Sex and Sexuality

David Pratt

April 2002. Last updated: Jan 2019

Contents

1. Reproductive diversity
2. Human evolution
3. Death and rebirth
4. Virginal reproduction
5. Intersex and hermaphrodites
6. Artificial reproduction
7. Pleasure at a price
8. Leaving sex behind
9. Chastity links

1. Reproductive diversity

All living organisms have the capacity to produce new organisms similar to themselves.
The methods and complexity of the reproductive process vary tremendously, but there
are two fundamental types: asexual reproduction, in which a single organism separates
into two or more equal or unequal parts; and sexual reproduction, in which a pair of
specialized sex cells fuse.1

Asexual reproduction is found in the majority of living organisms, including unicellular

organisms, most plants and fungi, and many lower invertebrates. Unicellular prokaryotic
organisms (prokaryotic cells have no nucleus), such as bacteria, usually reproduce by
binary fission: the parent organism splits into two identical ‘daughter’ organisms, each
having the same DNA. In some cases, the cells thus formed may remain clustered
together to form filaments or colonies. Eukaryotic cells (which have a nucleus), including
eukaryotic organisms such as protists and unicellular fungi, duplicate into two
genetically identical daughter cells through a process known as mitosis; most
eukaryotes are also capable of sexual reproduction. Bacteria, fungi, and lower green
plants (e.g. algae, liverworts, mosses and ferns) can propagate by shedding spores –
reproductive cells that produce new organisms without fertilization.

Binary fission in bacteria.

Budding is an asexual mode of reproduction in which a small protuberance or bud forms

on the surface of the parent’s body, increases in size, and finally separates and
develops into a new individual identical with the parent. In many cases, buds only
appear on specialized areas of the body. Budding is characteristic of a few unicellular
organisms (e.g. certain bacteria, yeasts and protozoans), but it is also regularly used by
a number of multicellular animals (e.g. hydras). Sponges produce internal buds known
as gemmules.
 A hydra budding.

Regeneration is a specialized form of asexual reproduction. The beating cilia and

flagella that propel some single-celled organisms are capable of regenerating
themselves within an hour or two after amputation. Some multicellular organisms (e.g.
starfish, polyps, zebrafish, flatworms, newts and salamanders) can regenerate new
heads, limbs, internal organs, or other body parts if the originals are lost or injured.
Many plants are capable of total regeneration, i.e. the formation of a whole individual
from a single fragment such as a stem, root, leaf, or even a small slip from such an
organ (as in grafting). Among animals, the lower the form, the more capable it is of
regeneration. Regeneration is closely allied to vegetative reproduction, the formation of
a new individual by various parts of the organism not specialized for reproduction. The
highest animals that exhibit vegetative reproduction are the colonial tunicates (e.g. sea
squirts), which, much like plants, send out runners in the form of stolons, small parts of
which form buds that develop into new individuals.

Regeneration in planarian flatworms.

Sexual reproduction occurs in many unicellular organisms and in all multicellular plants
and animals. In higher invertebrates and in all vertebrates it is the exclusive form of
reproduction, except in the few cases where parthenogenesis (virginal reproduction) is
also possible. A number of unicellular organisms multiply by a primitive form of sexual
reproduction known as conjugation: two similar organisms fuse, exchange nuclear
materials, and then break apart; each organism then reproduces by fission.

Most multicellular animals and plants undergo a more complex form of sexual
reproduction in which distinct male and female reproductive cells (gametes) unite to
form a single cell, known as a zygote, which then undergoes successive divisions to
form a new organism. In this type of sexual reproduction, half the genes in the zygote
come from one parent and half from the other. Whereas asexual reproduction allows
beneficial combinations of characteristics to continue unchanged, offspring produced by
sexual reproduction inherit endlessly varied combinations of characteristics.

The somatic cells of multicellular organisms are diploid, meaning

that they contain two copies of each chromosome – one from the
mother and one from the father. Sex cells (sperm and eggs), on
the other hand, are haploid, having just one copy of each
chromosome. They are produced when somatic cells undergo a
complex form of cell division known as meiosis, which reduces
the number of chromosomes by half. Meiosis takes place only in
testes or ovaries in animals and humans, or anthers and ovaries
in plants. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, the egg becomes a
zygote, a diploid cell with two full sets of chromosomes, which
starts to multiply by mitosis. In humans, DNA in somatic cells is
coiled into 46 separate chromosomes; sperm and eggs therefore
contain only 23, one of which is the sex chromosome (X or Y).

In the case of plants, wind and insects carry the sperm (contained in pollen) to the
stationary egg, or, in a liquid medium, the sperm swims to the egg. In lower animals,
sperm and eggs are often deposited in water, but this method is haphazard as only a
few of the many sperm discharged reach the eggs. In higher animals, the spermatozoa,
contained in the seminal fluid, are deposited in the lower segment of the female
reproductive tract. All mammals, reptiles and birds as well as some invertebrates,
including snails, worms and insects, use internal fertilization. In many lower multicellular
organisms and all higher plants, a sexually produced generation alternates with an
asexually produced generation.

Human sperm meet egg.

After fertilization of the egg, the resulting zygote undergoes cell division and
differentiation to form the embryo. In most higher plants, the embryo is enclosed in a
layer of nutritive material surrounded by a hard outer covering, forming the seed. In
most lower animals, the embryo, surrounded by the nutritive material of the former
ovum, is enveloped by a leathery or calcareous shell and is extruded from the body of
the female. Oviparous animals, such as birds, lay their eggs before the young are
completely developed. Ovoviviparous animals produce eggs in shells that hatch within
the mother’s body. Placental mammals are viviparous, i.e. they give birth to live young
without forming shelled eggs; the embryo is implanted in the uterus and nourished by
the mother until almost completely developed.

Parthenogenesis involves the development of an ovum without fertilization. It is

common among lower plants and invertebrates, such as water fleas, rotifers, aphids
(plant lice), stick insects, ants, wasps and bees. Some species reproduce exclusively by
parthenogenesis (such as bdelloid rotifers), but most switch between sexual
reproduction and parthenogenesis. In the aphids there is an alternation of generations:
parthenogenetic development of eggs (while in the oviduct) takes place in summer
when conditions are favourable, while in the autumn, with lack of sunshine and less
abundant food, males appear together with sexual reproduction. Sometimes sex cells
produce different kinds of individuals according to whether or not they are fertilized. For
instance, among our common honey bees, a male individual (a drone) arises out of the
eggs of the queen if the egg has not been fertilized, and a female (a queen or working
bee) if it has. A few kinds of amphibians, reptiles and birds can reproduce
parthenogenetically. There are no known cases of naturally occurring parthenogenesis
among mammals in the wild.

All pond-living bdelloid (pronounced ‘delloid’) rotifers are females.

Hermaphroditism refers to the presence of organs producing sperm and ova in the
same individual. It occurs in the great majority of flowering plants. Most hermaphroditic
plants produce male and female elements at different times to ensure cross-pollination,
but a few, such as the violet and the evening primrose, are self-pollinated.
Hermaphroditism habitually occurs in many invertebrate animals, hagfish and tunicates,
and a genus of sea bass. It occurs occasionally in other fishes, and in frogs, toads and
certain newts among the amphibians. Hermaphrodite animals are rarely self-fertilizing;
in most cases the spermatozoa and ova mature at different times, or the male and
female external organs are located so that self-fertilization is impossible. Among the
invertebrates, sponges, coelenterates, some molluscs, snails, slugs and earthworms
are regularly hermaphroditic. Flatworms have a complete set of male and female
gonads in each segment and regularly fertilize themselves.
 Flowers are the sexual organs of flowering plants.
Stamen = male reproductive organ. Carpel = female reproductive organ.

True functional hermaphroditism is rare or absent in higher animals. Animals

intermediate in form between males and females occasionally appear, but they are
usually sterile, and, when fertile, do not produce both fertile eggs and fertile sperm.
Such individuals are often called intersexes. Intersex humans also appear; this category
includes all people born with sex chromosomes, external genitalia or internal
reproductive systems that are not considered standard for male or female (see section
5).

Although scientists can now describe the physical processes involved in reproduction in
great detail, fertilization remains one of the least understood of all fundamental
biological processes. The mechanisms involved in parthenogenesis are not understood
either. And the seemingly miraculous process whereby a fertilized egg develops into a
full-grown organism raises even more questions. Genes do not explain this complex
process, as they carry instructions for making proteins, but not for their arrangement
into tissues, organs, etc. Something else appears to guide and coordinate
embryological development. According to occult science, physical processes are
organized and guided from subtler, nonphysical levels of an organism’s constitution; the
template for the physical body is an astral (i.e. more ethereal) model-body.2

Explaining how and why sex emerged in the first place poses insuperable problems for
orthodox evolutionary theory. The idea that all the intricate components of the male and
female reproductive systems could emerge more or less simultaneously, in perfect
working order, through purely random genetic mutations, is utterly absurd. Moreover, in
the Darwinian struggle to pass on more of one’s genes to future generations, asexuality
is twice as efficient as sexuality. This is because an asexual parent transmits all its
genes to each progeny, whereas when a sexual organism forms sperm or egg cells, half
the genes are removed. As Richard Dawkins puts it: ‘Sexual reproduction is analogous
to a roulette game in which the player throws away half his chips at each spin. ... [T]he
existence of sexual reproduction really is a huge paradox.’ Another Darwinist says that
sex ‘does not merely reduce fitness, but halves it’, and should therefore be ‘powerfully
selected against and rapidly eliminated wherever it appears’.3

Sexual organisms face various problems that are avoided in asexual organisms. In
addition to the cost of evolving and maintaining the sex organs, there is the possibility of
blood Rh factor incompatibilities and tissue rejection between mother and child.
Because sperm and eggs are like foreign tissue due to their different genetic makeup,
special mechanisms are required to keep the body’s immune defences from destroying
its own gametes. Finding a mate, courting and copulating involve risks that place sexual
organisms at a further disadvantage compared with asexual organisms. Scientists
therefore admit that there is no convincing Darwinian history for the emergence of
sexual reproduction.

In the case of asexual organisms, all offspring are essentially clones of the single
parent, and differ from it only by new mutations. Sex, on the other hand, creates
diversity. Sex shreds every genome in every generation, with the result that all offspring
are genetically different (except in rare cases such as identical twins). Scientists
acknowledge that it is difficult to identify any short-term individual benefit in diversity.
They also believe that sex would tend to slow the evolution of a species rather than
accelerate it, because it breaks up gene combinations with no regard for their adaptive
value.

Another hypothesis is that the benefit of sex lies not in accelerating the spread of
beneficial mutations but in more rapidly eliminating harmful mutations. Asexual lineages
can acquire more harmful mutations but never less, whereas in a sexual population it is
possible for offspring to have fewer harmful mutations than either parent. The problem
with this argument is that Darwinism assumes that evolution cannot look ahead to the
future; traits can only be selected based on their immediate short-term benefits for the
individual. If sex primarily helps to maintain the long-term genetic wellbeing of species, it
cannot have evolved by purely Darwinian mechanisms.

References

1. Wikipedia; Britannica.com; Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed., 2000).

2. Evolution and design, davidpratt.info.
3. Walter J. ReMine, The Biotic Message: Evolution versus message theory, Saint
Paul, MN: St. Paul Science, 1993, pp. 196-206.

2. Human evolution
Occult teachings on the evolution of humanity differ radically from the current theories of
materialistic science. Far from having descended from ape-like ancestors through
random genetic mutations, the present human form is said to have slowly condensed
out of a more ethereal or astral state of matter in the course of many millions of years,
just as the earth itself gradually condensed out of the primordial, ethereal nebula.1 And
as the outer human body, especially the brain and nervous system, developed, more
and more of the faculties of the indwelling soul were able to find expression through the
physical form.

According to theosophy, our earliest protohuman ancestors in the present (fourth) round
of the earth’s evolution began to develop about 150 million years ago in the mid-
Palaeozoic. They were huge ethereal beings, with ovoid bodies, which very slowly
declined in size and solidified, and increasingly took on a recognizably human form. The
first race was sexless and propagated by fission: a large portion of the body separated
and grew into a duplicate of its parent. The second race was asexual and reproduced
by gemmation or budding: a swelling or bud appeared on the body of one of these
entities, and eventually separated and grew into another individual similar to its parent.
At about the midpoint of the second race, these buds increased in number, and became
‘spores’ or ‘seeds’.

The third root-race was initially androgyne. In the earliest stages, reproduction took
place by budding, which developed into egg-laying: vital cells were exuded from the
outer parts of the body, and collected together to form huge ovoid aggregates or eggs.
To start with, the drops of vital fluid were exuded from nearly all parts of the body. Later
a single large cell was exuded from a functional part of the organism, which was the
root of the later reproductive organs. Hermaphroditism died out in the middle period of
the third root-race, some 18 million years ago, by which time the human body was
becoming distinctly physical. Individuals began to be born with the predominant
characteristics of one or the other sex, until finally only unisexual individuals were
produced. While the separation of the sexes was taking place, the awakening of
selfconsciousness in nascent (and hitherto ‘mindless’) humanity was beginning to
accelerate.2

Evidence that humanity was originally hermaphrodite is supplied by embryology and

physiology. Sexual glands and ducts appear in the embryo in the second month of its
development, but they are neither male nor female. Sexual differentiation starts in the
seventh and eighth weeks and is fully complete by the twelfth week. It is said to be
regulated by the sex hormones and control substances secreted by the newly forming
ovaries or testes. It proceeds as follows:

The reproductive organs first develop in the same form for both males and
females: internally there are two undifferentiated gonads and two pairs of
parallel ducts (Wolffian and Müllerian ducts); externally there is a genital
protrusion with a groove (urethral groove) below it, the groove being flanked
by two folds (urethral folds). On either side of the genital protrusion and
groove are two ridgelike swellings (labioscrotal swellings). ... If testes
develop, the hormone they secrete causes the Müllerian duct to degenerate
and almost vanish and causes the Wolffian duct to elaborate into the sperm-
carrying tubes and related organs (the vas deferens, epididymis, and
seminal vesicles, for example). If ovaries develop, the Wolffian duct
deteriorates, and the Müllerian duct elaborates to form the fallopian tubes,
uterus, and part of the vagina. The external genitalia simultaneously change.
The genital protrusion becomes either a penis or clitoris. In the female the
groove below the clitoris stays open to form the vulva, and the folds on either
side of the groove become the inner lips of the vulva (the labia minora). In
the male these folds grow together, converting the groove into the urethral
tube of the penis. The ridgelike swellings on either side remain apart in the
female and constitute the large labia (labia majora), but in the male they
grow together to form the scrotal sac into which the testes subsequently
descend.3
The top illustration in this figure shows the undifferentiated internal reproductive
structures in the fetus at approximately 6 weeks.
The bottom illustrations show the differentiated (male and female) reproductive
structures at approximately 12 weeks.
This figure shows external genital structures in males and females as they
 differentiate
during fetal development, and also the typical appearance at birth.4

Fully developed male and female reproductive organs.5

The development of the embryo and fetus in the womb recapitulates the past
development of mankind,* with the first four months corresponding in several respects
to the first four root-races preceding our present (fifth) root-race. External genitalia
appear in the seventh or eighth week but in a primitive, sexless condition; they become
recognizably male or female only in the second half of the third month,6 corresponding
to the later third root-race. The placenta is fully formed and functional only after the third
month of uterine life.7

*Haeckel’s theory that the development of an embryo (ontogeny) is a condensed repetition of

the adult stages of its evolutionary ancestors (phylogeny) went out of scientific fashion long
ago. However, S.J. Gould, a proponent of the punctuated equilibrium version of Darwinism,
stated that ‘no discarded theme more clearly merits the old metaphor about throwing the baby
out with the bath water’; it is undeniable, he says, that ‘phyletic information resides in
ontogeny’.8

That the awakening of selfconsciousness also took place in this period of evolutionary
history is likewise corroborated by embryonic development. In the eighth week the brain
begins to undergo explosive growth, increasing in size by millions of cells every day,
until by the end of the third month it has grown to something like the 10,000 million cells
it will eventually contain. For the rest of pregnancy and on into the first five years of
independent life, each brain cell reaches out with networks of fibres and forges links
with thousands, and in some cases a quarter of a million, of its neighbours.9

The formation of bones is likewise said to have taken place in the third root-race, as the
human body became increasingly material. In the fetus, ossification (bone-forming)
centres appear in most of the future bones during the third (lunar) month, once they are
well formed in cartilage; ossification then continues for the rest of pregnancy.10

Sexual differentiation in the fetus does not lead to the complete disappearance of the
reproductive organs of the other sex; rudimentary organs of the opposite sex remain.11
For instance, males have undeveloped, nonfunctional mammary glands, and also an
undeveloped uterus and vagina, known as the prostatic utricle or uterus masculinus.
The clitoris is a small, nonfunctional equivalent of the penis, and the ovaries correspond
to the testes. The testes develop in the abdominal cavity but descend into the scrotum
before birth, while the ovaries remain in the abdominal cavity. The testes and ovaries
mainly secrete the male and female sex hormones respectively, but they also secrete
small amounts of the opposite sex hormones.

