Mystery of Life Divine Conception
Sex Education as Beautiful Love
Here, in the America of the l990's, sex has become a subject that suffuses the whole
culture. It has become a vital component of advertising, an endless subject of talk shows,
books and magazines abound with every detail of the physical aspects of this subject.
Every aberrant behavior is a subject of afternoon television. Taboos of the past have
totally disintegrated. While a subject that was once hidden has become one of every day
discussion, in all the talk, the spiritual dimension and sacredness of this communion of
two souls that become one has been completely overlooked. Here, Dr. Taniguchi reminds us
of the divine nature of that institution we know as marriage.
Then, what is in essence the purpose of marriage? It is the divine purpose of two lives
to be united as husband and wife in the original oneness that was temporarily separated as
negative and positive forces. This is the reason why a marriage must be established on the
understanding that the two lives are really an inseparable one and it is the manifestation
in the phenomenal world of this awareness. Thus, you can say that his soul is my soul or
her soul is my soul.
This recognition of two souls becoming one becomes the foundation of all the joy, love
and harmony that fills the Seicho-No-Ie household. The more fully we see past the
phenomenal self to that child of God within our partner, the easier it is to overcome the
little stresses and strains of creating a life together. As each partner recognizes the
indwelling perfection in the other, this perfection becomes more and more visible in the
every day world. This focus on the indwelling perfection, even in the face of experience
to the contrary, in time transcends and harmonizes what could otherwise be intractable
matrimonial discontent. Dr. Taniguchi teaches us that we find the harmony of two souls
reflected in the joy we find in the physical union between a couple.
The physical satisfaction one derives from sex is a symbolic reflection in the physical
body of the perfect union of souls that was originally one with each other between the
couple who are to become husband and wife.
This essential harmony becomes the basis for a marriage based on spiritual equality. In
this age of equal rights and affirmative action and focus on bottom line equality, it may
be difficult at first to sense the nature of spiritual equality. We know from the
teachings of Seicho-No-Ie that we are all children of God and, in that sense, we are all
equal in God's eyes. Dr. Taniguchi teaches us also that we all have genius within and the
infinite potential within to create what our soul desires in the world. It is vital to
have the freedom of thought and action to respond to the pulsation of infinite growth
within and grow in the direction of our essential being. Men and women have been placed on
the earth with their own unique designs and naturally search for a role that fulfills
their innermost longings. It is the respect of each partner for the needs and desires of
the other that creates this spiritual equality of difference. Dr. Taniguchi explains it in
the following way.
So let us start a marriage with the awareness of the equality of husband and wife.
However, the equality must be an unfair equality. It must be a true equality. While
worshipping each other's life as having been born a man and a woman, each has his/her own
inherent role to fulfill. When these roles are ignored, the equality is not true equality.
When equality is abused, it creates trouble in the home. Thus, one must understand the
truth that while being equal they are different and while being different, they are equal.
From this position of respect and harmony a relationship of joy, love and gratitude
emerges. It is in the joy of assisting our partner that we feel God's love flowing through
us. For each step that we take along the path of harmony, we are rewarded with the sense
that we are in step with God's life. We see this reflected in the joy we feel in our happy
home. This is no accident. It is instead, as Dr. Taniguchi teaches us a reflection of
ourselves. If we have not yet achieved the happy home that we desire, we must reflect upon
ourselves. Dr. Taniguchi teaches us as follows:
When the husband and wife are in perfect harmony, they receive the waves of vibration
of God's Life and this is something that is very sacred. Human beings are born on this
earth not as a result of the desire of the flesh nor because of the desire of man, but
because they are "born of God" as it is written in Genesis of the Old Testament.
Thus, when a woman conceives, she has conceived a divine spirit. It truly is a sacred
event.
This is why we marvel at the birth of each young life. It is a sacred event ordained by
God. It is important to recognize the child as "born of God." As Kahlil Gibran
puts it in The Prophet, "They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for
itself. They come through you but not from you." The essential idea is that our
children do not belong to us but rather God has placed them in our care to do our best to
nurture them and develop the infinite potential within. This is the starting point of good
parenting. Thank you very much.
By Bruce Mallery
