Question: There seems to be valid arguments for sex education in the schools, and it appears that more and more of our schools are including such instruction in their courses of study. Is this advisable?
Answer: This question is hardly answerable with an arbitrary "yes" or "no". The problem of sex education, dealing as it does with such a fundamental (and inadequately understood) part of the complex human nature, involves many factors which should be considered if it is to be satisfactorily solved. However, we would say, in partial answer to this question, that, in our opinion, where the instruction takes place is of much lesser importance than the nature of the information given and the manner in which it is imparted.
There is probably no other subject about which humanity in general needs to be accurately informed and educated. Until people learn that the creative function is not only a primary biological urge, but is also sacred — a phase of the Holy Spirit — and that we are destined to transmute the whole of the creative energy into mental and spiritual channels, they can hardly realize how serious an error (and how productive of future suffering) is the all- too-prevalent casual and deplorable attitude toward marriage and sex — as tragically evidenced in many of our movies, radio and television programs, newspapers, books, and magazines, as well as in the conduct of too numerous adults and adolescents.
First of all, there should be proper parent education. There is no greater career than that of parent and homemaker, and the sooner we give this fact due consideration in arranging the courses of instruction given in our high school, colleges, and universities, the sooner will we get at the root of youth delinquency, sex crimes, etc. Fortunately, there is an increasing recognition of this need, and many of our schools are offering helpful courses dealing with marriage, parenthood, and home-making.
However, to approach the subject of sex education from the purely biological angle in these courses is not sufficient. Both parents and children should be taught that they are divine, made in the spiritual image of their Creator, God, and that the creative force within them is also of divine origin. Since children learn chiefly by imitation, it is obvious that they must have desirable examples set for them if they are to be encouraged to heed the spiritual urge of the higher self and live the moral life.
Parents who are properly informed concerning the true nature and function of the creative energy (students of the occult) are in a position to answer in a reverent way the natural questions a child asks. Unfortunately, many parents are not equipped with either the necessary information or the proper attitude, and in such cases it is obviously much better for the child to get wholesome instruction and imbued with a reverent attitude, a child is fortified to handle the temptations of puberty and later life with understanding and the aspiration to follow high moral standards. It is the duty of all parents to see that their children are given this life preparation, and they themselves can become better prepared for parental duties by studying such teachings as the following:
"According to the Bible, mankind was male-female before it was separated into two distinct sexes as man and woman. We still have with us hermaphrodites who have this, as we think today, abnormal formation to prove the truth of this biblical assertion; and physiologically the opposite organ of either sex is latent in all. During the period when man was thus constituted fertilization must have occurred within himself, nor is this any stranger than that many plants are so fertilized today.
"Let us now see from the Bible what was the effect of self-fertilization in the early days. There are two prime facts that stand out: One is that there were giants on the Earth in those days; the other that the patriarchs lived for centuries; and these two characteristics, great growth and longevity, are possessed by many plants today. The great size of trees and the length of their life is wonderful; they live centuries where man lives only a few score years.
"It is well known to horticulturists that plants are stunted in their growth when they bloom too prolifically. A rose may bloom to such an extent that it dies; therefore the wise gardener prunes the buds from the plant so that the strength may go partly into growth instead of the blossom. Thus by keeping the seed within itself it attains the strength required for growth and longevity.
"That the creative essence in the seed is a spiritual substance is evident when we compare the dauntlessness and impatience at restraint of the stallion or the bull, with the docility of the steer and the gelding. Moreover, we know that the confirmed libertine and the degenerate become sterile and emaciated. When these facts have sunk into our consciousness it will not be difficult to conceive of the truth of the Bible assertion that the fruit of the flesh, which brings us under the law of sin and death, is first and foremost fornication, whereas the fruits of the spirit which make for immortality, as shown in the same book, are said to be principally continence and chastity.
"Consider also the child and how the creative force used within and for the child itself causes an enormous growth during the early years, but at the age of puberty the birth of passion commences to check growth; the vital force then produces seed in order to find growth and expression elsewhere, and thenceforth growth is stunted. If we continued to grow during life as we grow during childhood, we should be giants as were the divine hermaphrodites of long ago.
