What Is Tantra?
Tantra is an age-old, Indian tradition that branched off of early Hindu thinking some 3,000 years ago. Since then, many schools of Tantra developed, some Hindu, some Buddhist, and some — these days — not affiliated with any religion.
At its core, Tantra is simply a framework or theory of ultimate reality; that is, it is a spiritual tradition. And like any other spiritual / religious doctrine, it has its own message about who we are, what the universe is and what it means to live a fulfilling life.
So, Tantra clearly isn’t just about sex. It is a whole body of knowledge, an ideology, a spiritual tradition and practice with its own worldview.
What is its worldview? What is it saying about us, the universe and ultimate reality? I will try to distill it down to a somewhat digestable form (although it’s one of those things in life that evades adequate conceptualization).
I think one of the basic premises of Tantric philosophy is that all of life, everything you can see, hear, touch, taste, smell — that is, everything you can experience — is divine. Everything.
This means your dog, your computer, the old beat up car down your street, the coffee you drink, the cup you hold, the tree you pass, the hole you step in, the other stuff you accidently step in and even you and me. We are all divine.
What do I mean by “divine”? To get there, it’s helpful to bring in a little Hinduism.
Shakti
According to Tantra, everything is a manifestation of Shakti. Shakti can be thought of as lifeforce energy. Everything is imbued with Shakti, or Shakti is the energy that imbues everything.
Shakti is a Hindu deity that represents the source of life, the energy that empowers the universe. She is the creative force that unfurls and propels form and life into existence, the primordial goop from which all things emerge.
She exists as potential, but is also the ultimate, dynamic, creative force. Comparing Shakti to a battery isn’t far off the mark. She is a reservoir of energy, a rich, fertile land that is always spurring creation and growth. Shakti is the ground of being.
Another way of framing Shakti is eros or erotic energy. Eros, in Greek mythology is the God of love. Freud used the term to denote the life-preservation instinct that underlies love, sex (procreation) and survival.
In Tantric practice, one taps into this energy. Whether through breathing, visualization, meditation and/or physical touch. The idea is that life force energy is within us (as it is in everything) and can be opened up to and experienced.
The experience that most people report when opening up or connecting to Shakti is one of intense energy and pleasure. It’s like connecting to the battery, but not just any battery — the battery that powers all life.
The universe is always producing, creativity is always flowing, and we are a part of this ever-unfolding process (called “life”). However, we aren’t always aware of this simple fact. In fact, we live very disconnected from it.
Humans think we are separate from it all — that the world we created (society, culture, our job, technology) is somehow its own, isolated reality. And then there’s this other thing called nature, life, the Universe “out there.”
We are a part of everything, and we have been. Our world as we know it is just another leaf sprouting off a branch on the age-old tree of life. So the same source that is underlying all of existence, that is fertilizing the “cosmic tree” is fertilizing us. We just aren’t aware of it.
Tantric practice is aimed at reconnecting with this source. Just as a leaf’s life can be traced all the way down to the roots, which take from the earth itself, so too can we tap into the dynamic force that drives us and propels our life, our creativity, our generativity, our life and all of existence.
This is the viewpoint of Tantra — that we can access the source of Life. That is huge.
This energy is always empowering us, moving us, enlivening the world. But when we connect to it in a conscious way, such that we are aware, open-minded and present, it is a whole different ballgame.