[Mantak_Chia,_Michael_Winn]_Taoist_Secrets_of_Love(BookFi.org)

ally and culturally we are again examining the meaning of our
sexuality and the deeper purposes served by our loving relationships.
Many new ideas are now emerging from the New Age consciousness
movement which address this need. Witness, for example,
the concept of "High Monogamy" which emphasizes the challenge
and excitement of conscious, through-time, relationships that
transcend romantic egotism. The much publicized revival of popular
interest in Indian and Tibetan sexual tantra is another example.
Others are re-examining the merits of celibacy. The sexual paradigm
is shifting again, part of the polar shift of the American morality
play. As this play continues we are further mystified by the
Moral Majority seeking to revive the old repressions and neurotic
patterns which drove us to seek relief in the first place.
Many of us are struggling to understand the meaning of the
conflict between the old and new sexual morality. Can we avoid
the pitfalls of both repressive and "liberated" sexual morality
which are by now all too familiar? Where do we turn for guidance
in seeking our own truly individual answers?
Unfortunately, our views about human sexuality are constantly
shaped by the fads and fashions of science and popular
culture. We are influenced as much by these trends—from Dr.
Spock to the Herpes scare—as we are by the actual biochemical
processes of our bodies and minds. We often "know" more about
who and what we are from what we read or see on television than
from a deeply lived experience of ourselves. It is obvious that we
lack a clear and impartial vision of our own social conditioning.
Our self-knowledge is usually derived from the world of well
known experts, books, films, TV, magazines, rather than from a
patient understanding of our deepest gut feelings or intuitions.
The power of these cultural influences can be understood by
carefully noting the cyclical and often contradictory scientific and
psychological theories about sexuality found in the popular media.
We can easily conclude that consistent valid and practical guidelines
for the physical, psychological, and spiritual health of men
women are few and far between. This conclusion applies to most of
our difficult social and interpersonal problems, but is especially
true in the sexual arena. The fact is that we really don't know much
from our scientific or popular media sources about the function of
sex beyond the obvious reproductive and "pleasure principle" arguments
that have influenced all of our thinkers from Freud up to
the more recent sociobiologists.