El zorro9 explores Moore's enchantment of sex
In today's post "The Soul of Sex", blogger el zorro9 summarizes Thomas Moore’s presentation of the topic in The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life (1996).
El writes, "Moore opens with a surprising statement. He said that he could never imagine Jesus or Buddha or Moses or any other great religious figure as asexual or as speaking against sex nor that spiritual dedication, even the taking of a vow of celibacy, as necessarily a statement against sex or as precluding a sexual life. But he was there referring to sex as being "beyond the literal or the biological". To him, the idea that renunciation of intercourse implies a judgment against sex and the presentation of a statue of Jesus without his genitals may be a rather "unnatural" presentation of the importance of the human body as God created it."
After describing New York State's Oneida Community according to Moore, el continues, "Moore suggests that we should seriously consider exploring the possibilities of giving back to sex its magic, its mystery, its values in a socially controlled way so that whilst on the one hand, we may protect the security and sacredness of the vows of marriage and on the other hand relax a little the strict prohibition of extra-marital sex in an organized manner, with proper ritual and suitable forms. To Moore, religious orgies normally take place in the context of a ritual, which to him is a "heightened form of imagination". In a ritual, nothing is to be taken literally. In such a ritual, the human and the divine are engaged in an intercourse, and the fertility sought is not just purely personal. It concerns the welfare of the family and the wider community. To him, sex is not to be understood only as "two individuals expressing their love; the community and the cosmos are involved as well". He thus recommends a "re-enchantment" of sex at a social level so that sex may be released from its current materialistic, biological and behaviorist values and be restored to its "spiritual" level as a form of celebration of the productive and creative union of the body with the spirit.”
Following suggested changes within religious orders, el writes, "I am quite sure if those in authority in the Vatican were to make an effort to free themselves from the shackles of past dogma and encrusted thinking and really think about Life as it is lived and not as it is conceived by their predecessors hundreds of years ago, then only can we begin to have any possibility of hope that our church will once again be a living vibrant faith community which Jesus intended it to be!"
Editor's Note: Typographical and spelling errors are corrected in quoted blog passages.
El writes, "Moore opens with a surprising statement. He said that he could never imagine Jesus or Buddha or Moses or any other great religious figure as asexual or as speaking against sex nor that spiritual dedication, even the taking of a vow of celibacy, as necessarily a statement against sex or as precluding a sexual life. But he was there referring to sex as being "beyond the literal or the biological". To him, the idea that renunciation of intercourse implies a judgment against sex and the presentation of a statue of Jesus without his genitals may be a rather "unnatural" presentation of the importance of the human body as God created it."
After describing New York State's Oneida Community according to Moore, el continues, "Moore suggests that we should seriously consider exploring the possibilities of giving back to sex its magic, its mystery, its values in a socially controlled way so that whilst on the one hand, we may protect the security and sacredness of the vows of marriage and on the other hand relax a little the strict prohibition of extra-marital sex in an organized manner, with proper ritual and suitable forms. To Moore, religious orgies normally take place in the context of a ritual, which to him is a "heightened form of imagination". In a ritual, nothing is to be taken literally. In such a ritual, the human and the divine are engaged in an intercourse, and the fertility sought is not just purely personal. It concerns the welfare of the family and the wider community. To him, sex is not to be understood only as "two individuals expressing their love; the community and the cosmos are involved as well". He thus recommends a "re-enchantment" of sex at a social level so that sex may be released from its current materialistic, biological and behaviorist values and be restored to its "spiritual" level as a form of celebration of the productive and creative union of the body with the spirit.”
Following suggested changes within religious orders, el writes, "I am quite sure if those in authority in the Vatican were to make an effort to free themselves from the shackles of past dogma and encrusted thinking and really think about Life as it is lived and not as it is conceived by their predecessors hundreds of years ago, then only can we begin to have any possibility of hope that our church will once again be a living vibrant faith community which Jesus intended it to be!"
Editor's Note: Typographical and spelling errors are corrected in quoted blog passages.
Labels: Enchantment, Sex, Spirituality, Thomas Moore
posted by Editor at 9:50 AM
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