The religious mystics of every tradition tell us union is what we are here for — union is what we are: we are connected to each other, to the earth, to everything that exists, and to the force that lies beyond it all—only most of the time we don’t realize it.
Union is not a myth or a pipe dream, the mystics say: it is our true nature. Buddhists speak of interbeing, the connectedness of all that is. Our Unitarian Universalist tradition gives us the beautiful language of the interconnected web of all existence, of which we are a part. Most of the time we feel separate, but connected is what we are: to others, to the whole of creation, to the energies moving in all things.
Our sexuality helps us know that not just with our intellects, but with our total self. When it is loving and respectful and playful, sexual connection between human beings is a witness to that truth of connection and union. It mirrors and teaches us about our connection to the divine.
The mystics tell us, human beings simply can’t handle fully experiencing our connection to the holy. They tell us, we are not just loved at every moment but we are connected at every moment to the holy, to creative mystery, to energy; call it what you will: this is not about believing in God or not; it’s about the energy that moves through the entire universe in ways that are beyond our understanding. It’s about that energy that moves through the entire universe and breathes through us at every moment, and one of the best words we have to describe that energy, which can never be fully explained or understood, is love.
The mystics tell us, this love, this energy, is always with us, but it’s so powerful that we cannot handle being fully aware of it all the time; it’s too much, it’s too overwhelming—and yet we can receive it filtered through another person. So we can become vessels of divine love for each other, not just with our hearts but with these bodies. That's why our sexuality is so profoundly connected to our spiritual life: it helps us to feel our longing for connection and love and union, and, if only for a moment, to know the reality that connection and love and union are what we are, not just what we long for.