Ascended Master Mother Mary, February 13, 2010 through Kim Michaels.

Certainly, it is understandable, that spiritual people throughout the ages have looked at some of the perversions, or the base aspects of human sexuality, and have concluded, that this cannot be congruent with the spiritual path or a spiritual lifestyle. But this does not mean, that you have to jump into the opposite extreme and say that the only alternative to base sexuality is no sexuality at all. For as Jesus himself said, how can there be balance, how can there be a restoration of balance, when you jump from the one extreme to the other?

And thus, I too echo what Jesus has already said. Celibacy is not a mandate from God. It was not an inspiration from God or the Holy Spirit that caused the Catholic Church to institute celibacy. It was indeed because the Catholic Church from its inception was based on the fallen consciousness, the consciousness of Peter, the desire to control, the desire to raise up a structure on earth, that is of such magnitude, that lives up to such a standard on earth, that you can create the illusion – and people will believe the illusion – that this structure will give you access to heaven.

For how could God turn you down, how could God turn down something that is so honored among men? Yet I tell you—what did Jesus say to the devil when he was tempted? “What shall it profit a man, that he gains the whole world yet loses his own soul.” Or what shall it profit a Church, if they gain the whole world and the membership of the whole world yet loses the original soul of Christ. And thus, they have nothing but an empty shell—nothing but an empty shell, my beloved.

It is a greater challenge to be in a relationship

Certainly, you may look at this monument and admire certain artistic qualities; you may admire its scale. Yet I tell you, it is in the hearts of men that we of the ascended masters find beauty—in the hearts of men and of women, especially when they come together and transcend these age-old patterns of division between man and woman, between husband and wife. This is indeed what we look for in the Aquarian age. It is necessary, that the spiritual people on this earth fully and finally transcend the consciousness behind celibacy in the churches, celibacy in spiritual movements, and even transcend the very consciousness that wants to shut down, shut off, the life force, the flow of the life force through both men and women. First of all by blaming women for the fall, but also by making men believe that they must – in order to be pure – stay away from women, certainly a physical relationship.

The challenge truly is, not to stay away from a physical relationship—that is the easy solution. The challenge is to enter a physical relationship, as Joseph and I did, and then transcend the physical aspects of the physical relationship, spiritualizing every aspect of it. This is a far greater challenge than remaining in celibacy. Basically, anyone who has a strong willpower can be celibate. But what is the point of having willpower, if it is not balanced by love and wisdom, so that there is not the balance of the threefold flame? You see many people in spiritual movements, even in an organization such as the Catholic Church, who have built up this willpower over many lifetimes, to where the blue plume of the threefold flame is greatly expanded and they seemingly have everything under control—or so they feel.

Yet the reality is, that they are lacking in love or lacking in wisdom or lacking in both. However, many of those who have great wisdom have also spent many lifetimes studying spiritual teachings, and so have acquired at least an outer wisdom. And they use that wisdom to argue their case in a very convincing intellectual manner. Yet again, they have no love, they have no charity. For if I speak with the voice of men and of angels and have no charity, I am nothing.

And thus, you see—let the lie be challenged, let the lie be challenged, that celibacy is the only way to spiritual growth or the fastest way to spiritual growth. The fastest way to spiritual growth is to balance the masculine and feminine polarities of your being. And the fastest way to do that is to enter into a relationship with a person of the opposite sex, whereby you are forced, so to speak, to confront these issues in yourself and in your relationship.

Yet of course, I am not thereby saying, that every spiritual person should throw themselves headlong into relationship after relationship, but that you should first work on yourself by seeking to attain the greatest balance and non-attachment in yourself. So that you can magnetize to you a partner with whom you do not have great karma, but with whom you have a great potential – or what you might call positive karma – of outpicturing that balance. Or even, if it is necessary, then have the attunement to go into a karmic relationship or more in order to get them over quickly, so that you may move on to the not so karmic relationships that can take you to that balance.

This is an excerpt from a longer teaching. You can read the full dictation HERE.