the polarities of intimacy

A Meditation/Contemplation on The Polarities of Intimacy

spiritual (erotic) and physical (sensual)

There is probably no better direct experience of the Divine Mystery than learning – through that personal experience – about the reality of Intimacy.

Recently a very ancient understanding of existence has become mentioned/used in a television car commercial, where it speaks of the law of threes. Take, for example, the ancient idea of “as above, so below; and, as below so above”. “Yin and Yang”. “Macrocosm and microcosm”. “Inside and outside”.

Notice the essential conjunctive: “and”. Where there appears to be opposites, or “two”, such as “male” and/or “female”, they remain a unity, i.e. the classical thought: “two sides of one coin”.

Human procreation involves desire between two, to be united with a third desire, … of the spirit seeking incarnation.

Between our individual consciousness and the rest of the world (another intimate polarity) there appears a gap. Us, and the “what is/appears to be – not us”.

We pet pets. We touch the material of rocks, snails, wind, … and they touch us. The pet experiences our touch, … does a rock experience our touch? Is what is not human, having – or not – interior self-aware experiences?

We, as we grow into our own soul/being, feel disconnected, and then seek reconciliation … via intimacy. What is our intimacy with the material world of “things”?

Do we morn the loss of a book? A pet? An idea?

The ancient earth religions knew through direct experience that the world, which to us is of “not-us, was to the ancients an Intimate marriage. No parts, not separate. “Be at one with nature” remembers The Tao.

At the end of the day, one human may lie inside the arms of another, there to find/seek comfort and emotional intimacy. This is not found via sex or fucking. Sex and fucking are “using” each other to try to go beyond separation, via an elusive moment of near mutual release into “orgasm”.

“Using” is not immoral, or moral. It just is, and fills a real need, so sharing this hunger in one night stands, or other “casual” encounters is like the cycles of the moon. Full, fading, disappearing, reappearing. We are suns and moons in orbit around each other.

Intimacy is not orgasm, or sensual release, without there also being a spiritual/emotional erotic element.

One aboriginal understanding sees the polarity of dominion and surrender. One partner more active, the other more passive. Men have erections, and that wants release in penetration and the spending of seed.

Women want/need sweet songs to warm their hearts, for to lie on one’s back and open to receive, is an act men often to not appreciate, and mostly can’t even imagine.

At this point the readers should be appreciating that male (active) and female (passive) is only marginally related to equipment.

If we have a long term partnership, we learn about emotional (spiritual/erotic) intimacy, which is not so easy as physical (sensual) intimacy. Taking off masks is harder than touch. Sharing feelings and being heard, that is a whole other level of “caress”.

In a world where there is only matter, and no spirit, – according to science – it is no wonder that all have become confused over the invisible aspects – emotions, thoughts, spirit – and see only the physical/sensual, but not the truly erotic.

Are the beings of the Air, the Sylphs, being “intimate” when they caress are faces with a breeze? Why does it feel so good to walk barefoot through dew wet grass?

Is it possible that the Heart of Nature is not far away over there, but via the “lyre of experience”*** we are all united, whether we humans – lost in the illusion of separation – know it or not.

The world looks back at us, bearing in itself the Intimacy of Her super-consciousness, knowing and seeing us, the lost children, who know that going back to the garden is a very good star to by which to navigate the unknown future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3SjqGfe-yM [Joni Mitchell: Woodstock ]

Yes, today has many woes, too many perhaps. Still, in spite of our doubts, should we seek to connect with experience in a more intimate Way, we will discover that: She has the Whole World in His Hands.

***https://thecollectiveimagination.com/2019/08/09/the-lyre-of-experience/