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Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 22, No.

3, Fall 1983

EROS

AND

WHOLENESS

JAMES HUNTER
for resolving It is suggested the direction the current normative confusion that in our lives lies in understanding of Eros. the place of sexuality it as a manifestation regarding we to achieve is revealed to be the desire In order for Eros its aim, therefore, for wholeness. Eros is manifest must fabric of life. This respect when between the whole Eros the connections respect are (1) and thereby of life are held These six facets facets intact and six different enhanced. and (2) human (3) procreation, (5) psychological (6) (4) family, growth, pleasure, relationship, The nature discussed. of each of these connections is briefly spiritual growth. ABSTRACT:

Introduction Our in a passionate is currently and, at times, rather confused engaged society on how best to understand in our lives. What the place of sexuality debate will lead to the most fulfilled lives? Are there natural standards for individuals or divinely social sexual sanctioned conduct? What patterns of appropriate norms should guide our interaction in sexual matters? What should the con be in this area? Who should do the tent of our education to our children are some of the basic questions this large and These underlying educating? all there seems to be a general debate. On only one point agreement: complex sides

agree on the importance of the issue. a social worker and families individuals responsible for counseling Being in their lives has given me an interesting who are experiencing difficulty on this matter. Not only have I been able to see the competing perspective clash on the level of words and thought, but I have also had an in ideologies in this normative timate view of the consequences confusion of our society's area in the lives of numerous and individuals. My clinical families impression in which the lives of many and families individuals is that we are in a situation can be characterized In most accurately by the term "fragmentation." or standard to organize can find no central meaning around which dividuals their energies; families fail to find a generally image of what they, agreed-upon as families, and children passionately should be; wives and husbands, parents and those who are most standards deeply and of conduct, affirm conflicting reminded involved with each other are pulled apart I am constantly lovingly of the first lines of Yeats's great poem, "The Second Coming":

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Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things faU apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,...

at the present time is a simple At the core of the problem fact; our society norms and standards to lack generaUy for behavior. tends agreed-upon more painfi?ly than in the area evident Nowhere is this lack of clear guideUnes come in this in of sexuaUty. to confused situation, "experts" FeeUng people a can At find who the helping them counselor best, they professions. help their own values. Often, however, clarify and pursue more effectively they find in the that they do have left are chaUenged that the few norms or standards name of "therapy," and their abiUty to deal with the normative of confusion life is lessened rather than increased by the help they receive. a we more turn view of the appropriate do coherent for broader, then, Where, our we if in Uves? stand back from the current of sexuaUty place Perhaps the the between "Uberated" and and try to get a "Victorians" struggle find a clue as to the direction and cultural view, we might broader historical our thinking needs to take. modern social

Eros?a

Greek

view

on Eros. The scene is a drinking The Symposium is Plato's party of dialogue the eUte of Athens sort of ancient At such (a "jet set"). they would parties a or more a sometimes the time in less matter of formal discussion of pass a interest. form other Conversation of entertain was, among general things, ment of the highest In the Symposium order for the ancient Greeks. they agree to examine the subject to do so with wit and in and proceed of "Eros" untU they are interrupted of a group of drunken telligence, by the intrusion friends. By that time, one imagines, the participants have themselves may a bit. to slur their words been beginning as "love." is normaUy Eros In order to understand translated the Sym is it no fewer to that understand the Greeks had however, posium, important than five terms for love: agape, storge, filia, Eros, and epithumia. Agape might as "selfless be translated love," filia as "friendship," love, storge as domestic as lust.2 The meaning Eros as sexual love, and epithumia of Eros, however, is a as is suggested little broader than "sexual," was a the fact that Eros divine by a large element Eros is unsatisfied love containing being, the son of Aphrodite. of yearning. "Desire" would not be a totaUy inaccurate translation. The Freud is probably "Ubido" the nearest we have to an equivalent term in a more or This less that suggests energy EngUsh. amorphous psychic manifests itself in aU stages of development, from the desire of the infant for the breast to the desire of mature for genital individuals sexual relations. It even manifests in artistic and scientific itself, through "subUmation," higher The major disadvantages endeavors. of using the term "Ubido" for "Eros" are ian term

