Getting To Know The Prostitute

When most people think of prostitution they think of selling sex for money, which isn't a super common problem among my readers, but the prostitute archetype is alive and well in most of the people I meet. I have been wanting to write about this for a long time. I guess because I really like to make people uncomfortable.  Here is what Carolyn Myss says about the Prostitute Archetype in her book Sacred Contracts.

The Prostitute thrives most bountifully in subtle ways and in ordinary circumstances. it comes into play most clearly when our survival is threatned. Its core issue is hw much you are willing to sell of yourself--your morals, your integrity, your intellect, your word, your body, or your soul--for the sake of physical security. The Prostitute acrchetype also dramatically embodies and tests the power of faith. If you have faith, no one can buy you. You know that you can take care of yourself and that also that the Divine is looking out for you. Without faith, however, you will eventually meet the price you cannot turn down. 

The majority of prostitutes I meet are people in jobs they hate or in toxic marriages, but stay for economic reasons. People stay in jobs that make them miserable, physically sick, violate their ethics and more. They stay in friendships long after they have grown cold because the association gets them something. They don't break up with a boyfriend becuase they have a trip planned to Mexico--and what if there is no one better. What if I'm alone? Prostitution  shows up in the way people shape their conversations with others. For example, telling your boss his idea is brilliant even though you think it is crap becuase you hope it will get you somehwere with him, or you are afraid of what it might cost you to be honest. People allow others to use them and their time becuase they hope it will get them something-- for example, the guy who stays after work for hours unpaid becuase he hopes he will make partner. Or the woman who spends lots of time doing servicey-type projects because she doesn't want to lose social status. Or the woman (or man) who wears clothing that makes them look like they are for sale when they know it will get them "the cute girl discount." There are about a million more examples.

We all have a prostitite archetype. When unexamined, it looks like the above. When you confront your inner prostitute, it can turn into a gaurdian of faith for you. It can alert you to situations where you need to exercise your faith and walk away. 

 

The truth is that everything in life will create situations for you to confront this shadow. You will draw all kinds of people who try to buy you, use you, or pollute you, no matter how holy you are, you will still have these opportunites. 

When Jesus was fasting in the wilderness for 40 days Satan came and offered him everything in the whole world in exchange for the power Jesus had within him. Every step on your journey to elevation you will meet someone who will try to buy or use you and render you less powerful. Carolyn Myss suggests that these will be some of your most painful relationships because you will have to confront fears of survival, which are usually terrifying and humiliating. But wahe guru for those opportunites. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's - both prostitites.

Many of the prostititutes I meet talk about the big break that will hopefully someday come and make all their dreams come true (which will allow them to stop being prostitutes). Many of them begin on the meditation journey with dreams of what it will give them (the perfect job, perfect house, car, soul mate relationship, etc.) and when it doesn't happen in 40 or 90 days they loose interest, feel cheated or think a different meditation would be better. 

Human nature tends to look for short cuts. And although Kundalini Yoga is fast, the shortcut mentality will not help you get there. In fact, it will show you down starting over again and again. The truth is, it takes the exact same amount of energy to be on the spiritual path for the long haul as it does to be on the neurtotic or anxiety or prosititute path. The exact same amount of energy. Why then doesn't everyone choose the spiritual path? Why doesn't everone rise in the abrosial hours and give 10% of the their day to God? Becuse the neurotic path has more immediate gratification of something happening, even if it is not positive, and the mind is drawn to the immediate. 

I used to be on the neurotic path. Lets be real, I used to live as a prostitite - we all have--or still do. Most of us were raised by prostitutes and went to school and to church with many of them and didn't know any better. 

But it's time to shift. Let's stop this prostitute thing and learn to trust in God. We need to learn to live in royalty and dignity no matter the circumstances. I have a friend who was trying to quit her job to stay home with her children and every time she would try to quit, they would offer her something else, or they would take advantage of her accomodating nature to push back the dates or get her to work from home. When she described her awakening in the midst of her struggle to trust God, she said she felt like she was gripping the edge of a cliff for dear life and then noticed that the ground was only two inches below her feet. All she had to do was let go and put her feet down. 

For me, the real kicker is ther: Why sell yourself when you are already bought and paid for by Jesus Christ?

"Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." (1 Corinthians 7:23)

There is no need to worry. Your Heavenly Father and Divine Mother will care for you. 

There is a great story in Autobiography of a Yogi that I would love to relate to you about two young men who were challenged to put this faith in Divine Father and Mother to a test: they are sent to a city about 75 miles away by train without a penny and are told that they cannot beg or tell anyone about their situation. They cannot skip any meals. They are to return by train to Agra before midnight. It's an amazing story - If you have read it you know what I am talking about. If not, I recommend it. Heaven provides for them in the most miracluous and princely ways. You can listen to just that story from Chapter 11 of the book here.

As Yogi Bhajan has said, you can swim across the river and struggle with it, or you can go in a luxury liner. Even if the liner doesn't seem luxurious, it is still grace. Take the liner.