SM = Sex Magic?

[buDdha]

So I like browsing other bdsm sites and I saw one that suggested that, for some people, SM also suggests sex magic.

So, when I browse the "religion and philosophy" threads, I see the following: athiests and theists pontificating, justifying bdsm bx according to religious tenets. Here's a question that I hope avoids polarization.

If we understand D/s behavior as an exercise in trust, pushing limits, power-play, living in the moment, then to what degree is it a type of meditation? That is, careful attention to the moment that depends upon radical openness?

I know we all operate with different definitions, and I recognize that my definitions are mine; not everyone will feel this way. But the kind of energy that seems to move through me, rather than originate from me. Something bigger than myself, stretches my boundaries.

I'd love to hear from folks who feel that their bdsm experiences are somehow spiritually expanding.

[fetishdj]

There are some fringe religions which see pain as a form of meditation. In fact, it is one of the many ways to achieve transcendence - pain, meditation, drugs, dancing etc. They all change the physiology of the body and brain in different ways. Even chanting and praying/singing in church/temple/mosque has an effect on the chemistry of the brain in this way.

[denuseri]

We use a varity of mantras and meditaions as well as many functional practices that enhance our experience in a manner that resembles somthing like what your talking about buDdha.

The following is taken from an earlier thread I started on being kajira.
here is a link to it>

http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15978

As you can see from this qoute our practice of bdsm incorperates a great deal of spiritual importance on our relationship dynamic.


"Obedience

this is perhaps one of the most important and symbolic positions of my servitude and i am honnored to have the previlage of preforming it

Regardless of what ever position i was in, i gracefully move to kneel before my owner and streatch forth sliding unto my belly placeing the side of my face on the ground just infront of his feet, my hands to eaither side of my head (palms up), my tail will be rather high as i keep my lower legs where they were, arching my back.

i then silently plead with my trembeling body perhaps softely mewing my eyes looking up at Him in adoration, when and if he chooses to acknoledge me, i tentativly reach forth and guilde His right foot to rest upon my head and neck and place my hands behind my back with the wrists crossed as if bound

This is the sacred ritual of female obedience, beneath his full wieght i would be crushed, it is symbolic of more than just my free submission to him, it is a proffering of my very life to his will,
the signifigance is not only the physical aspects of his greater strength, but the mental and spiritual relationship between a Master and his kajira, under the full wieght of his dominance i would easily be crushed like a flower by a fist,

in placing my total trust , love and devotion in him, i have crossed the line between being a submissive and entered that of a full pleasure slave bound by my Masters will, i am his property and completely at his mercy,....

............................ in the preformance of this ritual of full obedience before him i am truely "being kajira"."

I often feel a tantric sort of euphoric trancendence when I am envolved in many of the aspects of our way of bdsm. From the first mantras of the day I preform to the special sessions we have in the evenings after a long day there exists a certian type of zen so to speak. Alltough we don't really think of what we do as a religion so much as a philosophy, I suppose in retrospec that it has a lot of areas for us that overlap from one wold of experience into the other (vanillia to bdsm, philospophy to spiritual etc etc).

[his_girl_l]

The feeling/ state usually called sub space has many similarities to deep meditation, at least to me.

The same awareness of breathing, sense of the world slowing and becoming suddenly clearer, a similar feeling of trance. Sounds seeming distant too.

None of this is deliberate - i have never sought to add a spiritual dimension to my sexual experiences, but the similarities have occur ed to me before now.

[buDdha]

I've never heard of kajira before, but the description was fascinating for me. Thanks to everyone for your responses. Today I've been thinking that I'm not as tuned into the dhamma as I want to be these days. Ok, call it whatever you want; it's that feeling of knowing what the right thing to do is. I don't always have it, but in terms of food and sleep and work and workingout and meditating, I usually have a pretty good impulse that I often ignore. I think of acetics, not that that's my cup o', and I'm more than a little envious about the wholeheartedness of that submission.

But that's another thread, perhaps. One reason I ask you all about the sex-magic think is because of a strange occurance. About 9 years ago this time of year, I started sleeping with this guy, who was my one and only serious kinkster. I was not his primary girlfriend, but nonetheless, I felt like our time together was transcendent, for lack of a better word. Not to be cheesy. But there was an amazing altered space I had with him, and nothing I can do can get it out of my head. And, I saw him for the first time in years last September, and he randomly gave me a book on wiccanism, which isn't my cup o' tea or his either, but there was a chapter on sex-magic, and I started wondering.

You all have mentioned intensity and devotion; are there any other aspects between bdsm and spirit, however defined?

Have we had only subs respond?

[denuseri]

Now your talking up my husband/owner's alley with what he calls (wicca) the Wittan.

Alltough he and I also incorperate a lot of practices from his religion, our shared gorean intrests, and some esoteric japanese practices, we are also big into the tantric arts.

I turely and honestly believe that sexuality and enlightenment can be as intertwined as yin and yang, fate and fortune, instinct and reason, the list goes on.

[bpqueen]

My Master is Wiccan and he is also familliar with many shamanic practicies. He brings a lot of this into our scenes and it is truly amazing how he can get me to immediately calm down and focus through a few flicks of the wrist. I have never been one to embrace meditation, as I cannot seem to calm my mind down enough, but Master has the ability to dissassociate my mind from my body for a few moments. While these OOBEs are very new and scary to me, I have read in books where these altered states of consciousness are very much like Eastern practices of yogis and so forth. My Master has always lived a very sensous (as in usage of the senses) life, and I am grateful that we have the connection that we do. I would definitely agree that there are meditative and other aspects of BDSM that would fall into the sex magic realm. Especially for the natural Wiccan earth magiks. I can always get more specific info from him to share if you really want it, buDdha...

[wmrs2]

I know of no religion that thinks suffering is a sin. Christianity teaches us that to turn suffering into pleasure is a good thing. I buy that. This is really a good thread with a really good question. Thank you.

[wmrs2]

The feeling/ state usually called sub space has many similarities to deep meditation, at least to me.

The same awareness of breathing, sense of the world slowing and becoming suddenly clearer, a similar feeling of trance. Sounds seeming distant too.

None of this is deliberate - i have never sought to add a spiritual dimension to my sexual experiences, but the similarities have occur ed to me before now.
I think Jesus Christ was in a type of sub space when he fasted for forty days, when they beat him, and when he hung on the cross. Suffer like he did would have been impossible without spiritual help from his religion. What one does is really his religion, don't you think?