James

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term does not exist in popular usage and (2) that it ex (1) that the Freudian cludes the connotations of "divinity." the quaUty of Eros was considered to be a normal aspect of For the Greeks two between be of the same whether members any relationships people, they sex or members sex. They did not conclude, of the opposite that ex however, was or sexual the the behavior best of this pUcit always highest expression the description force in their Uves. In this dialogue, of a most to the great writer is attributed of comedy, Aristophanes. interesting myth

The sexes were not two as they are now, but originaUy three in number. There was man, woman, and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature, which had once a real existence, but is now lost, and the word "An is only preserved as a term of reproach. In the second place, the drogynous" primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to cor respond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast. Now, the sexes were three, and such as I have described them, because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was originaUy the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man woman of the moon, which is made up of the sun and earth, and they were aU round and moved round and round like their parents. Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an at tack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who, as Homer says, dared to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kiU them, and annihilate the race as they had done the giants, then there would be an end of the with thunderbolts, sacrifices and worship which men offered to them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to be unrestrained. At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered a way. He said: "Methinks I have a plan which wiU humble their pride and improve manners; men shaU continue to exist, but re duced in strength and increased in numbers; this w?l have the advantage of mak ing them more profitable to us. They shaU walk upright on two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not be quiet, I w?l split them again and they shaU hop about on a single leg." He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for pickUng, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one after another, he bade ApoUo give the face and the half of the neck a turn in the section of himself; he would thus learn order that the man might contemplate a lesson of humiUty.' is significant in a variety This myth of ways, but the central message upon to focus is that Eros which we wish is the desire to regain a lost wholeness. There are two ideas here: 1. Eros is the desire for wholeness. 2. At some place or time (inmythical
we seek.4

time) we knew

this wholeness

for which

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of this second point is beyond in detail the possible meanings the explore we can note that it might as a be interpreted In passing scope of this article. as a memory of childhood, of the species of the "androgyny" personal memory an more con to nature or as a theological of earlier harmonious relationship we were of the creator of the oneness from which born and in cept (amemory is that in it is understood, the point whose image we were created). However we have an intuition or a knowledge some way we don't fuUy understand, of the wholeness for which we seek. To shell, more is the desire for this wholeness. in a nut first point is that Eros That, I hope simply to spell out a few of the is the whole point of this article. in this manner. Eros ramifications of understanding important turn comes, he shares with the group a teaching Socrates' When he says he a very wise woman received from his teacher on the subject, by the name of One of the issues they are trying to settle in the Symposium Diotima. is one us today?that that stiU concerns love is divine or mundane. Ac is, whether The to Diotima, the divine has wholeness does not. already. The mundane cording Since we cannot be possessed for what we already is have, Eros by a desire and is not in itself divine. (In this we are only a desire for the divine wholeness caUed "Eros.") While Eros is not only of the type of love the Greeks speaking it seeks, rightly understood, the wholeness it leads us toward this wholeness. it is above the mundane. As Diotima Therefore, says,"... nor immortal, but in a mean between the two."5 he is neither mortal

The

traditional

connections

to approach the matter of Eros and the wholeness it seeks, we Ufe seems the various with dimensions of which Eros to be begin by noting a seen connected. have number of such connections. In Traditionally people are as foUows: the most general terms some of these relationships 1. the connection between between Eros Eros and and the pleasure derived from its various

In an effort

manifestations; 2. the connection 3. 4. 5. 6. ships?especiaUy the connection the connection the connection the connection

relationships between Eros between between between Eros Eros Eros

the different relation types of human are "in love"; where people and procreation; and the creation and maintenance of a fam?y; and individual psychological growth; and spiritual growth. that a true understanding of Eros would nature the and of correctly importance

It is a central thesis of this paper have to be based upon understanding each of these connections.

