In the following analysis, honest and impartial observation is the key; please don't insist on perfect logic. The mind is not rational when it comes to sex, and its "logic" can be devious. Traps include not only relapses, but falling into doubts and negative states. If the body and mind obeyed our best intentions, celibacy would be easy. – editor

Traps I have fallen into when trying to be celibate

1. The trap of moralising from a sanctimonious perspective. Moralising about the act of sex or people posing sexually is not helpful. While judgements are necessary, moralising by looking at the physical and mental after-affects of sex – the consequences – is the better way.
2. The Pendulum effect. This is where I will feel excessively good when being celibate for a while and feel like crap when I dissipate. (Feeling like crap after dissipation can also be biologically linked.) Also, the fear/cowardice instinct (insecurity) becomes the defensive/compensated instinct (pose of superiority). Defensiveness turns to "justification" of my habits or my compensated conceited pose as someone practicing celibacy.
3. Allowing a sense of craving/entitlement. Feeling entitled to everything I crave – whether I really want what I crave – allows me to open the mind to more thoughts about sex. Sex can have endless avenues of thought, as it is the main driver of the organism, so craving should be seen for what it is. Rationalisation must be kicked to the curb.
4. Becoming indignant about the endless explicit content on the internet. But the very best I can do is to employ whatever means I can to protect myself and my children. I don't govern the internet. To feel sad and helpless about the state of affairs is another trap.
5. Getting frustrated with the state of the world. What is it, then, that gets frustrated? Ego, my belief that I have power and autonomy to affect things, that the world should listen to my convictions. But will they listen to anyone's convictions when they are so caught up in De Ropp's lesser games? ⁽¹⁾ Most likely not. Anyway, nobody really listens to much of what I say and that's across the board, unanimous. (Possibly because I take up erroneous positions.) So could this be bitterness at how ineffectual and inconsequential I am? (Tying this into celibacy, see "solace of comfort" below.)
6. Beating oneself up and self-destructing due to feelings of being inconsequential, insignificant, mostly helpless, and unimportant. Does this make you feel weak and small? Does it hurt that your ego is not getting validation by others or even the public at large? Yes to these questions. But ...
7. Within this feeling of weakness, I am battered by societal norms and confusing politics of sex, enforced by shaming tactics, that conradict my convictions on morality, sex and celibacy. A treacherous social situation that requires deep thought and clarity.
8. With so much content out there, there's a necessity to inhibit attraction, which causes a shadow energy of repression that is not easy to live with. Maybe that will lessen over time with developed practice, aligned with my higher intentions.
9. The trap of "conquering" sex. To alleviate this feeling of repression, I imagine that I can conquer sex. If I can allow sexual impressions in without fear, and allow my mind free reign on what it wants to think about, I will normalise sex and in that way not feel so inhibited around people. But this is just giving in to pressure, and sexual dissipation, and leaves me weak. This only leads to compounding my problems with just more lack of control.^*

   * An example of mental gyrations during celibacy: hoping that one weakness (inability to stay celibate) could be turned into a strength (sexual mastery), and thereby mask a different weakness (emotional insecurity).

10. The trap of "going with the flow". When I was in college and desiring to be celibate and enjoying a certain amount of that, I started to judge the guys in the house for watching and booking sex channels. What dragged me down was an effort to "go with the flow", join in, and be accepted in that group. I was also attracted to the content so I felt I had to validate those feelings; otherwise, I would be going against the flow of myself.
11. The trap of conformance. Conforming to some ideal of a group, religion or spiritual teacher. Making my celibate practice about something that I "have" to do, making it a chore. Or doing it to "fit in" with a spiritual group etc. My celibate practice should be personal to me, to my own deeply felt reasonings using my body/mind as a scientific experiment, with the aim to live a life free of turbulence and energy drains. All in the spirit of "backing away from the untrue".⁽²⁾ And if my findings should show that there are no real negative deleterious effects, then to also acknowledge that.
12. Spiritual pride. Feeling that I should be celibate so I can "cash in", as it makes me superior to my fellow man, makes me feel somehow more deserving.
13. The trap of seeking the "solace of comfort" in the pursuit of sexual dissipation to offset stress. This is an addictive process. I am not allowing myself to feel my pain, or face my pain to possibly transform/transmute it. Then in stressful situations, there will be an automatic response to pursue sex instead of dealing with stress and enduring stress. This leads to me becoming a weak character with a weak will.
14. The trap of the idea of "endless excitement" in the pursuit of the various available genres of sex available, aka, the internet.
15. The false sense of the "freedom that comes from escape, fleeing reality into escapist behaviours". The "pleasure of sex" is always the same reaction to the "various stimuli/different genres" of sex available, a robotic reaction no matter the sentiment/importance that I have attached to it. The "various stimuli" are "associative meanings" that I am applying to the various objects/genres of sex, which in effect are the "reverie" (thoughts and images that stimulate sex)⁽³⁾ which is the fuel for sex. But the meanings/associations are not being applied by me as such, since they are readily provided by the various sex sites and I somehow buy into what those sites are selling/advertising (And what is the maxim for advertising to people's lower desires? For an advertisement to work I have to sell myself to give in to that lower desire.)
16. Indulging in reverie or online sex is like being addicted to a narcotic opiate drug like heroin, because if there were no accompanying euphoric chemical drug state induced by the reverie, the reverie would be seen for the absolute driviling nonsense that it is. Sex pleasure is but the bait that is implanted in each human being to ensure the reproduction of the species which is the way Richard Rose put it.
17. The trap of not being cautious. My body/mind will react to random sexual material in an environment where there are a lot of stimuli, such as entertainment programs, or an unfiltered internet and so on. As long as I have the male machinery, I will react to stimuli as nature intended. My body/mind has no option. So I try to develop a lifestyle and environment that is conducive to living simply. To work to minimise these reactions.
18. Falling into complacency allows more and more mental intrusions to appear in my day, which will only inspire future dissipation at some point. But to balance this, I know that ultimately control comes from within, not from the control of my external environment which can only ever be limited.
19. The trap of overeating. Lack of discipline around food promotes the frequency of nocturnal emissions and can inspire a sex mood. Rose recommended to people trying to be celibate to not eat after 6/7 pm. My experience with efforts to be celibate has proven that this is good advice. Also, I would advise to not take on too many fluids at night. This can weigh on the prostate at night and work to inspire glandular-induced dreams leading to nocturnal emissions.

Notes:

(1) Robert S. De Ropp: "The Master Game: Pathways to Higher Consciousness."

(2) Richard Rose: "The Albigen Papers."

(3) Alan Fitzpatrick: "The Sex Connection."

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