Charles Darwin wrote:

It has long been known that in the vertebrate kingdom one sex bears
rudiments of various accessory parts appertaining to the reproductive
system which properly belong to the opposite sex; and it has now been
ascertained that at a very early embryonic period both sexes possessed true
male and female glands. Hence some remote progenitor of the whole
vertebrate kingdom appears to have been hermaphrodite or androgynous.12

Modern scientists believe that during the early stages of evolution every animal was
probably hermaphroditic. Theosophy denies that human bodies gradually evolved from
animal bodies, and states that the earliest human stocks, like the earliest animal stocks,
were androgynous.

Many myths and legends refer to the androgynous ancestors of present humanity, to the
separation of the sexes, and to the first gods being double-sexed.13 Plato in his Banquet
(§190) states that an early race of humans were globular in shape and bisexually
formed. They were strong and mighty, but ambitious and wicked, so that Zeus cut them
in two in order to curb their evildoing and diminish their strength. Since then all mankind
has consisted of males and females. An Orphic hymn chanted in the Mysteries asserts:
‘Zeus is a male, Zeus is an immortal maiden.’ Pallas-Athene emerges from Jupiter’s
head, and the younger Bacchus is enclosed in his thigh prior to birth. Some statues of
Jupiter have female breasts, and representations of Venus-Aphrodite give her a beard
to signify the same bisexual nature.

According to the Hindu Puranas, ‘The mighty power became half male, half female’. In
one allegory, Brahma (the logos) divides his body into two parts, male and female, and
in the latter (known as Vach) he recreates himself as Viraj. Many Hindu images are half
male and half female, and have four arms. The ancient Persians taught that humans
were the product of the tree of life, growing in androgynous pairs, till they were
separated during a subsequent modification of the human form. The Egyptian supreme
god Ra is represented as a perfect bisexual being, from which are derived the other
gods (Osiris, Horus, Ptah, Ammon, etc.), representing Ra’s various attributes, or the
powers of nature. Each of these lesser gods had a female counterpart representing the
same individuality in its female state. Similar ideas can be found among the Chaldeans
and the Assyrians. In the Hermetic books intelligence is said to be ‘God possessing the
double fecundity of the two sexes’.

In the Hebrew book of Genesis, the elohim – usually translated as ‘God’, but actually a
plural word signifying the creative powers of nature – first create Adam (early humanity)
‘male and female’, i.e. androgynous (Genesis 1:26-28, 5:1-2). Eve is later made from
Adam’s ‘rib’ (the Hebrew word also means ‘side’ or ‘part’). Adam and Eve then eat the
fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (representing the awakening of
selfconsciousness), and are cast out of Eden (the original, blissful state of
unselfconsciousness), and take on ‘coats of skin’ (a reference to the fact that human
bodies were then becoming physical rather than astral). Interestingly, the Hebrew word
for ‘knowledge’ (daath) also means ‘sexual union’: ‘Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and
she conceived and bore Cain’ (Genesis 4:1, also 4:17, 25).

Theosophy asserts that the sexual method of reproduction was adopted first in the
animal kingdom and nature then introduced it in the human kingdom but ‘under
protest’.14 This appears to be confirmed by several phenomena. H.P. Blavatsky
contrasts the comparative painlessness of procreation among the animals with the
suffering and danger it often entails for women.15 Women are among the few
mammalian females who have a tough membrane, the hymen, that covers the vaginal
opening to a greater or lesser degree. Its forcible rupture means that the first attempt at
intercourse is sometimes a bloody and painful experience.

Furthermore, sperm must survive the acidic atmosphere of the vagina and avoid getting
trapped in the compact mucus that fills the cervix, the gateway to the uterus. Entrance
of sperm into the uterus is also hindered by its quick retraction and closure. Dr
Raymond Bernard comments:

How different this is from the direct passage of spermatozoa from the penis
to the uterus, which occurs in animals, where the elongated uterus reaches
forward until it grasps the penis and aspirates a few drops of seminal fluid.16

Once in the uterus, sperm are attacked and destroyed by the white blood cells of the
immune system. Their movement towards the ovaries, at up to 4 millimetres per minute,
is also impeded by the downward ciliary current of the minute hairs inside the fallopian
tube and the sticky mucus that covers its interior wall. About 100 million spermatozoa
are deposited in the vagina, but only a million enter the uterus, and perhaps only 100
reach the ovum. The vast majority of surviving sperm are then screened and eliminated
by a final molecular process. If a sperm succeeds in penetrating the egg, the egg
hardens to prevent any more from entering. Only the head of the sperm actually
penetrates the egg; it then releases its DNA, which fuses with that of the egg. Eggs that
accept more than one sperm will form an embryo with too much DNA, usually resulting
in a miscarriage. A couple has around an 18% chance that the man’s sperm penetrates
a woman’s egg at her peak period of fertility.17

According to theosophy, the existence of two sexes in the human kingdom is not the
endpoint of our sexual evolution. In the next root-race, which will flourish in a few million
years, humanity will again become hermaphrodite or double-sexed, and in the final root-
race during the present round we shall become completely androgynous. Children will
be produced by kriyashakti, i.e. by will and creative imagination – passively in the sixth
race, and consciously and actively in the seventh.18 The separation of humans into
distinct sexes followed the awakening of selfconsciousness reflects the dual nature or
bipolarity of mind. As the human race evolves and rises out of the lower mind into the
higher, sex will disappear.19

These developments will be accompanied by inner and outer changes to our bodies.
The sixth and seventh root-races will not have sex organs such as we now have. There
will also be changes to our spinal cord. At present, there are two chains of ganglia, or
sympathetic cords, on either side of the spinal column. Each is connected with a
channel (or nadi) of psychovital force: the sushumna runs through the spinal column,
while the ida and pingala are associated with the sympathetic cords. In the next root-
race the ida and pingala will develop into two spinal columns connected by the
sushumna. In the seventh root-race these two backbones will fuse into one, as our male
and female aspects will be fully integrated.20 This will foreshadow the even higher
evolutionary state to be reached in the seventh round, when we shall regain our original,
divine state of sexless purity, but enriched with the wisdom gained through our
selfconscious evolution in the realms of matter.

According to the church father St. Clement, Jesus was once asked when his ‘kingdom’
would come, and replied: ‘It will come when two and two make one; when the outside is
like the inside; and when there is neither male nor female.’ G. de Purucker gives the
following interpretation.21 ‘When two and two make one’ refers to a time when our
psychological nature has become so refined that it coalesces with our spiritual nature. In
terms of the sevenfold human constitution, the spiritual nature is the uppermost duad
(atman + buddhi, or inner divinity + spiritual intelligence), while the psychological nature
is the intermediate duad (manas + kama, or mind + desire). ‘When the outside is like the
inside’ means that the dense, physical body will become more sensitive and refined,
and therefore better able to express the spiritual faculties of the inner god. The phrase
‘when there is neither male nor female’ speaks for itself: sex is merely a transitory
evolutionary stage and is destined to pass away.
References
1. Human origins: the ape-ancestry myth, davidpratt.info.
2. Evolution in the fourth round, davidpratt.info; G. de Purucker, The Esoteric
Tradition, Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press (TUP), 3rd ed., 2011, pp.
147-69; G. de Purucker, Man in Evolution, TUP, 2nd ed., 1977, pp. 231-46.
3. ‘Human sexual behaviour’, britannica.com.
4. Marcus Tye, Sexuality and Our Diversity: Integrating culture with the
biopsychosocial, v. 1.0, 2013, section 4.2, catalog.flatworldknowledge.com.
5. sciencejl.blogspot.nl; humananatomybody.info.
6. ‘Prenatal development’, britannica.com.
7. H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House,
1950-91, 12:524; R.A. Ahokas and E.T. McKinne, ‘Development and physiology of
the placenta and membranes’, Global Library of Women’s Medicine, 2008,
glowm.com.
8. Stephen Jay Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, Cambridge, MA: Belknap, Harvard
University Press, 1977, pp. 2, 70; L.W. Swan, ‘The concordance of ontogeny with
phylogeny’, BioScience, v. 40, no. 5, pp. 376-84.
9. Lyall Watson, Supernature II: A new natural history of the supernatural, London:
Sceptre, 1987, p. 298.
10. ‘Prenatal development’, britannica.com; David Le Vay, Human Anatomy and
Physiology, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 3rd ed., 1988, pp. 37-8.
11. F.H. Buzzacott and M.I. Wymore, Bi-sexual Man or Evolution of the Sexes,
Mokelumne Hill, CA: Health Research, 1966 (1912), pp. 23-6; Hilton Hotema,
Secret of Regeneration, Health Research, 1963, ch. 146.
12. Descent of Man, quoted in Man in Evolution, p. 238fn; H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret
Doctrine, TUP, 1977 (1888), 2:118-9.
13. The Secret Doctrine, 1:89, 137; 2:130, 133-5; Alexander Wilder, ‘The primeval
race double-sexed’, The Theosophist, Feb. 1883, pp. 112-4; Bi-sexual Man or
Evolution of the Sexes, pp. 75-83.
14. G. de Purucker, Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy, TUP, 2nd ed., 1979, pp.
394-5.
15. The Secret Doctrine, 2:262.
16. Raymond Bernard, The Mysteries of Human Reproduction, Health Research,
1959, p. 74; Aarathi Prasad, Like a Virgin: How science is redesigning the rules of
sex, Oxford: Oneworld, 2012, pp. 34-6, 79-80, 133.
17. Human Anatomy and Physiology, pp. 355-6.
18. Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy, pp. 398-9, 409-10. See Sex:
theosophical quotations, http://davidpratt.info.
19. G. de Purucker, Studies in Occult Philosophy, TUP, 1973, p. 676.
20. Blavatsky Collected Writings, 12:700-2; G. de Purucker, Fountain-Source of
Occultism, TUP, 1974, pp. 461-2; Dialogues of G. de Purucker, TUP, 1948, 1:361-
3.
21. The Esoteric Tradition, pp. 35-6.

3. Death and rebirth

Materialistic science claims that we are no more than complex, genetically-programmed
machines. It provides no real insight into the causes of birth, growth and death, or the
origin of our selfconscious minds. It cannot even explain the essential difference
between a living human being and a corpse – both consist of the same chemical
elements.

Occult science, by contrast, recognizes that the physical body is ensouled by subtler
‘bodies’. The physical body dies when the connecting link with our higher centres of
consciousness is broken. The physical body proceeds to decay on the physical plane
while the astral model-body that holds it together during life, along with the higher astral
form in which the lower mind is seated, decompose in different regions of the astral
realms surrounding and interpenetrating our physical globe. The speed at which this
happens depends on the quality of thoughts and desires in the life just ended. At the
‘second death’ the higher mind or reincarnating soul separates from everything below it
and, enclosed within the aura of the spiritual-divine self, enters a blissful, dreamlike
state (known as the devachan), in which all the unrealized spiritual hopes and
aspirations of the last incarnation are fulfilled, and the noblest experiences of the last life
are assimilated and woven into the fabric of our inner nature.

When the spiritual energies generated during the previous incarnation are exhausted,
the devachanic dreaming draws to a close, and the attraction to earth life begins to
reassert itself. The thirst for material life, the longing to return to familiar scenes and be
reunited with past companions, causes us to incarnate on earth again and again. As the
reincarnating soul redescends towards its native sphere, its former life-atoms in the
astral realms reawaken and start to build a new astral form. The soul’s ethereal
energies arouse aggregates of astral and physical substance into forming reproductive
cells in the bodies of potential parents, these being people with whom it was closely
associated in past lives, and who can provide it with a physical body and family
environment suited to its karmic needs. Reincarnating souls may ‘precipitate’
reproductive cells in up to several dozen potential parents, and several different souls
may be drawn to the same man or woman.1

If conception takes place, the egg is fertilized by whichever of the male sex cells has the
greatest affinity with it at the time.

The human egos awaiting incarnation are exceedingly numerous, so that

there may be scores of entities which could become children of any one
couple, yet there is always one whose attraction is strongest to the mother-
to-be at any specific physiological moment, and it is this astral form which
becomes the child.2

If fertilization does not take place, or if it does but pregnancy is later interrupted by
abortion, miscarriage or some other accident, the incarnating entity will be
psychomagnetically attracted to other suitable parents.

A significant difference between the male and female reproductive systems is that
whereas each ejaculation contains some 100 to 500 million sperm, only one egg at a
time is normally released. And whereas sperm are produced continuously (about 1500
every second), ova are not. Females are born with about 2 million immature eggs
(follicles) in their ovaries, but about 11,000 of them die every month prior to puberty. By
then, only 300,000 to 400,000 eggs remain. After that, approximately 1000 die each
month, with the rate accelerating after the age of about 37.3 Until menopause sets in
around the age of 50, one egg matures and is released from its ovary every month and,
if not fertilized, passes out of the body during menstruation. According to theosophy,
reproductive cells in both males and females may be active or dormant, and a dormant
sex cell is vitalized and activated when a reincarnating entity links itself with it.4

Whereas fraternal twins develop from two separate eggs that have been fertilized by
two separate sperm, identical twins develop from a single fertilized egg (zygote). In the
latter case, at a relatively early stage in its growth, the zygote splits into two separate
cell masses which go on to become embryos; these embryos are genetically identical to
each other and are always of the same sex. A zygote’s incomplete or late division into
two cell masses results in Siamese twins. Triplets may be derived from a single zygote;
from two zygotes, one of which divides; or from three separate zygotes. Similarly,
quadruplets may originate from one up to four zygotes, and so on. The phenomenon of
multiple births suggests that either more than one reincarnating soul can be associated
with a particular egg or sperm, or a sperm and egg that fuse are connected with
different reincarnating souls, or that one or more additional reincarnating souls may
attach themselves to an egg after it has been fertilized.

In humans and other mammals, females have two X chromosomes while males have an
X and a Y chromosome.* Since an egg can only carry an X chromosome, the sex of an
offspring depends on whether the sperm that fertilizes the egg is X-bearing or Y-bearing.
But contrary to what official biology claims, this is not a matter of chance. The sex of the
offspring is determined by the lower emotional and mental tendencies and karmic needs
which the reincarnating soul embodying in the growing embryo has brought with it from
past lives. As a rule, several lives are spent in a body of one sex before changing to a
body of the other sex, which happens mainly as a result of the strong attraction to the
opposite sex during the last few lives.5 One can readily imagine that this changeover
may sometimes be a time of some psychological confusion as regards gender.

