I want to write a word on the subject of sex in the life of the disciple. There is much confusion in the minds of aspirants on this matter, and the injunction as to celibacy is assuming the position of a religious doctrine. We are often told by the well-meaning but illogical that if a man is a disciple he cannot marry, and that there is no real spiritual attainment unless a man is celibate. Secondly, in the West, from the time of Christ, there has been a tendency towards the monastic and conventual conception of spiritual life. These two attitudes embody two mistaken ideas, and lie at the root of much misunderstanding and at the heart of much evil.
Man is no better than the woman, nor woman than the man.
Yet many thousands regard women as embodying that which is evil and that which is the basis of temptation. But God has from the beginning ordained that men and women should meet each other's needs and act as complements to each other. The belief that to be a disciple necessitates a celibate life and complete abstinence from all natural functions is neither correct nor desirable. I deal not here with the specious and devious argument that that which normally and by all right-minded people is regarded as wrong must be right because of man's inherent divinity. That can be but a loose excuse for wrongdoing.