within me. I will work to incorporate whatever I find :)

I guess it comes down to the question if our sexuality is determined before birth? If it isn't then social conditioning must play the determining role in the sexual identities we take on.

I recently heard something (not sure how true it is) that the first ever humans were bisexual and it was only when they discovered that male + female creates life did the orientation move towards heterosexuality.

[Nameless]

Part of learning and becoming the whole of ourselves, which I think embracing our spirituality is all about, is being completely honest with ourselves, for if we are not honest with ourselves, then who can we be honest with?

Here is where my spiritual journey got on the right track, by changing these beliefs by believing them for one week each, and they brought up a lot of stuff for me that I was shocked to acknowledge:

"It only matters what you think about yourself, and it never matters what anyone else thinks about you."

"We all live in a Safe Universe."

If you start with #1, and tell yourself you are going to believe that for the next week, you will start to notice those things that don't match that belief. For me, the first one brought up a lot of judgement that I had for others. It is a good place to start.

It sounds like you believe it is wrong or hard to be gay. As a non-gay person, I would have thought so too. As the parent of a gay child, I now realize it is the complete opposite for my child. It is easy for her to be gay, because that is just one aspect of who she is, it is not the all of her. And she has never cared what anyone else thought about it, including me, so she has never encountered the stigma that you refer to.

So maybe exploring what you believe it is like for a gay person to be gay is a good place to start, because therein lies your beliefs about it.

It doesn't matter whether you are gay or not. It matters what you believe about it.

I asked my daughter when she told me she was bi when she was 15. I said, well if you have a choice, why would you choose the choice that makes your life harder?

She never answered my question, and my belief stood unacknowledged for a lot of years until I realized it was not any harder for her to be gay than for me not to be, so she probably didn't understand my concern. I didn't bring her up to be judgmental about it (well there was that one thing I said that I regret....), so she had no judgments. And I wasn't judgmental about gay people, I was judging how hard there lives must be, having to deal with all the homophobia.

How very wrong I was. She was not pushing against anything, so she has never had to deal with the homophobic aspect of anyone.

She doesn't put her attention there, so it is not in her reality.

She has taught me a lot about myself.

Children are our greatest teachers.

So my advice, embrace both parts of yourself and change your beliefs about the judgement aspect.

Most of the people I know who are gay, knew they were born that way. One person I know that is gay is gay because of abuse by the other sex. Being bi-sexual is an aspect I believe that we could all be, because we are both male and female, and many people enjoy exploring that.

But whatever you are, you should enjoy being that. It shouldn't be a chore you have to do.

But only you get to decide.

Good luck and many blessings :)

Oh, and learn from my daughter and don't care what your parents think about it LOL.

[Imzadi]

Originally Posted by TonySG

Hi
I was just looking for an opinion on something I am currently facing. As I go through my journey of 'awakening' I am coming to face aspects of my sexuality which I wasn't aware of in the past. I have always identified myself as heterosexual. But lately I am starting to feel I may have feelings towards the same gender.

In the society we live in we are conditioned to be a certain way but as I wake up I notice that perhaps I am not what I always thought I was. I am not suggesting I am 100% homosexual (although I might be) as I have always been strongly attracted to feminine energy. I wondered if this is common during a spiritual awakening? Has anyone else experienced a shift in sexual orientation? Or is it just me? lol

This is requiring alot of courage for me to face due to the stigma attached to being 'gay' particularly for men.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for bringing this up as I can relate and empathize with what you said although my experience is slightly reversed. Growing up in a cosmopolitan open-minded city, I had many gay friends in high school and there are openly gay faculty members as well. I was president of the Gay Straight Alliance club and also a cheerleader involved with a lot of gay/social justice activism events so I had erroneously thought that being gay was my identity!

The stigma of being gay was not very strong where I live which allowed for my peers and I to explore and embrace our sexuality in a supportive and friendly environment. This resulted in many boyfriends growing up and deep meaningful and loving relationships with men as well when I got older.

