Creativity And Sexuality: A Kabbalistic PerspectiveJudaism openly recognizes, as an integral part of human nature, the enigmatic relationship between yetzer, or physical desire, and yetzirah, or spiritual creativity. Creativity and Sexuality, written as a fictional dialogue, clearly delineates the psychic interdependence of these two drives, as well as the integration of the concepts as they are defined by both Jewish mysticism and modern psychology. Mordechai Rotenberg is interested in the impact of religion on the psychology of everyday life. He was prompted to write Creativity and Sexuality by the popularity of writings that explore Jewish texts on the subject of sexuality from a historical or literary point of view, but that do not hesitate to include psychological evaluations based on popular secondary psychological concepts. This work seeks to provide an accurate psychological analysis of sexuality and spirituality from a Jewish mystical perspective. As such, it both reconstructs the interdisciplinary bridge between Judaism and psychology and deconstructs some exegetical traditions. The goal is to present new paradigmatic options, which may help modern society struggle more efficiently with its sexuality. Ultimately, the author sees physical desire and spiritual creativity as a regulative continuum. People learn how to spend the tremendous power of energy that the sexual yetzer produces not only on physical sex, but on the spiritual yetzirah. In an introduction written especially for this new edition, the author explains the continuing relevance of Creativity and Sexuality, and the ongoing relationship between sexual desire and a healthy spiritual self-fulfillment. This volume will be of interest to students of Judaism, psychology, mysticism, and sexuality. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 20
... Devekut " as " Spiritual Orgasm " 53 54 57 62 65 67 70 4 Romantic Flirting versus Sexual Harassment 79 " Alien Thoughts " and " Transference " 80 Seduction and Rape 84 The " Peer Consent " Trap 85 Kierkegaard's Seduction Style 86 ...
... devekut . I then argued that while obviously such a document was not discovered mainly be- cause Kabbalists rarely documented their personal experiences , if in 300 years a text that explores the actual experience of a devekut ( unio ...
... devekut , presents , as the subtitle reveals , numerous quotations from hasidic leaders that proclaimed how a person " ought " to attain devekut . Thus , Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev is quoted ( p . 150 ) as having stated : " If a ...
... devekut . He states that our " common denominator is the attempt to make ' creative ' experien- tial use of hasidic leaders by twisting their contents and quite frequently , out of ignorance [ we ] distort the spiritual image of some of ...
... devekut in order to unite with God . While these interpretations obviously represent pathological dis- tortions of Chabad's and other conceptualizations of devekut , 2 it may teach us that only by examining the actual psychological ...
Contents
Creation and Procreation | 1 |
Contraction and Emanation as Reading and Writing | 21 |
The Yetzer and Romantic Imagination | 49 |
Manic Disorder versus Creative Ecstasy | 62 |
Romantic Flirting versus Sexual Harassment | 79 |
Harassing the Flirter | 89 |
Ecstatic Prophecy and Imagination | 105 |
The YetzerYetzira Genre and the Musar Movement | 121 |
The Theory of Vaginal Envy | 139 |
The Yetzer in the Sociopsychological Therapy Room | 157 |
Bibliography | 171 |
Kierkegaards Seduction Style 86 | 179 |