"The spiritual force generated from the time of puberty and all through life may be used for three purposes: generation, degeneration, or regeneration. It depends upon ourselves which of the three methods we choose; but the choice that we make will have an important bearing upon our whole life, for the use of this force is not confined in its effect to the time or occasion upon which it is thus used. It overshadows every single moment of our existence, and determines our attitude in each and every single phase of life among our fellow men; whether we are able to grasp our opportunities or let them slip by; whether we are healthy or sick; and whether we live our life according to a satisfactory purpose; all of this depends upon the way we use the vital force.
"It is the Lucferian taint of passion which has brought sorrow, sin, and suffering into the world. When the creative power is used for sense gratification, whether in solitary or associated vice, with or without legal marriage, that is the sin which cannot be forgiven; it must be expiated. Humanity as a whole is now suffering for that sin. The debilitated bodies, the sickness that we see around us has been caused by centuries of abuse, and until we learn to subdue our passions there can be no true health among the human race.
"If instead of wasting our substance we live chastely and send the creative force upward for regeneration, we thereby etherealize and refine our physical bodies at the same time that we strengthen our soul bodies. In this manner we may materially lengthen life and so increase our opportunities for soul growth and advancement upon the path in a very marked degree."
"It is our earnest conviction that the less we read and think about sex the purer we shall be mentally, and also less liable to danger of morbid habits. These are often formed by over-study of the sex question, and persons having a tendency in that direction should be discouraged in attempts to discuss the matter at all. The effects of continued transgression (mis-use of the creative force) are with us today; as a matter of actual fact, abuse of sex is in the most literal sense the primal source of sorrow, disease, and degeneracy under which the world is groaning."
"The power of passion to degenerate those who indulge in it is illustrated in the case of the apes, which have been held back and have degenerated into animal-like forms because of their action in abusing the creative force. Let us therefore continue steadfastly upon the path of purity. If we are tempted at any time by unclean thoughts, let us at once turn our minds to another subject far removed from sensuality. Above all, let us respect the laws of our country which require the ceremonial of marriage prior to union; for though the words of the marriage ceremony do not mate people, it is, nevertheless, meet that we should not offend the common decencies by living together without wedlock. Those above the law render perfect obedience as Christ did, for when we comply with all laws without rebellion because it is right to do so, then we have risen above the law and are no longer in bondage."
Instead of seeking physical gratification when conscious of the surging impulses of the lower nature, if the individual will focus his or her thoughts and imagination upon something he or she desires to create — a poem, an invention, a picture, a musical composition, or some material demonstration such as a home or a new business venture — he or she will find that a double purpose is served. The objective demonstration will be accelerated and the process of transmutation or regeneration within his or her body will, at the same time, be noticeably stimulated. Physical exercise alone is also of help, but when accompanied by creative thoughts is more effective.
Meditation upon high and inspiring subjects has power literally to transform forces impregnating the sexual fluids, for these fluids are really carriers of etheric force, the true creative agent. An inspiring poem or passage from the scriptures can be the channel for immediate direction of the thoughts and creative power into uplifting currents. By consciously directing pure love currents from the heart into the creative centers of the brain, sexual activity may be transmuted into activities of mind and spirit, with a corresponding birth upon the mental and spiritual plane.
Every cell of the body is, or can be made, subject to absolute control of the Ego by means of the mind. It is possible to raise the body above the forces of physical passion and to center one's whole being in the currents of spirit. Patient persistence always succeeds, and the rewards are exceedingly gratifying: permanently better physical health, increased mental power, purer desires, unfoldment of the innate spiritual faculties latent in every human being.
The sex-pervert, or sex-maniac, is a proof of the correctness of the contention of occultists that one part of the sex-force builds the brain. He becomes an idiot because of drawing and sending out, not only the negative or positive part of the sex force (according to whether male or female) which is normally to be used through the sex-organ for propagation, but in addition to that, some of the force which should build up the brain, enabling it to produce thought — hence the mental deficiency.
On the other hand, if the person is given to spiritual thought, the tendency to use the sex force for propagation is slight, and whatever part of it is not used in that way may be transmuted into spiritual force.
The Holy Spirit is the creative energy in Nature, and the sex energy is its reflection in man. Misuse or abuse of that power is the sin that is not forgiven, but must be expiated in impaired efficiency of the vehicle, in order thoroughly to teach us the sanctity of the creative force.
