—Sun Myung Moon
Sexual union is the crowning glory of marital love.
When a couple unites through sex, this symbolizes the mingling of the hearts, blood and lives of the two partners.
This is God’s delight as well.
Before the Fall, sex was not seen as dirty or something shameful. God would be a part of the marriage couple’s pleasurable, sacred lovemaking.
But history has provided evidence of people having difficulty disciplining their sexuality and remain faithful to their partners.
Lovers who are not committed to one another can leave behind unwanted children, diseases, adults who prey on children who are not theirs in the relationship and so on.
It is all too easy for the body to subjugate the mind, for instinct to override conscience in the arena of sex.
Some attribute this to an individual’s childhood trauma and learning.
Others blame social conditioning based on the struggle of power in relationships. Still others have sought to explain this behavior in light of early social patterns by tracing back to the earliest communities.
Some religious traditions and psychologies look to ancient myths, legends and stories that tell of the origins of human suffering through a human Fall.
These myths are respected and thought of as revealing of profound inner truths that are too deep and not easy to convey, thus are shown through powerful images and narratives.
“Myths are facts of the mind made manifest in a fiction of matter,” asserts anthropologist Joseph Campbell.
The tale of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis in the Bible quickly comes to mind.
The Qur’an also has a counterpart story.
Reverend Moon found the root of sexual immorality and the secret of all human suffering and self-destructiveness.
These traits are tied up with the reason why it is easy to misuse love and why societies are witnessing harmful relationship patterns between men and women throughout history.
What is this secret revealed in the story of Adam and Eve?
How does the abuse of sexuality between individuals and relationships impact society?
The Human Downfall
The Bible states that the first man and woman brought evil and suffering into the world.
At that time, they enjoyed everything in Heaven on Earth freely. But God gave them one warning: do not eat a certain fruit.
The Bible states that a crafty serpent (the Qur’an is a vengeful angel) who tempted the women with the promise that if she delve into the fruit she would gain wisdom and divine likeness to God. He made it seem that God was keeping this power from humanity and keeping it to Himself, hence bringing a word contrary to God.
After this, she saw that the fruit was good to eat for her and ate it.
Further in the story, Eve gave the fruit to Adam. As the snake promised, they both gained wisdom. But by eating the fruit which God warned them against eating, it brought shame and guilt upon the man and woman so they hid themselves from God.
They first covered their sexual parts.
In every drawing or account of the Fall of Adam and Eve, it has the man and woman covering their sexual organs.
When a person makes a mistake, they cover their transgressions. The fact that the couple covered their sexual organs, shows that their mistake was in these lower parts.
This is similar to when two people are caught in fornication or adultery
When this story first circulated, this was probably transparent to the audiences then. In the Middle East, they understand the euphemism of ‘eating of fruit’ to mean sexual relations.
Also, the expression, ‘to know’ someone as in having sexual relations with another.
Thus the Tree of Knowledge takes on sexual connotations as well.
Many who speak of having sex outside of marriage or in immature relations promise that they will become mature and experienced.
People still expect this from sex.
When sex is violated in this way, they bear foretold consequences from their deeds: painful childbirth, distrust and tension between men and women, not able to grow and mature in love any further, and a profound separation from God who is the source of love and life.
The Hebrew tale of Paradise Lost, written by Milton brought in a sexual counterpart, and early writings of Jewish and Christian clergy did as well, In the historical perspective, according to scholars makes the Biblical account unmistakable: the tree, snake and the women’s name and other features alludes to the widespread practice of temple prostitution and the story was a deliberate parody to denounce it.
These writings place a sexual sin at the core of all human disorder and misery.
Other myths imply the same detail. A Shinto myth has a god and his wife engage improperly in conjugal love. They may call it incest. Then they correctly give birth to the islands of Japan. The goddess dies and a misfortune befalls their first son and daughter. Kojiki 4.1-6.1
Hindu and Buddhist text also tell their tale tying the origins of suffering to sexual indiscretions.
The Greek myth of Pandora tells of a woman who betrays her promise to her immortal fiance and opens a box which releases all kinds of suffering into the world.
This box can easily symbolize a woman’s sexual parts which are opened by another instead of her husband.
Ambivalence towards sexuality
Intuitively, there is a link between sexuality and the origins of human evil. This forms the basis of the mixed messages within certain religions regarding sex.
The chosen people of Israel had a distinguished mark of circumcision. This is a mutilation of the male organ which was involved in the Fall.
Christians and Buddhist favor celibacy as their path to sanctification and enlightenment.
Sex is a sacred gift which has become degraded and dangerous.
In the context of wider society, sexuality is honored. For instance, poetry and songs celebrate its goodness and maligned on the other or the vulgar ways people refer to it when expressing hate and aggression.
Subtle Ramifications
The substance of these sacred narratives is the content of contemporary life.
People indulge in sex without being mature or involved in marriage. This brings on more heartbreak and distortion about true love.
The most ironic consequence of thinking about casual sex is that people are blind to these very consequences.
Thus, the supreme and sacred power of sexual love with all of its intrinsic psychological and emotional, moral and spiritual, relational, social and lineal ramifications comes to be reduced to merely a pleasurable physical activity, like eating or sleeping.
The real costs of premature sexual relations on the personal and social level and the impact on God are largely overlooked. Technology can take care of the unwanted pregnancy and sexual infections, but the damage it causes to the spirit are irreversible.
Return for Tomorrow's Post: The First Love Triangle Was Between..
This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook, "Educating for True Love" written by a team of writers to explain Reverend Sun Myung Moon's philosophy on sex and marriage.
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