Sex and the Church — A Lecture by Alan Watts - Page 2

Why is this so?

Because, as Watts points out, eating and fucking are our most fundamental ties to the material world. The point at which we can become most attached to the physical organism we inhabit.

Secondly, and more subtly, we cannot rid ourselves of our sexuality. Religion as repressed sexuality or sexuality as a manifestation of the divine? This is a question that Watts poses and comes back to explore more thoroughly near the end of his talk.

Watts argues that the negative connotations are in themselves an expression of sexuality. "A peculiar form of eroticism" is the result of creating such a longstanding taboo out of sex. But Watts also says that the whole anti-sex tradition is not as "anti" as it appears.

Behind this most ultimate of physical pleasures and the resulting attachment is the impermanence of life. Inherent in the emphasis on detachment from the body that is part of all religions is this moral fixation on sexuality. The degree to which you identify yourself with the pleasures of the body is the degree to which you will be sucked away by the force of transience.

Underlying the emphasis on detachment is a problem, according to Watts. And that is, Why is there a physical universe at all? If this existence is such an inescapable snare, and we should be so wary of that which is presented as reality, then WHY?

According to some theologies, the world is in fact looked upon as mistake, a fall from divinity. A rational soul in charge of an animal body is the result. The divided human...the soul and the body as dueling entities that make up the whole, is a longstanding theme in many beliefs.

Here is where Watts departs. Though we are all falling apart, this is not something to be lamented but is truly part of the splendor of being alive. Watts goes off on a bit of a tangent here stating that one day the replacement of all our decaying parts, limbs, organs, etc. as we age, will be end the result of our obsession with staying young. The fallout will be artificial and bored fools, as plastic as the materials used to prolong their lives.

After the brief bit of prophecy, Watts homes in on the theme of duality that crops up in most of his books and speeches, a result of his understanding of Eastern religions. In other words, without decay there cannot be vitality, just as one is inherent and represented by the other. Just as, in fact, black represents white and vice versa.

Article Author: Finkleman

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