James

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Eros

and pleasure

Victorian between

of the connection and Puritan tended to deny the vaUdity thinking to and this if one enjoyed Eros way of thinking, pleasure. According one that have derived to pay dearly for such from Eros would any aspect of Ufe a transgression in the next Ufe. The connection between and Eros is pleasure so obvious Puritan and unmistakable that even the most thinkers negative was intrinsical could not deny it; they could only claim that such a connection a at in all costs. This represented serious imbalance ly sinful and to be avoided in Ufe. the place of Eros understanding If there it is is anything that we have learned from the new sex educators,

that the connection between exists and is good. However, Eros and pleasure view of sexuaUty the standard is as out of balance in new direc "Uberated" as was view in its direction. secular tions the old Victorian modern Many as if only the connection sex on sexuaUty treat the matter teachers between had and the only pleasures talk uality and pleasure reaUy worth importance, zones. AU of and the stimulation of the erogenous ing about were the orgasm the other five aspects of Ufe I have Usted as being traditionaUy connected with are Eros the integrity played down. Indeed, maintaining of the other connec as a seen in the the tions is often major obstacle way of full exploitation of Eros are therefore often minimized, and these connections weakened, for pleasure, It is this imbalanced of Eros that may weU be the major and severed handling source of the emptiness, and that characterize aUenation, many fragmentation Ufe. is dirty" in The Victorian modern old ap experience "pleasure persons' to Ufe represents, That of course, a serious error in understanding. is, proach a "straw man" is much more these days. What however, frequently tearing Ufe is the "Uberated" tends toward approach which apart the fabric of modern or aU of the other the Eros and between relationship breaking distorting as seen it connected. of Ufe has to which been aspects traditionaUy The enjoy of Eros is naturaUy fulfillment by pleasure. Any accompanied on whatever is a part of our celebration of level it occurs, ment of this pleasure, even to most of levels themselves the basic Ufe. But go begin pleasure physical of Eros is not informed by a stale and become empty when our understanding it aims. Let us, then, at least briefly toward which clear vision of the wholeness some connections. the other examine of

Eros

and relationship

in context to detach sexual from any meaningful The tendency expression Ufe. This may be in part in modern endemic human relationships has become Eros or, to use the Freud of conceptuaUzing to the Freudian manner traceable a drive state which has seen as is libido ian term, Ubido. In the Freudian view, a and tension reduc with itself of resultant the only goal pleasure discharging as a partner or selected tion. The (Freudian person "object" terminology)

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from the simple fact of faci?tating sat as "person/' as re and the relationship (almost inci clearly things, secondary In terms that are in more dental) to the individual's goal of tension reduction. common usage, we are talking about the difference "I am horny and between to get my rocks off if I can find anybody who wiU let me use her or him want derives isfaction love as a way of expressing this way" and "I care about you and want to make in his book, Schizoid this fact." Henry Guntrip Phenomena, Object Relations and the Self, argues for the need for a reassessment of our understanding of the connection between Ubido (orEros) and human relationships. to According the drive toward and need for good object relations Guntrip, (positive relation as in our Uves) needs to be understood ships to other people who are significant the primary human need. Other Ubidinal drives take on meaning, coherence, in this context. and significance understood only when Although Guntrip would maintain much of the traditional for how view, his suggestions analytic best to understand Ubidinal drives in the context of object relationships repre sents a profound shift in the central orientation of analytic In short, at theory.

his or her primary significance of the drive. The other person of seeing is, in this manner lationship

the hub of the Freudian view are Ubidinal drives seeking gratification; at the
hub of Guntrip's view are relationships fulfillment. In our terms, the seeking view minimizes the connection Freudian between and relationship. sexuaUty In the Guntrip view it is the connection to significant that is the relationships most fact about Ubidinal the first contact drives from between in important on through fant and mother Ufe. Not only are Guntrip's views highly signifi cant for psychoanalytic of the importance of theory, but his understanding these ideas is almost prophetic.

