Discussion and Thoughts from a Creativity Perspective on Tantric Practices 

A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2010 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

Sexuality is the second most creative state. For those who are interested in pursuing calling back their creative power, exploring sexuality, using sexuality in their creative endeavors or to explore Tantra, there are a few items in Tantric practices and teaching from a creativity perspective and holding our creativity sacred of which we should be aware. We need to be aware of them in that they can either interfere with us becoming a conscious create or manifesting our creative endeavors. This discussion address some of these types and kinds of issues. In particular it does need to be noted, Tantra is not about sexual intercourse although it may be. So, if one is looking to Tantra as a vehicle for sexual intercourse, they are looking in the wrong direction.

In reading the following observations and comments about Tantra practices, the reader is reminded that Tantra is a very old tradition and its roots go back hundreds and thousands of years. As in any tradition, there are authors and teacher who only have an intellectual understanding of a subject with little experiential knowledge. Or, worse yet, they only repeat what they have been old with little intellectual understanding of what they are told let alone actually experience. Also, many who pass on an old tradition allow their perceptions and experiences of what they have read and experienced elsewhere to influence what they say about what they write or teach. Additionally there is the issue that information available, and how it was explained hundreds or thousands of years ago does not fully pertain to our current world and/or even apply. Analogies, metaphors, symbolism, references and the like can lose their meaning over time as ways of living or technologies change. As such, there may be part of any tradition which are incompatible for the society in which it is currently used. As any human being does, individuals will adapt, fill in, replace or revise information that is not accurate or effective for their time and place. As a result there are many changes, permutations, and the like which occur in any tradition. Sometimes the essential truths remain. Sometimes they are lost. This leaves open the question does what is done within any old tradition today really reflect the essence which gave rise to that tradition in the first place.

What follows here is based on the observations of Tantra from a variety of sources as part of the exploration of our inherent creativity to understand the creative power of sex and sexuality and how they influence our creative ability and creative power. What is stated here is not based on the reiteration of information on Tantra from any source. It is based on the experiences of the author, those whom the author observed as part of the exploration of creativity, and those who were subsequently counseled based on the understanding of our creative spirit and its need to be allowed to freely express itself to create the experiences it incarnated to have and create the experiences as to what gives life to the individual. You are, of course, free to do your own experiments and observations, to prove or disprove what is stated here.

From a creativity perspective, Tantra needs to be commended for it is the only spiritual practice that has been found to suggested the conscious use of sexuality as a creative tool for other than creating physical offspring. It is also important in that it is conceptually is quite different from philosophies of denial. One does not repress in the Tantra approach. Within reason, one seeks to fulfill their desires. In this regard it embraces the creative process and the role of desire even if it does not understand the creative process or the role of desire in that process. Not repress and non denial is an extremely important aspect of Tantra. We need to understand that from a creativity perspective and holding our creativity sacred, nothing in Creation can be denied for anything that is in Creation which is denied is a denial of the Source of out which it came. Embracing and learning to address what arises in a safe way that allow for the expansion towards the fullness of our being and the Infinity of our being and creates a safe and secure space for any other is an embracement of the creator/Creator and its/Its creation/Creation.

Here is needs to be noted, after we have chased and fulfilled many of our desires, we may notice that there is still a sort of undefined sense of yearning that remains. We may find that as we work through the desires and wants of the mind there is still a deep inner longing. It is a yearning for a connection, unconditional love, a playmate, or something similar. This longing is the ultimate pain we face. If we surrender to this longing and move past the pain, we can access the Source of Creation. If we attain this surrender, there is a softening of ego defense and diversion by mind and we move into a sublime bliss beyond which can provide an inner satisfaction which never runs dry no matter what is happening in our external world.

However from the perspective of holding our creativity sacred, Tantra fails. Rather, it is focused on using sexuality to obtain spiritual enlightenment with overtones that the physical world is something to be transcended as opposed to using the depth and breadth of our sex and sexuality as the creative tool that sex is. It is the fact Tantra fails in this regard is one of the reasons why the topic sex and our creativity was address giving rise to "Creative Sexuality."

Discussion and thoughts on specific Tantric practices

Although there are several differing schools of thought on Tantra, there are some interesting common distillations that are related to the creative powers of sexuality. The following discussion address these distillations.

