What seems to be a reasonable question for many of us as we truly enter the new year is: Where can spirituality fit and harmonize in our lifestyle and our relationships?

To answer the question for myself I turned to the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Kabala and many other eastern beliefs (Hindu, Buddhism Etc.) in search for the common threads of spirituality amongst these many schools of thought.

Regardless of the branch of learning the foremost thought of belief was recognition and obedience to a Higher-Identity.

Secondly, in every spiritual teaching able to survive the test of time there exists the rule: Love and respect (Do onto others as…) for our fellow members.

The comparison of our lifestyle to these two basic teachings is enlightening.

Do we not believe in an order of recognition and obedience to a higher-identity (Dom)? Plus, as a basic principle of our family do we not teach acceptance and respect of others?

For this Dom, the answer to both questions is an obvious and undeniable 'yes'!

Yet, there remains the question: How can we blend our thoughts about today's BDSM lifestyle and the teachings of spirituality reaching back more than seven thousand years?

There is the 'Higher-Identity' of spirituality (God) and the 'higher-identity' of BDSM (Dom) and while both as identities receive respect and obedience there can be no confusion that one ranks higher in allegiance for our daily life.

Furthermore, this Dom would never place himself above the spiritual Higher-Identity (God) nor would this Dom teach there was wisdom in doing so for his fellow Dom's or his sub.

However, after careful thought there is a harmonizing path to reconciling the two higher-identities. There exists a path for creating a trinity between Higher-Identity (God) higher-identity (Dom) and his sub.

How would this spiritual trinity work in real life? For this Dom it begins with an absolute realization that his Higher-Identity rules supreme. That his Higher-Identity IS… and as such is all encompassing, worthy of obedience, recognition and love. Furthermore, that as a creation in the image of his Higher-Identity this Dom's role in life would be to emulate and follow as much as humanly possible the teachings of his Higher-Identity. This would include the principles of love, acceptance and wisdom passed on for the last seven thousand years.

As a Dom with this special task before him it would be important to teach his sub that they are an integral, vital and important part of a BDSM body. A spiritual body consisting of three parts: The Higher-Identity, the Dom and the sub. The order of submission would be as follows,

1. Higher-Identity (God)

2. Dom

3. sub

More, the trinity relationship of this BDSM spiritual body could be said to consist of,

1. Soul (God)

2. Mind (Dom)

3. Heart. (sub)

Having described what the trinity would look like as a spiritual body what follows this harmonizing of beliefs between ancient spiritual wisdom and BDSM today is straightforward.

We have a Dom who submits to his Higher-Identity and in the process of his own submission does not lose touch with the true gift submission is from his own sub. Also, we have a Dom who is acting with a higher authority and loftier goals than base pleasure as an objective for being a Dom. More, we have a Dom who is seeking to bring lasting and not convenient wisdom to a relationship. In few words, we have a Dom choosing a lesson plan of his own that that tries to understand the true and unchanging motives of his Higher-Identity. We have a Dom living in a world where Domination and submission creates harmony, enriches the mind, nourishes the body and nurtures the soul of both the Dom and his sub.

As for the sub's, we see a world of submission that has a spiritual purpose, an underlying structure of wisdom and a way to nurture their own soul. We see that an abusive relationship with a worldly, unenlightened Dom would not be tolerated. The sub's gift of submission would be wholly appreciated. The task and joy of learning total submission would be enriching on all the mind, body and soul levels of the sub.

In conclusion, after careful thought the above trinity is the path this Dom has chosen to live his life and teach his sub is a spiritual path within the BDSM lifestyle of today.

The true test for this Dom was to take the teachings of most all the schools of spirituality and try to find even one area of conflict with the above thoughts. And, while this Dom doesn't pretend to know each and every nuance, degree or trace of the individual teachings of these varied belief systems one thing was undeniably true… The BDSM spiritual trinity places our Higher-Identity first and the respect for others second in life…So, I say,

"Old time spirituality is good enough for me. (and my sub)"