The

extent to which Freud regarded sex as the basic factor in object relations introduced misunderstandings and unnecessary has, I am convinced, compUca tions into psychotherapy, and also exerts a dangerously misleading influence in current popular culture. Unless the term "sex" is used with such a wide connota tion that it loses aU specific meaning, it cannot be said to be the essence of mean ingful personal relationship. It must be seen as a biologicaUy innate need that can only find real fulfillment as part of a truly personal relationship.6

in his exceUent "The DepersonaUzation Frankl, of Sex,"7 article, of this need to orient ourselves to something beyond simply our own as the "self-transcendent the of human impulse gratification qua?ty reaUty." He says, "Man is basicaUy concerned with reaching out beyond be it himself, toward a meaning he wants to fulfiU, or toward another human being he wants to lovingly encounter."8 He goes on to say that "loving encounter precludes speaks and using, another human being merely as a means to an end. It considering, a a for example, mere as to tool reduce tensions precludes, person using aroused and created or and drives instincts. This Ubidinal, by aggressive, would amount to some sort of masturbation, and in fact, many of our sexuaUy

Viktor

James Hunter

181

of treating their partners in neurotic actuaUy patients speak of their way on them.' Such an attitude how one's terms of 'masturbating toward partner, or even to sever the connec of human sex."9 To minimize ever, is a distortion is a human possib?ity; it is an option open tion between Eros and relationship us. to choose to do is to steriUty in aU to of To condemn ourselves so, however, to love. our efforts

Eros,

procreation,

and

the family

sexual inter between that the connection worth It is perhaps remembering a baby a course and having not the is mind. of creation Victorian perverse on the associated with Whatever that become additional sexuaUty meanings level the most central fact about coitus level of human culture, on a biological between is that it leads to impregnation. This association sexuaUty genital connection is is not only good in and of itself, but this biological and pregnancy the cultural and symboUc meanings of sexual also the foundation upon which to realize that courting, it takes but Uttle thought ity are based. Furthermore, form a coitus, birth, and finaUy the raising and care of offspring impregnation, single What in humans behavioral natural just as they do, say, in birds. complex is unnatural is to break apart this fabric in different ways. an effort to break the connection be Any form of birth control is, obviously, this break is to facu? tween coitus and impregnation. The usual aim inmaking for the expressions of other values. Not only the in tate the sex act as a vehicle crease of pleasure of loving is sought in this manner but also the enhancement the to argue that birth facilitates it is possible Thus, plausibly relationships.

in view of the world's of higher values. realization increased Furthermore, one would hesitate to recommend any poUtical or problem, growing population use of most the forms of birth control. Nev social poUcy aimed at suppressing in any inter is inherent it remains a fact that a degree of violence vertheless, a We distrupt coitus and pregnancy. between ruption of the natural connection we man a a or woman's natural hormonal alter woman's balance; reproductive uterus. surgery; or we insert a piece of wire into a woman's organs by minor as a normalized means abortion of birth con Most violent of aU, we legitimize or carelessness, the other in trol to be used whenever, by reasons of ignorance of us are aware that the new sexual ethic made possible fa?. Most terventions increase of has led to a number of problems?the technology by birth control an extremely each the incidence of venereal disease, large number of abortions Yet and at times dangerous medical year, and a number of disabUng problems. we usuaUy assume from an as yet im facts resulting that these are incidental the that we need at least to consider to me It seems perfect technology. that in these negative facts we have accurate images of the violence possib?ity we are doing to the fabric of Ufe by our birth control technology and new sex sexual behavior ual ethic. The issue is not whether (or the human body) is good and or ugly, in and of itself. Courting, or bad, beautiful coitus, child bearing, are aU acts fiUed with beauty, and the raising and care of ch?dren pleasure,

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fabric. UgUness when they are aspects derives from the ar of a whole mystery of Ufe. tificial tearing of this fabric &nd the resulting fragmentation between coitus and impreg As birth control tends to sever the connection so the new social norms sexual freedom and adolescent nation, regarding sever and the between the connection The sexuaUty family. "open marriages" value restraint of adolescent the traditional prior to marriage emphasized value The this connection. of sexual between of fideUty marriage importance that it is the power of Eros that binds the fam?y into a co partners recognized was seen as a major threat to hesive unit. Sexual activity outside the marriage our indoctrination to the contrary, this the fam?y. Correctly so, and, despite and under remains others drift the case. Some marriages explode, simply apart are not of a couple staying but the prospects the new sexual freedom, together and values trust. The rate divorce the of mutual reflects outside fideUty good on and breakup the effects of this new ethic. The impact of fam?y insecurity a major cause ch?dren It is clearly, in my experience, is immense. underlying seen in children of the depression, and "hyperactivity" of much anxiety, cUnics.10 into mental health brought we seek, then, is marriage and the creation of One path toward the wholeness a family. What more perfect could be the self with its of there image completed and feminine aspects of Ufe in a creative the mascuUne perfect balance between is reflected and fert?e relationship? This union of the man and the woman in to com the union of the sperm and the egg and the creation of a new individual The whole, between then, includes not only the balance plete the wholeness. the masculine the adult and the child. and feminine, between but the balance

