Creativity And Sexuality: A Kabbalistic Perspective

Front Cover
Transaction Publishers - Religion - 184 pages

Judaism 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.

 

Contents

Creation and Procreation
1
Contraction and Emanation as Reading and Writing
21
The Yetzer and Romantic Imagination
49
Kabbalistic Sexuality as Spiritual Energy
65
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
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