MysticChild

Hello Suzaku Akatori, Given your interests in the non-Abrahamic (Hebrew, Christian Muslim) religious experience you may find some of my previous posts (see my profile) about creating a Mystic Child through Tantric Meditation on the Mother-Child Principle of some interest. Creating the Mystic Child Ritualistic role-playing that involves acting like a child or infant as a spiritual practice and a healing ritual has a long history. From ancient times to the present, a wide range of religious and philosophical traditions embrace the idea that a quality of the sage, saint or enlightened seeker is a kind of spiritual childhood. The phenomenon of spiritual childhood often appears in ritualistic practices that reconstruct experiential aspects of infancy or early childhood when preparing a disciple or seeker to achieve an enlightened state of consciousness. In the ninth century before the common-era ritual experts in the Vedic tradition of India required followers to go through an initiation rite in which the disciple experienced a second birth by symbolically reconstructing the various stages of gestation and early childhood. During the ceremony the disciple would crouch in a specially constructed hut (representing the womb) dressed in a white garment and black antelope skin (representing the caul or placenta) with hands clenched into fists like an embryo. The disciple was then fed breast milk and would babble like an infant before drinking an intoxicating soma that prepared him for experiencing a spiritual ascent to the gods. Similar activities have also been incorporated into healing rituals to prepare a subject for return to a lost state of health or wellbeing. The ancient Greeks believed that it was necessary for any man who had fallen unconscious during illness or injury to undergo rebirth upon awakening. In this ritual the subject was passed through a woman’s lap, washed as a newborn would be, swaddled in an infant’s clothing and nursed. In a story dating from the Golden Age of Greece, the idea that a quality of the sage is a kind of spiritual childhood is reflected in the legendary tale of how a disciple of Socrates found him all alone one day, talking to himself and cavorting in a childish manner. The surprised disciple laughed at him for this puerile behavior and mockingly asked him if he was practicing a new Socratic method. In response, Socrates said that he was only bringing to life the child within which manifests truth. In one version of this story, Socrates is dressed as a female while he danced. In this case he is to have said that he was only continuing in the profession of his mother (who had been a midwife), and that he was bringing to life the Baby Sage. In still another version he is described as wearing a mask that is half male and half female to represent the androgynous characteristics of the infant. In Christianity the significance of the idea of spiritual childhood is clearly expressed in Mathew 18:1-4, when the disciples ask Jesus of Nazareth, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” In reply, Jesus drew a young child to his side and answered, “Unless you become like a child you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” More recently, the nineteenth French philosopher Henri Bergson described the attitude of the philosopher as akin to the mind of the child when he characterized philosophy as the resolve to “look naively” within oneself and at the surrounding world. In contemporary society the rise of psychology as a discipline apart from philosophy, and the growing prevalence of psychological based interventions to deal with diverse issues that range from severe debilitating dysfunction to motivational or self-actualization techniques, the phenomenon of spiritual childhood has emerged in therapeutic, quasi-therapeutic and various “new age” practices that involve a range of techniques like regression therapy, rebirthing, re-parenting, or inner-child work. These methods are all intended to function as a means to heal psychological damage caused by inadequate nurturing and other developmental issues of early childhood. Many of these practices are viewed with skepticism or hostility by the professional therapeutic community because of a lack of scientific evidence of their efficacy and because of the outright abuses of some practitioners. Skepticism of some of these practices is warranted and the condemnation of abusive practices is justified. That said, a large amount the animosity that exists toward these practices is the result of the tendency to dismiss, marginalize, pathologize or demonize that which is not understood or that which does not fit into traditional categories or practices. This situation is further complicated by the practice of age-play as a form of sexual activity that is gaining attention with the rise of the internet. The general tendency is to characterize erotic age-play as a divergent fetish rather than as a natural expression of human variation that reconstructs the ancient practice of acting like a child or infant as a spiritual or healing ritual. A generalized failure to distinguish between those who engage in this type of play as an expression of an alternate self-image or alter-ego and those, in the case of Adult Baby Play, who have a fetish for objects associated with childhood like diapers, pacifiers or other objects associated with infancy. A growing body of works authored by sex workers, members of the age-play fetish community, and enlightened allies in the mental health professions try to present the phenomenon Adult Baby Play in a positive light in an attempt to reconstruct it as a natural expression of human variation. Unfortunately, the bulk of these works tend to use language heavily influenced be the concepts, categories and metaphors of psychology and pseudo-psychology in describing or analyzing Adult Baby Play. The only treatment of the subject I have found that adequately presents Ault Baby Play as a path to spiritual enlightenment is the relatively esoteric discourse on meditative practices related to the Tantric Mother-Child Principle. Tantric Love, a delightful little book written by Ma Ananda Sarita and Swami Anand Geho presents a succinct description of the spiritual significance of the Mother-Child Principle. "If you look deeply into the nature of a woman you will find that she is a mother. Age is irrelevant. Her essence is based on the womb principle. If you look deeply into the nature of a man you will find the child of the mother, whatever his age. His whole being is centered on the fact essence is based on the fact that he emerged from the womb dependent on his mother’s milk. The Tantrika looks at this fact without flinching and asks, “How can I use this truth to become a spiritually liberated being?” The answer, as is often the way in Tantra, is very simple, “Make a meditation of it.” Discover the mother in her most refined aspect. Discover the man as a child in his deepest state of “let go.” Normally this subject is a secret reserved for Tantric adepts, men or women who are ready to hear the naked truth. We are sharing this secret because, in one blow, all the misunderstandings between sexes are erased." "A part of every Tantric partnership includes meditations on the woman as the “Divine Mother” and on the man as child. What transpires is that the woman becomes the Divine Mother. The man shrinks and becomes first a child, then an infant, then just a seed. Finally he is born backward into that from which he came. We call this space infinity. Through this process he dies as an entity apart from the whole. When he was born into his body, he was born into the finite, eventually becoming a personality. This is a reversal of that process." "The Hindu Tantric cosmology includes representations of the Goddess in all her aspects. One very important aspect is Kali, destroyer of men. She wears a garland of skulls and dances on her dead consort, Shiva. This represent the experience through which male Tantrica must pass. When he starts the reverse birth process he fears the death of his manhood. The woman appears as the destroyer and he cannot trust her. She resembles murderer rather than mother. However, if he can gather the courage and surrender to this fiend, she is revealed in her beneficent aspect. As the man is born in reverse and enters infinity he becomes a God, and as he comes back his everyday life has a new perfume, that of consciousness." Tantric Love, Sarita and Geho, 2001, Pg. 105 Sarita and Geo go on to describe a Breast-Sucking Meditation intended to introduce the Mother-Child Principle into a Tantric partnership. In this meditation the woman takes the role of mother with her baby. She holds her partner like a mother would hold a breastfeeding infant. The man becomes the baby and sucks on the breast for 20 minutes just like a baby at its mother’s breast. There is no talking during this time other than “baby talk.” If it happens that a great desire for intercourse arises during the meditation because of openness and intimacy the feelings are to be witnessed but no acted on. The sucking is that of a baby seeking nourishment, not a man trying to arouse a woman during foreplay. This point is critical to the dynamic of the Mother-Child Principle and a deeper understanding of sexuality. As Anodea Judith describes it in Wheels of Life, A Users Guide to the Chakra System, it is nurturance and not coitus that is the essential expression of sexuality: "Nurturance is the final summation of sexuality and a fundamental need of the body, the mind and the soul. Nurturance means caring for, feeding with energy, love and touch. Nurturance is the essence of maternal qualities, our first experience of blissful transcendence, of warmth and security." Wheels of Life, Judith, 1987, Pg. 145 The Breast-Feeding Mediation described by Sarita and Gefo, and related exercise or meditations, can open a pathway to enlightenment for a woman or a man, but only if they are prepared for the authentic intimacy required. The woman must be rooted in her femininity and Goddess Nature so that she can become a birth passage for the male seeker. She must be able to receive the man so deeply that he experiences a tremendous thirst to “let go.” She must be so absorbed in love that that she is incapable of wounding him. The man must be able to totally surrender his defense against freeing the vulnerable child within. Instead he must embrace his innocent, defenseless child within and become dependent again on to the nurturing care of the Divine Mother. I have found the Tantric Mother-Child Meditation to be a very effective method to access a heightened state of cosmic consciousness and experience a profound state of transcendental unification. I first leaned about this meditation while taking a course on ancient Eastern Philosophy as a graduate student. I knew about the phenomenon of the Child Sage before taking the course, but I was not aware of the concept of the Mystic Child and the Mother-Child Principle. In the correct practice of the Tantric Arts leads to creation of the Mystic Child, a vehicle for liberation through which one can acquire magical powers. The Mystic Child is not a physical being but a psychic “aura body,” experienced as an energy source from a higher dimension. This psychic energy can then be applied to particular circumstances like healing or performance of some task. The term “Mystic Child” may also be used to refer to the disciple of a Tantric Master… The best, Mystic Child

