Sexual Repression is the Problem, Not the Solution

“To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.” – The Matrix

If you want to understand why there is so much negative/harmful sexual expression in society you need to understand sexuality as being a fundamental and natural expression of our creative life-force (energy), and that mode of creative expression has been culturally repressed, suppressed, and shamed to everyone’s detriment for hundreds of years.  This sexual energy within people is like a gently simmering pot of water – if you put a heavy lid on it, pressure will steadily build up to the point that the pressure can no longer be contained and there is a sudden, uncontrolled outburst of steam.  This can take the form of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation of women, excessive use of pornography, child sexual abuse, some instances of rape, etc.  Only when a person’s needs for sexual expression are not allowed a healthy social outlet do they take on a “dark” (self-serving), frustrated, or desperate expression.  That which you suppress becomes your “shadow” and it is the shadow-self that causes harm to self and others.

Masturbation is not a long-term solution (especially for men, who are much more root/sacral chakra centered in their self-expression than women, who are more heart-centered) because sexuality is ultimately a universal impulse of creation expressed through spiritual union (holistic reunion).  Masturbation may release some of that pent up sacral energy for a time, but that is a very limited form of sexual expression that does not provide the emotional, psychological, and spiritual bonding rewards that are deeply subconscious yet powerful needs we all have as individually-incomplete energy beings.

Although people are responsible for their actions to the extent they actually have self-awareness and self-control to make a choice outside of habit or impulse, society is overwhelmingly to blame for the huge suppression of sexual expression that has placed people in a sexual “pressure cooker”, through unnatural conservative values, legal prohibitions, and a lack of empowering education regarding the spiritual meaning and non-mechanical aspects and dynamics of sexuality.  Society is also worthy of blame to the extent it has failed to empower people with the knowledge, wisdom, and techniques required for genuine self-awareness and self-discipline.  Furthermore, corporations of various kinds have largely hijacked our views about sexuality, corrupting them and constantly triggering lust to favor their profit motives.

While we are seeing love-based “sex positive” values begin to get a foothold in our collective culture, this is not enough.  Cultural and legal hindrances to sexual expression must be withdrawn, corporations must be held to task for corrupting sexual values, people need to be better educated about the greater nature and meaning surrounding sexual behavior, and safe social outlets for such expression should be encouraged.  Such actions “just make sense” when you simply acknowledge and appreciate human nature for what it is and understand social dynamics from a systems theory perspective.  In this area, as in most others in which we have collective problems, what is needed most is a controlled decompression of tensions, so that peace, harmony, and love can be restored to prominence.

Morality, Society, and the Return to Simplicity

Let us consider the problem of societal complexity through the lens of technology for a moment. Technology is indifferent to the ideas of good and evil. A tool of technology does not decide the manner in which it is used; only the wielder of the tool can decide whether it is used for good or evil purposes. However, one of the problems with the idea of "good and evil" is that it requires a subjective moral judgement as to what is "good" and what is "evil." When it comes to any subjective determination, different cultures, subcultures, and individuals will never fully agree on specific issues or criteria. This the place in which complexity arises in social life. Additionally, "the road to hell is (often) paved with good intentions," in which good natured people with genuinely good intentions can still cause serious harm because they simply could not grasp or foresee the consequences of their efforts. For example, as Elon Musk and others have warned their contemporaries working on General Artificial Intelligence (AI), although their intentions are generally well-meaning, the outcomes of their work cannot be comfortably predicted, and one reasonably possible outcome of their work is the extinction of the entire human race through the accidental or intentional whims of AI. Such is why collective intelligence, and the simplicity that supports it, is so critical to the wellbeing of us all.

In certain societies we may do well (or not) at using cultural values and moral principles to inform our decision-making by using the terms "beneficial" and "harmful" instead, while erring on the side of more freedom and less restrictions on individual liberty. However, even this approach requires an active use of the skill of discernment, and people (each having their own conscience) will never entirely agree on specifics. I say "skill of discernment" because it truly requires the skillful use of mindfulness, intuition, and critical thinking not distorted by ego-desires or fleeting emotions. The most viable approach in ensuring a group of people can interact harmoniously and with stability (and use technology wisely), with maximum freedom and least harm to one another possible, is to use the simplest, most general set of values and moral principles possible.

With a simple moral code of ethical conduct (incorporating individual rights and responsibilities) agreed to by all participants, it falls on individuals educated to effectively use the skills of discernment to modulate their own personal behavior to, primarily, minimize harm to other life while, secondarily, maximizing their own happiness. And, when a person causes another harm, intentionally or unintentionally, and the parties are unable to make amends and resolve the issue themselves, it would fall on the entire group's (family's, community's, city's, or state's) "collective intelligence" to determine on a case-by-case basis what the most beneficial way would be to handle the transgression. There is no need for complex legal frameworks and dedicated "experts" to make this work, and, in fact, such things are generally a hindrance to the application of collective wisdom. It is more beneficial to all if the collective group alone, not an individual or small group of people, is entrusted with the authority and power to enforce on individuals the group's decision of how to resolve a matter. Wider circles of social structures (e.g. states, cities) would defer decision-making on specific issues or situations to more local social structures (e.g. communities and families), only stepping in when the more local social unit was unable to collectively resolve the matter on their own. Law and order is best maintained, effective, and agreeable to people when its implementation is genuinely democratic and, as importantly, built from the bottom-up, rather top-down in which centralized authorities assume a corrupt control over all levels of society.

Unfortunately, the "old-world" social systems of most industrialized nations, buried under mountains of legal language not even experts can fully grasp, corruption that manipulates this complexity, over-centralized forms of power structures, and toxic methods of enforcement, have become so burdensome, confusing, and counterproductive at maintaining social cohesion and harmony, these systems have been causing for more harm than benefit for their peoples. What is needed is a fundamental reset and shift in our way of thinking, such that all complexity, corruption, and harmful methods of enforcing double-standards are stripped from the systems used to maintain social order. The People collectively yearn to return to simplicity in all areas of public life, in which common sense, compassionate wisdom, logical reasoning, and evidence have genuine influence on how our collective values and principles are applied to specific issues and situations.

With compassion and evidence guiding us, we could use collective intelligence, at all levels, and the skills of discernment at the level of individual conscience to make much wiser decisions about the use of technology and addressing moral transgressions than our current set of representatives, who are generally corrupt, unqualified, sociopathic, or otherwise manipulated by egocentric forces, are capable of. To make this shift happen peacefully will require us all to have the courage to conquer our fears, transcend our petty or egotistical beliefs, let go of ideologies that no longer serve us, and learn to trust again in simplicity and the essential goodness of one another. A peaceful transition will require carefully building up new socioeconomic models of living from within the old, gradually replacing the old ways without directly opposing them. We must learn to let be, in simplicity, what we wish to see, and let go of all complexity. This is a tall order, I know, but history shows us that it can be done – that it must be done.