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    Sex Matters: From Sex to Superconsciousness
    Sex Matters: From Sex to Superconsciousness
    Sex Matters: From Sex to Superconsciousness
    Ebook400 pages9 hours

    Sex Matters: From Sex to Superconsciousness

    By Osho

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    About this ebook

    One of the greatest spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century explores the physical and emotional intimacies of men and women in Sex Matters: Sex to Superconsciousness.

    Sex matters to us all. The Osho approach to sex begins with an understanding of how important love is in our lives, while at the same time acknowledges that the journey into love cannot exclude our innate biological energies. With this perspective, it becomes clear that the tendency for religions, and for society in general, to associate sex with sin and morality has been a great misfortune.

    Sex Matters begins by deconstructing the layers of sexual repression that the condemnation of sex has inflicted on humans. Throughout the book—in response to questions about everything from jealousy to premature ejaculation, the role of intimacy and the differences between men and women—Osho proposes a vision that embraces sex as a fundamental gift from nature. We learn how orgasm offers a glimpse of timelessness, thoughtlessness, and pure awareness—biology’s way of pointing toward the consciousness that helps us to understand ourselves.

    Finally, we are presented with a clear choice: a repressed sexuality that leads to pornography, perversion, and a stunted humanity or a playful, respectful, and relaxed innocence that supports us in becoming fulfilled and whole, as nature intended.

    Osho challenges readers to examine and break free of the conditioned belief systems and prejudices that limit their capacity to enjoy life in all its richness. He has been described by the Sunday Times of London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by Sunday Mid-Day (India) as one of the ten people—along with Gandhi, Nehru, and Buddha—who have changed the destiny of India. Since his death in 1990, the influence of his teachings continues to expand, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every country of the world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJul 11, 2003
    ISBN9781429979160
    Sex Matters: From Sex to Superconsciousness
    Author

    Osho

    Osho is one of the most provocative and inspiring spiritual teachers of the twentieth century. Known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, the influence of his teachings continues to grow, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every country of the world. He is the author of many books, including Love, Freedom, Aloneness; The Book of Secrets; and Innocence, Knowledge, and Wonder.

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      Book preview

      Sex Matters - Osho

      Prologue

      Q: Why does the topic of sex make people so uncomfortable? Why is it such a taboo?

      A: The simple reason is that people have been for centuries living a repressed sex life. They have been told by all the religious prophets and the messiahs and the saviors that sex is sin.

      To my understanding, sex is your only energy, it is life energy. What you do with it depends on you. It can become sin, and it can become also your highest peak of consciousness. It all depends on you how you use the energy.

      There was a day when we had no idea how to use electricity. Electricity was available always—as lightning—and was killing people, but now it is your servant. It is doing everything that you want. Sex is bioelectricity. The question is how to use it. And the first principle is not to condemn it. The moment you condemn anything, you cannot use it.

      Sex should be accepted as a normal, natural thing in life—just as sleep, as hunger, as everything else.

      Furthermore, sex can be joined with meditation, and once sex can be joined with meditation its whole quality changes.

      Sex without meditation can only reproduce children. Sex with meditation can give you a new birth, can make you a new human being.

      Q: To have sex while meditating?

      A: Yes. Or rather say it otherwise, to meditate while making love. Because just a small change makes much difference. . . .

      In a monastery two monks were talking—because they were given time, for one or two hours every evening, to meditate and to walk. They were discussing whether smoking would be all right, because it had not been prohibited, but still they were afraid. So they thought it would be better to ask the abbot.

      The next day one of the monks was very upset, and when he saw the other coming, smoking, he could not believe his eyes. He said, What happened? I asked the abbot, ‘Can I smoke while meditating?’ and he said, ‘Never!’ And he was very angry. But you are smoking. Have you not asked?

      The other monk said, I also asked, but I asked him, ‘Can I meditate while smoking?’ He said, ‘That’s a great idea. Why waste time? While you are smoking, if you can meditate too that’s a great idea. Do it!’

      So I will not say that while you are meditating have sex, no. I will say while you are making love, meditate. And it is one of the most peaceful, silent, harmonious states—where meditation is the easiest. When you are coming closer to an orgasmic experience your thoughts stop, you become more an energy, more fluid, throbbing all over. And that is the moment to be alert—whatever is happening, the throbbing, the orgasm reaching closer and closer, you know there is a point beyond which you cannot return. Just watch. This is the most secret and inner watchfulness; if you can watch that, you can watch anything else in life, because sex is the closest and most engrossing experience.

