There is Nothing New About Sexual Abuse

By guest blogger Mikaya Heart

No one who follows the news can fail to notice the proliferation of reports of sexual abuse, especially by prominent people, and not just football coaches but also Catholic priests, yoga teachers, and various well-known spiritual leaders. This has not just started occurring—it’s been happening in silence for centuries. There has never been a taboo against incest and sexual abuse, only against talking about it, and that is what’s changing.

Sex is very intense and concentrated energy. It is lifeforce itself, which means it’s all about power. Rape is common in wartime situations because the excitement of fighting creates an energetic charge and most men know only one way to release that. They kill two birds with one stone, since the act of rape also establishes their dominance. The same thing occurs in competitive situations, such as sports, and in domestic situations, especially where a man has been having a difficult time and comes home needing to prove that he is the boss. One can argue that unless women actually take charge and definitively agree to what is going on (which an increasing number women are doing), there will always be an element of power imbalance in heterosexual sex. Rape within marriage was legal in many Western countries until the 1970s, a clear statement that what the woman wanted was irrelevant. In the last thirty years, society has changed in some quite radical ways, due to the influence of feminists and other radical thinkers. Now that we live in a less patriarchal culture, it’s acceptable for women to say no in most situations, and people are beginning to talk about abuse, which is undermining the foundation that has enabled it to occur.

Spiritually inclined individuals are not necessarily good people. They are as likely to be charismatic liars as anyone else, though many may also be seekers of some kind. In spiritual communities, the energetic charge that finds an outlet in sex may arise the way it does for any of us, or it can be seen as the result of intense spiritual desire coupled with denial. Sex is an amazing thing: it starts with the body and takes us far beyond the body, to realms we often cannot access any other way, which can be experienced as an awareness of God. I know a number of women who say that a powerful orgasm is a profound spiritual experience. Major religions are reluctant to admit this truth, partly because we won’t need them any more once we realize it.

It isn’t so easy to sublimate sexual desire; many of us find it a useful and delightful release, and although it’s very possible to find other creative outlets that can allow that same blissful flow, finding them requires consciousness, not denial. When a person is determined to ignore such an intense source of energy—a state of denial that many religions encourage—it is going to come back and bite him in the butt. The more rabidly evangelical an individual is in the spiritual search, the more likely he is to work himself into an intense state of excitement and desire that then needs release. The fact that sex is forbidden adds to the charge. It becomes a compulsion that is relegated to the subconscious, acted on without being consciously acknowledged because—until recently—no one spoke about it, which made living the lie very easy.

Sexual energy is no different from any other form of energy. When any energy flows through us freely, we feel more alive—and we all crave that, whether we find it in emotional expression, dancing, singing, sports, or other activities. It reminds us who we really are and what is really possible. Spiritual teachers frequently feel they have to maintain an earnest and sincere persona which doesn’t allow for demonstrative expressions of energy. That leaves sex to act as a release valve. Although clearly amoral hypocrites, these people know what they are looking for, and in spite of all their spiritual teachings, they apparently still find sex the easiest pathway to feeling good. Or should I say, God?

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Mikaya Heart is an award-winning author and a coach in the art of being fully alive, using shamanistic methods to help people operate from a place of trust instead of fear, which requires allowing universal energy to flow through the body. Her latest book is The Ultimate Guide to Orgasm for Women. www.mikayaheart.org

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