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
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... attempt to " desecrate " religious texts by interpreting holy norms and metaphors into the secular language of psychology . I hope , though , that the genuine Talmudic scholar who is trained in studying sexuality in the Talmudic open ...
... attempted to derive the socio - psychological paradigms that are available in the midrashic , kabbalistic , and hasidic literature , I obviously relied on respective ex- perts in order to be able to indulge in attempts to decipher 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 the great hasidim . " It is , consequently , crucial to ...
... attempts , a similar syndrome was uncovered . Allegedly , this person lost interest in life , in the process of learning how to reach devekut in order to unite with God . While these interpretations obviously represent pathological dis ...
... attempt to offer new " paradigmatic options " comes to point out the difference between the present approach and a treatise on love and sex such as was presented , for example , by Robert Gordis ( 1988 ) . While Gordis's rabbinical ...
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 |