      I have written only a small book. The name of the book is From Sex to Superconsciousness, but nobody has paid any attention to superconsciousness, only sex; and the people who have been reading it are all monks, nuns—of all religions! I have written four hundred books on all kinds of matters, subjects that are of immense importance to people like monks who are searching for truth. But no, the problem is that they are suffering, and their suffering is because of their repressed sexuality.

      Q: You were saying that mere sex will go on producing only more and more children; but what do you produce when you join sex with meditation?

      A: You will produce yourself anew. You will find that you are not finished as you are. There are higher levels of your intelligence, of your consciousness; as you start producing those higher levels of your intelligence and consciousness, you will be surprised—your interest in sex starts disappearing, because now sex is producing something far greater than life, it is producing consciousness. Life is a lower thing; consciousness is a higher thing. And once you are capable of producing consciousness, then there is no barrier that says you cannot make love, but it will look very dull. It won’t give you any joy, it will look like a sheer waste of energy. You would rather use your energy to create higher and higher pyramids of consciousness in yourself until you reach to the ultimate point, which I call enlightenment.

      Q: So anything without consciousness is sin—you would maybe say that?

      A: In fact, the very word sin in its origins means forgetfulness, and that’s very beautiful to remember.

      Consciousness means remembrance, awareness, and sin means unawareness, forgetfulness.

      But I will not use the word sin because it has been used and contaminated by all the religions. I will simply call it unconsciousness, forgetfulness—which is the original meaning of the word.

      Q: And what is virtue?

      A: Consciousness, more awareness.

      Q: About everything?

      A: About everything. And once you are fully alert, your whole life is a virtue; whatever you do has a flavor of purity, a fragrance of the divine.

      PART I

      From Sex to Superconsciousness

      ·1·   In Search of Love

      What is love?

      To live it and know it is very easy, but to put it in words is difficult. It is like asking a fish, What is the sea? The fish will say, This is the sea. It is all around, all over. But if you insist—Please define the sea, don’t just indicate—then the problem becomes really difficult for the fish.

      In the life of humans too, all that is good, all that is beautiful, and all that is true can only be lived, can only be known. One can be them, but it is very difficult to define them, to talk about them. The misfortune is that something that humans should have been living—something that is actually meant to be lived—has only been talked about for the past five to six thousand years. Love is talked about and discussed, songs of love are sung, devotional hymns of love are sung, but love itself has no place in the lives of human beings.

      If we search deep within man, we will find that no other word used by him is more false than love. And the most unfortunate thing is that he thinks that those who have actually falsified love, who have blocked all the streams of love, are the originators of it. Religion talks about love—but the kind of love that has surrounded man so far like some misfortune has only closed all the doors to love in his life.

      In this there is no basic difference between East and West, between India and America. The river of love has not yet manifested in humans. And we blame man for this, or we blame it on the mind. We say that human beings are bad, or the mind is poisonous, and that is why there is no love flowing in our lives. The mind is not poisonous; those who call the mind poisonous have actually poisoned love and have not allowed it to be born. Nothing in this world is poison. Nothing is poison in the whole of existence; everything is nectar. It is human beings who have turned this whole nectar into poison, and the major culprits are the so-called teachers, the so-called holy men and saints, the so-called religious people.

      It is important to understand this in detail, because if this is not seen clearly, there is no possibility for love in any human being’s life—not even in the future.

      We go on using the very things that have been responsible for not allowing love to be born as the foundations for the birth of love. Totally wrong principles are repeated and reiterated down the centuries, and we fail to see their basic flaws just because of the repetition. On the contrary, human beings are judged to be wrong because they are unable to fulfill the requirements of those principles.

      Today’s human being is the product of a culture that is five, six, or ten thousand years old. But the human being is blamed for being wrong, not the culture. Man is rotting, yet the culture is praised. Our great culture, our great religion—everything is great. And this human being is the fruit of it!

      But no, man is wrong and he should change himself. No one dares to stand up and question whether the culture and religion that have failed to fill humans with love in ten thousand years might themselves be wrong. And if love hasn’t evolved in the past ten thousand years, then what is the possibility, based on this same culture and this same religion, that love will ever fill humans in the future? Something that could not be achieved in the past ten thousand years is not going to be attained in the coming ten thousand years either. Today’s human being will be the same tomorrow. Human beings have always been the same and will remain the same, and yet we go on praising our culture and religions, praising saints and holy men. We are not even ready to consider that our culture and religion could be at fault.

