As we enter the twenty-first century, the world faces innumerable challenges. Although technological advancements have succeeded in making some inhabitants of this planet more comfortable, in general people do not seem to be happier or more peaceful. Huge inequities continue to exist around the globe, and even among the affluent, material prosperity does not guarantee fulfillment.
The planet’s ecosystems are seriously out of balance; wars and conflicts exact a tragic toll; and all around us people are pursuing prestige and profit at almost any price.
What is the reason for such a state of affairs? To find an answer, we must look beyond the surface of events and probe deeply into our own hearts. The ultimate cause is not a specific set of historical events—important though these may be—but our own thoughts, feelings, and desires.
As members of modern industrial culture, we can hardly keep from imbibing its messages. Consequently, most of us have learned to view ourselves as physical beings who “only go around once,” and we accept the pursuit of sense gratification as normal. As a corollary, we have permitted ourselves to indulge our many material appetites, which we seek to satisfy by any number of means.
Another way to describe our situation is to say that we have allowed lust, rather than
love, to govern our lives. Despite our best intentions, this society makes it difficult to avoid living in a self-centered, competitive, exploitive way.
Lust encourages us to continue our wanton exploitation of the Earth’s resources in a never-ending cycle so that we can produce more, consume more, profit more, and want more. Lust makes us climb the ladder of “success” to the top without regard for the harm we may cause along the way.
And lust makes us indulge in sexual behavior that hurts and degrades others and ourselves. To make a change for the better, we must learn how to transform our lust into love. The future of the world depends on it.
Lust, Sex, and Leadership
Nowhere is the need for this transformation of lust into love more apparent than among our leaders.
One of the greatest problems in the world today is the impotence of our leaders at all levels of society. In general, they have been unable, or unwilling, to conquer their lust.
In particular, they have not learned how to use sexual energies in a constructive way and so they cannot master the self-serving attachments that stand in the way of a more selfless, spiritual expression of love.
As the eighteenth-century French writer, Voltaire, once said, the masses are docile. They are susceptible to fads and trends, and they emulate those who lead them. That is why the inadequacy of leaders poses such a serious problem. The entire planet follows in their footsteps.
Our leaders are insufficiently equipped to confront the negative currents that are so prevalent today, and they cannot summon intervention from higher spiritual levels to uplift the general consciousness of society.
Because of these weaknesses, everyone is increasingly at the mercy of demonic energies.
Misused Sexuality Is the Cause
Sexuality is a powerful force that we can use in constructive or destructive ways. Although sexual energy can build up civilizations or tear them down, our leaders still do not recognize the need to master its many forms.
Despite the fact that people constantly hear about sex, talk about it, think about it, and engage in it, they are ignorant of its more profound aspects. Yet a proper comprehension of sexuality is essential not only for personal evolution, but also for strong nation building.
Many seemingly powerful leaders have ultimately failed in their respective missions because of an inability to control their sexual energy. Misdirected sexuality has caused countless political regimes to crumble and has torn asunder innumerable religious and spiritual institutions.
Millions of people have even lost their lives because of leaders who fell prey to poorly channeled sexual energies.
Indeed, the patriarchal nature of society itself encourages a wide variety of self indulgent boundary violations, so that today’s culture is replete with signs of sexual imbalance: pornography, promiscuity, abortion, incest, bestiality, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Society Encourages Sense Gratification
Sex in itself is not harmful; indeed, quite the opposite is the case. We are not trying to devalue sexuality in any way, but are instead questioning the approach modern society takes to it. When sex is an expression of love, it can become a great positive force that yields many deep spiritual revelations and realizations. At its highest level, sexuality becomes a tremendous service to God and to the planet. In the Bhagavad-gita, 7.11, an ancient Vedic text, the Lord says, dharmaviruddho bhutesu kamo ’smi bharatarsabha: “I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles.”
Materialistic civilization has confused love with sex. It is no surprise that someone is raped almost every minute in the United States or that about one-sixth of all children, boys as well as girls, have been victims of incest. We are constantly bombarded by advertisements urging us to enjoy our senses.
Whether the product is a candy bar, a beverage, or a car, the idea behind each advertisement is that the consumer takes possession, enjoys, and thereby increases the potential for an exciting sex life.
A major contributing factor to our difficulty in controlling sexual appetites is the influence of television and other media. Anyone who watches a few hours of television each day cannot help becoming sexually agitated. Not only do advertisements have sexual overtones, but most of the programs do as well.
Movies are especially preoccupied with sex. This might not be a problem if the films portrayed healthy relationships, but unfortunately they often show exploitation, abuse, and perversion. People also spend amazing amounts of money for special “adult” videos, or for sexual programming via cable. And what do they think their children are watching when they turn on the television?
Television puts us in an alpha state, similar to hypnosis, which makes us far more receptive to suggestion than usual. As we watch, images implant themselves in our minds, where they can linger for days, weeks, months, or even years. Think about it.
Remember the last time you saw an intensely sexual scene, and recall how long it remained with you. With such images in our consciousness, no wonder we have such great difficulty resisting the temptations of promiscuity.
This situation is no accident. Whenever we misuse a powerful constructive force such as sexual energy, that same force can become equally strong in a negative way.
In this society, many are deliberately trying to encourage our dependence upon sex and drugs for their personal gain. Because we have not learned to master our sexual energies, we are easy prey, becoming enslaved to our senses and, by extension, to those who profit from our weaknesses.
This is why the illicit drug and pharmaceutical trade is the largest business in the world, and why pornography is one of this planet’s greatest growth industries.