Mixing Religion & Intimacy clearskies: Has anyone given thought to co-mingling Customs & Rituals of your Religion with your Intimacy?  Zanjan: Commercialism of Christmas seems to have worked fairly well. What kind of intimacy are you talking about? clearskies: Zanjan - I'm thinking in terms of The Ultimate, most personal, forms of Intimacy between a man & woman, or tow (or more) women. Zanjan: Well, when you have the Kama Sutra, what else do you need? Sex was the first thing humans knew how to do well. In case you aren't familiar with this work, it was the world's first dirty book, except it was originally in colorful illustration, plastered on walls as murals. Some people are visual learners. (Edited by Zanjan)  SWlNE: Sex and religion mixing exist still in some cultures but it is something that was common in the past. It was common to have priestess and temple prostitutes in Grecian and Roman era. In India too, they had it on the walls of their temples, books and religious teachings. The sexual experience is tied in with spiritual experience, just as certain herbs were smoked to get that 'high' and for out of body experiences. A high that persons viewed as greater than any human experience and close to a divine feeling all over. That same 'high' can be experienced during an orgasm. I think it was only because of the Abrahamic religious teachings did it change to being something of a taboo and reserved strictly for marriage. (Edited by SWlNE) Zanjan: God's religions taught that a spiritual high isn't the same thing as a physical high - the latter is all you have left when you can't attain the former. Zanjan: Nope, not by a long shot. That you've even asked that shows you've never achieved it - it has nothing to do with getting pumped up, as in excited with emotions and feelings followed by an afterglow. Anyone can experience happy feet, eh. The amazing ecstasy of a spiritual high is filled with awe, matchless and enduring. (Edited by Zanjan) SWlNE: You've still not outlined the difference or defined what a physical high is. Instead of being condescending simply explain yourself. A high has physical workings (chemicals in the brain, whatever deep biological actions being carried out), but it is the experience of it which is placed as spiritual. You can't explain that experience when your heart is pounding and a warmth with everything feeling amplified. Of course each 'high' will feel different and each drug/ sexual experience will bring a different feel.  lori100: people have out of body experiences without herbs or drugs, and it is true about spiritual highs...many who have had encounters with the Virgin Mary had ecstatic experiences and it showed on their faces..they also became depressed about missing those encounters and the blissfulness when the Virgin left ... Zanjan: Defining a physical high is an unnecessary waste of space because everyone knows what it is. As you say, each can compare. No words can define a spiritual high - it needs to be experienced first hand and is incomparable. We can only say what it's not - it's not experienced on the physical plane so has nothing to do with chemistry. We can say that the heart does swell beyond the body. SWlNE: Yes, there are monks who've carried it out without drugs/herbs but through meditation. There are other ways (mental illness can also be a factor). SWlNE: Zanjan, proceed to explain the difference between a physical high and a spiritual high in the context that you are using it. Being condescending is not helping your case. lori100: wiki----A person's sense of time and space disappear during a religious ecstasy forsaking any senses or physical cognizance in its duration. Among venerated Catholic saints who dabble in Christian mysticism, a person's physical stature, human sensory, or perception is completely detached to time and space during an ecstatic experience.-----------------------Religious people may hold the view that true religious ecstasy occurs only in their religious context (e.g. as a gift from the supernatural being whom they follow) and it cannot be induced by natural means (human activities). Trance-like states which are often interpreted as religious ecstasy have been deliberately induced with techniques or ecstatic practices; including, prayer, religious rituals, meditation, breathing exercises, physical exercise, sex, music, dancing, sweating, fasting, thirsting, and psychotropic drugs. An ecstatic experience may take place in occasion of contact with something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy. It may also happen without any known reason. (Edited by lori100) SWlNE: I'll repeat again: Zanjan proceed to explain the difference between a physical high and a spiritual high in the context that you are using it. In response to your question, mental illness can account for a person having certain 'experiences' that they may give spiritual meaning to. Not saying that everyone who've had an out of body experience or an abnormal experience is mentally ill but that in some cases a mentally ill person can have that type of experience. SWlNE: Your post does not answer the question. You keep dodging it. I don't have patience with condescending time-wasters. lori100: The Garabandal apparitions are apparitions of Saint Michael the Archangel and the Blessed Virgin Mary that are claimed to have occurred from 1961 to 1965 to four young schoolgirls in the rural village of San Sebastián de Garabandal in the Peña Sagra mountain range in the autonomous community of Cantabria in Northern Spain.-------the kids in ecstasy unaware of their surroundings... | Religion Chat Room 15 People Chatting Similar Conversations |