However, being gay does not quite accurately describe me. The more I grow and evolve Spiritually the less I find myself fixated on gender and sexual orientation or various labels. The more I can see the Consciousness and SOULS that lies within every Being, the less I focus on a person's gender and sexual biology. I SEE people for who they are and I am drawn to people because of their energy rather than their sexual biology or psychological gender identify.

I think Spiritual Awareness and understanding opens us up and dissolves limiting fears and belief systems we have about ourselves and our sexuality that allows for us to be free to express ourselves lovingly and authentically. Spiritual Awakening also dramatically overrides the toxicity of shame and years of unhealthy conditioning that might have kept our Souls constrained and repressed.

As for myself, I don't quite identify with any sexual orientation label, but I feel immense unconditional LOVE for humanity and human kind. I find people attractive and beautiful in various physical forms, but what's most dazzling and radiant is in the Presence of their Souls. Perhaps you are now more keenly aware of a higher connection between Souls as oppose to simply being sexually attracted? Either way, what you are experiencing is worthy to explore and seems like it opens up the opportunity to release any shame or fear that might still be left in your heart. *Big Hugs*

Blessings and safe travels!

[TonySG]

Originally Posted by Imzadi

Thank you for bringing this up as I can relate and empathize with what you said although my experience is slightly reversed. Growing up in a cosmopolitan open-minded city, I had many gay friends in high school and there are openly gay faculty members as well. I was president of the Gay Straight Alliance club and also a cheerleader involved with a lot of gay/social justice activism events so I had erroneously thought that being gay was my identity!

The stigma of being gay was not very strong where I live which allowed for my peers and I to explore and embrace our sexuality in a supportive and friendly environment. This resulted in many boyfriends growing up and deep meaningful and loving relationships with men as well when I got older.

However, being gay does not quite accurately describe me. The more I grow and evolve Spiritually the less I find myself fixated on gender and sexual orientation or various labels. The more I can see the Consciousness and SOULS that lies within every Being, the less I focus on a person's gender and sexual biology. I SEE people for who they are and I am drawn to people because of their energy rather than their sexual biology or psychological gender identify.

I think Spiritual Awareness and understanding opens us up and dissolves limiting fears and belief systems we have about ourselves and our sexuality that allows for us to be free to express ourselves lovingly and authentically. Spiritual Awakening also dramatically overrides the toxicity of shame and years of unhealthy conditioning that might have kept our Souls constrained and repressed.

As for myself, I don't quite identify with any sexual orientation label, but I feel immense unconditional LOVE for humanity and human kind. I find people attractive and beautiful in various physical forms, but what's most dazzling and radiant is in the Presence of their Souls. Perhaps you are now more keenly aware of a higher connection between Souls as oppose to simply being sexually attracted? Either way, what you are experiencing is worthy to explore and seems like it opens up the opportunity to release any shame or fear that might still be left in your heart. *Big Hugs*

Blessings and safe travels!

This post is gold! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your story, it really did resonate with me.

My growing awareness is obliterating my old belief systems. I have always had a poor image of men because I grew up with terrible male role models. I think on some level I see men as 'bad' and therefore also labeled myself as bad. As I grow I see that this is not true and it was something I took on to help me feel safe.

I grew up in a place which sounds the opposite to yours, where homosexuality really is shamed and suppressed. My negative beliefs about masculinity were therefore further reinforced by my environment. As I begin to look at old beliefs my ego throws up thoughts such as 'you are gay' as a means of distracting and scaring me from facing the old beliefs. With that said, I think I have alot of shame about being a man due to my conditioning which I am starting to break through. Like you say I feel I am
beginning to see the truth in everyone regardless of gender.

Thanks again for your post.

Originally Posted by TonySG

I guess it comes down to the question if our sexuality is determined before birth? If it isn't then social conditioning must play the determining role in the sexual identities we take on.

Believe it or not you father's job can make a difference. The testicles being at a lower temperature favours males so if you want a son go dancing naked in the snow.

Originally Posted by TonySG

I recently heard something (not sure how true it is) that the first ever humans were bisexual and it was only when they discovered that male + female creates life did the orientation move towards heterosexuality.

It's probably the XY chromosome but homo-/bi-sexuality is genetic, male heterosexuality is societal stigma, like big boys don't cry.