The Spirituality of Sex (Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality)

This book describes the psychospiritual facts of life about the pervasiveness of sexuality in all aspects of human life. The energy developed by our libido is the dynamic source of all the forces that shape our experience, life, motives, thought, feelings, desires, and spiritual longings. No facet of life is untouched or unshaped by this dynamo. Whether we are sitting in church at worship, in a meeting for business, in a party for pleasure, we are always aware of the gender of those who are around us and of their level of sensuality, as it impacts us. If we are not aware of that, some wounding has produced an impairment in us that has forced us to repress the awareness inappropriately. This work is not a how to manual so much as a description of the deep meaningfulness that can be found in the spirituality of sex. It is designed to enlighten us about ourselves, to give names to what we all feel all the time and do not know quite how to describe. It is about savoring the spiritual flavor of sexual play and sexual union. This is a book for everyone, from the inquiring adolescent to the mature adult looking for what is missing in sex and relationships. This is not a book mainly for Christians or Jews. It is about the generic human spirituality in every one of us, true believer and atheist alike. It is about being human more fully and with greater satisfaction.

Human spirituality is best defined as our irrepressible hunger and quest for meaning in all aspects of life. Human sexuality is best defined as our irrepressible hunger and quest for union with other persons and the meaning of life found in the wholeness that such union brings. Sexuality and spirituality are not two different things. They are two names for the same thing: the irrepressible human quest for meaning, fulfillment, union, and wholeness. They are not two different forces, nor are they in any way at odds with one another, as they have been made to seem in the polarizing attitudes about sexuality and spirituality popular in human society, thanks to the excessive and negative moralization of sex. Here, Ellens sheds new light on the interplay of sexuality and spirituality through the use of anecdotes, observation, and thoughtful analysis.