Service & Sexuality

Both service and sexuality were high on my mind when I dove into the Gita According to Gandhi. I was fascinated to learn what this ancient text from the land that spawned the Kama Sutra had to say. Naturally, I consumed the sections on desire, trying to override my simplistic moral framework to see it in a non dualistic fashion. Service was even trickier. I'm extremely resistant to the notion, which is why I know there is something important there for me to learn.

I see references to service in the BDSM world everywhere. Service, slaves, masters; these words and roles are rampant and part of the defining structure of the subculture. I don't get it, though. I have a friend who is in AA. He talks about service all the time. He loves to serve, lives for service. He's a different, better person. I can see that it has helped him, but again, I don't get it. I receive some great back massages out of the deal, but I just can't get into his mentality to understand it. I've volunteered, done community service, and political activism. I never stuck to any of it.

In an online forum, service to the community came up in response to my own search for a role. In further conversation with the author, a noted teacher in the subculture, we agreed that it seems to be a specific type of person that finds fulfillment in community service, and that neither one of us fit that type. Perhaps maybe I'm just not wired for certain kinds of service. Perhaps it is not that I lack empathy and the willingness to serve, just that I have not considered harnessing my true talents/nature/ability to give in service.

That may be the trick, to not give grudgingly of things that require difficulty or denial of self but rather to work diligently at being completely myself, and thus being free with the fruits which spring forth naturally. For what better gift is there than to give of oneself, to share that unique individual truth? And what deeper level of self is there to share than one's sexuality?

The key is the notion from the Gita "That is to say, it is the Lord in every being whom we serve with devotion who accepts the service", which seems to be the same concept I first encountered as a child in C.S. Lewis's book The Last Battle, where Aslan tells the children that evil acts done in his name would be credited to his opposite, but good acts, no matter how dedicated, were to his honor (of god, in this allegory.)

That the very idea of

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Are there links between spirituality and sexuality?
We want to hear your view. Write now!