Written by Genital Shame
How did that term become popular?
Culturally, it seems we have three main ways to refer to our genitals: clinical, vulgar, or pleasant. I really don't like any of these, but I've settled on the clinical. Vulgar terms are too derogatory, and juvenile terms fail to recognize that our genitals have any value.
Genital shame is real. I encounter feelings of genital shame regularly in my work, leisure, sports... We have categorized the penis as banal, greedy, and emotionless. It's no wonder that many of us experience a lack of sensitivity in our genitals.
Bruce P. Grether recently wrote Penis Intelligence of Heart. I found these words from Bruce helpful:
A common cliché is that “men think with their penis” and this generally implies that it causes men to do stupid or horrible things. The reality behind this is that men think with their penises and are often ill-equipped to deal with feelings, due to conditioning around "masculinity," as well as personal history.
However, in truth, as a human, your penis is not at all the superficial, greedy, and deceptive organ it is often labeled and assumed to be. What often leads men to do stupid things when driven by desire is not the penis itself. It is largely the conditioning that teaches men to believe they must obtain sexual pleasure at the expense of another person, regardless of the consequences, and that sexuality is a way to prove something about themselves.
Unlimited happiness beyond understanding is available to any man through conscious masturbation, and this changes the entire equation, just as it changes the man himself.
In fact, it is not the brain (which many consider the seat of intelligence) that is the most powerful creative organ (not even your magnificent penis), but your heart. Thus, the great poet and philosopher James Broughton described the penis as “the exposed tip of the heart.” This gives an idea of the genuine sensitivity, tenderness, and vulnerability of the real penis. It also suggests its incredible phallic power, as it has been found that the heart in your chest exerts a tremendous electromagnetic field.
The ancient Egyptians spoke of a very important quality they called "Heart Intelligence," similar to intuition, immediacy, and authenticity, or self-trust
. They considered heart intelligence to be a key faculty of healthy and functional human consciousness. They also viewed the phallus as a spiritual umbilical cord connecting the male body to the Source. The phallus was further considered the vertical axis connecting Earth with Heaven, Below with Above.
This toolbox of imagery points to a literal reality that is not symbolic.
For the ancients, such truth was immediate and experiential in the human body in relation to the world that was its context. When you free yourself from the social and cultural conditioning that limits you to a joking and disdainful attitude about the subject, your penis is actually an organ of Heart Intelligence. This is not an intellectual or mental exercise; rather, it is more likely to occur when you can surrender to prolonged and intense intervals of high-quality erotic ecstasy. This is not a struggle for therapeutic benefits, although it may require effort and persistence; rather, simply allow the ecstasy itself to do the work of transformation.
Your penis head is emotionally "smarter" than the head on your shoulders!
The luminous glow of sustained genital bliss brings you back to your body; it brings you to the present moment; it returns you from your mind to the here and now... if you allow it to do the magnificent, glorious, and even miraculous work for which evolution has designed it! Long ago, such pleasure may have been designed to tempt you to reproduce.
However, your own selective evolution has transformed the penis into an organ that is itself evolutionary when used in this way, for personal growth and conscious evolution. The Heart Intelligence of your penis can be transformative; such ecstasy helps you become the kind of man you long to be deep in your soul.
Conscious masturbation is the substrate, the basic practice of male erotic alchemy, which actually unfolds the pure pleasure of the penis as self-love to expand your consciousness, open your heart, make you aware of your innate wholeness, and offer you a real glimpse of your Unity with all things.
All of this = your Heart Intelligence!
When the penis is perceived as greedy and deceptive, it is not only due to, as Bruce mentions, the “conditioning that teaches men to believe they must obtain sexual pleasure at the expense of another person,” but also to the shame we feel about sexuality and, at times, our genitals. When we can express our creativity and our heart through our penis, the sense of shame that many of us experience can dissipate.
James Broughton not only described the penis as "the exposed tip of the heart," but he also said that "there is only ONE temple in the world and that is the human body," and that "the proper activity in a temple is worship. Share your holiness. Visit each other's temples.” When we view our sexual expression as sacred, perceptions can change dramatically. We can experience being fully in our body not only as an act of worship but as a way to counteract all those feelings of shame that have accumulated over the years.
So, how do you begin this journey? A good place to start is to observe what your genitals might say to you. Write down the words and observe how those feelings of shame work both ways. Make peace with your genitals by being loving and tender. Open the connection between your heart and your penis, simply by placing one hand on each area of the body and feeling the connection. Set aside expectations and welcome the bliss that can be accessed through your genitals.