Everything is an experiment - the first principle of Tantra

Everything is an experiment - the first principle of Tantra

When everything is an experiment you have permission to expand, contract, try new things, and download massive amounts of data.

When everything is an experiment there is no right or wrong, there is only “for me” and “not for me.” 

When everything is an experiment you can forget about the destination and allow the journey to become truly satisfying.

The first principle of Tantra

Everything Is an Experiment is the first principle of Tantra listed in Swami Ravi Rudra Bharati’s book, Kali Rising.

The first time I read it I could feel boulders moving in my root. I can remember them cracking and falling apart to make space for what was about to come.

When I let this principle into my body, when I let it’s meaning digest, I remember a strong sense of liberation. And I still get that every time I come back to it.

This principle freed me from trying to get it right. It helped me let go of the constant anxiety around whether or not one path, one teacher, one job was right for me.

When I realized that everything was an experiment I could play and have more fun. If an experiment failed, I didn’t have to lie in bed thinking about how my life was ruined. I had an awareness that this was just this one experiment.

It allowed me to take what was satisfying from each experiment and leave out what wasn’t.

And through that, it brought me into deeper levels of consciousness.

When I decided to live in and move around within India, I had no idea what I was doing. But because I was able to break free of the expectations of my own culture and family (and because I was an outsider that could navigate the margins of India), I was much more able to be conscious of my body and where it wanted to go.

Even though I didn’t know it, I was subtly practicing this principle.

I would experiment with food, people, places, music, and fun. I was able to follow all of that and engage and disengage with relative ease.

I always say that India was where I learned to have fun. But it was more than that. I learned how to find satisfaction, connection, loneliness, success, and happiness.

And I try to always be conscious of those lessons and to never forget all of that valuable data.

Inviting deeper levels of consciousness

It can be easy to take this principle and flippantly say, “well, everything is an experiment, so I’ll do what I want and try it all!” But that isn’t the point. 

For it to truly be an experiment, we must bring in consciousness. We must be aware of the data we receive from each experiment and we must download it into our bodies. 

If we aren’t aware of what’s going on, if we are not downloading the data, it is not an experiment - it is mindlessness.  

What 'Everything Is an Experiment' ultimately does is give us permission to bring consciousness into everything we do. And from that consciousness, we learn discernment. And from that discernment, we take more action and create a more satisfying and fulfilling life.

Come in for a tantra treatment or tantra training course, and explore these emotions with Steve and other men at Man on the Couch!