Ageplay as a Path to Spiritual Enlightment: Ageplay as a spiritual practice, including taking the role of a baby as a path to enlightenment, has a very long history.

The interesting list that Babylex presented in the first post are clearly common aspects of the AB experience; but I do not believe they are archetypes in the Jungian sense of the term. I will identify four archetypes that I think are functionally operative in all AB play. Usually I use the term "AB/DL" play to refer to those of us who derive some sort of benefit from wearing diapers. For purposes of this post I will refer only to AB play andKeep in mind as you read this that all individuals have male and female aspects. Therefore reference to gender is designating a functional role in the archetype and not the gender status of a specific individual. The first archetype is the “sage child

There have been some interesting comments in this thread that provide insight into meaning of AB/DL play. The kind of comments I find most edifying are those like Vic’s in post # 7 that provide a widow into the experience of the person and that explore genesis and functional significance of AB/dl play. I must admit that I am a bit surprised by how many folks who post here seem to uncritically accept the language of the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the abnormal psychology paradigm on which it is based. I invite folks who use this language to read Thomas Szasz’s The Myth of Mental Illness. The book was written in 1961 so it is a bit dated, but the basic dynamic that Szasz identifies in referring to mental illness as a myth is still operative. I think that it may help liberate some from concepts that are at best patronizing and at the core fundamentally demeaning (even dehumanizing) to those who engage in AB/DL play. I know that some here choose to enthusiastically refer to themselves as “deviant,