      I want to say to you that they are. And today’s human being is the proof. What other proof can there be? If we plant a seed and the fruit is poisonous and bitter, what does it prove? It proves that the seed must have been poisonous and bitter. Of course, it is difficult to predict whether a particular seed will give bitter fruit or not. You can look it over carefully, press it or break it open, but you cannot be certain whether or not the fruit will be bitter. Sow a seed; a plant will sprout. Years will pass, a tree will emerge, it will spread its branches to the sky, it will bear fruit—and only then will you come to know if the seed that was planted was bitter or not.

      Today’s human being is the fruit of the seeds of culture and religion that were planted ten thousand years ago and have been nurtured ever since. The fruit is bitter; it is full of conflict and hatred. But we go on praising those very seeds, and we think love will be born out of them.

      I want to say to you that it will not happen, because the fundamental potential for the birth of love has been killed by the religions. They have poisoned it. More love can be seen in the birds, animals, and plants, who have no religion or culture, than in humans. More love can be seen in the backward tribesmen of the jungles—who have no developed religion, civilization, or culture—than in the so-called progressive, cultured, and civilized people of today.

      Why do humans become more and more barren of love the more civilized and cultured they become, the more under the influence of religions they become, the more they go to the temples and churches to pray? There are certainly reasons, and I want to discuss two of them. If these can be understood, the blocked streams of love can be released and the river can flow again.

      Love is within every human being. It does not have to be brought in from somewhere. It is not something that has to be searched for somewhere. It is there. It is the very longing of life within everybody. It is the very fragrance of life within everybody. But it is trapped by high walls on all sides and is unable to manifest itself. All around it there are rocks, and the stream cannot flow.

      The search for love, the discipline of love is not something that you can go somewhere and learn.

      A sculptor was working on a rock. A visitor who had come to see how a statue is made saw no sign of a statue, but only a stone being cut here and there by a chisel and hammer. What are you doing? the visitor asked. Are you not going to make a statue? I have come to see a statue being made, but I only see you chipping a stone.

      The artist said, The statue is already hidden inside. There is no need to make it. Somehow, the useless mass of stone that is around it has to be separated from it, and then the statue will manifest itself. A statue is not made, it is only discovered. It is uncovered; it is brought to light.

      Love is hidden inside human beings; it only needs to be released. The question is not how to produce it, but only how to uncover it. There is something that we have covered ourselves with that does not allow love to surface.

      Try asking a medical practitioner what health is. It is very strange, but no doctor in the world can tell you what health is! The whole of medical science is concerned with health, but there is no one who is able to say what health is. If you ask doctors, they will say, I can only tell you what the diseases and their symptoms are. I know the different technical terms and descriptions for each and every disease. But health? About health, I know nothing. I can only say that health is what remains when there is no disease. This is because health is hidden inside human beings. It is beyond our ability to define it.

      Sickness comes from the outside; hence it can be defined. Health comes from within; hence it cannot be defined. We can only say that the absence of sickness is health. But this is not the definition of health; you have not said anything directly about health. The truth is that health does not have to be created. It is either hidden by illness or it reveals itself when the illness goes away or is cured. Health is inside us. Health is our intrinsic nature.

      Love is inside us. Love is our intrinsic nature. Thus it is fundamentally wrong to ask human beings to cultivate love. The problem is not how to cultivate love, but how to investigate and find out why love is not able to manifest itself. What is the hindrance? What is the difficulty? Where is the barrier?

      If there are no barriers, love will manifest itself. It does not need to be taught or explained. Every person would be filled with love if no barriers of wrong culture and conditionings were imposed. It is an inevitability, no one can avoid love. Love is our intrinsic nature.

      The Ganges flows from the Himalayas. It is natural for it to flow; it is alive, it has water, it will flow, and it will find the ocean. It will not ask a policeman or a priest for directions to the ocean. Have you ever seen a river standing at a crossroads asking a policeman where the ocean is? No, the search for the ocean is hidden in its being. And it has energy, so it will break the mountains and rocks, cross the plains, and reach the ocean. However far the ocean may be, however hidden the ocean may be, the river will surely find it. And the river has no guidebook or map indicating where it has to pass . . . but it definitely reaches.