*Although most males have XY chromosomes and most females are XX, there are exceptions.
About one in a thousand men have XXY chromosomes, while a smaller proportion of women
have only a single X chromosome. The most important male-determining gene on the Y
chromosome is SRY (sex-determining region of Y). Between one in 9000 and one in 20,000
males have two X chromosomes and no Y at all. About two thirds of these XX males carry the
SRY gene on one of their X chromosomes, while the rest have a closely related gene, SOX9.
Although X and Y chromosomes are usually termed ‘sex chromosomes’, genes located on
chromosomes besides the X and Y chromosomes contribute to sexual development, and
genes related to nonsexual traits are located on X chromosomes.6

Nowadays, men and women who believe they are in the ‘wrong body’ can use hormone
therapy and/or surgery to alter their external anatomy so that it looks like that of the
other sex. However, a medical review found that there is ‘no conclusive evidence that
sex change operations improve the lives of transsexuals, with many people remaining
severely distressed and even suicidal after the operation’. Up to a fifth of people who
have undergone sex change operations regret their decision, and up to 18% of them
attempt suicide.7 Some later try to revert to their original sex. Studies show that 73% to
98% of children with gender dysphoria (the feeling that their gender does not match
their biology) grow out of their confusion if untreated.8 Yet some are given puberty-
suppressing drugs until age 16, after which cross-sex hormones may be given, followed
by surgery after reaching 18.9 Transgender people suffer from serious psychological
issues, and body-mutilating surgery may not be the best treatment. Walt Heyer
comments: ‘If more people were aware of the dark and troubled history of sex-
reassignment surgery, perhaps we wouldn’t be so quick to push people toward it.’10
The human embryo begins as a single cell. Nine months later it has grown to over a
trillion cells. A question often asked, especially in connection with abortion, is: When
does the embryo becomes a living being? Viewed theosophically, at no stage can the
embryo or fetus be considered to be anything but alive; it is only the degree of manifest
life (and consciousness) that changes. The connection between the reincarnating soul
and the body-to-be is established in several stages. Even before conception takes
place, a ray of energy from the incarnating soul activates the sex cells in potential
parents. The union of sperm and egg marks the next stage, and the embryo then begins
to grow, guided initially by the vegetative, vital-astral part of the reincarnating soul. The
physical form is built around the astral form, and both attract atoms belonging to the
soul in former lives.

Around the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, the fetus moves for the first time, and this
marks the first real entrance into it of the higher attributes of the reincarnating soul.11 By
the end of the seventh month, the lower mind is said to be firmly ‘wedged’ in the brain
and senses of the fetus.12 After birth, the brain cells do not increase in number but an
intricate network of connections forms between them, enabling more and more of the
latent mental powers of the human soul to be expressed – a process that can continue
for most of a person’s life. Mind scarcely begins to function until the seventh year, but is
not in full action until the person concerned is of mature age.13
 [B]efore, and indeed for a number of years after, birth, the child is only
overshadowed by the higher principles of its constitution, the lower principles
being the most active in function and expression during the earlier years of
life.

Yet at about fourteen or fifteen years of age, ... there occurs the first real
entrance of the higher part of the child’s inner constitution into conscious
functioning on our physical plane; and from this wonderful hour the
enveloping of the growing child and youth with the spiritual-vital aura of the
reincarnating ego proceeds progressively and steadily through life into
adulthood, and slackens only a short time before natural death – or should
do so, and would do so in virtually all cases were it not for the fact that so
many human beings live unnatural emotionally and passionally tempestuous
lives which weaken the organs of the body and their full and complete
functioning.14

References

1. G. de Purucker, Fountain-Source of Occultism, Pasadena, CA: Theosophical

University Press (TUP), pp. 621-6; G. de Purucker, The Esoteric Tradition, TUP,
2nd ed., 1973, pp. 879-910. See Sex: theosophical quotations, davidpratt.info.
2. Fountain-Source of Occultism, p. 625.
3. Sherman J. Silber, ‘How does the biological clock work?’, infertile.com.
4. The Esoteric Tradition, pp. 904-5.
5. Ibid., p. 666.
6. Aarathi Prasad, Like a Virgin: How science is redesigning the rules of sex, Oxford:
Oneworld, 2012, pp. 184-5; William R. Corliss (comp.), Biological Anomalies:
Humans I, Glen Arm, MD: Sourcebook Project, 1992, pp. 40-2; Alice D. Dreger,
Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2000, p. 4.
7. David Batty, ‘Sex changes are not effective, say researchers’, 30 July 2004,
theguardian.com; sexchangeregret.com.
8. ‘7 questions about transgender people, answered’, 26 April 2016,
thefederalist.com.
9. Walt Heyer, ‘Drop the T from LGBT’, 21 April 2016, thefederalist.com.
10. Walt Heyer, ‘“Sex change” surgery: what Bruce Jenner, Diane Sawyer, and you
should know’, 27 April 2015, thepublicdiscourse.com.
11. The Esoteric Tradition, p. 906.
12. H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House,
1950-91, 12:623-4.
13. Dialogues of G. de Purucker, TUP, 1948, 3:230, 337-8.
14. The Esoteric Tradition, p. 893.

4. Virginal reproduction
In cases of parthenogenesis (virgin birth), an ovum starts to divide by itself without
fertilization, producing an embryo in which the paternal chromosomes may be replaced
by a duplication of maternal ones. Offspring are usually females or sometimes abnormal
males. This asexual reproductive method is common among invertebrates, but rare
among warm-blooded vertebrates. Until the 1950s no scientists suspected that
parthenogenesis could occur in any vertebrate, but all-female species have now been
documented in fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds – i.e. in all major orders of
vertebrates except mammals.

Artificial parthenogenesis was pioneered by German physiologist Jacques Loeb. In the

late 19th century he found that ultraviolet light, ammonia, chlorine, acids, alkalis and
alcohols can cause the eggs of sea urchins and other marine creatures to start
developing, with no need for sperm. These agents reduce the surface tension of the egg
membrane, kicking off a chain reaction (usually started by sperm) that causes
embryonic growth. In 1900 he pricked unfertilized frog eggs with a needle and found
that in some cases normal embryonic development ensued for a while. In 1936 Gregory
Pincus induced parthenogenesis in rabbit eggs by temperature change (cooling of the
fallopian tubes) and chemical agents. Artificial parthenogenesis has since been
achieved in almost all major groups of animals, by mechanical, chemical and electrical
means, though it usually results in incomplete and abnormal development.

Attempts at artificial parthenogenesis in humans have not been successful. The first
cloned human embryo was produced in October 2001. Eggs had their own genetic
material removed and were injected with the nucleus of a donor cell. They were then
incubated under special conditions to prompt them to divide and grow. One embryo
grew to six cells before it stopped dividing. The same experimenters also tried to induce
human eggs to divide into early embryos parthenogenetically – without being fertilized
by a sperm or enucleated and injected with a donor cell – but their efforts met with only
limited success.1 Research on human parthenogenesis now focuses on the production
of embryonic stem cells for use in medical treatment, not as a reproductive strategy. The
creation of human stem cells from unfertilized human eggs first occurred in 2004.2

The current scientific view is that:

Mammalian eggs may begin to develop (i.e. to undergo cell division) either
naturally or when stimulated. Such ‘embryos’ may have the same
chromosome set as the egg (haploid) or two cells may fuse to form the
normal adult (diploid) complement. However these cell masses fail to
develop far, and die long before birth. No parthenogenetic mammalian
embryos have ever been proved to go to term. One reason for this may be
the constraint imposed by genomic imprinting in which genes (more
correctly, chromosomal segments) from both parents must interact for
normal development to take place.3

Experiments on rabbits and mice show that, if an egg is induced to start dividing, the
embryo will not survive for long because certain genes will not switch on if paternal
genes are absent. Mouse parthenogenetic embryos die by day 10 of gestation. Lack of
imprinting leads to abortion because ‘histones, the structures around which DNA is
coiled, are lost, as the instructions on how to rebuild them are present in the sperm’.4

In 2004 Japanese scientists succeeded in creating a fatherless adult mouse by

combining the nucleus of one female’s egg with that of another.5 An immature egg
whose genes had not yet been stamped with an imprint was taken from a mouse
genetically engineered to lack a gene known as H19, which is normally subject to
imprinting, and a region that would otherwise switch off a gene called Igf2. These two
genes are thought to control fetal growth. These steps endowed the egg with a pattern
of gene activity similar to that of a sperm. This egg was then fused with a mature egg
from a different female. This extremely laborious technique can so far only be used on
lab rats. The conclusion drawn from experiments like this is that ‘natural
parthenogenesis in mammals is impossible’.6

There is a case of a boy who had his mother’s blood, but not her skin; his blood
contained only XX (female) chromosomes, whereas his skin had both X and Y
chromosomes. It is believed that he probably originated from an egg that had become
an embryo without being fertilized, and that a Y-bearing sperm from his father later
managed to fertilize one of the early embryonic cells. ‘Chimeras’ like this are thought to
be rare.7

According to science, human parthenogenesis would only be possible if the changes

brought about by sperm-cell imprinting were to occur by ‘random mutation’, or if a
‘random mutation’ eliminated all imprinting. But this is considered ‘highly unlikely’.8
However, it could hardly be as unlikely as the orthodox Darwinian idea that all the
diverse and intricate life-forms on earth have evolved through purely random genetic
mutations, followed by natural selection. Various biologists have acknowledged that
nature gets things right too often and too quickly to ascribe everything to ‘chance’; there
is a purposeful element to evolution that the materialistic paradigm cannot admit to, let
alone explain.9

Hermaphroditic animals are mostly invertebrates, such as worms, bryozoans (moss

animals), trematodes (flukes), snails, slugs, and barnacles. These creatures are usually
parasitic, slow-moving or permanently attached to another plant or animal.
Hermaphroditism is thought to have evolved in these creatures because they have
trouble finding mates. Hermaphroditism is also said to be ‘favoured by taxa living in
borderline habitats, where they can use the energy that would have been allocated for
mating to more useful tasks, as well as allowing a quick population increase – this is
also the reason why invasive insect species and pests are parthenogenic’.10

If hermaphroditism appears in a species where it aids their survival, it will of course be

favoured by natural selection. However, according to Darwinism, new bodily structures
and processes, new instincts and ultimately new species appear through random
genetic mutations, most of which are harmful and arise from copying errors during DNA
duplication; mutations are not made more probable by the fact that they would serve a
species’ needs. There are two major problems with this hypothesis: neither protein-
coding genes nor regulatory genes contain instructions for building bodily structures or
originating new instincts; and even if they did, the probability of all the necessary
changes occurring by chance is infinitesimal. Darwinist ideology is a dead end, requiring
blind faith in the miraculous power of blind chance.

There is anecdotal evidence that natural parthenogenesis may occasionally occur in

humans. There are many instances in which impregnation has allegedly taken place in
women without there being any possibility of the semen entering the female genital
passage.11 In some cases it was found either in the course of pregnancy or at the time
of childbirth that the female passages were obstructed. In 1956 the medical journal The
Lancet published a report by Dr Stanley Balfour-Lynn concerning 19 alleged cases of
virgin birth among women in England.12 The women came forward after the Sunday
Pictorial had inquired whether there were any mothers who believed they had given
birth to a parthenogenetic child. Such a child would most likely be a girl who closely
resembled her mother; it might also be a defective male, but this was 100 times less
likely. At that time, DNA tests did not exist, but it was thought that the probability of a
genuine virgin birth could be assessed by comparing genetically determined traits and
carrying out blood-group tests and skin grafts. The tests were performed by a team of
leading doctors.

Eleven of the 19 mother-daughter pairs were eliminated at the first interview because
the mothers had thought that a virgin birth meant that the hymen had remained intact
after conception and until birth. A further six pairs were eliminated on the basis of blood-
group tests, and another pair was thrown out because their eye colour did not match.
This left only one mother, Emmimarie Jones (a German by birth), and her 11-year-old
daughter, Monica. They were subjected to several additional tests, which indicated that
they were genetically alike. Finally, skin grafts were carried out: the graft from daughter
to mother was shed in about four weeks, while one from mother to daughter remained
healthy for six weeks. Overall, the probability of such a close match between a mother
and a daughter produced sexually was less than 1 in 100.

Balfour-Lynn felt that the significance of the skin grafts was obscure. If a parthogenetic
child originated from an unfertilized ovum (and not from budding of a somatic cell), it
might not have all the genes possessed by the mother, due to meiosis. According to one
expert, a skin graft from the child would therefore be expected to take on her mother,
but one from the mother would not necessarily take on her child. However, another
expert was not satisfied that such a result would be conclusive. There are in fact
numerous cases of people rejecting skin transplants from their own skin. Balfour-Lynn
concluded:

In such a case as this, rigorous proof is impossible, but it remains that all the
evidence obtained from serological and special tests is consistent with what
would be expected in a case of parthenogenesis. … Thus, this mother’s
claim must not only be considered seriously, but it must also be admitted that
we have been unable to disprove it.13

At the time of conception (spring 1944) the mother’s husband was away with the
German army and she herself was confined to a women’s hospital. It has been
suggested that a male member of staff could have taken advantage of her while she
was sedated. However, the mother said that all the staff working at the hospital were
women.
This article on Emmimarie Jones and her daughter appeared in the Sunday Pictorial in
1956.

Many primitive peoples believe that there are two methods of human reproduction: the
ordinary animal one and a higher one rarely employed – virgin birth.14 One belief is that
the rays of the sun can fertilize women. In this regard, it is interesting that ultraviolet
rays can cause parthenogenesis in unfertilized eggs of sea urchins. It is also believed
that moon rays, wind, rain and certain types of food can cause impregnation. In the 19th
century the Trobriand Islanders of the western Pacific insisted that cases of virgin birth
still occurred among them.

The possibility of human parthenogenesis is supported by the mysterious phenomenon

of dermoid cysts or teratomas.15 These are malformed embryonic growths or tumour-like
formations occasionally found in various parts of the body, including womb, ovaries and
scrotum. They often contain bones, hair, teeth, flesh, tissue, glands, portions of the
scalp, face, eyes, ribs, vertebral column and umbilical cord. They are found in males as
well as females, both young and old, including virgins. They appear to be undeveloped
embryos and fetuses in various stages of growth. Loeb and several other researchers
argued that dermoid cysts may be related to the parthenogenetic tendency of the
mammalian egg, catalyzed perhaps by an increase in blood alkalinity. However, the
body’s parthenogenetic capacity is now very feeble and the generative centres lack the
power to carry the reproduction process through to its proper conclusion. Scientists do
not understand how, in the absence of any sperm, an ovarian teratoma can end up with
two or more sets of chromosomes, two different versions of the same gene, or prostate
tissue and phallus-like organs.
It is possible that some cases of human parthenogenesis involve self-fertilization rather
than true virgin birth, as there are cases of sperm being produced in women by
vestigial, usually nonfunctional, male reproductive glands known as the epoöphoron
(parovarium) and paroöphoron, which correspond to the seminiferous tubules of the
testicles in males. In some instances, the magnetic influence and nervous excitement
occasioned by attempted sexual intercourse may rouse into activity the latent,
rudimentary male sex glands so that they secrete semen, resulting in impregnation.16

Prior to the acceptance by the medical profession of the present theory of conception
(epigenesis) in the middle of the 19th century, the ovist and aura seminalis theories
prevailed, which can be traced back to Pythagoras. According to the ovist theory, the
new organism is a product of the egg alone, and the spermatozoon and male progenitor
are not essential to the reproductive process. According to the aura seminalis theory,
the male supplies only a vital stimulus (an aura or emanation) which initiates the
development of the ovum. The aura seminalis theory was rejected after it was
established in 1854 that ova were fertilized by the actual entrance of the nucleus or
head of the spermatozoa.

