Last night in my yoga class, we were led in Metta or
Loving-Kindness prayer practice. For those of you not familiar with this,
overly-simplified, it involves repeating short statements of blessings for
oneself, then for another, then for all beings. This allows you to mindfully
cultivate loving kindness towards yourself and others. The statements
themselves can vary a lot from traditional to more personal. For example, “May
I be happy. May I be free from suffering. May I be at peace.”
Last night our teacher encouraged us to design our own
blessings, for something we wish for ourselves and others. I immediately
thought, “May I have pleasure.” Yes, pleasure! Imagine that as a sacred wish
for ourselves and others. At once I felt the rightness of this blessing, but I
was also aware of the many ways that pleasure has been pushed out of our sacred
spaces.
I believe that pleasure is healing and transformative. I
know our bodies are masterful systems that are clearly build for pleasures of
many kinds. Pleasure can bring awe and compassion and transpersonal awareness
and deep peace. It soothes us and inspires us. Pleasure can feel like a gift
from god/spirit/universe/goddess/all that is. It is a message to our bodies and
souls that we are going to be ok, that life is full and rich, and that we are
capable of astounding feeling. Good stuff.
But generation after generation, people were afraid of
pleasure. Afraid that it would distract, distort, create selfishness and
laziness and gluttony and immorality. Those who were spiritual were supposed to
be above such things, removed from the petty satisfactions and pleasures of
this life. How sad this has been for us to turn away from this gift, which
comes freely with our body and our senses, available to all regardless of social
station or luck. And so we lose our chances for pleasure, just as we lose our
chances for peace or happiness or release from suffering.
So last might I reclaimed pleasure as a blessing, for myself
and for all beings. “May I have pleasure. May all beings have pleasure”. Try it
out yourself. How does it feel to bring pleasure into your prayers or
intentions? Do you feel guilty asking for this? Does it feel indulgent? Why is
this? What if this was a beautiful blessing that we all deserved?
May you be happy. May
you be free from suffering. May you find peace. May you have pleasure.