The Sacred Side of Human Love is the
Root and Foundation of Every Society
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
For a long time now, the Karmic pressures generated by materialistic delusions have been inviting many to abandon ethics and to boycott the contact with their own souls.
An assault is unleashed by organized ignorance through commercial media and other means against the intimate structures of human relations. People are robbed of the time they need to think. The relation between children and parents becomes less profound than necessary for both parties. The deep levels of love between man and woman are forgotten.
Yet everything is interconnected in human reality. There must be respect for that which creates life, in order for the feeling of respect for Life itself to be strong. When a society can’t see the sacredness in the production of life, it also despises its end.
In other words, the banalization of sex and the promotion of lust for commercial and other selfish purposes lead to the banalization of war. They also provoke the trivialization of murder, abortion, destruction of forests, and the worship of technology. The forms of life-denying ignorance are many: the energy of Kundalini is widely inverted and perverted.
Viktor Frankl wrote:
“Grasping the uniqueness of a loved one understandably results in a monogamous partnership. The partner is no longer interchangeable. Conversely, if one is not able to love, he winds up with promiscuity. Indulging in promiscuity implies ignoring the partner’s uniqueness and this in turn precludes a love relationship. Since only that sex which is embedded in love can be really rewarding and satisfactory, the quality of the sexual life of such an individual is poor. Small wonder, then, that he tries to compensate for this lack of quality with quantity. This, in turn, requires an ever increased and intensified stimulation, as is provided, for one, by pornography.”
A Jewish psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, Frankl developed a philosophy of love for life. He saw the trivialization of sex as an obstacle to attaining happiness and a form of money-worship.
He said:
“…It should be clear we are in no way justified in glorifying such mass phenomena as promiscuity and pornography or in considering them progressive. They are regressive; they are symptoms of a retardation in one’s sexual maturation.”
And he added:
“But we should not forget either that the myth of sex just for fun’s sake as something progressive is promoted by people who know it is good business. What intrigues me is the fact that the young generation not only buys the myth but is blind to the hypocrisy behind it. In an age when hypocrisy in sexual matters is so frowned upon, it is strange that the hypocrisy of those who promulgate a certain freedom from censorship remains unnoticed. Is it so hard to recognize that their real concern is unlimited freedom to make money?” [1]
Besides denying the sacredness of life, the abuse of sex often takes place side by side with the use of alcohol and drugs. This is not a causeless phenomenon. Frankl said:
“…The drug scene is one aspect of a more general mass phenomenon, namely the feeling of meaninglessness resulting from a frustration of our existential needs which in turn has become a universal phenomenon in our industrial societies.”
The Jewish thinker examined a certain “mass neurotic syndrome” of inner despondency regarding life, which is pervasive in the young generation:
“…There is ample empirical evidence that the three facets of this syndrome – depression, aggression, addiction – are due to what is called in logotherapy ‘the existential vacuum’, a feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness.” [2]
In the world order of short-term pleasure, superficial search for happiness is self-defeating. It destroys itself from within. In such a bubble of collective illusion, human beings are regulated by material objects, and the citizens become themselves largely reduced to the condition of objects. Lasting love and ethics are seen as ridicule. The feelings of loyalty and good will turn out to be not only politically incorrect, but potentially revolutionary and tremendously powerful, since spiritual energies are invincible in the long run.
While Ethics is the eternal Law, selfishness corresponds to an unfortunate circumstance. As time passes, entire societies emerge, live and disappear. On the other hand, the honesty of human relations persists across millennia. The sacred level of the love between woman and man constitutes the central point to any nation.[3]
From antiquity, all cultural traditions have celebrated the divine aspect of human couple. Such a bond involves long-term responsibility, and from Mumbai, India, “The Theosophical Movement” magazine says:
“No Hindu marriage is completed without the ritual of saptapadi, which literally means ‘seven steps’. Saptapadi involves taking of seven vows or seven promises by both the bride and the groom, with the sacred fire serving as the witness. In the last vow they promise to be true and loyal to each other, to take care of each other in any circumstances, and to remain companions and best of friends for the lifetime.”
An altruistic commitment is intrinsic to the generation and the preservation of Life. The article proceeds:
“In all the cultures wedding vows outline the same goals – lifelong commitment, devotion and mutual respect. Marriage is seen to be an everlasting bond, and the marriage vows reinforce the couple’s intent to stay together through thick and thin. The unprecedented increase in divorce rate seems to suggest that within few years, or even months of marriage, these vows are almost forgotten. When these vows are not taken with understanding the couple does not know what exactly they are promising to do. One’s faith in human goodness and trustworthiness is re-affirmed when one comes across people who do not make lip-promises, but are ready to go to any length to keep one’s word.” [4]
There is no pleasure like the pleasure of selfless love, which harmonizes sky and earth in our daily existence. All true social changes take place in the souls first. They start in the silence of the higher, impersonal levels of consciousness. [5]
Upward karmic pressures exist in human History which emerge again and again in full force, morally elevating life. They do so at the right time, usually in unpredictable ways, and according to the law of cycles.
As we recognize the central character of the love that generates a family, we see that its varying quality and strength determine the Karma and Destiny of every nation.
By searching for wisdom, the citizen learns how best to cherish life and the best way to live with respect for all beings. As a matter of fact, universal friendship does not belong to us. We belong to it, instead.
NOTES:
[1] “The Unheard Cry for Meaning”, Viktor E. Frankl, a Touchstone Book, published by Simon and Schuster, New York, USA, 1978, 191 pp., pp. 81-82.
[2] “Man’s Search for Meaning”, the classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust, Viktor E. Frankl, 2004; Rider, a Random House group company, UK, 147 pages. See pp.113 and 114. Copyright 1959. The book was first published in German in 1946.
[3] Read in our websites “How Women Enlighten the Future”, by A Master of the Wisdom.
[4] From the anonymous article “Word of Honour”, published in “The Theosophical Movement” magazine, Mumbai, India, May 2017, p. 05.
[5] See the list of articles “Texts on the Family and the Path”.
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An initial version of the above article was published at “The Aquarian Theosophist”, November 2017, pp. 1-2. It has no indication as to the name of the author, and its title is “Preserving the Roots of Life”. “Family and the Sources of Life” was published as an independent article in our associated websites on 17 December 2018. It can also be seen at our blog in “The Times of Israel”.
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