One can find many Internet articles on the subject of celibacy in a secular context. Many of them are anti-sex or propose celibacy as a kind of personal rebellion against the oversexualization of contemporary culture.
I recognize that other people's truth is their own, not mine. However, I would question whether the best response to one extreme is a different extreme. Is promiscuity the proper response to a sexually restrictive culture? The true opposite of extremism of any kind would seem to be moderation.
Perhaps more importantly, by being reactive instead of self-determining, celibacy as rebellion in a permissive culture and promiscuity as rebellion in a restrictive culture both place control of one's sexual behavior in the hands of other people. One doesn't look to one's own principles to guide oneself. One merely does the opposite of what other people are doing, whatever it might be, based on the arbitrary circumstance of having been born into the culture of a particular era.
I am interested in practicing celibacy in a spiritual context, but not as an anti-sexual statement. It seems to me a matter of course that whatever else might be said or opined regarding the proper role of sex and sexual relationships in human life, sex itself is not inherently bad.
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