One of the problematic issues in this discussion, which often appears in one form or another in this forum, is the uncritical use of terms that to refer to aspects of AB/DL play. This is especially true of how the term “sexual fetish

Youngatheart252, I think the observation you made a few posts ago is a key to addressing the issue (at least one of the issuess) you seem to be struggling with. Consider the following passage from Chapter 17 (p 163- 174) of Jaqueline Lapa Sussman’s Images of Desire (New York, Tom Doherty Assoc., LLC. 2001). Infantilizing The deepest and most natural sensuality between men and women includes playfulness with an open, childlike innocence between them. It is the meeting point for both where the flow of nature can unfold between them. They both must go to a deeper side of themselves to allow the sexual merging of body, mind and soul to unfold. Wise men know that to attain sexual ecstasy they need to surrender their ego to the woman and allow her to infantilize them. It is pleasurable for both of them. Wise women who are in touch with their feminine strength know how to lead men to surrender. Infantilization is an emotion found in most women. It is the desire to reduce her man to childlike states in order for him to soften, experience his tenderness, surrender his hard edge and become one with her. She knows how to deal with men who are more rigid and fixed. She knows that it is not only more difficult for him, due to how he was socialized, but also that it is his desire to surrender to her so that they both can enter an open, playful, and sensual sharing with each other for the joy of communion and in preparation for lovemaking. It is not about manipulation for control on the woman’s part but rather to help men dissolve so that they meet and become one. When a man is sexual with a woman, there is usually a phase where he is reduced to being like a baby. For example, when a woman is stroking a man and kissing him, loving him, it’s almost like she’s talking to a child. She’s leading him to a child like state so that he softens and surrenders so lovemaking can begin. Childlike states are open, receptive sweet, with no defensive barriers in place. As a man begins to be led towards surrender, very often he has an initial resistance to it. He’s in another state of mind, with problems at work and other worries he has to deal with, and now he is asked to become open and child like. So a little resistance occurs. But once he lets go and allows himself to be open he truly begins to enjoy it. In fact, a lot of men long for that connection with women… The need (desire) to surrender your ego to “Infantilization

I think that there are two issues at the core of your question. The first issue is related to the range of practices that involve diaper play. The answer to that is fairly straight forward, as previous posters have suggested. Few people easily fit into a discrete category like AB or DL or D/s ageplayer. You might want to read the “ABDL’s Still In Diapers

Hello Bitter Grey, I appreciate your effort in trying to “broaden the acceptance and understanding of infantilism.

In this post your are demonstrating the tendency of followers of the Abrahamic religious traditions to cast issues in terms of false dichotomies of right or wrong, good or evil, sacred or profane, and so on by discerning God’s intention or will, and then labeling all that corresponds to God’s will or intention as good, and all that doesn’t as evil. Jewish folks tend to do this less so than Christian or Muslims because they often seem less sure about humanity’s capacity to accurately discern God’s intention or will. How can you be so sure of God’s intention in this matter? As “diaperpt

Sophie, I can’t tell from your post if you have had a chance yet to read my essay or not. I notice that you list yourself as a “sissy.

Underwere, I appreciate you expression of interest in this topic. There is a growing body of literature on your interest, "BDSM as a spiritual exercise." I find the work of Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy to be among the best treatments of this topic, especially their chapter on “S/M Spirituality

Adults choose to wear diapers for a variety of, as is evident from the stories and experiences shared through this forum. Some choose to wear diapers as a matter of convenience (rather than physical necessity) when toilets are not readily available or access is inconvenient. Others do so because of the tactile pleasure that being diapered gives them. This may or may not have an erotic aspect. There are also those who may be diapered as an exercise in regression therapy, rebirthing, re-parenting, or inner-child work as a means to healing psychological problems caused by inadequate nurturing or other developmental issues of early childhood. Still others wear diapers during psycho/sexual ageplay, or as part of the erotic exchange of power in D/s (dominance/submission) or BDSM (bondage/discipline/sado-masochism) role playing. Being diapered during psycho/sexual ageplay and D/s or BDSM play necessarily has an erotic component to it. Finally, there are those who wear diapers as part of a personal journey of discovery in which they seek to reconstruct the experience of infancy for reasons that are primarily spiritual in nature. Of course, none of these reasons for being diapered as an adult are necessarily mutually exclusive. Even those who initially may use diapers because of a medical condition may come to experience being diapered as pleasurable, or may develop an erotic, therapeutic or spiritual dimension to the experience of wearing diapers. I am a spiritual seeker who wears diapers and plastic pants during Tantric meditation on the mother/child principle. If you are interested in reading about ageplay as a path to spiritual awakening I invite you to read my Experience Project blog Creating the Mystic Child: EP Edition. I have also provided a link to this blog here through the “Visit My Website