The Essential Gay Mystics
by Andrew Harvey
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andrew HarveyEdition: Audio Cassette
Format: Abridged
Published: 1997-08
ISBN: 1574531522
Publisher: Audio Literature
Book Reviews of The Essential Gay Mystics
Book Review: A valuable resource for the study of mysticism and spirituality
Summary: 5 Stars
Andrew Harvey was born in south India of British parents in 1952 where he lived until he was nine years old, a period that he credits with shaping his sense of the fundamental unity of all religions and providing him with an uplifting vision of a world infused with a sense of its own sacredness. He left India to attend private school in England and entered Oxford University in 1970 as a history student. Notwithstanding the fact that he became the youngest person ever awarded a Fellowship to All Soul's College, among England's highest academic honors, at the age of 21, by 1977 Andrew Harvey had become disillusioned with life at Oxford and returned to his native India. The following year he met a succession of Indian saints and sages and began his long study and practice of Hinduism.
In 1992, he met Dom Bede Griffiths in his ashram in southern India near where Andrew Harvey had been born. It was this meeting that helped him synthesize the whole of his mystical explorations and reconcile Eastern with Western mystical paths. Andrew Harvey has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of Creation Spirituality as well as at various spiritual centers throughout the United States, and maintains a spiritual direction practice in New York City. He today lives in Nevada with his husband Erick.
Generally, Western culture separates sexuality from spirituality in very much the same way that it separates the sacred from the events and processes of everyday life. It may therefore come as something of a shock to the average reader that there exists such a category of beings as `gay mystics' identified synchronously by both their sexuality and their pursuit of the sacred.
Nonetheless, it has long been accepted that gay persons of both genders have always figured prominently and in significant numbers among the artistic and cultural (and spiritual) elites of societies around the world. While most cultures have never officially recognized or sanctioned gay sexual activities (though exceptions exist), many have at least quietly tolerated the presence of gay persons given the out-sized contributions of such individuals to their societies. As in other realms of human endeavor, this has been reflected in the religious and spiritual realm.
From ancient Greek society to today's varied cultures around the world, there are commonalities of spirit and sensibility that can be traced as common threads. This text, part of the 'Essentials' series, examines various mystical and spiritual writings by gay persons across time; however, not all the authors represented in this text are gay. Some (such as Shakespeare) might have been bisexual, or heterosexual, but still seem to be able to tap into that voice which seems most representative of and represented in the gay community.
TEGM brings together a broad selection of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered writers whose works illuminate and elaborate the mystical path. Some assume the form of ardent love lyrics and psalms to male and female beauty. This anthology includes texts from the Greeks and Romans; the Native American "berdache"' tradition; the ancient Far Eastern and Persian Sufi traditions of Hafiz; and the writings of the Japanese sage Kobo Daishi (Kukei) and poet Basho, as well as excerpted works from the Renaissance to the 20th century including writings by Michelangelo, Whitman, Wilde, Rossetti, Dickinson, D.H. Lawrence, and Audre Lord, among others.
With selections from 60 gay and lesbian writers - covering 20 centuries and over a dozen traditions - TEGM explores a variety of religious and sexual experiences. Harvey's painstakingly thorough research, "emic" perspective, and incisive knowledge of spirituality and command of its language make this book unique and vital to an understanding of contemporary religion, spirituality and psychology. I have also found TEGM to be a valuable sourcebook of inspirational readings for liturgies of interest and usefulness both to gay people as well as their wider community.
Summary of The Essential Gay Mystics
Books about homosexuality and religion have traditionally attempted to reconcile "sin" with a modern understanding of sexuality. Andrew Harvey's The Essential Gay Mystics, however, is predicated on the assumption that sin and sex don't need to be reconciled and that gay sexuality is innately spiritual. Excerpting passages from 60 gay and lesbian writers--covering 20 centuries and at least a dozen traditions including classical Greek, Native American, Sufic, and Christian-- Harvey explores a variety of religious and sexual experiences. His extensive research, empathetic perspective, and compelling grasp of spirituality make this book not only unique, but also vital to an understanding of contemporary theology and religion.General Books
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