Erospirituality : sex, ecology, evolution--the ontopoetics of soul

Erospirituality: Sex, Ecology, Evolution - The Ontopoetics of Soul, by Joseph Randolph Bowers, makes synthesis of academic discourse, poetics, story, narrative and metaphor in an attempt to explore the interrelationships between spirituality and sexuality. The work is framed through autobiographical subjectivity, and approaches the ontological and epistemological questions of meaning from the perspective of localized and contextualized discourse. Sexuality and spirituality are explored from the perspectives of a gay man of spirit, and qualitative interviews are utilized in an enhancement of his personal vision. The work is constructed in two major sections: I. "Philokalia in the Ecology of truth," eight chapters devoted to: (1) sketching contextual considerations; (2) introducing spirituality as discourse; (3) exploring the politics of difference; (4) looking into the meanings of sex and the ecology of subjectivity; (5) revisioning a transpersonal integration of ecological systems theory; and (6) touching human desire, Eros, through the lens of queer ontology, poetic visioning and postmodern epistemology. Il. "Gaying Gaia: Eight Life Passages of Gay Men as a Metaphor of Spiritual Growth." This section texts the life passages as (1) Discovery (fear), (2) Acknowledgment (denial), (3) Affirmation (repression), (4) Disclosure (hiding), (5) Critical Reflection (rationalization), (6) Validation Resistance (projection & bitterness), (7) Emancipatory Action (destructive closures & loss of hope), (8) Integration & Wisdom (game playing & role fixation). An interdisciplinary approach uses psychology, sociology, religious studies, philosophy, and the complex systems sciences to envision a new way of being in a new/old worldview. The results challenge many basic assumptions, pointing to the need for extensive change in, and a departure from, the way sexual difference and spiritual insight is rationalized, minimized and generalized in a masked political discourse. Spirituality and sexuality are understood to have profound interconnections. The means for understanding these depth-connections is the Ontopoetics of Soul. Ontopoetics is a frame created by the scholar as a way of bringing together epistemological and ontological concerns through the overt use of intuition, desire, vision-logic, creativity, eroticism and sensuality. Space is opened up for these dimensions by the use of poetry, stories and sharing of soul, which challenges the reader to shift consciousness states frequently, and thus access a more pliable and resourceful understanding of personal agency. Soul is understood as a metaphor for the locus of agency, and as such, is seen as a place from which the discourse of spirituality and sexuality will become transformed in ever more deeply political proportions. The work contributes to a post-positivist, post-christian, post-religious, post-western and postmodern vision of spiritualities and sexualities. This vision challenges current and traditional discourses of spiritualities and sexualities by grounding its frame in the queer soils of difference. Many therapeutic insights are shared, and the reader is challenged to attend to her/his own process whilst engaging with the text. The work calls for a new politic of Erospiritual sexed consciousness amongst gays, bisexuals, lesbians and peoples of sexual difference by suggesting that spirituality has been largely overlooked in their efforts toward personal and social emancipation.