How to tell the roots from the imitation.
You were told to choose a side. This book looks at something older, and asks whether it was ever either one.
Artwork: a river at dusk with reeds in the foreground and a low gold sun.
Shall we begin?
What is this power that moves between two people when the door closes?
That is the first question in Ancient Sex. It is not the last. The book follows the old teachings of Tantra and the Kama Sutra back toward their roots, from the rivers of Mesopotamia onward, and it asks more questions than it answers.
After the last page, you can tell a real tradition from an imitation of one.
You can judge a teacher, a class, or a practice and see where it came from. You can separate what the sources say from what the author believes, and from what nobody knows yet.
Three things, kept apart.
- One
The Record.
What the sources actually say.
- Two
The Teaching.
What the author believes. Always labeled as his.
- Three
The Question.
What nobody knows yet. There are a lot of these.
You have found something real there.
If you love Tantra, you have found something real there. This book does not tell you your practice is wrong. It shows you where it may have come from, and what the older roots add to the tree you already know. If some of it surprises you, be surprised slowly.
A computer helped with this book, the way a writer uses a very quick assistant who is good at looking things up. The stories are mine. The opinions are mine. Anything that could not be checked is marked as unchecked, and where scholars disagree, the book says how.
Want to read it before anyone else?
Take the short quiz and see if you qualify for a review copy. Or, if you would rather just talk, connect with me.