聽神談【「性」與「心靈覺醒」】
尼爾：有些人相信，性行為太頻繁無法達到心靈上的提升。他們說，靈性與性是不能相混的。所以，就讓我開門見山地問你，性能量是否會干擾到心靈能量？表達性愛是否會耗盡一個人的「能量庫存」，而讓心靈的覺醒變得困難，甚至不可能嗎？
如果是這樣，那麼，生命的運作與「生命本身的目的」不就背道而馳了。
生命的目的是為了演化，然而如果創造生命與表達愛的肢體行為黯淡了演化的前途，那麼宇宙的運作，豈不因這種巨大瑕疵而錯誤百出嗎？
尼爾：在我看來肯定是的。
我向你保證，生命不是那麼亂無章法地組合在一起的。
性的表達並不會抑制心靈的覺醒。甚至有很多的性行為也不會。但在任何事上有過多的強調，產生不平衡及能量的消耗時，是會的。
太多工作、太多食物、太多飲酒、太多糖份、游泳、電視、性 ……做太多任何事───甚至太多心靈修練───都會創造一種不平衡。
佛陀發覺這一點。他體驗到，開悟無法藉由自我放縱(self-indulgence)的行為而達成，也無法藉由自我剝奪或自我苦行禁慾的修練方式來達到。事實上，它是藉由在兩者之間的中庸之道 (the middle path between the two)達成的，在這兩者之間的所有事都保持平衡。
摘自《走出靈性文盲》第7章
Neale: There are people who believe that it's possible to have too much sex to allow one to advance spiritually. They say that spirituality and sexuality do not mix. So, let me just ask you directly. Does sexual energy interfere with spiritual energy? Does the expression of it deplete one's "energy reserve," making it difficult or impossible to achieve spiritual awakening?
If that were true, then Life would be working against the purpose of Life Itself.
The purpose of Life is to evolve, yet if the physical act that creates Life and expresses love reduces the prospects of evolution, wouldn’t that be a huge flaw in the workings of the universe?
Neale: Sure seems to me that it would be.
I can assure you that Life was not put together that haphazardly.
It is not true that sexual expression inhibits spiritual awakening. Not even a lot of it. It is true that too much emphasis on anything produces imbalance and depletion of energies.
Too much work, too much eating, too much drinking, too much sugar, gardening, bowling, swimming, TV, carrot juice, sex…too much of any- thing—even too much spiritual practice—can create an imbalance.
The Buddha discovered that. He experienced that enlightenment could not be achieved through the practice of self-indulgence—but neither could it be achieved through the practice of self-deprivation or self-mortification. In fact, it was achieved on the middle path between the two, where all things were kept in balance.
