July 01, 2019
The Seduction of Seduction
There is a romantic narrative in our culture about being swept off our feet and succumbing to some sublime pull from the Mystic, to be overcome, ever entwined, and enthralled... It is the theme of many a mad love story. We long to surrender our cautious minds and merge with the infinite world of our hearts, if only we could. It’s hard to put your finger on it but there is something sexy about seduction, about someone pulling us into compliance, oblivion, about the surrender of our will to an infinite One...
It is almost as if we come preprogrammed for it, and perhaps we do. Who hasn’t felt a biological attraction to someone who really does not have long term partner potential. When we have been seduced by someone we find compelling, we feel transfixed, taken under their spell, pulled in beyond our control, charmed. Perhaps our innate biology has embedded within it this override button that says “To heck with it, YES!” Perhaps this is how we have continued to exist as a species... seduction, the ultimate mating enigma, creating endless strains of biological diversity. For many there is something magical and intoxicating about this. We will override our morals and ethics to comply. We give up our riches and our bodies, our marriages, our minds, even our hearts. It is a strange phenomena indeed.
We always awake from seduction, however. We find ourselves the next day wondering what happened, or months later walking hand in hand with a stranger, or perhaps holding the keys to a fancy car we didn’t know we wanted, wondering how we got here. It’s one of the conundrums of the human psyche. Since we all seem to have this strange gray area in our psyches, where we want to be pulled out of the rational and into the realm of magic, we are susceptible to having this used against us. There are unscrupulous beings who have mastered the art of deception to exploit our longing to surrender, people who master the art of seduction. It’s sinister but it’s worth mentioning.
Usually deep within, these people do not feel confident about who they are so they try to draw us in. They prey on wounds left unhealed, the need for approval or status, for example, a lack of self value, a need for connection, or community. They may have strong charisma, we even say they are “charming.” We sleep with them, join their cults, we buy their products... We can’t help it, we were seduced! They are all about exploiting our weaknesses to gain power over us. The only way to be immune to these “hits’ is to dig in deep and do our personal work. No one can take our power away from us, we give it away. Take that in. So why are you so willing to give yours up?
While we are programed to surrender to something ominous and magical, the only thing thing we’re truly meant to surrender to is the infinite space of our hearts, and in that, our divine connection to Source. We want to meet other humans on an even playing field. We want to walk hand in hand with them because we like who they are, because we respect them, and they, us. A relationship based on mutual respect is not an exploitive one. Even if someone is older than us, wiser, more spiritually evolved than us, sexier, or has exceptional wealth, beauty or power... If they use their position to intentionally awe us, instead of meeting us as equals, they are trying to seduce us. If instead of meeting them as equals we try to woo them, because they have something we want, it’s just as uncool. Do your homework. Take responsibility for your choices. Let your seductions be consensual! Then surrender!
Christina Allen, Shamanic Healer, Teacher, and Founder and Director of the Austin Shamanic Center, combines a strong science (BA Physics, MS Neuroscience) background with decades of applied ancient spiritual wisdom, grounded deeply in the Andean Mystical traditions of Peru. ASC offers profound Shamanic Self Development Workshops, professional trainings, and one-on-one personal healings. Learn more at www.AustinShamanicCenter.com.
© Austin All Natural, July 2019