sex and religion

[fire_breeze]

I noticed that there are very few major religions in which having a body is considered a good thing. It's usually regarded as baggage that the spirit has to drag with it in this world and something to discard and leave behind when this live is over. Or even better, one should learn to either ignore the body or control it in a way that it keeps quite and doesn't interfere with the mind and spirit.
There are some elements of hinduism and taoism that aknowledge the body as something useful, but even then it's still mostly as a tool that can be used for the benefit of the spirit.
Almost always the mind and spirit should be detached from any physical aspects of being human, which I find rather odd.

You can blame many ancient philosophers and ascetics for that mentality, and in the West, blame Aristotle and Plato for introducing and persisting in the body-soul dichotomy. It was viewed, a philosophy that was adopted for much of the West, that the body is material, the soul is immaterial. It is the soul that animates the body, that has the divine spark (the logos, if you want to get all Stoic). The body traps the soul. The body has lust. Sex is not inherently evil. Lust - the preoccupation and the drive for sex and nothing else - is. Lust and the body can consume us and therefore must be controlled and disciplined.

And in Taoism, it's all about balance... but balance in the proper context, as prescribed. Likewise, in certain branches of Hinduism, the body is incorporated, but it must be done by the right people and (so Western interpretation of Tantra is actually not at all as it is practised by yogis in various interpretations of Hinduism).

In the Abrahamic religions, as well as some types of Buddhism and other Eastern traditions, the body isn't evil per se. It is inherently good (yes, even bad Christians and Abrahamic religion thinks bodies are good because God created it, and what God created, it is good). What it is evil is that the body can control the mind and the soul, to the detriment of the person's devotion to the divine.

It's a thought, by the way, that one sees in many many many types of religions, spiritualities, philosophy and culture, throughout the ages and throughout the world. It's all about not letting the body consume and drive us. We need to drive the body - for many many people, it's the thing that differentiates people from animals. Animals were thought to be driven by pure instinct. Humans are thought to be driven by reason. They can rise above instinct and can control the vehicle that drives instinct.

So, in sum. Body = instinct = animal (the danger if we do not control the body). Soul/thought = reason = human.

/end of cultural history lesson

*withdraws back to the Playground*

 

[Reba67]

I seem to notice an interesting cue from religion vs. sex. In most of the past relationships, I notice that most people who are christians (not catholics, but methodists, non-denominational, baptists, etc) are more sex driven. I don't know if it's the area i'm from or what. I'm Catholic, and I find that the "waiting till you are married" is very old school. Most catholics I know believe in the use of contraception. My ex was non-denominational and was always saying during sex that I would burn. I'm still here

Catholics don't discourage birth control. They actually encourage condom use and other barrier methods as well as natural family planning (which is quite effective if followed strictly). But, we are supposed to be open to the possibility of children in our married life....even if we are using a barrier method.