Both Tantra and pornographic sexuality seek freedom, erase taboos and adore intense experiences. Both are free from inhibitions. So, what makes them different?

Tantra knows that everything is possible, but not everything is allowed. This has nothing to do with fear of social conventions, but with recognition and observance of the divine universal laws.

Western philosophy is also familiar with the idea that “freedom is the appreciation of necessity”, because once we know these laws, assume them as an inner reality and live in harmony with them, they decondition us and enable us to discover and develop our most valuable inner assets.

Pornography claims that the only need worth considering is carnal desire. Therefore, it maintains the illusion that everything is allowed and strives to make everything possible, even that which is painful, damaging or unnatural.

Do you choose pleasure, or ecstasy?

Pornography denies, by its nature, that there is another reality beyond the material; the body.

Tantra relies on the truth that everything that is felt in the body is an important bridge that takes us beyond the physical senses and projects us into altered states of consciousness.

Pornography proclaims pleasure as the ultimate goal of all things.

Tantra proclaims the union with Divinity as the goal of everything, even of pleasure, which is just the way that most humans unconsciously search for the ultimate fulfilment; unification with the Divine.

What is sexual freedom anyway?

For most people, sexual freedom means sleeping with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

In the Tantric vision, however, erotic freedom means something profound – freeing, refining and developing your own erotic energy and turning it into the vehicle that propels you beyond the limits of physiology, biology and carnal attraction.

Sexual energy is the source of a huge vital power in the human being. It is the very force of life. When you unleash it and naturally manage to expand it vertically, its impact on your life will be extraordinary. It can flow freely in your body and mind.

Its wealth becomes active, elevated and miraculous, thus enriching your whole life.

Pornography turns women into objects, and men into slaves.

Tantra fully liberates both and brings them to their true nature.

Wilting or flourishment?

Being erotically free means attaining the inner attitude and mastery that allow you to orient your inner potential for growth and fulfilment as an integrated human being.

It also means to free yourself from the slavery of sexual desires, to play with your own erotic energy at will – to wake it up if you want, tame it when necessary.

In fact, according to the tantric vision, you are erotically free when sexual energy is no longer a problem for you. You simply control it and use it at will.

While the version of sexual freedom portrayed by pornography is to consume your sexual potential in countless ejaculations, with the illogical pride of a supersonic pilot who, when he wants to land, opens the fuel tank and scatters the fuel in the air, without taking into account that he will need it for the following flights.

Dependence or deconditioning?

Despite all the slogans that mimic a revolutionary discourse, pornography means commerce and that  serves the Consumerist society perfectly.

Even when there are no price labels in the shop window, backstage there are dealers, companies, affiliated trusts that are only interested in sales and purchases.

Like all the other markets, pornography is concerned with profit, not with the genuine empowerment of the individual or their freedom.

It is filled with messages that only encourage the self-loathing, narcissism and quick-fix attitudes that are so prevalent in Consumerist society. Women should have a specific kind of breasts, to be a ‘real’ man you have to have a certain size of penis or a permanent erection, to be desirable (as a sexual object) you must dress, talk, act in a certain way. This fuelling of our insecurities leads to more and more purchases and greater and greater disconnection from the Truth of who we are.

Much like the tobacco industry its strategy is to turn as many people into addicts as possible, from a younger and younger age; hooking them for life to increase profit.

Pornography plays on our weaknesses and cultivates them with the cunning of a guard who opens the door of a cell just to encourage you to live in a larger cell.

It enslaves people’s minds, as these unrealistic an often degrading fantasies become etched in their sexual consciousness and build a wall between them and their partners when it comes to being present with each other erotically. Regular masturbation leads to disconnection, narcissism and numbness, all of which inhibit our ability to form happy relationships.

Tantra accepts weaknesses as starting points but then guides us on the road that leads us beyond them to something much more expanded.

It can be a challenge in the beginning to re-condition your mind and change your behaviours; the path of conscious love involves a real shift in the way we operate erotically and romantically. But it is a natural shift, as it brings us ever closer to the original happiness; to the state of being that Pornography consumption and other compulsive behaviours promise, but can never fulfil.

Pornography sells us a type of false freedom that separates, enslaves and gradually destroys us, Tantra inspires the awakening in us of the true freedom that is the road to lasting happiness.

As ever, the one thing we were all given is the free will to choose, so, what kind of freedom do you want?