      But suppose dams are created in her way? Suppose high walls are constructed all around the river. What then? A river overcomes and breaks through natural barriers, but if barriers of human engineering are created, then it is possible she may not reach the ocean.

      It is important to understand this difference. No barrier of nature is really a barrier; that is why a river reaches the ocean. Cutting through the mountains, it reaches the ocean. But if human beings invent barriers, if human beings make arrangements, they can stop a river from reaching the ocean.

      In nature there is a fundamental unity, a harmony. The natural obstructions, the apparent obstructions seen in nature, are perhaps challenges to arouse energy; they serve as provocations to invoke what is latent in the being. We sow a seed; it seems as if the layer of earth above the seed is pressing it down, is obstructing its growth. But it is not so; if that layer of earth is not there, the seed cannot germinate. Outwardly it appears that the layer of earth is keeping the seed pressed down, but it is pressing down on the seed so that it can mellow, disintegrate, and transform itself into a sprout. Outwardly it seems as if the soil is obstructing the seed, but the soil is only a friend; it is helping the seed to grow.

      Nature is a harmony, a rhythmic symphony. But the artificiality that humans have imposed on nature, the things humans have engineered on top of it and the mechanical contrivances humans have thrown into the current of life, have created obstructions. Many rivers have stopped flowing, and then the rivers are blamed. We find no need to blame a seed. If it doesn’t grow into a plant, we reason that the soil might not have been right, that the seed might not have had enough water or that it might not have received enough warmth. But if flowers of love don’t blossom in someone’s life we say, You are responsible for it. Nobody thinks that it might be because of unsuitable soil, a shortage of water, or a lack of warmth that this plant hasn’t grown, hasn’t developed and been able to flower.

      The basic obstructions are man-made, are created by humans. Otherwise the river of love is meant to flow and reach the ocean of life. Humans are here so that they can flow as love and arrive at godliness.

      What are the man-made obstacles that we have contrived? The first thing is that up till now, all of human culture has been against sex, against passion. This opposition, this negation has shattered and destroyed the possibility of the birth of love in humans.

      The simple truth is that sex is the starting point of all journeys to love. The birthplace of the journey to love—love’s Gangotri, the source, the origin of the Ganges of love—is sex. And everybody is inimical to it—all cultures, all religions, all gurus, all holy men. Theirs is an attack on the Gangotri itself, on the very source, and the river is stopped there: Sex is sin . . . sex is irreligious . . . sex is poison. And it never enters our minds that it is sexual energy that ultimately transforms and transmutes into love.

      The evolution of love is nothing but sex energy transformed. Looking at a piece of coal, it would never occur to you that this very coal would transform into a diamond. There is no essential difference between coal and a diamond. The elements are the same. Passing through a process taking thousands of years, coal becomes a diamond.

      But coal is not considered valuable. When coal is kept in a house it is stored in a place where it cannot be seen by guests. Diamonds are worn around the neck or on the breast so that everybody can see them. Diamonds and coal are the same, but there seems to be no visible relationship between the two, no awareness that they are two points on a journey made by the same element. If you are against coal—which is very likely, because at first glance it has nothing more to offer than black soot—the possibility of its transformation into a diamond ends right there. It is the coal itself that could have been transformed into a diamond.

      It is sexual energy that transforms into love. But everyone is against it, is inimical to it. Your so-called good people are against it. And this opposition has not allowed the seed even to sprout. It has destroyed the palace of love at its foundation, on the very first step. The coal never becomes a diamond because the acceptance that is needed for its evolution, for its process of transformation, is out of the question. How can something to which we have become inimical, to which we are opposed, with which we are continuously fighting, be transformed?

      Humans have been set up against their own energy. Humans have been set up to fight against sex energy. On the surface, human beings are taught to support the dropping of all conflicts, all fights, all struggles. But deep down they are essentially being taught to fight: The mind is poison, so fight against it—the poison has to be fought against. Sex is sin, so fight against it. And on the surface we are asked to drop all conflicts! The very teachings that are the basis of man’s inner conflict ask him to drop conflict! On one hand drive people mad, and on the other open asylums to treat them. On one hand spread the germs of sickness, and on the other build hospitals to treat the sick.