General observations about Tantra

In arising out of Eastern mysticism, it was observed that many schools of Tantra and/or Tantric practices incorporated many of the common aspects of Eastern Mysticism. For example, all use some form of meditation and some type of focus in their meditation. The focus is not necessarily a word, image or mantra but nevertheless there was a particular focus of the mind. All use yogic type positions and/or practices. Some positions are specifically directed to enhancing sexual stimulation while others are directed at raising the energy from a ‘base’ level to a higher "enlightened" level. All use ritual. All use some type or kind of prayer or its equivalent often to one or more of the deities of Eastern Mysticism. All have a deity, deities, and/or a spiritual master that is held in great reverence. The Tantric traditions and practice imply there is something special in the meditations, the focus or the yoga positions.

Relative to these general observation the following comments can be made.

• Although the Tantric traditions and practice imply there is something special in the meditations, the focus or the yoga positions, in reality there is really nothing special about what is used. They are simply about focusing attention and awareness. Almost anything can be used as a focus. The question is, "Is what is use support what we desire to create and is what we use in alignment with our beliefs."
• What needs to be realized is the use of meditations, the object of focus in meditation, yogic position and practices, rituals, prayers and the like are all ultimately about creating a single point focus and focusing our attention and awareness to create our desired experience. The issue for all of these is whether or not what is used aligns with our intention and beliefs. The fact they are given to us or we are directed to use them by some teacher does not necessarily serve us and what we ultimately desire to create. We need to remember, we each are on a very unique path.
• All the Tantric traditions use meditation in some form or another. There is nothing wrong with meditation as long as it does not become an end unto itself. It is a tool and must be learned and used like any other tool. Meditation is discussed in the topic, "Meditation concepts and principles for creativity."
• Some yoga positions and practices are specifically directed to enhancing sexual stimulation while others are directed at raising the energy from a ‘base’ level to a higher "enlightened" level. We need to realize energy is energy. The issue is not that a base level is undesired and a higher level leads to enlightenment. To think such thoughts move away from enlightenment. Energy is energy. One form is not any better or any worse than any other. However, each gives a different type and kind of experience. The issue is, "What do we desire to create and experience and why?" Additional discussion on this aspect of energy is provided in the discussion "Stepping down the energy of Creation."
• In the use of rituals, ceremonies, prayers, and the like, they should be something which is our own and not something we blindly follow. We can use what is provided by another if what is given aligns with what we desire to create. To use something simply because a teacher or individual in authority gives it to us does not necessarily serve us. More often than not, they become a diversion for the align with what the teacher or individual in authority believes and not necessarily with we believe. Whether it be rituals, ceremonies, prayers or something equivalent, we should make them our own.
• Relative to our inherent creativity, each entity of Creation is only one of an infinite number of individual points of consciousness. All these traditions have a deity, deities, and/or a spiritual master that are held in great reverence. However, these deities are not different than us. They may have lived lives or act in ways that individuals think or feel we should emulate. However, they are not something to whom we should pray. We can ask for their help as we would any individual in our life but to think any other entity of creation is somehow more than we are is to deny the essence of our being and our origins and robs of our creative ability and creative power. Any entity should be respected. However, nothing in creation is any more sacred than us and we are no mare sacred than anything else.

Take the awakened energy upward more as a transmutation of a "base" energy into a more "spiritual" and " enlightened" energy.

One distillation about Tantric practices is the emphasis to take the energy awakened in Tantric practices and sexuality upward more as a transmutation of a "base" energy into a more "spiritual" and "enlightened" energy. Within this emphasis is the belief that there are "higher" and "lower" forms of energy and that "higher" energy or greater vibration is better than "lower" energy or lower vibration. Within this understanding is usually the belief that the energy of Physical Creation and sexuality is of a lower form. The fundamental issue here is really only about both understanding energy and understanding sexuality and the energy within our being sexual or other wise acts at every level of our being and is not just physical.

There is the belief by many there are higher and lower forms of energy. Those how embrace this belief frequently refer to high and lower frequencies or energies with a judgment that one is inherently good and the other bad or if not good and bad, one is better than the other. However in the world of energy there is no such judgment. In the world of energy as that found in the electromagnetic spectrum and world of energy physics the concepts of "higher" and "lower" refers to the rate of vibration. Although a higher vibration will contain more what is called energy, the ability to cause an effect, one vibration is not any better or worse than any other. In the world of physic the energy within a high and low frequency is not seen as different but just different forms of the same thing. One can readily be converted into the other with the proper energy conversion device. What is different is the way they react in a particular environment because of their form to produce a particular effect. One is better than the other only in comparison to, and relative to, a particular effect we wish to experience. It should be understood it is the experience which is judged, not the energy giving rise to the experience.

