Tantric Typologies of Men

As gay and bisexual men, we must become aware of how we present ourselves on social media, and reflect on what our sharing tells us about our inner self. Traditional Tantra (तन्त्र) provides us with a typology of men and a set of qualities called the triguṇa (त्रिगुण) or the three characteristics. These typologies and the guṇa‑s are further associated with the cakra-s  (चक्र). This upadeśa (उपदेश) or spiritual guidance essay teaches in broad strokes what may be described as a major problem in becoming awakened to an evolved masculinity.

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Since deciding to use social media, in this case Twitter, to promote my programs in Homoerotic Tantra:Mascul-IN-Touch℠ I have been impressed – I don’t mean necessarily positively – by the disappointing number of men who are totally off the planet with their silly antics of masturbating into their smartphones and broadcasting their ejaculations, unabashed anal intercourse with every detail painstakingly recorded for whomever needs to see that stuff, men playing with their penises and their butts, and the list could go on but why bother. You know what I am describing and probably have seen much more. I wonder how many men have actually been saddened by seeing other men act like depraved animals.

For millennia a man’s semen was considered divine nectar, the essence or elixir of life. The man’s semen was never to be wasted; in fact, a man was cursed if he wasted his semen or allowed it to fall to the ground. There are age-old instructions for consuming the semen as a sacrament, and legends of the gods consuming semen, their own and that of other gods. Yet we have men who find it acceptable to masturbate for their smart-phones and to waste their unique masculine creative power present in their semen. Even non-human animals do not waste their creative potential, except for the closest relatives of mankind, the neurotic apes.

This may remind you of someone you follow on social media!

Notwithstanding the rich erotosensual metaphors of swords, spears, arrows, etc., a man’s penis is not a toy or a weapon. Since time immemorial the penis (vajra  (वज्र)) and the phallus (liṅgaṃ (लिङ्गम्)) have been objects of worship and adoration, not toys. Go figure.
Their infantile and simplistic fascination with their toys whether it be their own penises, another man’s, their own anus or another man’s, the exhibitionism of masturbating for an audience and ejaculating as if it had some perverse entertainment value — it obviously does either for the performer or his audience — must provide some respite from their loneliness and self-loathing those lost souls and wasted masculinity must be suffering. I can only understand that it would only make a pitiable situation even worse. But there they are.

In psychology and psychiatry there are terms for this particular general behavior: narcissism and exhibitionism, both are disorders, pathologies. There is another term that comes to mind when I observe this sort of infantile behavior: psychological neoteny. Psychological neoteny is the condition where the body matures but the mind retains childish traits; in other words, the body becomes adult but the mind remains infantile. That might be an explanation for the constant thrill seeking and risk-taking behavior we observe in the less evolved of the species. And might psychological neoteny be a reasonable explanation of the current phenomenon of sticking out the tongue in selfies and elsewhere? Where did that one come from? I don’t think it’s an impoverished attempt to imitate Kālikā (कालिका)! That would imply some level of mature spirituality but we know that’s not an option. Perhaps a more reasonable option would be that the man is imitating some sort of animal behavior such as a panting dog (see below)?

I suppose there have always been men like that but in the past they remained in the shadows, in public toilets, or in some back room of a sex shop or the orgy room of gay baths. Today, with all the opportunities offered to the sick souls by social media, they have come out in swarms.
Please don’t misunderstand my point. I’m not judging them for what they are doing. They are doing exactly what they do. They are what they are and if it’s their nature to be that, then there can be no moralizing of nature, can there?

You can read the entire essay at GayMenTantra, and use the link there to download a PDF copy of the post. You may also want to join the private site at Homoerotic Tantra for Gay Men.