INTRODUCTION

We often forget about our deepest self, buried under schedules, worries, work, unresolved emotional problems, fears, and a whole array of distractions that distance us from our hearts.

Men and women can now free themselves from all these internal conflicts with a single shift in their perspective on life. Sometimes you only see the negative side of existence and forget that everything has a sense of growth.

Tantra is a complete science of human life, in all its dimensions. Some have branded it as only a path to sex without seeing that it goes so much farther. It’s as if we only see a tree, missing the whole forest.

This book will attempt to show the whole panorama that Tantra encompasses, being the result of a personal attempt to live honestly, practicing what I preach.

Within the existence of a person there is more than sex; there are also emotions, thoughts, ideas, plans, longings of the soul, and physical and spiritual growth. It just so happens that sex is one of the first rungs on the ladder in the evolution of the conscience, and if we want to climb a staircase, but don’t take the first step, it will be difficult to get to the top. Yes, Tantra deals with sex, but in a simultaneously scientific and romantic way. It also deals with love, but with intelligence, and with material goods, but in enjoying them without becoming devoted to them or valuing them too much.

Many spiritual traditions have “left out” the subject of sex, while others have openly repressed and condemned it.

Think about it . . .

Haven’t we all come into the world through a sexual act? Wasn’t it necessary for two bodies to come together, in soul and energy, to produce a miraculous birth? Why stigmatize something so sacred as sinful? Is it that humanity has not understood that sex, more than generating a new life, is also a spiritual transformation?

Tantra knows that all of life is energy, and that it is all one energy that has different aspects. Sex is a very important one and, used wisely, can drive the purification and illumination of the spirit. But it can also take another road: perverse and mental, or repressed, like in some societies.

Tantra takes sex to be pleasure and a connection between two beings seeking to become one, the opening of a sacred door in the conscience leading to deep levels of understanding of natural forces. The sexual act is, ultimately, the microcosmic representation of the universal law of attraction—of the creation that unites the two poles.

Life is day and night, hot and cold, dry and wet, man and woman . . . In life, balance is a supreme law and Tantra is a path to balance: sex united with meditation, financial well-being compatible with spiritual exploration, happiness and fun together with moments of silence . . .

Tantra is practice, it is learning through direct experience. You raise your energy and soul, you observe with clarity and understand, you connect with life and you are happy. This path can be a lifesaver for the modern man, who walks aimlessly through life, or even for the wise one who realizes that “there’s something more” to life than eating, sleeping, and lovemaking.

Tantra awakens an artistic capacity in the physical body; the common man travels the path to Buddha by bringing all his hidden potential to the surface. He does this by uncovering the heart, freeing it, giving it wings to live freely and consciously.

Without being a religion, it is a tapestry that includes all the facets of life without discarding a single one. You enjoy your belongings, discover the sanctity of sex, delight in food; you love and are loved, you become creative, you follow your intuition, and live from your center. Isn’t that a perfect life? Can it be that we all hold the keys to happiness and are putting them in the wrong locks?

Tantra is a path of subtraction, not summation or division: remove what is unnecessary, just as the artist does from the stone, and allow the sculpture to emerge.

With Tantra, you don’t arrive to any one place because it is not a race: it’s an adventure and acceptance, it’s the discovery of magical and powerful consciousness, it’s the dance that every being dances, it’s the page in which the poet captures their work, it’s the recovery of joy and love in all its dimensions. It is like knocking on the door of your own house without knowing how many rooms are inside: the surprise of opening every room and discovering the light inside, seeing the divinity of every space, and feeling that you are a mirror that reflects life inside of you.

GUILLERMO FERRARA, Barcelona, September 2001