The Erotic Nature of Personal and Collective Well-Being

Can we be happy and function well without a decided activation of the Erotic in our lives? Can we be all that we can be, to borrow a popular advertising slogan, if we are not 'turned on' by at least something in this-world? Can we really be alive if we are not erotically-inclined and/or disposed?

Personally speaking, if I may be so bold, I don't think it is possible to experience well-being apart from Eros, apart from the erotic. We require activation at the deepest level, what those familiar with the Hindu system of chakras call the 'root chakra.' I mean, what plant can be healthy and flower in abundance if the roots are not likewise in a state of premium health? What tree reaches skyward if its roots are debilitated in some way?

This is not to say that well-being is all a matter of sexuality (though that may be the case for some), as much as it is to indicate that unless we are activated 'down-below' we cannot even have hope of actualizing those 'higher capacities' that may lie in a latent state until the sap of life flows upwards, i.e., what those familiar with Eastern mysticism know as 'kundalini rising.'

Even the infamous Dr. Sigmund Freud deemed a functioning 'libido' essential for psychological health and well-being. A frustrated libido resulted in everything from ordinary neurosis to excruciatingly debilitating instances of psycho-somatic distress. This is work that Wilhelm Reich built on, with his notion of the 'orgasm' being an indication of psychological health and/or distress. A tightly controlled and or bottle-necked libido/kundalini/eroticism resulted in what he saw as the inability to have an orgasm (the frozen woman) or in the rush to 'get it over with' ... and as soon as possible... (the prematurely ejaculating man). In both cases there is a repression/constraining of the libido/erotic nature of the human-being.

For the man who is in a rush to get it over with, the belief that premature ejaculation is about him achieving his own pleasure at the expense of his lover is a misnomer. Premature ejaculation is about fear and repression of the sexual energy. In short (pun intended), if it has to happen then it better happen quick... so we can be done with this! Such a man doesn't want to linger in the Erotic. The Erotic is an element to be repressed and feared. or we could say this: that Kundalini is supposed to remain tightly controlled and contained at the spine (tight-ass white guys please take note... though not just tight-ass white guys).

The result is that libido is only allowed to emerge as a trickle; meaning that such a man's life and world essentially become starved for Eros (which, ironically enough, makes the 'erotic' in the form of pornography all the more alluring---how strange we humans are).

The same happens for such a man's internal world. After all, Psyche and Eros share a common, united fate in Greek Mythology. Perhaps they do in fact, as well, as I would certainly attest to. All of which suggests that any erotic deprivation becomes a psychological deprivation. In terms used here on this site, it means that any lack of Eros results in a lack of Psyche.

Kundalini, then, remains trapped at the base of the spine; is not allowed to flood the higher centers of which humanity is capable. The result is a disconcerting lack of psychological development. And because psyche is often used synonymously with 'spirit' it could also be seen as indicating that a lack of the erotic is a lack of the spiritual. Meaning, just as in the Legend of the Fisher King, a wound in man's groin results in the Kingdom turning into a veritable wasteland--both within and without, psychologically and socially, spiritually and culturally.

The world suffers from lack of Eros. Just as Psyche suffers from Eros's absence in both myth and fact. The higher centers starve for the fruit of the lower. Oh, what yet lies trapped in man... in humanity... in this species?