– Photo by Jan Ketchel
Without desire human reproduction would lose its potency; there would be no future generation. At a fundamental level, desire is the vehicle of the High Soul’s intent for human life to continue and evolve.
The human ego possesses the consciousness to act from its own free will. The ego, with this freedom, enjoys its ability to take control over its inherent archetypal promptings, employing its instinctive energies as it sees fit.
Thus, for example, the ego can break ranks with the archetypes governing sexual behavior, in an exploitative way. This is what gives rise to sexual abuse, where the ego chooses to deviate from the inherent rules of sexual behavior, an example of which would be ignoring the incest taboo.
The ego is also freed to engage in sexual relations at any time of month, breaking ranks with the archetypal programs that control hormonal activation of desire at fertile times only. Individuals can create hormonal releases and bodily changes that activate desire through their own mind’s conjuring of fantasy.
Senior citizens can engage in sexual activity without any support from instinctual urging, simply through the spiritual refinement of love for their partner. When does one ever see senior citizen animals engage in sexual behavior?
Freud called the energy of desire libido. Besides supplying the energy for sexual functioning, Freud declared that sublimated libido provided the energy for creativity, and civilization itself.
Yogic science calls the energy of desire kundalini. Kundalini energy rests at the base of the spine. From there, it rises to innervate the ascending chakras, throughout an individual’s lifetime. Spiritual aspirants often close the door to the second chakra, the sexual center, to pressure kundalini to rise through the chakras with the goal of enlightenment.
Shamans call the energy of desire dreaming energy. For shamans, reaching the energy body with lucidity and control are the requirements to explore life beyond the physical body while in human form.
While not explicitly prohibiting sexual activity, shamans encourage their apprentices to accumulate their sexual energy in order to accrue the sum of energy necessary to explore infinity. All religious traditions similarly place a premium on regulating sexual energy for spiritual advancement.
The soul of sexual desire insures our birth as human beings, which then initiates a developmental journey that introduces us to sexual desire, as well as the ability to have power over, and desire for, objects of the material world. For many, this might represent the fullness of life.
For others, that soul journey might rise to the spiritual dimension of love for all interdependent beings, as well as union with the High Soul in infinity.
It could be argued that desire is the High Soul’s vehicle for the ego to ultimately reach love, which is the operating principle of the next stage of human evolution. Beyond the battlefield of now is love, the inevitable victor.
The world will only survive and thrive when it rises to the heart center, where love alone governs human behavior. That journey is fraught with a labyrinth of perils and illusions, but traversing it successfully is the key to the kingdom, both here on Earth and beyond.
For certain, the journey of desire, regardless of its current fixation, is indeed, a journey of soul.
With love for all,
Chuck