However, Loeb’s experiments showed that for fertilization to occur, neither the sperm
nucleus nor the spermatozoon itself need enter the egg, or even be in proximity to the
egg. He replaced the sperm by alkaline solutions, ultraviolet rays and other stimuli.
Alexander Gurwitsch discovered in the 1920s that cells emit weak ultraviolet
(‘mitogenetic’) radiation that can cause cell division in other cells at a distance – a
finding still resisted by mainstream scientists.17

The desert grassland whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) is an all-female species

that reproduces by parthenogenesis. Two females go through courtship and ‘mating’
(pseudo-copulation) rituals resembling those of closely related species that reproduce
sexually. How this behaviour causes the eggs of the passive female to enlarge and start
dividing is not known.18

The power of sperm to cause fertilization is distinct from their capacity of hereditary
transmission. In one experiment, a fertilizing enzyme (occytase) was isolated from
spermatozoa and, when added to unfertilized sea-urchin eggs, caused them to develop.
This substance is present in mammalian blood, since the addition of ox’s blood to
unfertilized eggs produced the same effects. Sperm therefore exercise two independent
functions: they can trigger the segmentation of the ovum, and they may convey paternal
genetic qualities. The former function can be replaced by chemical substances, while
the latter can be dispensed with, in which case the offspring have purely maternal
characteristics.19

Eggs show at least a beginning of segmentation under normal conditions. But sperm,
which are highly alkaline, appear to accelerate the process by compensating for the
excessive acidity of the medium surrounding the egg rather than a chemical deficiency
in the egg itself. An acid condition of the blood prevents the parthenogenetic
development of ova in the ovaries, while increased alkalinity appears to favour
parthenogenetic development.20

Commenting on Pincus’s experiments on artificial parthenogenesis in rabbits, G. de

Purucker stated that the means employed had probably thrown the ova back to a
condition identical with the hermaphroditism of the early third root-race. Since there is
always a double sex in every human or animal of our day, the ova would develop from
the double current innate in the mother rabbit and produce offspring much as the
hermaphrodites did towards the middle of the third race.21

There are many references in the world’s religions and mythologies to the virgin birth or
‘immaculate conception’ of gods, saviours and sages. While virgin reproduction does
occur in the animal world, this mystical teaching also has a twofold symbolic meaning. It
can refer to the ‘virgin-mother of space’ giving birth to her ‘mind-born’ son, the manifest
cosmos, with its multitudes of beings. And it can also refer to the birth of an initiate’s
inner buddha or christ from the virgin or spiritual part of their nature, or from Sophia,
eternal wisdom, the virgin-mother of initiates.22 G. de Purucker says:

The Christian Church has interpreted these doctrines physically and thus
has lost the noble and profound symbolism; but the same mystical teaching
and legend is found in other countries: for instance, in India there is Krishna
who was born of a virgin, and in Egypt, Horus born of the virgin-mother
Isis.23

References

1. J.B. Cibelli, R.P. Lanza and M.D. West, with C. Ezzell, ‘The first human cloned
embryo’, Scientific American, 24 Nov 2001, sciam.com.
2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis.
3. R.J. Berry, ‘The virgin birth of Christ’, Science & Christian Belief, v. 8, 1996, pp.
101-10, scienceandchristianbelief.org.
4. Marc Srour, ‘Parthenogenesis’, 25 Dec 2010, bioteaching.com.
5. Helen Pearson, ‘Mouse created without father’, 22 April 2004, nature.com; Aarathi
Prasad, Like a Virgin: How science is redesigning the rules of sex, Oxford:
Oneworld, 2012, pp. 245-7.
6. Srour, ‘Parthenogenesis’.
7. Like a Virgin, pp. 77-80.
8. Daniel Engber, ‘FYI: Could a virgin birth ever happen?’, 18 Nov 2013, popsci.com.
9. Evolution and design, davidpratt.info.
10. Srour, ‘Parthenogenesis’.
11. Raymond Bernard, The Mysteries of Human Reproduction, Mokelumne Hill, CA:
Health Research, 1959, pp. 47-50, 56-63.
12. S. Balfour-Lynn, ‘Parthenogenesis in human beings’, The Lancet, v. 267, no. 6931,
1956, pp. 1071-2; The Mysteries of Human Reproduction, pp. 3-10; Like a Virgin,
pp. 61-77; Aarathi Prasad, ‘The modern-day virgin birth’, 16 Aug 2012,
telegraph.co.uk; Berry, ‘The virgin birth of Christ’; Eric R. Pianka, ‘Virgin birth in
human females?’, zo.utexas.edu.
13. ‘Parthenogenesis in human beings’, p. 1072.
14. The Mysteries of Human Reproduction, pp. 11-28, 89-93.
15. Ibid., pp. 51-5, 117; F.H. Buzzacott and M.I. Wymore, Bi-sexual Man or Evolution
of the Sexes, Health Research, 1966 (1912), pp. 32-4; Hilton Hotema, Secret of
Regeneration, Health Research, 1963, ch. 204-205, 211; ‘Dermoid cyst’,
emedicine.medscape.com; Like a Virgin, pp. 105-17.
16. Secret of Regeneration, ch. 208-210, 234; Gray’s Anatomy, bartleby.com/107.
 17. Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, The Secret Life of Plants, New York: Harper
& Row, 1973, pp. 54-5, 197-9; R. VanWijk, ‘Bio-photons and bio-communication’,
Journal of Scientific Exploration, v. 15, no. 2, 2001, pp. 183-97.
18. Like a Virgin, pp. 85-6; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_grassland_whiptail_lizard.
19. The Mysteries of Human Reproduction, pp. 42, 109.
20. Ibid., pp. 118-9.
21. G. de Purucker, Studies in Occult Philosophy, Pasadena, CA: Theosophical
University Press (TUP), 1973, pp. 455-8.
22. H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, TUP, 1977 (1888), 1:60-1, 399-400; G. de
Purucker, The Esoteric Tradition, TUP, 3rd ed., 2011, p. 622; G. de Purucker,
Fountain-Source of Occultism, TUP, 1974, pp. 314-5.
23. The Esoteric Tradition, p. 622.

5. Intersex and hermaphrodites

Sex is relative. Among animals, especially cold-blooded ones, males can be turned into
females by increased feeding or a change in temperature. In the case of warm-blooded
creatures, it can be done by extracting ovaries to turn, say, a hen into a cock. In many
species, sex reversals happen naturally. Quahogs (hard-shell clams) are born and grow
up male, but later half of them turn female. Slipper shells and cup-and-saucer shells do
this too; they commence every season as males, but nearly all of them later pass
through a phase of ambisexuality and turn into adult females. Guy Murchie writes:

Sex among these lowly folk seems to depend a great deal on food, since the
best-fed individuals turn female the earliest, while the poor scrawny ones get
left behind as males (although the opposite happens in the case of oysters).
In some species, such as the marine worm Ophryotrocha, if the portly young
females are later underfed they revert back into males again. Indeed among
most primitive creatures of the sea and practically all insects it is a general
rule that the smaller individuals are males and the bigger, fatter ones
females, the basic reason being that the essential female function is to
produce and feed young, while the only important thing expected of a
primitive male is to dart blithely about fertilizing every egg in reach ...1

Fish have evolved the quickest sex-reversing capacity of any animal: some species not
only change from male to female as they grow, but a few, like groupers and guppies,
develop the ability to switch sexually back and forth within seconds. If two female
guppies meet while feeling amorous, one is likely to start turning into a male so he can
mate with the other. Occasionally both shift at the same moment, which usually results
in a furious fight, with the winner emerging as a female who somehow forces the other
to stay male.

As already mentioned, many primitive creatures (including plants) are hermaphrodites,

possessing both male and female sex organs. The guppy’s flexibility comes from having
both testicles and ovaries with some sort of mechanism that switches the flow from milt
to roe. But true hermaphroditism (involving simultaneous sperm and egg flow) is entirely
normal among most plants and many animals, from snails, who make love with their
feet, to earthworms, which spend hours adjusting and aligning themselves head to tail
and tail to head with the aid of a sticky mucus they exude, so that the sperm pores on
the fifteenth segment of each worm coincide with the egg pores on the tenth segment of
the other worm.

Mating earthworms.

In times of famine or stress, when such hermaphrodites don’t meet each other so often
for cross-fertilization, each one still has the possibility of fertilizing itself by uniting its
own sperm and ova. A dynasty of laboratory snails was kept going on self-fertilization
for 90 consecutive generations (during 20 years) without noticeable loss of vitality.
Some kinds of deep-sea arrowworms actually prefer self-fertilization and use it
exclusively.

A curious hermaphroditic creature is the sluglike sea hare, a kind of shell-less snail
sometimes two feet long. Its phallus is on the right side of its head and, when playing
the male, it puts its head between the finlike fans of a companion playing the female,
gradually oozing its member into the genital opening. At the same time as it is a male to
one sea hare, it will be female to another on the other side, and as many as 15 of them
have been seen linked thus in a chain. In a few cases, the chain’s ends work their way
round to meet and join, forming a continuous loop – a sort of sexual merry-go-round.2
 Hermaphroditus, the ‘son’ of the Greek god Hermes and the
goddess Aphrodite, origin of the word ‘hermaphrodite’.

Most humans today are born with either a distinctly female or distinctly male sexual
anatomy. However, about one person in a thousand is born with an ‘ambiguous’ sexual
anatomy, often resulting in disagreement among ‘experts’ as to what their ‘true’ sex is.3
Human hermaphrodites or intersexuals have been reported throughout history.

Intersex bodies present an unusual mix of parts. The organ located where the penis or
clitoris is usually found might look like the ‘wrong’ organ, or like something in between
the two, or not particularly like either. The genitalia may appear to be of the female type,
but the labia may contain testicles. Or the genitalia may look mostly male, but include a
seeming vagina. Ambiguous individuals used to be categorized as male
pseudohermaphrodites if they had testicular tissue only, as female
pseudohermaphrodites if they had ovarian tissue only, and as true hermaphrodites if
they had both ovarian and testicular tissue, either separate or combined in an ovotestis.
The tissue in question need not be functional in any sense. An interesting asymmetry in
true hermaphrodites is that the ovaries are generally found on the left side, and the
testes on the right.4
 ‘Hermaphrodite’ from Cameroon.

True hermaphrodites are very rare (about 1 person in 83,000). The vast majority of them
have an XX chromosomal basis, though a small percentage exhibit XY chromosomes. A
very few have some cells showing XX and others showing XY, and in extremely rare
cases cells have a single X chromosome (XO). In every such individual there is also
evidence of Y chromosomal material on one of the ‘nonsex’ chromosomes (autosomes).
These individuals usually have ambiguous external genitalia with a sizable phallus so
that they are generally reared as males, but they rarely produce sperm. They develop
breasts during puberty and menstruate, and in some instances even pregnancy and
childbirth have occurred.
 South African athlete Caster Semenya has always identified as
female. After winning the women’s 800 and 1500 metres at the
African Junior Championships in 2009, her sex was called into
question. News that the International Association of Athletics
Federations had asked her to undergo a gender test broke three
hours before the final of the 800 metres at the 2009 World
Championships, which Semenya won. According to press
reports, the tests showed that she had internal testes instead of
ovaries, and no womb. The IAAF decided that she could continue
to compete as a female because her condition did not give her an
unfair competitive advantage.5

Female pseudohermaphrodites have ovaries and exhibit an XX chromosomal pattern,

but the external genitalia look masculinized. The most common cause is congenital
adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a condition in which the adrenal glands of the fetus produce
relatively large amounts of androgens (male sex hormones). Male
pseudohermaphrodites have testes and an XY chromosomal pattern, but are born with
feminine-looking genitals. There are two main causes: testicular feminization syndrome
or androgen insensitivity syndrome; and 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. In the latter case,
the body develops along more masculine lines at puberty; the testes often descend into
the assumed-labia, and the penis/clitoris grows to look and act more like a penis.
Women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome are technically ‘male’
pseudohermaphrodites because they have internal testes rather than ovaries. However,
this label seems inappropriate because these women often have primary and secondary
sexual characteristics typical of other women and feel they have normal (external)
female bodies.

Ambiguous genitalia can also result from other conditions. In Klinefelter’s syndrome, for
instance, the presence of several X chromosomes and one Y chromosome sometimes
results in sexual ambiguity. Moreover, many babies are born with relatively unusually
formed genitalia but are not categorized as ambiguous or intersexed. Unquestioned
females are sometimes born with relatively large clitorises, and a large number of male
babies – perhaps one in every one or two hundred – are born with hypospadic penises,
meaning that the urethra exits some place other than the tip of the glans. Operations
are often performed very early on hypospadic penises, and large clitorises are often
surgically reduced.6

Intersex surgery: before (A) and after (B). (slidesharecdn.com)

(For very graphic photos, click here.)

The term ‘pseudohermaphroditism’ was first used in 1876, long before the discovery of
X and Y chromosomes, and the term ‘intersexuality’ was introduced in 1923. However,
most intersex or hermaphrodite people think of themselves as being either boys/men or
girls/women. A multidisciplinary meeting of medical and nonmedical experts in Chicago
in 2005 (the Chicago Consensus) proposed that congenital conditions associated with
atypical development of chromosomal, gonadal or anatomical sex should be called
disorders of sex differentiation (DSDs), and that terms such as intersex,
hermaphroditism and pseudohermaphroditism should be dropped.7 In the new
terminology, male and female pseudohermaphroditism are known as 46,XY DSD and
46,XX DSD respectively. However, since ‘disorder’ implies that any differences of this
kind are pathological, this term has also been challenged, and terms like ‘intersex
conditions’ are still in use.8
Intersexuals have traditionally been regarded as freaks in need of a medical-
technological ‘fix’, but this attitude has increasingly been challenged in recent decades.9
The orthodox medical response has been to create a ‘believable’ masculine or feminine
anatomy via plastic surgery and hormonal therapy as soon as possible after birth. CAH
is a metabolic disease and certainly requires treatment as it can save a child’s life and
fertility. Likewise, androgen insensitivity needs to be diagnosed as early as possible so
that the testes of androgen-insensitive people can be carefully watched or removed, as
there is a high risk of cancer. However, ambiguous genitalia are not diseased, and the
narrow definition of ‘normality’ among intersex experts has resulted in an extraordinary
number of risky surgeries on unconsenting children. Complications include scarring,
infections, loss of feeling, and psychological trauma.10 Nowadays, both medical doctors
and intersex advocates increasingly recommend not assigning a gender identity in
infancy and delaying nonessential surgery until the person in question is old enough to
express a gender identity and participate in medical decisions.11

As already mentioned, the tradition that the early ancestors of the human race were
androgynous is widespread among all races of the world. Even today, 100% maleness
or femaleness does not exist as each sex contains the rudimentary organs of the
opposite sex; in this sense we are all intersexuals. Some researchers have argued that
hermaphrodites represent an atavistic reversion to a primordial type. From a
theosophical standpoint, hermaphroditism can also be seen as a foreshadowing of what
is to come.

It is noteworthy that males sometimes have cycles closely resembling the female
menstrual cycle in length and nature. In rare cases, males may even menstruate
periodically, with blood being discharged from various parts of the body, usually the
nose or urethra.12 There are also instances of males having breasts as large as a
female’s and as functionally active, so that they are able to suckle offspring.13

According to theosophy, the separation of the sexes in the third root-race took millions
of years. Many details of the different reproductive stages passed through by the third
root-race, and the corresponding changes in anatomy, are lacking, but the general
scenario seems to have been as follows.14 In the early third root-race, humans had no
external sex organs such as now exist. Initially ‘vital cells’ were exuded from all parts of
the body and coalesced into a huge egg, in which the fetus gestated for several years.
Later an egg was laid that had been formed within the body. The idea that early (semi-
astral) humanity was egg-laying is not as strange as it may seem; the modern method
of reproduction is essentially a modified, internal, microscopic version of the same thing.
As some point, offspring began to be born with external sexual organs, and initially
these individuals were probably true functional hermaphrodites or male-females, who
fertilized one another and could play the role of male or female. Gradually this form of
true hermaphroditism gave way to pseudohermaphroditism and finally to unisexuality. In
humans today, males have nine orifices and females 10. Blavatsky says that, prior to
the separation of the sexes, 10 orifices existed in the hermaphrodites of the third race,
first potentially, then functionally.15

The terms ‘hermaphroditic’ and ‘parthenogenetic’ are sometimes used interchangeably

in theosophical literature to describe both the past and future modes of reproduction,
whereas hermaphroditism is normally regarded as a sexual mode of reproduction and
parthenogenesis as an asexual mode. However, this distinction may be somewhat
artificial. Even when there is no physical fertilizing agent, some sort of ‘male’ potential
must ‘activate’ the egg, and an organism in which such a potential resides is in a sense
hermaphrodite. (G. de Purucker says that there is a double sexual current in every
human and animal today.) As mentioned in the previous section, where
parthenogenesis occurs in humans today, either the rudimentary seminal vesicles in
females may produce sperm, or fertilization may involve a subtler agent, as postulated
in the aura seminalis theory. In both cases, attempted (but nonprocreative) sexual
intercourse with a male partner may sometimes act as trigger. Dermoid cysts indicate
that a weak potential for parthenogenesis is also present in males.