      It is very important to understand one thing in this context. Human beings can never be separated from sex. Sex is the very source of one’s life; one is born out of it. Existence has accepted the energy of sex as the starting point of creation, and your holy men call it sinful . . . something that existence itself does not consider a sin! And if you think of God as the creator, and if God considers sex to be a sin, then there is no greater sinner than God in this world, no greater sinner than God in this universe.

      You see a flower in bloom—have you ever considered that the blossoming of a flower is an act of passion, a sexual act? What is happening as the flower blossoms? The butterflies will sit on it and carry its pollen, its sperm, to another flower. A peacock dances in full glory—a poet will sing songs to it, your saints will also be filled with joy at the sight of it. But aren’t they aware that the dance is an overt expression of passion, that it is primarily a sexual act? The peacock is dancing to seduce its beloved. The peacock is beckoning to his beloved, his spouse. The bird is singing, the peacock is dancing, a boy has become an adolescent, a girl has grown into a beautiful woman—these are all expressions of sexual energy. These are all different manifestations of sexual energy. All life, all expression, all flowering is basically sex energy. And it is against this sex energy that religions and cultures are pouring poison into the minds of human beings. They are trying to engage human beings in a fight against it. They have entangled people in this battle against their own basic energy, so they have become wretched, pathetic, devoid of love, false, nobodies.

      One has not to fight with sex, but to create a friendship with it, and elevate the stream of life to the heights.

      While blessing a newly wed couple, an Upanishadic sage said to the bride, May you be the mother of ten children and, ultimately, may your husband become your eleventh child. If passion is transformed, the wife can become the mother; if lust is transformed, sex can become love. It is only sexual energy that flowers into the energy of love.

      But we have filled humans with antagonism toward sex, and the result is that not only has love not flowered in them—because love is an evolution beyond sexual energy, and can come only through acceptance of it—but their minds have become more and more sexual because of this opposition to sex. All our songs, all our poetry, all our art and paintings, all our temples and the statues in them have directly or indirectly become centered around sex. Our minds revolve around sex. No animal in the world is sexual like human beings are. Human beings are sexual around the clock—awake or asleep, sitting or walking, sex has become everything to them. Because of the enmity toward sex, because of this opposition and suppression, it has become like an ulcer in their being.

      One cannot be free from something that is the very root of one’s life. But in the process of this constant inner conflict, one’s entire life can become sick—and it has. Your so-called religions and cultures are basically responsible for the excessive sexuality that is so evident in humankind. It is not bad people but good people and saints who are responsible for this. Until the entire human race frees itself from this wrongdoing by religious leaders and good people, there is no possibility of the birth of love.

      I remember an incident:

      One day a so-called holy man was leaving his house—he was going to see a friend—when, at the gate, he met a childhood friend who had come to see him. The holy man said, Welcome! But where have you been for so many years? Come in! Look, I have promised to go and see some friends, and it would be difficult to postpone the visit, so please rest in my house. I will be back in an hour or so. I will return soon and we can have a long chat. For years I have been looking forward to seeing you again one day.

      The friend replied, Oh, no, wouldn’t it be better if I were to come with you? My clothes are very dirty but if you can just give me something fresh, I will change and come along with you.

      Sometime earlier, a rich man had given the holy man some valuable clothes, and he had been saving them for some grand occasion. Joyfully, he brought them out. His friend put on the precious coat, the turban, the beautiful shoes. He looked like a king! Looking at his friend, the holy man felt a bit jealous; in comparison he looked like a servant. He began to wonder if he had made a mistake, giving away his best outfit, and he began to feel inferior. Now everyone’s attention would go to his friend, he thought, and he himself would look like an attendant, a servant. Today, because of his own set of clothes, he would appear to be a beggar.

      He tried to calm his mind by thinking of himself as a man of God, as one who talks of God, the soul, and noble things all the time. After all, of what importance is a fine coat or a costly turban? Let it be as it is, what difference can they make? But the more he tried to persuade himself of their insignificance, the more his mind became obsessed with the coat and the turban.

      On the surface he tried to converse with his friend on other topics, but inwardly his mind hovered around the coat and the turban. On the way, although they were walking together, passersby only looked at his friend, not at him. He began to feel depressed.

      They reached the house that they were intending to visit and he introduced his friend: This is my friend Jamaal, a childhood friend. He is a very lovely man. And suddenly he blurted, And the clothes? They are mine!

