| Bart & Georgi
Bart ten Berge and Georgi Y. Johnson are spiritual teachers who came together in a shared process of self-discovery and spiritual inquiry. Bart: http://inner-growth.org/ Georgi: https://perception.inner-growth.org/
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INTERVIEW
NonDuality Magazine: Vedanta, Taoism, Buddhism, Judeo-Christian Gnosticism, Mystical Sufism, all laud transcendence of duality and desire, verified by transcendence of sexual activity, from the Buddha to the Dalai Lama and millions of others in India over the millennia. Has modern non-dualism created something new where sex and desire are not transcended? And is this a higher state than what Buddha and founder of Advaita Vedanta, Adi Shankara, taught to monks and lay people and lived personally
Georgi & Bart: It seems that what we are actually talking about here, is the illusion of separation. This is an illusion which will manifest in the monastery, the convent, the domestic kitchen and in every place where there is human living.
Today, at this time, humanity seems to be experiencing a crisis of the individual within unity. This is based on the belief that there is a polarity between unity and individuality. This is just a belief.
Unity is found at the heart of the individual. Individuality, with its unique, exclusive and miraculous difference, is an enrichment and affirmation of unity. In unity, there is no exclusion.
Unity actually has no polarity, yet it contains the dualism of separation and togetherness, or to say it differently, loneliness and belonging. Unity is never lost, it is always here.
The mere thought that we are not part of the universe including even the most intimate experiences of how it is to be here now, is an illusion.
In the area of sexuality – the very engine out of which we are created – there is an enormous amount of fear, shame, and vulnerability.
So much so, that often we believe that sexual purity is something that needs to be attained, through a process of segregation and isolation. This is not the case. Sexual purity is always here. Our loss of connection with this inner purity and innate innocence can occur as easily within a monastery or convent as within a marriage.
Celibacy can have a value for some time and in some form as a means of purification in order to reconnect with the inherent purity which is always here. It is also of service in order to relativize and realize emotional entanglements. As such, it can bring us to a deeper clarity and authenticity.
This deeper authenticity is found when celibacy is based on individual response to need and not necessarily when it is based on the dictates of an external authority. Here, there is quite a difference between a form born from authentic need, and a form based on something else, such as a transient lust for spiritual attainment.
A motivation based on inner authenticity and loyalty to deeper need, will lead to inner truth. A motivation based on lust or fear of authority will lead to more lust and fear of authority. The content and attitudes of each moment will birth the content and attitudes of each coming moment, irrespective of form.
We share far more in unity than we are able to contain or allow. At one level, we share our consciousness in the form of collective consciousness, with a lot of its mental content. We share our awareness, collective atmospheres or vibrations moving through us as one.
We also share whole fields of emotions and feelings, of which sexuality is perceived as one of the most threatening to the boundaries of society and the individual. As such, the crisis of the individual in unity comes forward in the area of sexuality with a vengeance.
To put it simply, we become incredibly insecure in the field of sexuality – about where we begin and where we end, or about what is ours and what belongs to the “other”. This is swaddled in fear, rage, jealousy, shame and collective taboo.
At the same time, sexuality is also the plain through which the longing for togetherness and unity is playing out the strongest.
Sexuality at source is not defined by any activity. It is coming from a shared source which is an integral part of creation. It is also connected with sensuality – the experience of being physically alive. It is also connected with love – through which we move towards unity through the dissolution of “otherness”; and it is also connected with the passion to live and the lust within that. It is part of who we are as human beings.
As such, sexuality is at the very cutting edge of being authentically human; and there is a need for inner vigilance and loyalty to our innate sexual authenticity, purity and freedom.
Freedom is what non-duality is all about. The opposite of slavery is liberation. Freedom has no opposite, it is always here. It is really important to reconnect to this inner freedom. This includes the freedom to be celibate if and when this is needed. It also includes the freedom to be sexually a physical part of the whole. More than anything, it embraces the freedom to experience to the depths whatever is manifesting within the here and now, and to give it form.