Many believe that "higher" energy or a greater vibrational rate is some how more spiritual or more powerful. The "lower" energy or lower vibrational rate is seen as not a good if not evil. There is also the belief the energy associated with the seventh chakra of the crown of the head is "higher" and more spiritual than the energy associated with the first chakra or base chakra of the groin area. But that is like saying the energy in the transformer outside your house is not the same as the energy in the wires of your house. The issue is they have different characteristics and can do different things. But, they are the same energy. The question is what is it you are trying to create. To manifest in the physical plane, the energy of the lower chakras are much more powerful that those of the upper chakras. It issue is what do you wish to create?

It needs to be realized that certain energies within a given environment are not conducive or useful for creating certain types and kinds of effects where as other energies are extremely useful. This issue is not whether one energy is better than another. It is what energy is best for what one desires to create. In Tantra, the energy is directed to what the Tantra creators felt were spiritual experience. However, in the oneness of Creation there is no spiritual or physical. There is just what is as it is. Nothing is any better or any worse than anything else. The question is, "Given the environment in which we find ourselves, including our body, and what we think and believe at this point in time, what experience serve us and what experiences don’t? The challenge is to come to understand what serves us, what our mind desires to experience as opposed to what we incarnated to experience. We think a "spiritual" experience will server us getter than a physical experience but the reverse may be true. After all, we are here in physical form for a reason. We just may want to consider what the reason may be and get on with achieving that reason rather than being diverted by what our mind think is important.

Within the creativity perspective and the energy consciousness model, energy goes where consciousness focuses its attention and awareness. Creation is then the experience of the flow of energy created by consciousness in response to what consciousness thinks and believes. The question is, "What do we wish to experience?" We then only need to establish the proper focus to experience it.

Related discussions on this concept is found in the topics, "The origins and illusion of a hierarchy to Creation" and "Stepping down the energy of Creation."

The male needs to learn to control himself, not readily ejaculate and wait for the female until she is ready.

It is said in Tantric practices a male will lose his power in ejaculation and especially if done quickly. In this regard, the male is advised to learn to control himself and not readily ejaculate. It is also said the male should wait to enter the female until she is ready. It is also said the female loses no power but gains power in organism and needs to be allowed to readily brought to organism frequently and often to gain power

There are practical and metaphoric reason for this statement.

Practically, many males are too excited, at least initially. There are conditions call premature ejaculation. Too often the male is only interested in pleasing himself and forgets about pleasing the female. The male needs to wait and sufficient excite the female. Unless she is ready, there will be discomfort if not outright pain. Worse yet, she may feel invaded. The male needs to learn some discipline and control so as to both bring the female into a state of arousal and be available to fully satisfy here. However, there is also the issue of learning to moving past the sex and achieve what is discussed in the topic, "What moving past sex looks like."

Metaphorically, what is stated here is very interesting guidance and the guidance has much deeper implications relative to our creativity and creative power. Masculine mind is the same as an undisciplined male. It gets excited and acts in ways which do not fully align with the inner feminine and the heart and what it desires to create. Rather than gain the support of the inner feminine, the masculine mind uses her energy and drains her of the life giving energy she provides. As a result the life created is not fulfilling. Mind must become disciplined and controlled and look to see what the inner feminine, reflected in the feelings of the heart, desires to create. Only then will we create a life worth living and find the inner satisfaction which never runs dry regardless of what is happening in our external world.

Managing the feelings and the energy

Sexuality causes, or is the occasion, for great feelings to arise. For many it is the most powerful feelings one will every experience. Sexuality is what provides us the opportunities in life to move deeply into feelings and opening ourselves to feel the flow of energy which gives us life and become aware of its existence.