In the future, male and female bodies will probably grow more alike, and the incidence
of both pseudo- and true hermaphroditism will increase, until hermaphrodites are finally
in the majority and single-sexed individuals begin to be looked upon as abnormal.
Cross-fertilization will eventually be replaced by self-generation.

References

1. Guy Murchie, The Seven Mysteries of Life: An exploration of science and

philosophy, Boston, MA: Mariner Books, 1999, p. 128.
2. Ibid., pp. 134-5.
3. Alice D. Dreger, Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2000, p. 42.
4. William R. Corliss (comp.), Biological Anomalies: Humans I, Glen Arm, MD:
Sourcebook Project, 1992, p. 41.
5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_Semenya; J. Magnay, ‘Secret of Semenya’s sex
stripped bare’, 11 Sep 2009, smh.com.au; Sean Ingle, ‘Caster Semenya’s
comeback puts her on course for Rio gold – and controversy’, 17 April 2016,
theguardian.com.
6. Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, pp. 38-40.
7. Kun Suk Kim and Jongwon Kim, ‘Disorders of Sex Development’, Korean Journal
of Urology, v. 53, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1-8, icurology.org; Disorders of sex
development, nhs.uk; Disorders of sex development, emedicine.medscape.com.
8. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disorders_of_sex_development.
9. Intersex Society of North America; OII Intersex Network; Council of Europe,
Human Rights and Intersex People, 2015, wcd.coe.int.
10. Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, pp. 188-201.
11. Marcus Tye, Sexuality and Our Diversity: Integrating culture with the
biopsychosocial, v. 1.0, 2013, section 4.2, catalog.flatworldknowledge.com.
12. William R. Corliss (comp.), Biological Anomalies: Humans II, Sourcebook Project,
1993, pp. 90-1.
13. F.H. Buzzacott and M.I. Wymore, Bi-sexual Man or Evolution of the Sexes,
Mokelumne Hill, CA: Health Research, 1966 (1912), pp. 23-4.
14. H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University
Press, 1977 (1888), 2:132, 165-7, 177-8, 197, 777; Evolution in the fourth round,
Sex: theosophical quotations, davidpratt.info.
15. H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House,
1950-91, 12:532.
6. Artificial reproduction

Assisted reproductive technology

One in six couples worldwide experiences some form of infertility problem at least once
during their reproductive lifetime.1 Assisted reproductive technology (ART) aims to help
them have children. The most common procedure is in vitro fertilization (IVF): a man’s
sperm and a woman’s eggs are brought together in a laboratory dish, and the resulting
embryo is then transferred to the woman’s uterus. Induced ovulation involves treating a
woman with hormones to stimulate her ovaries to release eggs. Intrauterine
insemination (IUI) is used to help get underperforming sperm or eggs in the same place
at the same time. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) involves injecting a single
sperm into an egg. Sometimes sperm or eggs are obtained from donors, or an embryo
is implanted in the uterus of a surrogate mother.

The first ‘test-tube baby’ was born in 1978. Since then an estimated 5 million IVF babies
have been born. Today, around 1 in 50 babies born in the UK, and 1 in 100 babies in the
US, starts life in a lab. Success rates with IVF and ICSI are only around 30% at best.
After age 45 the chance of pregnancy is close to 0%.2

To persuade the ovaries to release multiple eggs, hormones are administered in high
doses. This can cause premature menopause, uterine cancer and ovarian
hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), where the ovaries become swollen and painful.
 Fluid may accumulate in the abdominal cavity and chest, and the woman
may feel bloated, nauseated, and experience vomiting or lack of appetite. ...
Up to 2% of women develop severe OHSS characterized by excessive
weight gain, fluid accumulation in the abdomen and chest, electrolyte
abnormalities, over-concentration of the blood, and, in rare cases, the
development of blood clots, kidney failure, or death.3

To harvest eggs, a long, thin needle is passed through the vagina to the ovaries and
used to suck the fluid out of mature follicles, or egg-containing sacs. This invasive
procedure entails a risk of bleeding, infection, and damage to the bowel, bladder or
blood vessels.

Trade in eggs has grown exponentially in response to demand.

As in the case of wombs-for-rent, there is scope for abuse. Women from

poor socio-economic backgrounds may submit to – or be coerced into –
successive egg donations to make money ... This phenomenon has been
called ‘fertility tourism’ or, in its most nefarious forms, ‘egg trafficking’.4

In one case, a Stanford student who had agreed to donate eggs for a fee of $15,000
experienced a rare adverse reaction to one of the fertility drugs. She suffered a massive
stroke, which left her in a coma for eight weeks with long-term brain damage.5

In the US and the UK most adoption agencies prefer to place very young children with
couples in their 20s or early 30s. For older, single women the only real option is to turn
to international adoption bureaus, which charge at least £20,000 or £32,000 for their
services. Buying an egg or sperm, on the other hand, costs 10 times less.6

To prepare for pregnancy, surrogate mothers are pumped full of hormones, putting them
at risk of long-term liver problems. They also face the usual risks of pregnancy, such as
toxaemia and haemorrhage. A woman who carries to term a child not genetically related
to her and has had no previous exposure to the genetic father’s antigens faces an as
yet unknown threat to her immune system. Surrogacy is a lucrative business in poor
countries like India, where women are paid between $6000 and $10,000, equivalent to
about 15 years’ wages on average. Couples from countries like the UK, US, Germany,
Japan and Australia make use of these services because, even with travel costs, they
pay a third of what it would cost in their own countries. Women in India are 69 times
more likely to die from childbirth-related issues because of inadequate access to good
medical facilities.7

A study found that 7.2% of babies born after IVF had a birth defect, compared with
about 6% of babies conceived naturally. However, most of the increased risk of birth
defects was due to parental factors, such as the mother’s age, smoking status and
conditions during pregnancy.8 There is evidence that children conceived by ART have
an increased incidence of growth abnormalities associated with genetic imprinting
(imprinted genes are contributed by only one parent).9 The chance of having a baby
with major malformations through ICSI is twice as high as in the general population (9%
versus 3-4%). All assisted reproductive technologies increase the chance of preterm
birth, low birth weight and multiple births, with all the risks this entails.10 Following ART
procedures, miscarriage occurs in nearly 15% of women under 35, in 25% at age 40,
and in 35% at age 42.11
References

1. ART fact sheet (July 2014), eshre.eu.

2. Ibid.; Aarathi Prasad, Like a Virgin: How science is redesigning the rules of sex,
Oxford: Oneworld, 2012, pp. 162, 153, 176.
3. American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Assisted Reproductive Technology:
A guide for patients, 2015, pp. 15-6, asrm.org.
4. Like a Virgin, p. 232.
5. Ibid., p. 235.
6. Ibid., pp. 231-2.
7. Ibid., pp. 223-4.
8. Rachael Rettner, ‘Birth defect risk greater with assisted reproduction’, 5 May 2012,
livescience.com.
9. A. Eroglu and L.C. Layman, ‘Role of ART in imprinting disorders’, Seminars in
Reproductive Medicine, v. 30, no. 2, 2012, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
10. Like a Virgin, pp. 157-8.
11. Assisted Reproductive Technology, p. 17.

Artificial wombs

Around 5% to 9% of all babies in developing countries and 12% of babies in the US are
born prematurely.1 For over a century such babies have been enabled to survive by
placing them in incubators. These provide warmth and humidity, but nutrients and
oxygen have to be delivered via tubes inserted into the baby’s body. The babies are
usually sedated some of the time to stop them pulling the tubes out or to reduce
discomfort or pain. Infection around the tubes is a serious risk. Today, a preterm fetus
can survive when removed from the mother at a gestational age of slightly less than 22
weeks – just over half the length of a normal 40-week pregnancy.

Recent decades have seen rapid advances in two areas of biotechnology that could
pave the way for full ectogenesis – i.e. the development of a human embryo in an
artificial womb, from fertilization to birth.

One of the two developing key technologies is the artificial amniotic fluid
filled environment that has continued to develop with laboratory animal
models since the work with goats in the 1990s. The other area is embryo
transfer. Not only can a developing mammal be transferred from the uterus
of its own mother to that of a surrogate, but gradually investigators are
reproducing the endometrium – the cell layer of the uterus that contains and
nourishes the pregnancy – as a cell culture, or an in vitro model. The
convergence of these technologies will make it possible to transfer a
developing human into a system that includes the placenta and umbilical
cord and supplies all consumables (oxygen and food), and removes all
waste, directly through the blood.2

Some researchers believe that a fully functional artificial human womb could be
developed within a couple of decades. While much of the technology for experimenting
with artificially growing a human fetus already exists, human trials are probably at least
a decade away, largely due to the murky legal and ethical implications. At present,
researchers are not allowed to grow human fetuses in the lab for more than 14 days,
because this is when they develop a neural tube – the precursor of the brain and
nervous system.3

Will science fiction become reality?

An artificial uterus would move a pregnancy outside of a woman’s body. Advocates say
it could serve male gay couples, male-to-female transsexuals, women with damaged or
dysfunctional wombs, elderly women, and also fertile women who want children but do
not want to experience the hassle and potential perils of pregnancy themselves. Social
conservatives disapprove of the idea. Even some feminists view ectogenesis with
scepticism, saying it will hand over women’s sacred birthing ability to science.4

An artificial womb would allow a fetus to develop in an environment that is not

influenced by the presence of disease, environmental pollutants, alcohol, nicotine or
other drugs which a mother may have in her circulatory system. Some opponents say
that putting a fetus in an artificial womb for 40 weeks will remove the special bond
between mother and child. Aarathi Prasad comments:

[C]arrying a baby has never been a prerequisite for loving one’s baby or
being able to bond with it – otherwise the same issues would be an
argument against adoptive parents, mothers who use surrogates, and even
fathers. In fact, being able to watch, in plain sight, the fragile, doll-like foetus
as it develops and grows may encourage a new and special bond.5

Bonding also reflects the degree to which a child is wanted.

In the UK, around 40% of abortions for medical reasons are aimed at preventing the
birth of a fetus with serious disabilities. About 92% of women who receive a prenatal
diagnosis of Down’s syndrome, for example, choose to terminate the pregnancy. The
remaining 60% of abortions are connected with the mother’s physical or emotional
health or her relationship to the father. In 91% of the cases, the fetus is aborted after no
more than 13 weeks of gestation – too early for today’s incubators.6 An artificial womb
would make it possible to terminate a pregnancy without killing the fetus, which could be
transferred to an artificial womb and perhaps later offered for adoption.

References

1. Prasad, Like a Virgin, p. 200.

2. David Warmflash, ‘Artificial wombs: the coming era of motherless births?’, 12 June
2015, geneticliteracyproject.org.
3. Like a Virgin, p. 205.
4. Zoltan Istvan, ‘Artificial wombs are coming, but the controversy is already here’, 4
Aug 2014, motherboard.vice.com.
5. Like a Virgin, p. 217.
6. Ibid., p. 218.

Artificial eggs and sperm

Embryonic stem cells can be used to make artificial sperm and eggs.

[I]n early embryos every cell has the potential to generate into any number of
different cell types. As development proceeds, ... one cell will only be able to
become a brain cell, another will only become a muscle cell, and so on – the
stem cells lose their totipotent potential and become pluripotent, able to
generate several different cell types but not all. But because extracting
embryonic stem cells currently requires destroying an embryo, the technique
is besieged with controversy, particularly in the US.1

Within the last decade, researchers have been ‘reprogramming’ adult cells (such as skin
cells) to act like embryonic stem cells. These induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have
been used to develop human retinas and intestines, for example. Researchers have
also created iPS cells that could differentiate into primordial germ cells. This was first
achieved in rodents, but by 2015 both embryonic stem cells and iPS cells from males
and females had been used to make sex cell precursors with up to 40% efficiency.2

Regardless of the body part from which stem cells are obtained, the proteins that act as
signposts for developing sperm and eggs can be detected in them.

In fact, eggs have been made in the lab from both female and male
embryonic stem cell lines. This is because the male embryonic stem cells
have not yet expressed the SRY gene, which triggers the development of the
testes and eventually the generation of sperm. Female embryonic stem
cells, on the other hand, can only give rise to eggs. So without an artificial Y
chromosome, women could only ever make artificial eggs, while men could
make artificial eggs or sperm.3

In 2016 a Chinese team reported that it had used stem cells from a mouse embryo to
create artificial spermatids – undeveloped sperm that lack tails and cannot swim. When
injected into mouse eggs, the eggs developed into viable embryos and healthy, fertile
babies. This was the most successful such experiment to date. In the UK, this
procedure would be illegal. Some scientists hope that it will one day be possible to
extract cells from an infertile man, revert them to an embryonic stem-cell-like state, and
then convert them into artificial spermatids for use in IVF. One concern is that if germ
cells do not format their DNA correctly, this would affect not only the resulting individual
but also the next generation.4

Aarathi Prasad holds out the following prospect:

If the option were to exist one day, the ultimate solo parent will probably be a
woman who needs nothing but her own stem cells and an artificial Y
chromosome to produce eggs and sperm. She might use two of her own
eggs to create a child, converting one egg into a pseudo-sperm to fertilize
herself, as scientists have already done in mice. And then, should an
artificial womb become a reality, she might even forego pregnancy, allowing
a doctor to set the ideal conditions for the foetus’s development. She could
even keep working, as men do, until the moment the baby is born.

This would be the great biological and social equalizer, a truly new way of
thinking about sex. The question is not if it will happen, but when.5

References

1. Prasad, Like a Virgin, p. 245.

2. Janet Fang, ‘Artificial sperm and egg cells created from skin cells’, 24 Dec 2014,
iflscience.com.
3. Like a Virgin, p. 250.
4. Q. Zhou et al., ‘Complete meiosis from embryonic stem cell-derived germ cells in
vitro’, Cell Stem Cell, v. 18, no. 3, 2016, pp. 330-40, sciencedirect.com; John von
Radowitz, ‘Scientists claim they can create babies without men by injecting eggs
with artificial sperm’, 26 Feb 2016, mirror.co.uk; Bec Crew, ‘Scientists have made
the best artificial sperm yet, and they’re breeding mice with it’, 26 Feb 2016,
sciencealert.com; Steve Connor, ‘Infertile men “could grow new sperm from skin
cells”’, 25 Feb 2016, independent.co.uk.
 5. Like a Virgin, p. 256.

Designer babies

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is aimed at identifying genetic defects in

embryos created through in vitro fertilization before they are implanted in the womb. It
has also been used for the purpose of gender selection. The couple concerned then
decides whether to continue with the pregnancy or have the embryo destroyed. The first
genetically screened babies were born in 1990.

It is also possible to genetically modify embryos or babies – not only to rid them of
genetic diseases but also, in theory, to ‘enhance’ them by, for example, making them
more beautiful, more athletic, or more intelligent. Humans have already genetically
modified crops and animals; in the hundreds of thousands of trials that failed, the
unwanted crop or animal was simply discarded. There is always a risk that genetic
modification could disrupt the function of other genes and have unintended effects.
Moreover, this whole issue raises the spectre of eugenics – the effort to improve the
human race through selective breeding.

