A road to higher consciousness

Most people think that the thing we are looking for in life is meaning. I dont think thats it at all. I think that most people are looking for an experience that connects them to the ecstasy of what it could feel like to be totally alive. To know the unburdened state of total aliveness is the pinnacle of the human potential.
Joseph Campbell, Anthropologist

Abraham Maslow, the founder of humanistic psychology, was the first psychologist to examine well people rather than sick people. By studying the best examples the human species had produced to date, he created his theory of self-actualisation an individuals potential to achieve the highest state of being. One of the interesting byproducts of this research was the discovery that the more self-actualised a person became, the better orgasms they had.

In his ground-breaking book, The Function of the Orgasm, published in the 1940s, Wilhelm Reich espoused the view that a persons emotional health was related to his or her capacity to experience complete, whole-body orgasmic release in the sexual act. He felt that an intense orgasm was one of the most healing experiences, both physically and emotionally, a person could have. The healthy person, according to Reich, is one who regularly engages in lovingly uninhibited sexual exchange leading to a thoroughly satisfying orgasm. He was also the first Western sexologist to consider that healthy sexual functioning is connected with an ability to experience higher states of consciousness.

In the East, the connection between health, sexuality and higher consciousness has a long history. Tantra has existed for as long as humans have wondered about the mystery of existence and stood in awe of the primordial power of their sexual nature. Tantra yoga is the sexual path, a vast and ancient system of rituals and practical techniques that use the most powerful creative energy in our body/mind system, that of sexual passion, to propel us into higher consciousness. Tantra has a known history going back at least 7000 years, longer than any of the spiritual practices popular in the world today.

Freud, Jung and Reich have prepared the background in the Western world for the popularity of tantra. They may not have known anything about tantra, but they created the context for tantra to evolve in the West. Interest in tantra is growing exponentially and many forms of this age-old wisdom are being taught all over the world. We believe the reason tantra is currently having such a rebirth of popularity on every continent is two-fold. People want to have a direct spiritual experience. They are no longer willing to go through a third party or intermediary. Second, they are capable of being responsible for their own spirituality, no longer lacking the confidence of self-empowerment. The one thing thats unique about tantra is the recognition of our sexual nature. No other esoteric practice, religious belief, or spiritual system celebrates our sexuality. As tantra evolved in India, Tibet, Egypt and China, adepts of yoga tapped into increasingly powerful techniques for safely accessing the cosmic forces inherent in sexual energy.

The problem with the celebration of sexuality in many cultures has been that it has led to sexual licence, abuse and excess. This precipitated the inevitable reaction that comes with things being out of balance repression. The practice of tantra then went underground. Historically for the human race, it has been difficult to open the door to our sexual nature and maintain discipline and control. Learning not to leak energy, particularly sexual energy, is a difficult task, even for many tantrikas, or practitioners of the art and science of tantra.