One Flesh
Preface
Throughout the ages the social attitude toward sex has swung back and forth like a giant pendulum. During one period, mankind would accept almost any form of sexual activity as socially permissible, only to completely reverse this view a century or so later. Following a period of sexual excess, the pendulum would swing to the opposite side and society would plunge itself into a puritanical or Victorian-like period. Back and forth has swung the sexual pendulum, from the sexual excesses of Greece and Rome to the estheticism of the Middle Ages and, thence, to the bawdiness of the Elizabethan time to the overdone surface propriety of the Victorian era. Back and forth, back and forth, each age feeling assured that they, finally, in their combined wisdom, have established the proper "sensible" approach toward sexuality. In truth, they were generally only reacting to the excesses or prohibitions of the age or ages that preceded them.
Our present age is no exception to this rule. Great efforts are being made on many fronts to create a new "sexual freedom" and a total lack of guilt concerning all things sexual as a near panacea for human emotional contentment. We are asked to accept that all forms of "sexually expressive life-styles" are good and equal. In fact, this view is promulgated daily through our media, while those who hold opposite views are ridiculed and termed "extremist" by these same sources. As we observe this ever increasing erosion of sexual responsibility, we cannot help but ask the question, "Where will it end?" Perhaps we can find the answer to this question in the experiences of past societies?
Without doubt the "swingers" of ancient Greece and Rome reveled in their "enlightened sexual consciousness." With the possible exception of our electrical aids, I am sure that all of our modern sexual excesses were well known and practiced by the citizens of these early advanced nations. But where is their glory today? Our modern sexual gurus tell us that such "enlightened sexual consciousness" is supposed to produce a stable, tolerant, loving society here in America and yet, in all past recorded history, where such an attitude, and its attendant activities, continued unabated, the society so practicing was destroyed, never to rise again as a potent force in human endeavor. I am reminded of Dr. R. S. Clymer's comment on the cliché, "History repeats itself." "This is true," he stated, "because people don't learn and change." Is this to be our fate? Can we not learn from others? Never has a civilization been preserved and expanded its Glory and Power while allowing the sexual excesses, now common in our nation, to flourish. Is there any honest reason to believe that we are to be an exception? Do we, as a nation, really think that the Laws that govern such matters allow for exceptions?
If we examine the entire field of sex and sexual attitudes with an objective eye (if such is possible), the reasons for this historical vacillation of thought and attitude, regarding the proper use of human sexuality, become clear. This constant cyclic reversal of sexual attitudes is simply due to the fact that both views are too extreme to long endure and neither is, therefore, a valid or constructive system upon which to build a society or even an individual life. After a civilization has been in the throes of one of these extreme sexual attitudes for a century or so, the idiocies and dangers of this sexual concept gradually become so apparent to all that the allure of its complement grows stronger with each passing day until
finally a shift takes place, only to have the whole process repeated again and again ad infinitum in future centuries. However, many nations, like Rome and Greece, may be so damaged before the needed changes take place that they never again rise to their former glory. We trust, that by the information in this book, we can help bring about a desperately required correction of the present situation in America before we, too, degenerate into a third-rate nation.
In general the two extremes of sexuality described above can be succinctly characterized by us (not their advocates) as "abuse" and "nonuse." In this matter, as in all else dealing with human life, right use, not abuse or nonuse, is the goal to be desired and sought.
It would seem that to proponents of the more puritanical view of sex, life would be much simpler, and certainly more holy, if sexuality would just go away. A strong statement? What about the well-entrenched, but mistaken, belief that the natural act of copulation between Adam and Eve was the original sin, rather than their perversion of this God-ordained union? As further evidence of our position, do we not see constant and continuing efforts to remove any stigma of normal sex having an even remote relationship to the birth of our deities? And what about those religions that demand celibacy for their spiritual teachers and leaders, both male and female? Do you really believe they would demand such celibacy unless they felt that a certain adverse stigma accompanied normal human sexuality?
No, sexuality and the majority of our western religions have never been good bedfellows, and so they must accept much responsibility for our pendulum swing toward the repression and oppression of sex. They would not be able to do so, however, unless the abuses of the "other side" had become so blatant that the public was ready and willing for such a radical change. To their credit, of course, these selfsame religious bodies have also helped toward healthy restraint on some sexual attitudes, and without them and their influence our current society might well be far more decadent than it is.
On the other side of the pendulum swing, the advocates of complete sexual freedom do not usually prescribe erotic abuse (today, even this taboo is falling away) but this often results from an unrestrained human nature. As soon as you say, as they do, that there is no God-given morality and that, therefore, all is permissible between consenting adults, you open the floodgates to all forms of sexual abuse and degeneracy. Of course, you may well ask, "What is sexual abuse if all is permitted?" The answer is simple, "That which does harm, to oneself or to others." We have only to step back and examine our society objectively to observe this harmful degeneracy everywhere.