Gene therapy involves the replacement or alteration of defective genes to prevent

inherited diseases. It is particularly suitable for treating genetic diseases like cystic
fibrosis, sickle cell disease and Huntington’s disease, which are caused by mutations at
specific locations in genes that scientists are very familiar with. For example, sickle cell
disease is caused by an error in a single letter of genetic code. Nicholas Staropoli says
that editing out these types of mutations ‘would merely be consistent with what
physicians and researchers have been doing for centuries: treating diseases’.1
Gene therapy currently focuses on making changes to the genes in an adult’s somatic
cells. These genetic changes are therefore not passed to offspring. Gene therapy could
also be applied to newborn babies or even embryos, but there is widespread opposition
to this. The advantage would be that an early embryo only consists of a few cells,
whereas gene therapy in adults has to target thousands or even millions of cells and
replace a faulty gene in all of them. Most controversial of all is the editing of germ cells
(eggs and sperm) as this would permanently modify the human gene pool, and if
anything went wrong, it would be difficult to reverse. In the UK, germline editing is
currently illegal. In many other countries, the law is ambiguous.2

The idea of using genetic modification to design a child that will have specific talents,
abilities or virtues currently belongs firmly to the realm of science fiction. Even
materialistic scientists believe that ‘genes may play a role in the traits we have, but our
individuality is the result of multiple genes interacting with each other, and all of them
interacting with the environment’.3 As bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe puts it:

At this point in our understanding of the dynamics of human

development, we can send in one or a small number of
genes to correct or modify single traits. However, our
understanding of the genetics of complex traits like
intelligence, or musical ability, or athleticism is still
rudimentary, and no one would know how to create a more
intelligent child, for example.4

It used to be thought that a simple trait like eye colour was

determined by a single gene. But as many as 15 genes have so far been associated
with eye colour inheritance.5

Thanks to research in the field of epigenetics, scientists now accept that our thoughts,
deeds and general lifestyle can all alter our genes – for better or for worse. Several
‘tags’ have been discovered that modify gene expression. The two main ones involve
methyl groups (made of carbon and hydrogen), which turn genes on or off, and histones
(a type of protein), which regulate gene activity up or down. It’s thought that we have
four million of these switches, which are triggered by lifestyle and environmental
factors.6

Scientists who follow the materialistic faith are still fixated mainly on genetics, and
completely overlook the most essential ingredient in human beings: the reincarnating
soul.7 The ageless wisdom teaches that if a baby is born, whatever the reproductive
method and whatever the genetic modifications, it is because a soul has attached itself
to the growing physical form; this means that the body in question and the family
circumstances are what that soul needs for its further development. Any changes –
genetic or otherwise – to the physical body, whether before or after birth, do not alter the
intrinsic characteristics of the soul, only its ability to express itself through its physical
vehicle. All the events in our lives are the karmic product of our conduct in our present
and/or former incarnations; every soul ultimately reaps what it has sown.

References

1. Nicholas Staropoli, ‘With global gene editing slow down, what’s the future of
 “designer babies?”’, 7 March 2016, geneticliteracyproject.org.
2. James Gallagher, ‘“Designer babies” debate should start, scientists say’, 19 Jan
2015, bbc.com; Claire Maldarelli, ‘Are we ready for designer babies?’, 21 March
2016, popsci.com.
3. Nicholas Agar, ‘Designer babies: ethical considerations’, April 2006,
actionbioscience.org.
4. Quoted in ‘With global gene editing slow down, what’s the future of “designer
babies?”’.
5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_color.
6. Deane Alban, ‘Epigenetics: how you can change your genes and change your life’,
18 Feb 2016, reset.me; Chris Bell, ‘Epigenetics: how to alter your genes’, 16 Oct
2013, telegraph.co.uk.
7. Life beyond death: evidence for survival, davidpratt.info.

7. Pleasure at a price

The primary biological function of sex is procreation – to initiate the growth of a new
physical body in which a soul can incarnate. It is only natural that this act of creation –
necessary for the continuation of the species – should be highly pleasurable.

In the animal kingdom sex generally takes place only at certain times of the year and for
the purpose of reproduction, as animals have no selfconscious intellect to interfere with
their natural instincts. Birds lay eggs and most mammals deliver their young in early
spring, when the months ahead are warm and food is plentiful, and the mating season is
adjusted to this end. In the human kingdom, on the other hand, most sexual activity is
for recreation, and sex can be indulged in all year round, including to excess. Our
hedonistic culture constantly bombards us with ‘erotic’ images and promotes the
message that an active sex life is essential to health, sanity and happiness. Sexual
pleasure has become one of the false gods worshipped by modern society, alongside
the pursuit of wealth, power and status. Self-indulgence, rather than self-discipline, is
the guiding principle.

It is no accident that the human kingdom is afflicted with a variety of sexual and
degenerative diseases unknown in the animal kingdom. H.P. Blavatsky stated that ‘by
turning the holy mystery of procreation into animal gratification’, humanity had become
‘a helpless, scrofulous being, ... the wealthiest heir on the globe to constitutional and
hereditary diseases, the most consciously and intelligently bestial of all animals!’1

Globally, more than 1 million sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are acquired every
day. Each year, there are 131 million new infections with chlamydia, 78 million with
gonorrhoea, 5.6 million with syphilis, and 143 million with trichomoniasis. At any given
time, more than 500 million people suffer from genital herpes, and more than 290 million
women have a human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. Syphilis in pregnancy leads to
about 305,000 fetal and neonatal deaths every year and leaves 215,000 infants at
increased risk of dying from prematurity, low birth weight, or congenital disease. HPV
infection causes 528,000 cases of cervical cancer and 266,000 cervical cancer deaths
each year. Today’s high rates of oral sex are linked to the rising incidence of throat and
mouth cancer, caused by the transmission of HPV. Gonorrhoea and chlamydia are
major causes of pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women. STDs have rapidly
become more resistant to antibiotics in recent years, and this has reduced treatment
options.2

In the United States, 1 in 4 teenagers becomes infected with an STD each year, and by
the age of 25, half of all sexually active young adults will get an STD. 45 million people
aged 12 and older have genital herpes – a 30% increase since the late 1970s. At least
50% of sexually active Americans will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives.3
Gay and bisexual men have a higher risk of STD infection. In the US, they account for
over 80% of syphilis cases and are 17 times more likely to get anal cancer than
heterosexual men.4 In England, gay or bisexual men account for about 81% of syphilis
diagnoses, 63% of gonorrhoea diagnoses, and 17% of chlamydia diagnoses, even
though they make up only around 2.6% of the male population.5

Sex is a natural act whose natural consequence is the creation of a new human being.
However, a variety of mechanical, chemical and surgical means are used to try and
avoid this natural outcome, in order to allow unlimited sexual indulgence. Nevertheless,
an estimated 40% of all pregnancies are unintended. One of the main means of
avoiding unwanted pregnancies is the contraceptive pill, which is used by over 100
million people worldwide. It is designed to prevent fertilization by interfering with the
natural workings of the female reproductive system. Side effects range from headaches,
weight gain, irregular bleeding and nausea to high blood pressure, liver tumours,
gallstones, jaundice, blood clots, heart attack and strokes.6

Over 55 million abortions are carried out globally every year, and nearly half of them
(25.5 million) are considered unsafe. Most unsafe abortions take place in developing
countries where abortion is illegal or highly restricted.7 An estimated 68,000 women die
as a result of unsafe abortions every year, mainly from haemorrhage, infection and
poisoning, and millions more suffer complications, many permanent.8 Even abortions
using ‘safe’ procedures can have physical side effects, ranging from abdominal pain,
nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding to infection or sepsis, damage to the cervix,
scarring of the uterine lining, perforation of the uterus, damage to other organs, and
death. Emotional and psychological effects following abortion are very common,
including guilt, shame, insomnia, nightmares, depression, relationship issues and
suicidal thoughts.9

About 10% of internet users admit to being addicted to pornography. There are 4.2
million pornographic websites (12% of the total), and 68 million daily pornographic
search engine requests (25% of the total). The average age of first exposure to internet
pornography is 11 years. 34% of internet users receive unwanted exposure to sexual
material.10 The dysfunctional effects of internet pornography addiction are well
documented.11 In response, there is now a growing online community of people sharing
their commitment to break the habit and take back control of their lives.12

When the body is sexually aroused, it is in a state of stress; frequent stress lowers the
body’s natural defences and makes it more vulnerable to disease. An orgasm sends it
into convulsive spasms and the tension is discharged, which the mind interprets as
‘pleasure’. However, this does not bring permanent satisfaction, for soon the cycle of
arousal and discharge begins all over again; sex can easily become an addiction and
the more it is fed the greater the craving for it becomes. But giving in to every sexual
impulse that takes hold of us is not a sign of freedom but of slavery. In Eastern traditions
in particular, compulsive, recreational sex is seen not so much as a sin but as a
weakness, a waste of time and energy, while sex for the purpose of generating a new
body for a soul to inhabit is regarded as a creative, sacred act.

During sexual intercourse heart rate doubles, respiratory rate triples, and blood
pressure increases considerably. The nervous exhaustion following intercourse can
induce a state of amnesia, disorientation and lethargy. In exceptional cases, the
vascular and muscular excitement involved in arousal and orgasm can produce even
more unfortunate effects, especially in men, as Havelock Ellis described:

Fainting, vomiting, involuntary urination and defecation, have been noted as

occurring in young men after a first coitus. Epilepsy has been not
infrequently recorded. Lesions of various organs, even rupture of the spleen,
have sometimes taken place. In men of mature age the arteries have at
times been unable to resist the high blood-pressure, and cerebral
haemorrhage with paralysis has occurred. In elderly men the excitement of
intercourse with young wives or with prostitutes has sometimes caused
death.13

Many partners find that bouts of passion are followed by ‘hangover periods’, in which
they feel emotionally alienated from each other. These see-saw relationships have been
linked to body chemistry.14 The buildup to orgasm is accompanied by the release of
dopamine, which creates intense anticipation of pleasure. (Dopamine surges are
associated with all addictions.) Orgasm triggers a burst of dopamine and other
neurochemicals that produces the same effect on the brain as a heroin rush. It is
followed by a sharp fall in dopamine levels, with the usual withdrawal symptoms. Nerve
cell receptors exposed to high doses of dopamine become less sensitive to it and, over
time, the number of dopamine receptors may decline, so that more intense stimuli are
needed to produce the same high.

Levels of oxytocin (another pleasure hormone) also fall after sex, while prolactin levels
greatly increase, which creates a sense of sexual satiation and also suppresses
dopamine, resulting in the inability to have another orgasm right away. Intense sex can
cause both males and females to feel more irritable, dissatisfied, anxious or depressed
for up to two weeks. Some people try to get over this slump by eating, drinking alcohol,
watching porn or seeking a new sexual partner. But this merely aggravates the problem
by again raising dopamine to an abnormally high level. Stressful relationships lead to
high levels of cortisol, which is sometimes called the death hormone because it can age
us rapidly and lower our immunity to disease. As for people who are infatuated (‘madly
in love’), their brain chemistry is like that of people who are mentally ill.15

Thus sex does not necessarily bring happiness and often has more to do with lust than
love. One study found that more people find more pleasure in watching TV, helping
others, reading, and pursuing their various hobbies than in having sex.16 Liz Hodgkinson
writes:

deep inside ourselves, we know that physical sex does not have the power
to make people happy and stay in love with each other. Most of us who have
tried it know to our cost that sex causes far more problems than ever it
 solves. We know, if only unconsciously, that a physical activity, however
blissful or all-consuming it may seem at the time, can never heal an
emotional wound, or increase happiness and contentment. ... One of the
reasons, I firmly believe, that so many marriages are desperately unhappy is
that we are always looking to the other partner to satisfy us sexually. When
they are unable to do this, or when we cannot respond to them, much hurt,
anger and feelings of deep rejection follow.17

Apart from the health risks, another argument commonly cited in favour of sexual
moderation, as far as males are concerned, is that semen is a rich cocktail of sugars,
salts, enzymes, vitamins and minerals, including fructose, sorbitol, inositol, phosphorus,
zinc, magnesium, calcium, potassium, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and cobalamin (vitamin
B12).18 Loss of these substances, for whatever purpose, has a devitalizing and
debilitating effect on the body, and the faster semen is expended the more the body
must strain to replace it. If it is conserved, it is reabsorbed into the bloodstream and
used to nourish the tissues of the body, especially the brain and nervous system. No
two constituents of the body show greater similarity in their lecithin, chlolesterin and
phosphorus contents than brain cells and semen.

Hinduism in particular emphasizes that semen is a sacred fluid, a creative force, whose
conservation contributes to physical health, moral stamina, intellectual vigour and
spiritual growth. This point of view was echoed by the French author Honoré de Balzac,
who, after a night of passion, would lament: ‘There goes another novel!’ Athletes and
prize fighters are still sometimes advised not to have sex in the run-up to a big race or
match, and according to ancient tradition it is beneficial to abstain from sex before any
major physical or mental challenge.

Whatever the benefits of conserving one’s own sperm, and despite sperm’s role in the
conception of a child, Donald Tyler MD argues that foreign sperm (any sperm into a
woman, and another male’s sperm into a man) are a potential major cause of cancers
and other serious diseases.19 Sperm can not only enter another person’s body directly
through ejaculation; sperm pooled in a woman’s vagina can move into the urethra of a
subsequent sex partner. Sperm invade the lining or surface membranes of internal and
external genitalia, sometimes causing pus and mucous discharges or sores, and once
they enter blood vessels they can reach any part of the body. The fusion of a sperm with
an ovum produces rapidly dividing cells that result in a multitrillion cell baby in nine
months. Sperm invading cells other than ova could account for all the characteristics of
malignant cells, including their rapid uncontrolled division and abnormal numbers of
chromosomes. Sperm and their parts invading a body are the equivalent of a cell or
even organ transplant. Antibodies attacking the sperm may also attack cells and organs
of the host body, causing autoimmune diseases.

The prostate is a walnut-sized gland located between the bladder and rectum, and
produces part of the fluid that makes up semen. 15% of men experience inflammation of
the prostate (prostatitis) at some point in their lives; the cause may be bacterial or non-
bacterial.20 When a man becomes sexually excited, all the pelvic reproductive organs,
including the prostate, become congested with blood. John Tilden MD argued that when
the prostate is continually subjected to this engorgement, it becomes inflamed and
enlarged; this can impede the flow of urine, and the prostate may eventually become a
fibrous tumour.21
Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in the western world, and the second
most common cause of cancer death in men after lung cancer. The risk of developing
prostate cancer is related to age, genetics, diet, lifestyle, medications and other factors.
Most studies have found that sexually transmitted infections (especially gonorrhoea and
syphilis), a high number of sexual partners, or a high level of sexual activity can
increase prostate cancer risk by up to 40%.22 Other factors associated with increased
cancer risk include obesity and consumption of animal fats (especially red meat). A few
studies have found a correlation between high ejaculation frequency and reduced
prostate cancer risk. A study by Giles et al. (2003) gave rise to misleading media
headlines around the world (and all over the internet) that masturbation provides
protection against prostate cancer – yet Giles’ inconclusive study actually gathered no
information whatsoever on masturbation.23

As far as women are concerned, it is commonly believed that there can be no escape
from premenstrual and menstrual losses of mucus and blood, including vital substances
such as iodine, lecithin, calcium, phosphorus, iron and sex hormones. The truth is that
ovulation need not be accompanied by often painful and prolonged menstruation; no
haemorrhage or rupture of blood vessels is natural and normal.24 Leucorrhoea and
excessive menstrual bleeding result from an inflammatory condition of the mucus
membrane of the uterus. As well as contributing to chronic inflammation of the vagina
and uterus, frequent sex (especially if it begins at an early age) can lead to various
other genital complaints, which sometimes assume a malignant form, including cervical
cancer.

Animals in the wild, with the exception of certain apes, pass through periodic seasons of
‘heat’ without any noticeable discharge of blood, whereas domesticated animals do
menstruate, as a result of confinement, overfeeding and sexual overactivity. It is also
significant that women menstruate much more profusely in ‘civilized’ societies than in
‘primitive’ societies, and prostitutes much more so than nuns, for example. Evidence
suggests that immoderate sexual behaviour (and erotic fantasies) and a high-protein
flesh diet are important factors in menstruation, and numerous women have reduced
menstruation or eliminated it altogether by adopting a healthier diet and lifestyle.

