There are people – not too many people – who have made it to the seventh Platonic river.  Of all the rivers of desire, the seventh river of sexual desire is the final, ultimate challenge.  It is said that to cross the seventh river is to enter a land of eternal bliss. 

Long ago there was the river of addictive drugs, alcohol and tobacco.  Many people were standing on the other side of it, yelling over the methods of crossing.  Those who had not yet crossed could see and hear those who were free and on the other side.

But the seventh river is much different.  It is adumbrated by fog and mist, and the few people that stand at its edge have little help in the modern world.  Across the vast internet there are few voices that speak of chastity in certain terms, very few who will share their map across this steaming cauldron.

On the most basic level is the body.  There is no excuse for not controlling it.  At the previous river, we quit smoking – which in its very essence is not putting a cigarette in the mouth.  At the seventh river, it is not clicking on porn, it is cooly positioning the mouse to delete all sexual material from the computer, it is not dialing the number of a sexual interest, and it is not the misuse of the hand.  As we can see, there are many actions here that are totally voluntary, and to make any of these motions requires overt, conscious action.  These actions, when conscious of them, are easily stopped.

Then there is the word.  The word is also a conscious action and something we need to get awareness of.  We cannot, while trying to cross this river, speak negatively of the journey.  We never speak in foul language which is most certainly sexual in nature.  And we should not speak anything of our life on the previous bank, of our previous sexual history, of gory details – this could be a kind of nascent bragging, such as we hear at AA meetings where everyone in a circle implicitly competes for better stories.  We don’t want that kind of thing.  We don’t want to speak of our past in a competing fashion with anyone, so it’s best to speak of it in only the most vague terms and only when absolutely necessary.  And indeed, as we cross the river, that life will naturally become vague again – the dirty, the unclean, will begin to vanish.  And with the help of our word, it certainly will.

And finally there’s the mind.  This is the part which people most often don’t understand.  The mind is prone to suggestion.  I say “yellow box”, then there’s a yellow box in your mind.  So the mind must be left as the final step, something that cannot be forced.  The body and the word can be forced – we can make our body and our mouths do exactly as we think.  And it is through the control of the first two, that the last – the mind – naturally follows.  The mind will begin a rerouting process.  Thoughts will go from south to north, from down to up, old destructive processes will be replaced by green, flowering abundant ones.  By pushing out the physical possibility of sex, we float across a foggy river and enter an incredible promised land.

It is a land free of disease, a land with deep understanding, pure relationships, and sustainable, eternal joy.  So remember this ancient code for crossing the Seventh river: take immediate control of your body and your word, and progressive control of your mind.  And I’ll be seeing you on the other side.