PLEASURE AS A PORTAL TO PRESENCE (EXPLORING THE JOY BODY)
One of the ways that we sometimes limit our experience of presence (and purpose) is by avoiding pleasure. Either we are so overwhelmed with emotional and/or physical pain that we can’t find our way to pleasure, or we so thoroughly associate pleasure with suffering or guilt, that we avoid it altogether. Our transformational journey requires that we work hard in both regards—working through pain, and surrendering to pleasure. Both are fundamental to an enrealed life. Both are portals to awakening, if they are approached with a genuine curiosity about our experience. Most of us know that pain can be a gateway to reality (i.e. the way that we access a more unified field of consciousness after a loved one dies and our hearts are cracked open), but what about pleasure? Can we come into a vaster experience of reality when we feel fantastic?