Diet has a significant influence on sexual desire and behaviour. Meat, fish, shellfish,
eggs, salt, spices, onions, garlic, alcohol, (nonherbal) tea, coffee and tobacco, for
example, can all act as aphrodisiacs. Animal products, especially meat and seafood,
contain uric acid, which irritates and inflames the genital mucous membranes, triggering
sexual arousal. A low-protein vegetarian diet, on the other hand, tends to have the
opposite effect.25 Overeating is endemic in the rich North, and is reflected in the high
incidence of obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. In a wartime experiment, 32
men reduced their food intake from 1700 to 1400 calories daily for six months. They
reported that sexual desire, erotic dreams, nocturnal ejaculations and aggressive
impulses all but disappeared.26

Contrasting the effects of sex and exercise on the body, Dr Edwin Flatto writes:

The sex act is essentially catabolic (destructive metabolic action). Sexual

stimulation causes the blood to become congested in the pelvic and
reproductive organs of the body. Sexual intercourse entails the loss of vital
fluids containing the most essential elements and hormones. Sex weakens
the individual and places a strain on the heart.

Exercise is anabolic (constructive metabolic action). It entails bodily action

which develops and maintains physical fitness. It is essential movement for
keeping the muscles strong and healthy. Proper exercise benefits and
strengthens all the vital organs, improves the blood circulation, and
strengthens the heart muscles.27

In the vegetable kingdom, after a plant bears fruit it weakens and often dies. Annuals
which flower when only a few weeks old die in a few months. Apple and orange trees
live much longer than peach trees, because they grow more slowly and bear fruit later.
Nut trees bear fruit even later in life and many live more than 1000 years. By clipping off
buds to prevent flowering and seeding, not only is the life of the plant lengthened, but
annuals may become biennials or perennials. In the animal kingdom, too, reproduction
is basically a movement towards death. The Pacific salmon, trout, shad, and several
other varieties of anadromous fish die soon after spawning. Male drone bees and male
spiders usually die soon after, or even during, mating; the male of the black widow
spider is sometimes so weak afterwards that the female eats him. Higher animals are
far less likely to die after sex but, as a general rule, the earlier an animal reaches
puberty and the more often it mates, the shorter its lifespan.28 A study of male crickets
found that, when housed with sexually mature females capable of reproduction, they
were more likely to produce high-quality sperm than when housed with females
incapable of reproduction, and that production of high-quality sperm had a negative
effect on their immune systems.29
In the human kingdom, spiritual adeptship and the development of the highest occult
powers require perfect self-mastery and are incompatible with sexual indulgence.30 By
leading lives of utmost purity, mahatmas are said to be able to live in the same body for
several hundred years if they wish.31 Among other things, sex has adverse effects on
the ‘third eye’, the organ of spiritual vision.* Theosophy asserts that in the third root-race
this was an actual physiological organ located towards the back of the head, but as
evolution proceeded down the ‘arc of descent’ (into matter), and spirituality was
supplanted by ‘the newly-awakened physiological and psychic passions of the physical
man’, it gradually lost its powers and atrophied.32 Finally, it became the pineal gland –
an endocrine gland, shaped like a pine cone, located within the third cerebral ventricle
along the midline of the brain. The pineal is our master gland; it converts light,
temperature and magnetic information from our environment into neuroendocrine
signals that regulate the body’s functioning. In some lower vertebrates the pineal gland
has a well-developed eyelike structure, while in others it functions as a light receptor.
This pineal, or parietal, eye is now widely regarded by science as the evolutionary
forerunner of the modern eye.

*The powerful Hindu god Shiva is known as ‘the great ascetic’ and is worshipped as a model
of celibacy and ascetic power. His third eye is said to be the result of his perfect chastity.
Parietal eye (very small, light-sensitive oval) between the regular eyes of a juvenile
bullfrog.
(en.wikipedia.org)

Parietal eye (with small lens and retina) on the top of the skull of a tuatara (modern
dinosaur).
(quizlet.com)
The pineal gland produces the hormone melatonin, which affects sleeping patterns,
biorhythms and sexual maturation. It is large in children and begins to shrink with the
onset of puberty. Lecithin, an organic phosphorized fat, is a chief constituent not only of
semen but also of brain and nerve tissue, and the pineal gland is richer in lecithin than
any other part of the body. During sexual stimulation, impulses are sent up the spinal
cord to the brain, and this prevents the ‘reopening’ of the spiritual eye. It is said that in
the seventh root-race, millions of years from now, the pineal gland will once more
become active in all humans as the organ for the seventh sense – spiritual intuition.33

References

1. H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University

Press (TUP), 1977 (1888), 2:411.
2. ‘Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)’, who.int; ‘Infection risks associated with
oral sex’, 1 March 2016, netdoctor.co.uk.
3. webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/sexual-health-stds; webmd.com/genital-
herpes/guide/what-is-it; webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/genital-warts.
4. cdc.gov/msmhealth/std.htm; cdc.gov/std/life-stages-populations/stdfact-msm.htm.
5. Public Health England, Promoting the health and wellbeing of gay, bisexual and
other men who have sex with men, 2014, p. 7, gov.uk.
 6. ‘The birth control pill: a history’, June 2015, plannedparenthood.org; ‘Are there
side effects of birth control pills?’, webmd.com.
7. Ashley Welch, ‘Report finds nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe’, 27
Sep 2017, cbsnews.com.
8. D.A. Grimes et al., ‘Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic’, Sexual and
Reproductive Health 4, World Health Organization, Oct 2006, who.int.
9. ‘Possible physical side effects after abortion’, americanpregnancy.org; ‘Abortion
emotional side effects’, americanpregnancy.org.
10. ‘Pornography statistics’, familysafemedia.com.
11. yourbrainonporn.com.
12. nofap.com; reddit.com/r/NoFap.
13. Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex, New York: Mentor, 1963, pp. 28-30.
14. ‘The dark side of the big “O”’, 2011, sexualhealthsite.info; Marnia Robinson and
Gary Wilson, ‘Men: Does frequent ejaculation cause a hangover?’, reuniting.info;
Marnia Robinson and Gary Wilson, ‘Women: Does orgasm give you a hangover?’,
reuniting.info; Marnia Robinson, Peace Between the Sheets: Healing with sexual
relationships, Berkeley, CA: Frog, 2004; Walter Last, ‘Healing with sexual energy:
sex for health, relationships and spirituality’, health-science-spirit.com.
15. Lauren Slater, ‘True love’, National Geographic, Feb 2006,
nationalgeographic.com.
16. Gabrielle Brown, The New Celibacy: A journey to love, intimacy, and good health
in a new age, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2nd ed., 1989, pp. 8-9 (see section 9,
‘Chastity links’).
17. Liz Hodgkinson, Sex is Not Compulsory, London: Sphere Books, 1988, pp. 8-9.
18. Aarathi Prasad, Like a Virgin: How science is redesigning the rules of sex, Oxford:
Oneworld, 2012, p. 33; Raymond W. Bernard, Science Discovers the
Physiological Value of Continence, Mokelumne Hill, CA: Health Research, 1957
(see ‘Chastity links’).
19. Donald E. Tyler, The Other Guy’s Sperm: The cause of cancers and other
diseases, Ontario, OR: Discovery Books, 1994 (see ‘Chastity links’).
20. ‘Prostatitis’, patient.info/doctor/prostatitis.
21. Edwin Flatto, Warning: Sex may be hazardous to your health, New York: Arco,
2nd ed., 1977, pp. 29-40 (see ‘Chastity links’); Edwin Flatto, Super Potency at Any
Age, New York: Thorsons, 1993, pp. 37-44.
22. R.B. Hayes et al., ‘Sexual behaviour, STDs and risks for prostate cancer’, British
Journal of Cancer, v. 82, 2000, pp. 718-25, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; K.A. Rosenblatt et
al., ‘Sexual factors and the risk of prostate cancer’, American Journal of
Epidemiology, v. 153, 2001, pp. 1152-8, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; L.K. Dennis and D.V.
Dawson, ‘Meta-analysis of measures of sexual activity and prostate cancer’,
Epidemiology, v. 13, 2002, pp. 72-9, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
23. G.G. Giles et al., ‘Sexual factors and prostate cancer’, BJU International, v. 92,
2003, pp. 211-6, onlinelibrary.wiley.com; Comment on Giles et al. by S. Brody,
onlinelibrary.wiley.com; Comment on Giles et al. by R.T.D. Oliver,
onlinelibrary.wiley.com; Douglas Fox, ‘Masturbating may protect against prostate
cancer’, 16 July 2003, newscientist.com.
24. Raymond Bernard, The Physiological Enigma of Woman: The mystery of
menstruation, Health Research, n.d.; Hilton Hotema, Secret of Regeneration,
Health Research, 1963, ch. 179-185, 188-189.
25. Sex is Not Compulsory, pp. 167-75; Raymond W. Bernard, Nutritional Sex Control
& Rejuvenation, Health Research, n.d.; Swami Sivananda, Practice of
 Brahmacharya, 1997, §18, sivanandadlshq.org.
26. Elizabeth Abbott, A History of Celibacy, New York: Scribner, 2000, p. 85.
27. Warning: Sex may be hazardous to your health, pp. 133-4.
28. Ibid., p. 17; Secret of Regeneration, ch. 193.
29. Emily Walker-Monash, ‘Sperm production is costly, crickets show’, 31 January
2012, futurity.org.
30. A.T. Barker (comp.), The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett, TUP, 2nd ed., 1975, pp.
122, 274 / Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House (TPH), chron. ed., 1993,
pp. 161, 137; The Secret Doctrine, 2:295-6; H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings,
TPH, 1950-91, 12:702.
31. G. de Purucker, The Esoteric Tradition, TUP, 3rd ed., 2013, pp. 495-6; H.S. Olcott,
Old Diary Leaves, TPH, 1974, 2:218.
32. The Secret Doctrine, 2:302.
33. G. de Purucker, Man in Evolution, TUP, 2nd ed., 1977, pp. 202-4.

8. Leaving sex behind

In most societies up until our present times, celibacy has been held in higher regard
than sexual activity, as something people could aspire to. The lives of great sages and
spiritual teachers who have led celibate lives are still looked upon by many as a source
of inspiration in transmuting personal passion into universal compassion.

In her book A History of Celibacy, Elizabeth Abbott writes: ‘[T]hroughout the ages,
celibacy has been a double-edged sword. As a chosen lifestyle, it may empower and
liberate, but when coerced, it can repress and crush.’1 The oppressive effects of
enforced celibacy can be seen in the Catholic church. Since the early 1960s, nearly a
quarter of the world’s working priests have resigned and nearly half of all parishes have
no priest at all. Despite their vows, about half the Catholic clergy are uncelibate.2

As William Skudlarek points out, celibacy is not the only sexual option that cuts both
ways:

Throughout the ages, the choice to engage in sexual relations with another
person has also been a two-edged sword. For many men and women, a
committed sexual relationship has been the path to spiritual and
psychological maturity. But it is also obvious that even a freely chosen,
committed relationship such as marriage does not always lead to such a
positive outcome.3

Sex drive varies immensely from one person to another, and also over the course of a
person’s life. Around 1% of the population is asexual, i.e. they do not experience sexual
attraction, though they may still long for love and companionship; about 70% of them
are women. Asexuality is widely regarded as an innate sexual orientation, unlike
celibacy, which is a choice.4 People may choose to abstain from sexual intercourse for a
variety of reasons, e.g. to prevent pregnancy or STDs; to wait until they’re ready for a
sexual relationship; to wait until they find the right partner; to focus on school, career, or
extracurricular activities; or to support personal, moral or religious beliefs and values.5
Many people find that sex declines in importance the more attention they devote to
more satisfying and rewarding pursuits. Several surveys have revealed a trend towards
less frequent sex, less interest in casual sex, and an increase in the number of people
giving up sexual relations altogether. A US survey in 1986 found that about 10% of
women, 8% of heterosexual men, and 10% of homosexual men were not involved in
sexual relationships.6 A 2006 survey found that 14% of American women had abstained
from sex in the past six months. Abstinent women were more likely to be aged over 30,
have a high school education and avoid adverse health behaviours.7 In the US, 10.9%
of women and 8.2% of men do not have premarital sex.8

A British sex survey in 2014 found that 28% of respondents were not currently in a
stable relationship. The average current relationship length is 17 years for
heterosexuals and five years for homosexuals. The most important things in a
relationship were said to be: trust (57%), communication (26%), humour (7%) and
equality (7%). Only 2% said sex was the most important thing (compared with 11% in
2008). 61% believe it is possible to maintain a happy relationship without having sex, an
increase from 48% in 2008. This figure is highest among those who are married (69%)
but even 51% of singles agree. Women (68%) are more likely than men (55%) to
believe that sex is not essential, and homosexuals (41%) are significantly less likely
than heterosexuals (62%) to take this view. On average, Britons have sex four times a
month, though one in three does not have sex at all in that time period. Only 1% of
Britons have sex once a day on average.9

Many couples find that manipulating each other’s erogenous zones and exchanging
body fluids sooner or later lose their erotic charm. 33% of married people are abstinent
for two months at a time on average and many for three months or more. After the birth
of a child, mothers often find that their interest in sex declines significantly. One survey
found that 72% of American women would be content to be held close and treated
tenderly and forget about the sex act, 40% of these women being under 40 years of
age.10 Diminished sexual appetite on the part of one or both partners may lead to
conflict, or to desperate attempts to turn each other on again, or to the pursuit of
extramarital sex. But if accepted as a natural development, it can be seen as an
opportunity to relate to one another more on other levels. For many people, sexual
moderation is easier within a relationship than outside one. And couples who choose to
raise children face a challenging and vitally important task, requiring all the higher,
unselfish qualities they can find.

People who freely choose to refrain from sex for many months or years, or even for a
lifetime, are often called ‘secular celibates’ if they are not members of religious
communities. They speak of the relief of being free from sexual distractions, and of
feeling healthier and more energetic, both physically and mentally. They welcome the
greater freedom and autonomy that celibacy brings. Many find themselves developing
deeper and closer friendships, but free from the worries, frustrations, ill feeling,
possessiveness, jealousy and dependency that can make sexual relationships such a
burden. Elizabeth Abbott explains her own decision to give up sexual relations as
follows:

Much as I once reveled in sexual indulgence, I realized that at this stage of

my life, I value even more the independence and serenity chaste solitude
brings me. I welcome my freedom from the jealousy and possessiveness
that characterized the most passionate of my relationships, and I am
 immensely and perpetually relieved that someone else’s domestic demands
no longer dominate my daily agenda.11

While some people cannot even conceive of life without sex, for others sex holds no
fascination. One celibate woman writes: ‘I find [sex] a messy and embarrassing sport.
Without the required lust it all seems rather pointless.’ A male celibate writes: ‘Sex is
terribly overrated. It is more banal than many people are willing to admit. ... I used to
enjoy solitude very much when I was younger. I would like to recapture that spirit of
thoughtfulness, mindfulness, intellectual and spiritual seeking that celibacy makes
possible.’12 People who voluntarily opt for celibacy generally find that the longer they go
without sex, the easier it becomes.

Liz Hodgkinson, author of Sex is Not Compulsory, says that since she and her husband
adopted celibacy ‘we have been completely happy and healthy in every way. We have
gone down with no deficiency diseases, and we are not walking round in agonies of
sexual frustration. Far from it. We are pleased to be freed from the dark and desperate
urges of the body. It is a wonderful liberation, a release, a life-enhancing choice.’ The
sexual urge, she says, ‘has simply vanished’.13 A male practitioner writes: ‘Celibacy is
an experiment rich in revelations about the mind and body ...’14

Martin Poulter, who used to maintain the Celibate FAQ webpage, writes:

I’m always thrown for a loop when asked why I wouldn’t have sex. I don’t
have any great sexual urges, so the act of mutual membrane-agitation
seems so arbitrary: the question makes little more sense than ‘Why not
regularly stand in a big tub of yoghurt?’ I can be impressed – moved, even –
by a woman’s beauty, but I fail to make the connection between that and a
need to do something to her. When you see a beautiful flower, you don’t
need to go up to it and lick it, do you?15

He sums up some of the advantages of celibacy as follows:

A whole load of worries are taken off your mind. You don’t even have to think
about contraception, venereal disease, physical compatibility, who sleeps on
the wet patch, impotence, frigidity, bizarre sexual injuries, whether to
swallow, whether your partner is good in bed, sexual fidelity, how to stop the
bed from creaking, shave or not shave, wash or not wash, whether you know
enough positions, orgasm faking, whether to experiment or which flavour of
condom to choose. This must surely free up several cubic inches of brain
tissue.

