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
... Ecstasy and Spiritual Sexuality What Constitutes an Ecstatic Experience ? Greco - Protestant Controlling Sexuality Manic Disorder versus Creative Ecstasy Kabbalistic Sexuality as Spiritual Energy The Psychotic - Erotic Energy of Mr. E ...
... Ecstatic Prophecy and Imagination 105 The Romantic Component in the " Song of Songs " 111 The " Yetzer - Yetzira " Genre and the “ Musar " Movement 121 6 The Patriarchic Pendulum and the 127 Balancing " Jewish Mother " The Creative ...
... ecstasy and sexuality , but the frequent unscrupulous free use experts in literature , history , and other disciplines are making of psychological theories by incorporating popular secondary psychological concepts into their analysis ...
... ecstatic state of devekut . I then argued that while obviously such a document was not discovered mainly be- cause ... ecstatic Kabbalah , all we may know is that during a certain period dis- ciples of , say , Abulafia ( the father of ...
... ecstatic Kabbalah . It seems imperative , then , that since we have no way to determine the actual experiential nature of a behavioral phenomenon described as an " ought " category in texts written hundreds of years ago , a bilateral ...
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 |