I practiced celibacy for several years. I believed that celibacy built a reserve of energy that needed to reach a sufficient level to break-through to enlightenment – like a rocket reaching escape velocity. I started the practice on the advice of Richard Rose. I felt he had achieved what I wanted (enlightenment for lack of a better word) and it was reasonable to follow the advice of a successful person in any endeavor one pursued.
My vital energy meter, however, did not increase as the years passed. I didn’t feel stronger, smarter, or more spiritual.
As a single man, I did realize that sex was the road to family life and I wasn’t ready to open that box. What energy I had, I wanted to devote to introspection, reading, meeting with others, and other experiments in the spiritual life. My life was a full plate, and didn’t need more complications.
Now, some years after the celibacy experiment, I feel that celibacy increased my intuition. Our area of focus is where we will have intuitive leaps. A successful soldier develops a battlefield intuition, an entrepreneur develops a financial intuition, and a Casanova develops a sexual intuition. Celibacy, along with other lifestyle simplifications, hones the introspective intuition. It helps settle the thoughts and eases the “urgency of habits” of which Rose spoke. In this quieter, more subtle mind, intuition may be heard. Intuition is a tenuous connection with a higher aspect of our self. It was best described by Rose as the “ray of creation.” Developing the intuition is akin to fine-tuning the mind to hear the signal from home.
I recommend experimenting with celibacy. I suspect that a month of celibacy may be as beneficial for one man as a year is for another. Naturally, there is the potential to rationalize our aborted attempts, so it is good to discuss our thinking process with a trusted friend who has an understanding of what we are attempting.
There are countless arguments against celibacy and even arguments against taking any action to “attain” a spiritual realization, but I am primarily interested in those who see a glimmer of sense in the idea of celibacy. I offer my success on the spiritual path as a testament to its value.