After putting together a special issue of What is Enlightenment dealing with sex and
spirituality, the magazine’s editors commented: ‘we were intrigued to discover that
celibacy is a more taboo subject than is tantric sexuality. The more we looked, the more
apparent it became that, generally speaking, the subject of celibacy does not often arise
for the spiritually inclined. In fact, in the postmodern spiritual marketplace, talk of
renunciation of any kind is rarely heard. ... Sometimes even just speaking about
[celibacy] makes people angry and upset.’16

There is often a certain ambiguity in talk about celibacy and chastity. For many people
(especially in the West), celibacy simply means refraining from sexual intercourse with a
partner. Others, however, define celibacy more strictly as abstention from all forms of
sexual activity, including masturbation. (In sexual intercourse there is at least an
exchange of energy between the partners, whereas masturbation involves only loss.)
Perfect chastity also entails freedom from sexual thoughts and desires. Dr Franz
Hartmann wrote: ‘Abstinence in acts is useless for spiritual development, unless it is
followed by abstinence in thought. Enforced celibacy does not make a priest; a true
priest is a saint, and saints are persons who have outgrown their carnal desires.’17

Some people think that without a sexual outlet, semen will simply accumulate in a male,
leading inevitably to nocturnal emissions (‘wet dreams’). This myth reflects the
widespread ignorance of the key fact that unexpended semen is reabsorbed into the
bloodstream. There is no evidence that celibate men have more nocturnal emissions
than sexually active men. Nocturnal emissions are often a sign of inflammation and
congestion of the urethra, resulting from frequent sexual activity and/or a highly
stimulating diet. Other causal factors include pressure on the seminal vesicles caused
by their being sandwiched between a distended (constipated) colon and full bladder.18 If
all these causes are eliminated, and if all sexual thoughts and fantasies, and other types
of erotic stimuli are completely curtailed, nocturnal emissions will not occur. This may
take several lifetimes to achieve.

The Sanskrit word ‘brahmacharya’ literally means ‘conduct of

Brahman (the Absolute)’, i.e. perfect purity in thought, word and
deed. It is often used as a synonym for chastity, which is a time-
honoured tradition in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Chastity is
considered essential for the attainment of the highest spiritual
illumination and enlightenment. This attitude contrasts starkly with
the teachings on ‘tantric sex’ or ‘sacred sexuality’ that have
become very popular in the West. According to Tantrism, those
who lose their own personal consciousness in the sex act, while
understanding sexual ecstasy to be an aspect of divine bliss and
an offering to the Divine, can achieve rapid spiritual evolution. If the male learns to
control the urge to ejaculate, a bout of tantric love-making can even be prolonged for
many hours! Torkom Saraydarian warns that sex without orgasm* puts intense pressure
on the sexual organs because of the additional seminal fluid created, and that excessive
energy or congestion throws the body out of balance. He adds: ‘If a man does not want
to ejaculate, he should not become sexually stimulated.’19

*If orgasm occurs, discharge of semen can be prevented by using three fingers to apply
pressure to the perineum (midway between anus and scrotum) just before the ejaculatory
spasms begin. Massaging the area afterwards facilitates reabsorption of the semen and helps
release muscular tension.20

Swami Chidananda says that in most cases the tantric-sex path amounts to pandering
to lust under the guise of spirituality. The sex force is sacred, he says, but ‘sacred
sexuality’ is a misnomer because, given the frailty of human nature, once people get
enmeshed in sexuality, the sacredness tends to be forgotten. He says that sex focuses
our entire attention on that part of our physical nature that we share with the animal
kingdom, and this is hardly going to help us attain cosmic consciousness. If freely
chosen, brahmacharya does not mean repressing or denying sexuality; it means
ceasing to identify with the body and personality, and seeking to express a higher
dimension of our being, for which sexual gratification is a meaningless delusion.21
For Buddhists, celibacy is a path to wisdom and liberation from suffering/dissatisfaction
(dukka). The Buddha highlighted the powerful but deceptive attraction of sensual
pleasure by likening it to throwing a dog bare bones that do not satisfy its hunger. As
William Skudlarek explains, for most people orgasm is the experience that comes
closest to ‘spiritual’ transcendence.

Western secular psychiatric and psychological literature tends to present the

quest for spirituality and spiritual experience as a sublimation of sex. From
the Buddhist point of view, it may be just the other way around: orgasm may
actually be an ersatz experience of transcendence. If that is true, the reason
for celibacy is that it allows one to go for the real goods, for true self-
transcendence. ...

If celibacy were to be seen as a repression of sexuality, it would be harmful.

Without accepting desire as a natural part of the human condition, one
cannot transcend it. ... [Buddha] was married and had a child before
renouncing the world and becoming a monk. Attachment to desire, however,
is a hindrance to spiritual progress. The wholehearted commitment required
of the monastic life requires the relinquishment of all distractions, all
attachments, that create a barrier or hindrance to spiritual development.

Celibacy is a powerful force that allows one to see through the delusion of
desire and know true peace. Celibacy allows the energy of the body and
mind to be used in harmony in order to go deeper into spiritual
understanding and to both Great Compassion and Great Wisdom.22

The Buddhist approach is to accept sexual thoughts and feelings without either
repressing them or acting on them, and to watch calmly as they pass through the mind.
Honestly assessing the quality of our thoughts and actions is essential if we are to
overcome negative habits and improve our characters. In this regard, it is instructive to
take note of what happens during frenzied lust-making: mindless thrusting, squelching,
slobbering, groaning and grunting – like pigs at a trough. Detached reflection (and a
sense of humour) can help defuse desire.

Desire is rooted in the mind. A sexually desirable person becomes less appetizing if
their genitals are oozing with disease, or if a relationship sours and ‘love’ turns to hate.
Beauty is only skin deep; imagine a body without the skin; imagine the internal organs
and their contents – where’s the attraction? A physical body is composed of bones,
flesh, fat, blood, urine, excreta, mucus, phlegm, and germs; it is destined to age, wither,
wrinkle, die, and rot away or be reduced to ashes. Sexual arousal can be dissipated not
only by changing our perspective, but also with the help of physical techniques that
channel ‘sexual’ energy upwards, for higher purposes.23

According to the ageless wisdom, thoughts, emotions and desires are elemental
energies, and we attract into our minds those that resonate with us from the astral
realms. The lower astral plane is also inhabited by dead humans’ decaying astral souls,
i.e. their largely instinctual lower minds, which are left behind when the higher human
soul ascends to more ethereal realms between lives. Earthbound entities like these,
especially the semi-conscious astral corpses of humans who led particularly selfish and
depraved lives (elementaries), can feed off the emotional, vital and psychic energy of
any people they are drawn to, while fuelling their victims’ weaknesses and vices. To
become masters of our destinies, rather than the playthings of lower forces, we need to
make a constant effort to lead a pure, clean, unselfish life.24

Sudhir Kakar writes as follows about the attitude towards sexuality in Hindu culture:

[S]exuality, whether in the erotic flourishes of Indian art and in the Dionysian
rituals of its popular religion, or in the dramatic combat with ascetic longings
of Yogis who seek to conquer and transform it into spiritual power, has been
a perennial preoccupation of Hindu culture. ...

Indian ‘mysticism’ is typically intended to be an intensely practical affair,

concerned with an alchemy of the libido that would convert it from a giver of
death to a bestower of immortality. It is the sexual fire that stokes the
alchemical transformation wherein the cooking pot is the body and the
cooking oil is a distillation from sexual fluids. The strength of this traditional
aspiration to sublimate sexuality into spirituality, semen into the elixir Soma,
varies in different regions with different castes. Yet though only small
sections of Indian society may act on this aspiration, it is a well-known theory
subscribed to by most Hindus, including non-literate villagers. In its most
popular form, the Hindu theory of sublimation goes something like this.

Physical strength and mental power have their source in virya, a word that
stands for both sexual energy and semen. Virya, in fact, is identical with the
essence of maleness. Virya can either move downward in sexual
intercourse, where it is emitted in its gross physical form as semen, or it can
move upward through the spinal cord and into the brain, in its subtle form
known as ojas. Hindus regard the downward movement of sexual energy
and its emission as semen as enervating, a debilitating waste of vitality and
essential energy. Of all emotions, it is said, lust throws the physical system
into the greatest chaos, with every violent passion destroying millions of red
blood cells. Indian metaphysical physiology maintains that food is converted
into semen in a thirty-day period by successive transformations (and
refinements) through blood, flesh, fat, bone, and marrow till semen is
distilled – forty drops of blood producing one drop of semen. Each
ejaculation involves a loss of half an ounce of semen, which is equivalent to
the vitality produced by the consumption of sixty pounds of food.

[E]ach act of copulation is equivalent to an energy expenditure of twenty-four

hours of concentrated mental activity or seventy-two hours of hard physical
labour. ...

If, on the other hand, semen is retained, converted into ojas and moved
upwards by the observance of brahmacharya, it becomes a source of
spiritual life rather than a cause of physical decay. Longevity, creativity,
physical and mental vitality are enhanced by the conservation of semen;
memory, will power, inspiration – scientific and artistic – all derive from the
observation of brahmacharya. ...

These ideas on semen and celibacy ... are a legacy of Indian culture and are
shared, so to speak, by Hindu saints and sinners alike. ...
 The notion ... that sexual urges amount to a creative fire – not only for
procreation but, equally, in self-creation – is indeed compelling.25

Hindu teachings state that sexual excitement has an equally negative effect on females,
due to the drain on vitality and nervous energy.

Kakar also observes that, ‘Whereas, on the one hand, there are a number of sages in
the Indian tradition (Gandhi is only the latest one to join this august assemblage), who
are admired for their successful celibacy and the powers it brought them, there are, on
the other hand, also innumerable folktales detailing the misadventures of randy
ascetics.’ The following is a tale about the fall of a Japanese sennin, or ‘man of the
mountains’:

Kume-no-Sennin lived an ascetic life in the mountains near Kume-dera, a

Buddhist temple, and had developed the ability to feed on air and to fly
through it. One day when he was winging through space, enjoying his
heavenly freedom, he saw a woman washing clothes in the river beneath
him. Then he noticed her white feet gleaming in the water and flew nearer,
mesmerized. As he hovered in the air above her, his lustful thoughts
neutralized the power that had kept him aloft, and he came crashing down to
earth.

The sennin was not injured by his fall, but he never regained his powers. He
did, however, gain a wife and descendants.26

There is a story about a young man who went to Socrates to ask whether or not he
should marry. ‘It doesn’t matter much one way or the other,’ Socrates replied. ‘Whatever
you do, you’ll regret it!’ For those who cannot do without a partner, the most stable and
satisfying personal relationships are those based on mutual love, commitment, trust and
respect rather than fickle and ephemeral desire. As Henry Edge writes:

Personal love, the theme of poetry and romance, is compact of Love and
passion. The latter, like fires in general, flames up fiercely and then dies
down; and, if there is nothing more, the result is disillusionment and sorrow.
But, if the divine element has entered into the feeling, then the true Love
remains after the passion has subsided. But personal love, however sublime
it may seem, is still a limitation, and but a stepping-stone to universal Love.
True Love does not desire to possess its object, for it does not seek personal
satisfaction. This may seem a high ideal, but it is true; if it is too high for you
at present, yet seek not to deny it; follow whatever is best in you. Step by
step we climb.27

References

1. Elizabeth Abbott, A History of Celibacy, New York: Scribner, 2000, p. 426.

2. Ibid., pp. 384-6.
3. William Skudlarek, Demythologizing Celibacy: Practical wisdom from Christian
and Buddhist monasticism, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008, p. 91.
4. Simon Parkin, ‘“I have never felt sexual desire”’, 21 June 2016, bbc.com;
 asexuality.org.
5. plannedparenthood.org.
6. Gabrielle Brown, The New Celibacy: A journey to love, intimacy, and good health
in a new age, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2nd ed., 1989, pp. 6-7 (see section 9,
‘Chastity links’).
7. M. Nettleman, K.S. Ingersoll and S.D. Ceperich, ‘Characteristics of adult women
who abstain from sexual intercourse’, Journal of Family Planning and
Reproductive Health Care, v. 32, no. 1, 2006, pp. 23-4, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
8. cdc.gov.
9. ‘British sex survey 2014: “the nation has lost some of its sexual swagger”’,
theguardian.com.
10. Rosalyn M. Meadow and Lillie Weiss, Women’s Conflicts about Eating and
Sexuality: The relationship between food and sex, New York: Haworth Press,
1992, p. 75.
11. A History of Celibacy, p. 22.
12. ‘First-person accounts of celibacy’, glandscape.com.
13. Liz Hodgkinson, Sex is Not Compulsory, London: Sphere Books, 1988, pp. 8-9,
11.
14. Shawn Nevins, The Celibate Seeker: An exploration of celibacy as a modern
spiritual practice, Wheeling, WV: TAT Foundation Press, 2007, p. 52.
15. The Celibate FAQ, glandscape.com.
16. What is Enlightenment, no. 13, spring/summer 1998, pp. 88, 150.
17. Franz Hartmann, The Life of Paracelsus and the Substance of his Teachings, San
Diego, CA: Wizards Bookshelf, 1985 (1887), pp. 91-2fn.
18. Raymond Bernard, Nutritional Sex Control & Rejuvenation, Mokelumne Hill, CA:
Health Research, n.d. (see ‘Chastity links’).
19. Torkom Saraydarian, Sexual abuse and its effects, selfdefinition.org.
20. Mantak Chia, with Michael Winn, Taoist Secrets of Love: Cultivating male sexual
energy, Santa Fe, NM: Aurora Press, 1984, pp. 120-4.
21. Sri Swami Chidananda, ‘The role of celibacy in the spiritual life’, dlshq.org, What is
Enlightenment, no. 13, spring/summer 1998, pp. 102ff.
22. Demythologizing Celibacy, pp. 5, 7.
23. Sant Shri Asaramji Bapu, The Secret of Eternal Youth, p. 37; Swami Sivananda,
Practice of Brahmacharya, 1997.
24. Visitors from the twilight zone, Vampires and the living dead, davidpratt.info.
25. Sudhir Kakar, Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian sexuality, New Delhi: Penguin,
1990, pp. 118-22.
26. Rodney Charles and Anna Jordan, Lighter Than Air: Miracles of human flight from
Christian saints to native American spirits, Fairfield, IO: Sunstar Publishing, 1995,
p. 82.
27. Henry T. Edge, ‘Love’, The Eclectic Theosophist, no. 112, July/August 1989, p. 5.

9. Chastity links

The following links offer an antidote to the constant outpouring of sexual messages from
the mass media, internet, cinema, popular music and literature, advertising, etc. The
material represents a variety of viewpoints.
Books and articles:

A humorous look at love and relationships

Edwin Flatto, Warning: Sex May Be Hazardous to Your Health
Gabrielle Brown, The New Celibacy
Raymond Bernard, Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence
Raymond Bernard, Nutritional Sex Control & Rejuvenation
Torkom Saraydarian, Sexual abuse and its effects
W. Higgins, Buddhist sexual ethics + A rejoinder by A. Brahmavamso & A.
Nanadhammo
A.L. De Silva, Homosexuality and Theravada Buddhism
Sri Swami Chidananda, The role of celibacy in the spiritual life
Sri Swami Sivananda, Practice of Brahmacharya (html) (pdf)
Sant Shri Asaramji Bapu, The Secret of Eternal Youth
John Kent, Sexuality and the transmutation of energy
Donald E. Tyler, The Other Guy’s Sperm: The cause of cancers and other
diseases

Websites:

Celebrating celibacy, celibrate.org

The Celibate FAQ, glandscape.com/celibate.html

Evolution in the fourth round

Sex: theosophical quotations

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