One of the key issues which underlies Tantric practices is what we get and receive in terms of feelings and energy, we do not use for ourselves. That is, we do not seek the sex for its pleasure. We enjoy it and savor it fully in the experience of allowing the energy and feelings to flow freely but we do not seek it for the sex and it pleasure. If we do, it will simply become attached to the sex if not create an addiction. Rather the goal is to use the sexual experience to create a space of freedom for our partner and move toward specific experiences and the Source. However, it needs to be understood that any experience is not better or worse than any other. It is only our dependence and preferences which cause us to believe one is better than another.

From the creativity perspective, the goal is to use sexuality in one of two ways, if not both ways. One was is to use sexuality as the tool it is for whatever our creative endeavor may be. To do this, we need to become very clear on what we need to create and why. The second is to use sexuality to open us to feelings and sensing what we feel in the body. Here one must be willing to move past the sex and look to the deeper feelings beyond sex. In doing so, we open ourselves up to a deeper relationship with the unseen and enhance any ability we have to work with the unseen as through our intuitive guidance and body wisdom.

The partner for Tantric practices

One of the most significant issue with sexuality is a mate that who we want for a mate as opposed to the mate Creation desires us to have given the roles of the masculine and feminine in this creative tension. The feminine is needed to call out the masculine. The masculine is needed to give the safe and secure space for the feminine to nurture her offspring. All creation rises out of a creative tension which can be described and experienced as a masculine feminine tension. Additionally, sex is about creating and sustaining human life. We need to remember, we cannot give what we do not have. We must return to the Source of life, the Source of Creation, and the source of our life to create life. Sex and the human function of sex allows us to do this nonconsciously. When done consciously and freely, the feelings can be overwhelming. When done in spontaneous and innocent creative play the door opens to the most creative state of being. It is these types and kinds of experience that lie at the basis of the concept that a deep spiritual and mystical states can be achieved through sexuality. The question is, "Is what is practiced and the mate we use allow for the consciously experience of the Source or is the focus of our attention and awareness diverted from such an experience?

In older Tantric traditions that are not readily practice today, the partner we have, or rather it should be said the partner we would be given for the rituals, is not someone whom we had emotional, romantic, or conjugal connections. Rather, we would be completely unattached to the partner. Each partner would function for the other to stimulate and be a vehicle to help cause the sexual energy to arise and not be diverted in some type and kind of relationship. In this way the energy is not directed toward the ego and the ego desires of the individual. Rather, the experience would be much more available for creating spiritual insights. In doing this one would learn to be detached from their partner and learn to work with and manage the energy that was flowing within their being.

On this point it can be said one could not, and would not, obtain the level of understanding and types and kinds of experiences desired with any partner to whom there was an attachment. The partner should only be a vehicle to an experience. On this point is the counter point. Only with a partner that one deeply and passionately loves could one find the an unfathomable bliss and joy. Hence the challenge to be deeply and passionately in love for one’s partner yet totally detached. This can be achieved but only if we are willing to create and give total freedom to our partner to unfold as they desire no matter how much we long to have them.

Ultimately this is about the nature of mind and heart and the dance between the mind and heart. Mind what to own and control so we need to be totally detached from our partner. Yet it is a deep and passionate love for another which is the door way to the mystical experience. Unfortunately, most only experience such love in a relationship where they attempt to own the other and that attempt or desire to own and control their partner. That closes the door to the mystical experience and destroys the passion and life in the other. Tantra used to address this fact through the mind by using a partner who was unattached. However, one can more easily approach it through the heart if they truly love their partner and are willing to give them complete freedom in that love no matter how painful it may be for oneself to let them go. Most cannot do this because they are unwilling to face the pain which arises in such a situation.

This aspect of Tantra is not practiced by most individuals who study Tantra because of existing social customs and, of course, the dominance of the egos’ desires and wants. Most individuals encountered by the author who pursued Tantra seemed to be more interested in finding a way to explore and engage in sexuality in a way that their mind considered safe within their spiritual desires.

