Again and again I am concerned with the question whether Tantra is political. Especially at the moment I read many articles in the German News like Zeit, SZ or other media about xenophobia, migration and the shift to the right in our society. Here in Germany and Europe.

This post was first published at tantra4men.de and is now translated in english here

Hanns

Many of these articles describe the disintegration of similarities, of violations of human dignity and of course the use (also of constitutionally objectionable ones) of the surveillance of minorities. It is precisely here that more and more often practices are described that are used by the police and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, whether it be the evaluation of location history, metadata from Whatsapp, Facebook and the like. It is always put in the context of threat.

What or who is threatening me?

Of course I don’t want to talk “small” about an attack or other horrible and abominable acts. They exist! What only disturbs me is the discrimination of minorities, surveillance and extension of (police and) official powers. The Constitution should apply equally to all of us and we should be protected from assault. What is happening more and more, however, is the extension of the powers to restrict us in our rights in order to protect us from an alleged and floridly described threat! A real proof that the extension of powers will protect us better remains missing until now! It does not exist! Especially the case of Amri from the attack in Berlin shows a complete failure of the already existing curtailments of our rights.

The curtailment of our rights will be used more and more against us as minorities. Once the laws (new police or BKA – Bundeskriminalamt laws) are in place, the desire of authorities to use them in other contexts such as terrorism or organized crime will be awakened and cannot be reversed.

But what does all this have to do with Tantra?

Especially the people who deal with Tantra or, as in my case, with gay Tantra (Gay Tantra) are far beyond any social norm. Not only do we belong to a gay minority, but we also have an activity to spread certain practices, whether as trainers, workshop leaders or healers.

We (the Tantra trainers) want to put exactly one “on top” and strengthen the identity as gay, bi or trans-(inter)sexual people by showing self-confidence, self-healing powers (in the sense of mental healing of traumas, for example) or new ways to live and respect sexual diversity. So do not condemn or judge anything like that, but strengthen each person in his current development and meet him openly.

If this is not a political statement, what THEN?

But what exactly happens if I encourage these behaviors (apart from the norm), if I show these people to realize themselves, not only to live out their own sexuality? To recognize oneself and one’s honest needs and to find one’s own happiness here as a mature, self-confident person, also means to show respect for “otherness”, personal responsibility and love for the otherness, to live a real openness and to overcome one’s own ME. Learning all this has a lot to do with one’s own limits, with respect for oneself and others and of course with inner love, also for oneself and others. Of course this can also be a very painful process in which I recognize my patterns, initiate countermeasures and above all am honest with myself.

So if I am ready to “learn” all this and to live this, I will probably have a “right slogan” or a “blunt slogan against migrants or other people” less on me, because I will always question these statements!

I will be able to ask my heart whether these blunt statements really have substance.

Tantra is of course not the only way to see through and break through more of these populist contexts. But a very effective way, as I think.