A key principle of Tantra is that our spiritual practice must be tailored to our particular aptitude, no one size fits all. This has real implication for our practices, where we progress from our limited identity to a connection to oneness, the one field of awareness, in stages.
William Schindler, in Gay Tantra, states that a key principle of Tantra is that our spiritual practice must be tailored to our particular aptitude, no one size fits all, and so will include a combination of both ascetic and ecstatic practices. This is for the purposes of happiness and enlightenment, or liberation and self-realisation, where we attain the ‘four fruits of life’; dharma, artha, kama and moksa. These are personal filfillment, material security, satisfaction of desires, and liberation. The first three of which look great, but it is the forth that is the true destination, where we realise the full truth of ourself.
It is through the mind, using the five senses, the organs of knowledge, that we connect with the world around us. That is, the eyes, tongue, skin, nose and ears. These relate to the five sensations of sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing, which are then filtered as sense perceptions. However, we interact with the world through the five organs of action. That is, our hands, feet, mouth, sex organs and anus. This then leads us to identify with the body which the mind and our senses are dependant on, becoming a separate physical being, rather than appreciating this as a subjective experience, the ‘inner world of mental perceptions and experiences’.
This is not to repeat ‘I am not my body’ but to realise I am my body but more than that, too.
This has real implication then for our Naked Practice* sessions especially when we recognise the importance of this ‘more than that, too’. For all of our experiences occur within the context of Cit, consciousness. Cit is everything from the crudest perceptions to the highest level of awareness. This is a non-dual approach where consciousness and the content of consciousness are one and the same. Not that we tend to live like this. Our identity as a separate entity limits us, and so our practices need to develop this connection to the oneness, the one field of awareness, in stages.
These stages tend to progress through shifting our attention from the individual self to the Divine Self, from our individual identity to our true identity as pure-consciousness. We do not stop being our individual self, we are simply subsumed into a more comprehensive Self. And this is where we tend to undertake ascetic and/or ecstatic practices. Meditation is generally seen as the main ascetic practice. This is where we bring our attention to bear on an object (often our chosen deity, or the mind itself) so that the mind becomes aware of only one thought to the exclusion of everything else and all distractions.
But distractions abound. Ecstatic practice uses our distractions, transforming them through harnessing the power of the senses. This is not the same as ‘unfettered sense enjoyment’ or indulgence. Self-pleasure and sexual desire is a wonderful thing, but ruthless honesty is needed to guard against self-delusion if we want to take these to a spiritual level. This means being able to gain an element of detachment, even during the self-pleasuring act, so we maintain awareness of the Divine and through this gain a direct experience of the ‘spiritual essence within everything’. It also means being willing to accept the truth of our experience, so without exaggeration, or romaticising, or delusion. If it is pleasure for pleasure’s sake, then truly experience the pleasure of the experience.
So, in our Naked Practice sessions let us harness the power of our senses, truly experience the now and the connection we can bring to the Divine, while recognising in honesty where we are on our spiritual journey.
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See my personal development / personality profiling book DISCover the Power of You published through John Hunt Publishing Ltd, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-78535-591-2
And for a bit of light reading, see my first historical fictional novel Fermented Spirits published through Austin Macauley Publishers, 2022. ISBN-13: 978-1398437159