This practice of using a partner to whom one is not attached was probably one of the more powerful aspects of the Tantra practice to destroy the ego for most engage in sex with the intent of enjoying the pleasure of the sex and nonconsciously reinforcing their own ego. What has been observed in most individuals when it comes to sex is the individual tends to feel they own the other person and/or need to control the other person. Most individuals feel that other person should be devoted to their pleasure although they say otherwise or say they believe otherwise. Although not consciously aware of it, many keep the energy that is release in sexuality for themselves and seek only their own pleasure. Most seek to stimulate their partner not so much that their partner fully enjoys the experience and use the energy for their unfoldment and/or the creative needs of each other, but more to satisfy their partner so their partner remains around so the individual can have sex in the future. Usually there are tremendous control issues around sex and the use of sex in both individuals. If the control issues are not cultural and social controls, then there are personal control issues. One of the main focus in older Tantric practices was to break these control issue not only around sex but the control issues of both the mind and ego for after all, the Tantric was being used to create spiritual enlightenment. Hence any technique that could break the control of mind and ego was a potential candidate for us. In this regard, some tradition did use Tantric initiation rituals.

Moving past the sex

Within the Tantric teachings and practices there are tidbits of understanding that really point to the need to move past sex and these tidbits provide a very simplistic description of what moving past sex look like. All who go into the exploration of sex for deep spiritual transformation report what they seek is not in the sex. Hence the bottom line. Ultimately to get what we seek in Tantra as a spiritual practice requires us to move past the sex. This does not necessarily mean giving up sex. Rather, it means not allowing the sex to be the endpoint of the use of sex or the end point for engaging in sex.

It needs to be understood, the emotional release found in Tantra or thorough its practices only clears the blocks to the intention that has been set around sexuality and our reason for engaging in Tantra and the intention to access the spiritual context associated with sexuality. Here we need to realize Tantra will not necessarily give a spiritual realization because all directions are not approached.. That is, we must address all the issues that arise as they arise. If we don’t we block our own path.

Relative to moving past the sex to access that spiritual enlightenment, in many ways modern Tantra is exceedingly disappointing. Based on what has been observed , it can be said Tantra has seemed to lose its real message centuries ago and most only really focus on the recreational aspects of sexuality. But, there is nothing wrong with this if we honor the truth of it. If we desire the recreational aspects of it and simultaneously have a spiritual practice, then Tantra is a perfect match. However, if we desire the spirit enlightenment offered in and through Tantra, we will have to be willing to move past the sex.

The intention we hold

Because sexuality is the second most creative state we can enter, the intention we hold for engaging in Tantra become much more important than when we engage in any other spiritual tradition. The use of sexuality amplifies both the stated intention for engaging in sexuality but it amplifies the beliefs we hold around sexuality, spirituality and the like that go with our consciously stated intention. The issue here is whether we engage in Tantra for the opportunity to engage in sex and sexuality or we engage in Tantra because of the sexual energy that awakens or is expressed in the creative endeavors we under take. There is an enormous difference in the two and a profound impact on what we will create in and with our life. The question we face is what is the real intention behind our actions and what do we desire to create. It is essential we pull the string on why we desire to engage in sex or use ex and fully understand what lies at its root.

Intimacy through Tantra

Tantra does provide a doorway to become intimate with our body, what it feels and simultaneously becoming intimate with another in a similarly way. However, real intimacy dwells not in the genitals, but in the heart, mind, and spirit. Becoming intimate is not about becoming naked or even about having sex with another. Real intimacy is about exploring the mind, exploring the heart and becoming open to feeling and experiencing the free unfoldment of our creative spirit. In any ways sex and the pleasures of sex add the incentive for become intimate with ourselves and with another. In this great, Tantra can be a real asset in this exploration.

The bottom line

Once we are in balance and reconnected to our inner self with an balanced inner masculine and inner feminine, vast energies for increasing creativity, awareness, and rejuvenation become available to us. We will feel more youthful if not even look more youthful. Sex and sexuality are a vital part of our being. Tantra can help us to get deeper in touch with our sexuality and both intimacy with our selves and that of another. However, we must learn to surrender to what we feel and trust the processes within our own being to access our creative power. The yearning and Eros we feel for the beloved or Beloved however we see the beloved/Beloved are messengers traveling from our heart and not our genitals. Love is about learning to give to the true need of a creation and becoming a creative shape shifter to become what the other’s true needs requires us to become. As such, we must learn to give to our true needs. We cannot give what we do not have. Only when we learn to give to our true needs can we give to the true needs of another. Tantra under the correct conditions can help to learn to nurture our true needs. As to the correct conditions for Tantra it is to engage in Tantra not for the sex which may come with or thorough Tantra but rather as a vehicle to explore deeper aspects of our being and, in particular, aspects of our sexuality and the masculine and feminine which otherwise would remain unexplored.

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