There’s a huge debate still going on about sex, its meaning, and its purpose.
I would like to present my perspective from personal experience and it is, after all, just another opinion but hopefully one that will make sense and one that I am sure at some level, a lot of people hold as well.
In one word, I would define sex as FULFILLING. And I have outlined three major purposes below:
1 Reproduction
This is the most normal and common kind of sexual experience. It is because of this that we all are here! We are wired to continue the species and out natural impulses push us to find a way to create more humans like us.
It of course can have its dysfunctions such as completely disconnecting ourselves, our enjoyment, and the enjoyment of our partner(s) and leaving the biological process as its own merit. This has been the view of several schools of thought especially from religious backgrounds. Sex is the original sin, as they say… and one should feel ashamed for enjoying it.
Seeing it through this lens, of course leaves people with a complete confusion in their minds because sex is supposed to feel good! How can something that feels so good be bad? We feel fragmented and dirty when we follow this pattern of thinking. This often times leads to unhappy people who try to shame others that are actually having a good time with their sexuality calling them names or effecting legislations against their modus vivendi.
The obvious great purpose of this biological perspective is the creation of wonderful little people. And although I can understand the religious perspective of wanting to maintain the act of sex as a sacred act, I think it creates the opposite effect by maintaining this curtain of puritanism. From here we move to the next step, which is:
2 Recreation
Sex for recreation can have a lot of positives and a lot of negatives and this ultimately depends on how we handle ourselves.
I believe firmly that we as humans are able to know ourselves and those around us through sex. This does not need to be taken out of hand into a straw man argument. What I mean by this is that it is important for people to enjoy their bodies in a sexual manner and by doing so we can find a lot of fulfillment and connections with the people we interact with in this fashion.
A healthy sex life along with strong bonds with people propel our quality of life in substantial corners of our life, and interestingly enough, a lack of sex will bring about health and mental issues and imbalances and other dysfunctional cycles that end up hurting other areas of life.
3 Liberation
The third purpose tends to be quite obscure since a lot of people are not acquainted with it.
There are several resources from Vedic texts to Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich to many other works that talk about the idea of achieving a higher level of coherence by utilizing our sexual energy and channeling it towards a specific purpose.
During the act, we focus our attention on the goal we want to achieve or manifest into the physical realm. This happens when we are in the most ecstatic moment of sex, the orgasm, we lose awareness of ourselves at least for a few moments and we are able to experience GOD MODE. By this I mean, timeless, infinite, and blissful.
Things we can bring about into this reality can be about business, relationships, money, other affairs, or actual liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. This does not mean you’d suddenly go “Poof!” without leaving trace, it means you’d achieve self-realization to the point of not needing to return to this realm and enter the “void” [what a misnomer!] after your physical death. Or choose to become a bodhisattva, but that’s another conversation to have.
In Summary
I believe it is of paramount importance to see sex with a holistic approach and move towards one of these three depending on what is needed or desired at that time. Often times, We also would benefit a great deal by getting to know our SELVES and impart our values organically instead of just taking orders from the hand that gives them to us.
Also on my site: https://emancipatedhuman.com/the-three-main-purposes-of-sex/ The Three Main Purposes Of Sex