To me, the word "imprint" refers to how and when we are acted on for the very first time in a profound enough way to dictate a pattern for years to come. Whether the first sexual imprint happens in solo masturbation or in mutual intercourse with another is a matter of debate. In my opinion, I think it is with sexual intercourse and I'll tell you why.

Take the first biological "safety vs. danger" imprint we all experience as an infant. Does it occur in the womb or in conjunction with the mother soon after we are born? I think the latter. Though we are all, for the most part, totally safe in the womb this does not and cannot assure anyone of a lifetime's confidence in the experience of safety. That assurance, or lack thereof, comes as the result of the mother/infant imprint during lactation, whether we were breastfed and the kind of physical and emotional environment we were born into.

Back to sex. The physical and emotional environment that accompanied our first intercourse orgasm sets a tone of conditions necessary for sexual arousal, satisfaction and pleasure. Ask yourself what the existing conditions were during that time and it may provide clues about the nature of your own sexual imprint.

If, for example, a sense of danger or fear accompanied the first sexual imprint then, conditions of danger or fear may be necessary for arousal. This does not mean that danger or fear are necessarily healthy conditions or those that you wsih to continue serving but that the sexual imprint is impersonal and continues as such until it is changed.

To change a sexual imprint is difficult but not impossible. It requires a period of abstinence from orgasm of any kind for at least thirty days, or one full lunar cycle. Sometimes it requires more time. Then, it requires experimentation with different conditions and settings, the ones you find more acceptable for reasons of your own. Remember, you can't fool or trick or force a new sexual imprint; eros is wise as a serpent.

There must be sustained celebacy to allow the old patterns and conditions to surface and then be denied so, that over time, they have no choice but to wither away. The slate must be cleaned, so to speak, before a new setting can be introduced and even then, there can be no forcing unless you wish "forcing" to be part of your new sexual imprint (not reccomended).

The deeper the blank slate, the deeper the imprint. Deepening the blank slate can occur through daily meditation throughout the celebacy or, if you can be very conscientious, with the assistance of psychoactive agents.

The first step, however, is identifying precisely what the initial conditions were surrounding your first sexual imprint. This critical knowledge will help you tell the difference between repeating yourself and serving something new.

Anyone else out there in Metaprogrammingland have anything to add to or question about the nature of the sexual imprint ?