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Speaking of writing a book about it...
For those of you truly interested in learning about the many emotional intricacies and possibilities of polyamory, there is a very interesting book on the subject called The Ethical Slut, by Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt.
This book opened my mind to the idea of polyamory, or at least to question the ideals of love and sex that we were brought up with. Obviously who we choose to have sex with is extremely personal, so shouldn't how many people we have sex with be just as personal a decision on our part?
My partner and I have been non-monogamous for a little while now. We're still exploring the ins and outs of it, but so far poly lovin' has actually improved our relationship and brought us closer together.

I hear about this book constantly from people, yet I haven't had the opportunity to get around to reading it yet. I must see if they have it on audiobook!
Thank you Verity for expressing your feelings about your relationship having improved and brought you closer as a result of the lack of monogamy!!
I have found that the poly people I interact with end up being capable of so much deeper emotional interactions with myself and others as a result of a lack of the boundaries and barriers that humans impose on themselves in order to prevent themselves from being hurt as a result of the violations that can occur in monogamy. This has nothing to do with wanting to fuck everyone under the sun, this is a matter of opening oneself to the natural feelings and happenings that occur within life without imposing rules that lead to personal dissatisfaction.
Having sex with many people isn't the real goal at the heart of truly polyamorous people; what we crave is the ability to openly express our deepest feelings with others and have them do so with us. According to Osho in From Sex to Superconsciousness (a truly fantastic read that I cannot recommend enough!) the human race is only so obsessed with sex as a result of our making it a taboo and something that we don't openly discuss and accept as a natural part of our lives. By allowing oneself to enjoy the deep...I have no other word for it than spiritual...essence of sexual intimacy with another person who there is attraction towards, we overcome the inner conflicts and complications that develop by denying the truth of these feelings.
Having engaged in this transformation of perspective and continuing to overcome any feelings that arise and delving into the deepest corners of my consciousness and how these things relate to my entire life and how I project and perceive myself, I have gained a deep deep sense of inner peace and understanding of myself that I had spent years searching for in so many other places. At this point I am happy to sit with a girl and exchange massages, to be close, to talk about our thoughts and feelings, without any expectation or motivation towards having sex together. I haven't surpassed those desires; I haven't given them up, nor do I not think of the joys of what we would experience together in a sexual sense, but aside from the physical pleasure involved I wouldn't really gain anything by having sex that I cannot gain in those moments together without having sex.
Osho claims that as humans we hunger for sex for 2 reasons; the curiosity of that which we were never allowed to understand and appreciate in ourselves and each other openly and freely without shame; and the state of Samadhi - the state of No-Mind that occurs for only a few moments briefly after reaching orgasm. We seek the understanding and knowledge about sex just as we seek understanding of all things in life, yet through our suppression and shameful feelings towards it we have created perversion and pornographic content out of something that is the direct source of all life in the Universe. Man has yet to figure out how to create life, to create consciousness and yet this act of sex allows it to spring into being out of nothingness at all. Secondly we seek the state of bliss where we have no thought of Time or Self, when we are truly at peace and are purely in the here and now, that moment directly after achieving orgasm with another and that doesn't occur nearly as profoundly by oneself.
That same state of No-Mind can be reached through many other means though. Listen to Eckhart Tolle and you will notice that he mentions it many times in his various audio programs (seriously ditch the books and LISTEN to him talk, LISTEN to the wisdom and the feelings that pour out of his state of consciousness and you will begin to feel and appreciate these things that I speak of). Many people spend much time in quiet meditating in order to achieve this state, although it can be reached through so many active means of being and living that can also be considered meditative. For me writing and speaking of these things is perhaps the easiest way for me to achieve the state and instantly stop thinking and just allow myself to be and have consciousness flow through me; hence why I have spent so much time on this forum doing such. That's why I enjoy spending time in closeness with other men and women who are open and desire to discuss the matters because I get the same feelings.
When I become close with a woman and we express these things to each other, then there is no need to engage in sex for that gratification, yet it is an openly loving and since I do it with multiple people and don't reserve it for simply one woman, that makes it polyamorous whether or not I engage in sex with them. Sex is enjoyable and a means of spiritual and physical expression that gives pleasure and joy to both of us, so sometimes we do that as well, yet the craving for it and the
need for it is slowly dissipating from my being the more and more I allow myself to feel this way. At this point the only reason I can believe that I desire to have sex is out of the curiosity and desire for knowledge and experience that I was never allowed to openly receive. The more I experience the various sexual things I desire to know though, the more my craving for sex fades away and all that I am left with is love without a need to make it physical in order to express it.
In my mind, this is what lies at the deepest heart of Polyamory - even for those who have not realised that is what they seek by engaging in it. This is what Osho, Johnny Soporno, Sean Messenger, David Deida, Eckhart Tolle, myself and many others consider to be the area in which we need to focus our attention and our efforts to expand ourselves in order to advance into the next stage of Human consciousness. This is the cutting edge of personal growth and spiritual enlightenment. This is where everlasting happiness and inner peace are buried awaiting your search to uncover them and make them yours.
I don't claim this is the truth. I merely claim that this is what some of the worlds most renowned experts in the areas of interpersonal relations, happiness, enlightenment, spirituality, personal growth and sexuality have all intersected and come to points of agreement with one another. I don't claim that any of these teachings are new; truly anyone who claims that anything is entirely new and unique unto itself is naive and deluded as to the nature of knowledge and information in the Universe. Ask yourself though, if something isn't new and it is ancient teachings, or even more recent teachings, that have been refined, rephrased and expressed in terms that are understandable and recognizable as truths and wisdom in this modern age, does that make them less valid because they are recycled, or more valid because they are supported by the various disciplines in cultures around the world throughout recorded history? Personally I would have to support the latter, as I feel anything that has been corroborated has much more value than something that stands alone in opposition to everything else.
If you have taken the time to fully read and appreciate my words to this point I thank you for keeping an open mind and I am happy to discuss, although not debate nor argue over the matters I have spoken of.
~ Rye