      The friend was stunned. Their hosts were also astonished: what sort of mad behavior was this? The holy man also realized that the remark had been uncalled for, but by then it was too late. He regretted his blunder and because of it, he repressed his mind even more.

      Coming out of the house, he apologized to his friend.

      The friend said, I was dumbfounded. How could you say something like that?

      The holy man said, Sorry. It was just a slip of the tongue.

      But the tongue never makes a slip. Sometimes words pop out of one’s mouth unawares, but that too happens only if there is something on one’s mind; the tongue never makes a slip. He said, Forgive me. This really was a mistake. How such a thing came out of my mouth, I do not know. But he knew full well how it had happened: the thought had surfaced from his mind.

      They started for another friend’s house. Now the holy man kept repeating to himself that he should not mention that the clothes were his; he steeled his mind against it. As they arrived at the gate of the other friend’s house he made a firm resolution that he would not say that the clothes were his.

      That poor man didn’t realize that the more he resolved not to say anything about the clothes, the more firmly rooted grew the inner feeling that he must say the clothes belonged to him. After all, why are such firm resolutions made? When someone makes a firm resolution, like a vow of celibacy, for example, it only means that sexuality is pushing desperately from inside. Why else would a resolution be needed? If someone makes a resolution to eat less, or to go on a fast, it implies the person has a deep desire to eat more. Such efforts inevitably result in an inner conflict. What we want to fight against is nothing but our very weaknesses. Inner conflict is then a natural outcome.

      Thus occupied in an inner struggle, the holy man went into the next house. He began very carefully, This is my friend . . . but he noticed that nobody was paying any attention to him. Everybody was looking at his friend and at his clothes with awe, and it struck him: That is my coat and that is my turban! But he reminded himself again sternly not to talk about the clothes. Everyone, rich or poor, has clothes of some kind or another. It is a trivial matter, this whole world is maya, an illusion, he explained to himself. But the clothes swung before his eyes like a pendulum, to and fro, to and fro.

      He resumed the introduction: This is my friend. A childhood friend. A very fine gentleman. And the clothes . . . those are his, not mine.

      The people were amazed. They had never before heard such an introduction: The clothes are his and not mine!

      As they left the house, he again apologized profusely: A big blunder, he admitted. Now he was confused about what to do and what not to do: Clothes have never had a hold on me like this before! Oh God, what has happened to me? The poor fellow did not know that the strategy he was using on himself was such that anybody would be caught up in it.

      The friend, now quite indignant, said he would not go any farther with him. The so-called man of God grabbed his arm and begged, Please don’t do that. I would be unhappy for the rest of my life, having shown such bad manners to a friend. I swear not to mention the clothes again. With my whole heart, I swear to God I will not mention the clothes anymore.

      But one should always be wary of those who swear, because there is obviously something more profound than the oath that is dwelling inside them—against which they have to swear. An oath or a resolution is on the surface, on the outside. It is made by the conscious part of the mind. But the thing against which the resolution is being made is inside, in the labyrinths of the subconscious mind. If the mind were divided into ten parts, only one part, just the upper part, is committed to the oath; the remaining nine parts will be standing against it. A vow of celibacy, for example, is made by one part of the mind while the rest of the mind, its other nine parts, is crying out to existence for help, is asking for that very thing that has been implanted in human beings by existence.

      They went to a third friend’s house. The holy man held himself back, rigorously keeping control over his every breath.

      Restrained people are very dangerous because a live volcano boils inside them, and only outwardly are they rigid and full of control. Please remember, anything that is controlled requires so much effort and energy that the restraint cannot be maintained the whole time. You will have to relax sometime; you will have to rest sometime. For how long can you clench your fist? Twenty-four hours? The tighter you clench it, the more it tires and the more quickly it will have to fall open. Whatever requires an effort, and the more effort it requires, the sooner you will tire and just the opposite will start happening. Your hand can remain open all the time, but it cannot remain clenched in a fist all the time. Anything that requires an effort to keep in place cannot become a natural way of life to you, can never be spontaneous for you. If it needs effort, it will also need rest. And so, the more self-controlled a saint is, the more dangerous he is—because the need to relax this restraint will come. In twenty-four hours of self-control, one will have to relax for an hour or two, and during this period there will be such an upsurge of suppressed sins that he will find himself in the midst of

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