Celibacy, commitment, and casual sex.

[an anarchist]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things? (Commitment as in commitment to a single partner)

Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

If your spiritual beliefs don't say anything, feel free to just give your opinion.

 

[PureX]

As with all things, avoid the extremes.

 

[VoidCat]

As long as it's adults consenting that are aware of the risks do what you will. Kinky, vanillia, bdsm, gay, straight, solo, multiple people or just two, causal, committed etc...all is ok as long as there is consenting adults that are aware of the risks.

Celibacy can be healthy if one wishes it and can do so. That's their choice. More time for other spiritual pursuits. Im celibate for instance. I wouldn't advise it tho for those with a high sex drive.

Sex in my belief system is sacred but not in the same way as abrahamic religions. It's a gift of the gods. It can even sometimes be used as an offering to a deity or in magick. It can be very spiritual. Have as much or as little as you like.

 

[Vinayaka]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things? (Commitment as in commitment to a single partner)

Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

If your spiritual beliefs don't say anything, feel free to just give your opinion.

I'm a traditionalist. The boundaries I have set for myself (in part from religious teachings, wisdom of the wise, and in part from my own intuition) are different than for others. What others do is up to them, and each is at a different point in the soul's evolution. I believe strongly in commitment personally, and am now in my 48th year of marriage to the same partner. Celibacy, for some is natural, and healthy, but it's rare. If you want to be celibate, you should be a monk or a nun, or stay single, unless it is by mutual consent, like at an older age.

Casual sex causes psychic connections, between nadis, and it takes awhile for these to wear off, much like how a piece of string, or electrical wires wear out. Emotion, and other energies can be felt through this nadi connection, so best to avoid it.

 

[Truth in love]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things? (Commitment as in commitment to a single partner)

Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

If your spiritual beliefs don't say anything, feel free to just give your opinion.

The rules are simple.

no sex before or outside of marriage.

Within the marriage covenant go for it, and be respectful of your spouse.

 

[sun rise]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things?...Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

One of Meher Baba's discoureses weas entitled "The Problem of Sex". This is focused on the spiritual aspirant and issues which such a person will face and have to overcome. To me, this excerpt contains the key starting point.

Craving is implicitly present in the repression of sex as well as in its gratification. Both result in the vitiation of consciousness through lust or the desire for sensations. The mind is therefore inevitably restless in either alternative. Just as when there are clouds in the sky, there is gloom and lack of sunshine, whether it rains or not; so when the human mind is shrouded by craving there is diminution of being and lack of true happiness, whether this craving is gratified or not. The mind when restless with desire creates an illusory idea of happiness in the gratification of desire, and then knowing that the soul remains dissatisfied even after gratification of desire, seeks freedom through repression. Thus searching for happiness and freedom, the mind gets caught up in the opposites of indulgence and repression which it finds equally disappointing
...
The need for indulgence or mechanical repression arises only when the nature of craving is not clearly grasped. When the aspirant becomes fully awake to the inevitable bondage and suffering entailed by craving, he begins voluntarily to disburden himself of craving through intelligent understanding. The question of indulgence or repression arises only when there is craving. The need for both vanishes with the complete disappearance of craving. When the mind is free from craving, the mind can no longer be moved by the false promises of indulgence or mechanical repression. Indulgence and repression relative to craving However, it should be borne in mind that the life of freedom is nearer to the life of restraint than to the life of indulgence (though in quality it is essentially different from both).

https://avatarmeherbabatrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Discourses-Vol-I.pdf

 

[syo]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things? (Commitment as in commitment to a single partner)

Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

If your spiritual beliefs don't say anything, feel free to just give your opinion.

In my religion, sex is for kids. Wedding is forever.

 

[pearl]

A few generations ago, those who recruited young men for the priesthood may have warned them that celibacy meant giving up the pleasures of physical union in marriage. What many recruiters didn’t tell them was what Carl Jung noted; that marriage is principally a union of souls. It is a matter of balance, oneness, wholeness, "the ultimate unity, the community of the masculine and the feminine in their totality in God".

 

[syo]

A few generations ago, those who recruited young men for the priesthood may have warned them that celibacy meant giving up the pleasures of physical union in marriage. What many recruiters didn’t tell them was what Carl Jung noted; that marriage is principally a union of souls. It is a matter of balance, oneness, wholeness, "the ultimate unity, the community of the masculine and the feminine in their totality in God".

Union of souls? That's platonic.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Both celibacy and marriage are accepted, and sex outside of marriage is sinful.

 

[Goldemar]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things? (Commitment as in commitment to a single partner)

Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

If your spiritual beliefs don't say anything, feel free to just give your opinion.

As long as it involves consenting partners and doesn't cause physical or psychological harm, pretty much anything goes in my religion.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

What does your religious/spiritual beliefs say about these three things? (Commitment as in commitment to a single partner)

Is commitment the middle way? Can celibacy be spiritually healthy? Can casual sex be spiritually detrimental? Why?

If your spiritual beliefs don't say anything, feel free to just give your opinion.

Different movements of Judaism have different slants on this, so I am only representing my own view, not that of all Jews.

What is licit is sex between a husband and wife. Anything else is sin. That's what I believe, and that's what I live in my life (I'm divorced and celibate).

I believe this is for the best of people, especially children.

1. Sex is extremely powerful -- it binds you to the other person. This is especially true for women in general. Are there exceptions? Of course. But we don't make recommendations on the basis of exceptions, we make recommendations based on what is the most good for the most people. The heartbreak is bad enough when you end things in a relationship with no sex -- it is devestating when you break off a relationship and you have had sex.

2. Women in general (with exceptions) have a much harder time than men with casual sex. There are of course men who do not want casual sex -- I am simply talking about the top of the bell shaped curve. This societal push for women to be as casual about sex as men are is, I believe, anti-women. Women should not need to become like men--we are fine the way we are.

3. Not only do all methods of birth control have a method failure rate (meaning sometimes they do not work even when used properly), the truth is that often times people do not use them properly. The result is that there are plenty of babies born in this world for couples who contracept. It is a given that the most ideal arrangement for children, all other things being equal (like that they are loved, etc.) is to be raised in a committed married home with both a father and a mother. For example, the single biggest factor for childhood poverty is for a child to be raised by a single mom. That doesn't mean that there aren't rich moms. Again, we are speaking to the top of the bell shaped curve. Children should not be deliberately brought into a family that is less than the ideal. Heck even if the couple is married, they will be imperfect, and may even divorce later. But the idea is to give children the best environment we can. In my view, therefore, doing things which can result in a pregnancy outside of marriage is abusive to children. It puts the selfish needs of adults above the care of children.