There are in the lower natures of men and women (including their sexual natures) hidden forces that can generate great harm to oneself and to others if unleashed before an individual has had an opportunity to transmute them into beneficial emotions. Every person who is honest with himself knows this. The main purpose of an advanced society is to help every citizen to change (transmute) these destructive forces into those that are constructive and productive of good. As this process is taking place, the adverse forces are to be held in check until they can be fully converted. It is our moral training, aided and guided by the "voice" of our conscience, that tells us what is good and what is not good. It is this "voice" of the soul that helps us in our process of transmutation. It is this "voice" that restrains, for the good of all, the evils in an advanced and developed society, such as we trust ours to be. The conscience is an integral and vital part of any advanced civilization; without this "voice" it is easy for men and women to degenerate into two-legged wild beasts or even worse.
From careful objective observation, it seems to your author that the aim of many of today's sex and psychological gurus is to assist their pupils and clients to still this "wee small voice of conscience." They assure us that sin, as classically defined, does not exist, that we may freely do whatever "feels good" and benefit greatly thereby. The allure of this do as you will philosophy is strong and seductive. Many men and women are all too eager to accept, as a fact, that their hidden destructive desires and inclinations need not be overcome or corrected. They are told, by these so-called "sex experts," that all is good "as long as their activities do not hurt or injure anyone else." This last admonition may make the sex gurus feel justified in their other recommendations, since they can defend their teaching of licentiousness by assuring us that they did not teach their disciples to injure others. It is difficult to determine, in this view, if they are ignorant or hypocritical. As educated individuals, they must know that once man's lower appetites are released without restraint, no one can tell what he will do. The human tendency is to seek for ever more increasingly perverted expressions of this lower nature, since they soon become bored with each new perversion and abuse as it becomes the norm. It is this never-ending demand for ever accelerating sense satisfaction that leads to every known form of human abuse. To paraphrase a well-known aphorism-sexual freedom corrupts and absolute sexual freedom corrupts absolutely.
If both nonuse and abuse of the sexual expression are to be avoided, what then is the "right use" of sex? Obviously, it must fall somewhere between the two extremes, both of which have proven so unsatisfactory during all past ages. Sex is a very important (absolutely vital) part of each of our lives; this cannot be denied or refuted. As with every other power, there are rules and precautions for its practical and productive use, and, without knowledge of these rules and precautions, it is easy for sexuality to be misused. When this occurs, such misuse can be destructive to both body and soul. In this text we have done our best to present these rules, taught to us by the great Masters of the past, as clearly as possible, for your examination. We have given you a map of the path to exalted sexuality. We have tried our utmost to do our part; the rest is up to you. You must walk this path if you expect to reap the rewards of all that exalted sexuality and the One Flesh concept has to offer every normal inhabitant of our small planet.
Beyond the middle path alluded to above, there is another side to human sexuality that has remained elusive throughout the centuries. This is its essential place in man's developing Spirituality. Drs. P. B. Randolph and R. S. Clymer, pioneers in this field, taught, in deference to many opinions, that sex is not a detriment to Spiritual growth, but is, in truth, an important source of power to use toward this desirable and exalted achievement. It is this teaching, we feel, more than anything else, that has been the missing link to a full understanding and acceptance of the proper purpose of human sexuality. For lack of this understanding, we believe, mankind has vacillated between repression and flagrant misuse of sexuality throughout the ages.
Sexuality, as presented in this book, has three facets, Procreation, Regeneration and Spiritualization. While the first facet is the province of young, the latter two can be practiced by all who are sexually capable and knowledgeable.
It is to the young, however, that this work is especially dedicated. It is not easy to be young today and sexually active. The dangers are great and the rewards, seemingly, small. This is because our young have not been told of the wonders of God's One Flesh union. Most young people have inherited the sexual misconceptions of their forebearers, but they do not have to follow in their footsteps. They can free themselves from the to-and-fro swing of the sexual pendulum by adopting the One Flesh union as their standard. Thus, changing the world by bringing the sexual pendulum to a stop once and for all.
Every attempt will be made in this work to present the One Flesh concept in as clear, practical and understandable a form as possible. We trust that even some of the not so young will be able to free themselves from the vacillations of the sexual pendulum. With this book we offer to the youth of our nation a new and constructive view of sexuality. One based on the true physiology, psychology and morality of the nature of men and women everywhere. Those who are willing to hitch their sexual wagon to this star will find no future regrets; only love, peace, affluence and a life of constructive creativity. "A great deal to promise," you say. Yes, but it by far underestimates what is possible with a full understanding and implementation of the One Flesh concept of sexuality.