What better training ground for the discipUning of love into its higher and
more selfless forms than within this dynamic and fertile unit? When both can no be take their to there the parents seriously, responsib?ities higher path we seek. This is, in a term used by Ramakrishna wholeness and other Indian a and is, in its best manifestation, the "Way of the householder" mystics,

spiritual path. In order, however, for it to be such a path, the integrity of the whole fabric must be respected, and that includes the entire complex, from courting to rais ing ch?dren. When we act in such a way as to tear this fabric, we impose upon a ster?ity on the obvious ourselves is then reflected in level, which physical our in and and the of Uves. steriUty aridity aspects spiritual psychological on the other hand, this fabric ismaintained, When, every act along the way is a celebration of the divine incarnate in the physical world.

Eros The

and

individual

growth

of sexuaUty with regard to the development of the human per importance is When clear and sonaUty unquestionable. by itself is the pleasure physical the and of in the however, only guiding place sexuaUty meaning principle, a We is must strive obscured. for under sequence developmental deepened of the connection Eros and psychological between if atrophy standing growth are to be avoided. and fragmentation of the personaUty

James Hunter

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us begin with a brief look at Freud's of a significant concept develop task that needs to be accompUshed around the mental by each ch?d, normaUy is what he caUs the "resolution of the oedipal ages of four to six. This It is generaUy that erotic feelings between and recognized siblings complex." are a normal and parents between children these aspect of family Ufe. When a creative and vital into proper forms, they generate feeUngs are channeled the family. However, there has always been an "incest form of energy within Let taboo" When social the expression of these feeUngs in a sexuaUy against expUcit manner. the appropriate sexual boundaries break down, the family unit as a is in trouble, and the proper development of the ch?dren is in system

danger. of the oedipal complex of these erotic feeUngs The resolution is one example the "incest taboo." Somewhere around three or four years of age encountering to some authors) the child's Ubidinal shift (erotic) impulses (earUer, according usurp from their earUer focuses on breast feeding and toilet the parent of the same sex in his relationship in boys. A similar but not speak of this as it occurs to the desire to training to his partner. (We wiU occurs identical pattern

with girls.) The boy is blocked in this aim in two ways:


1. He 2. He fears the father's retaUation. the father whose fears aUenating

love and affection

he also needs.

This ment

is resolved to Freud, conflict, develop by a highly according significant in the personaUty; the boy gives up his aim to usurp or replace the father this with the aim of becoming like the father (on a symboUc and replaces level,

to become the father). As he then identifies himself with his father, the father's
expectations aUty, and place?the only with becomes are taken into the boy's person for him and his moral standards of a person's Ufe takes of the most significant developments No longer is the ch?d concerned birth of a real internal conscience. sources of love outside the issue of self-love and approval himself; is to this self-love His central. (or self-respect) enjoy capacity moral he standards and the Uves to behavioral how up upon closely dependent that in passing It should be mentioned he has internaUzed from his parents. or means no an is the conscience intrinsicaUy punishing negative by (superego) a negative It becomes only aspect of the personaUty aspect of the personaUty. are too high and rigid, too low, or in some other way if the standards in the hands of a torture by fears of eternal (e.g., supported inappropriate, "loving" God). facts about the Freudian Let us note two important concept of human devel of the development it is Eros that is the driving force behind First, opment. one the child the power into a moral being. of Eros must

to take in order for this development Second, and be contained channeled along appropriate place, either the fam?y within leads to dysfunction Unes. channeUng Improper it (or both). of the people within system or the personaUty systems the same two facts we have the development of the individual Throughout to be appUcable: cited here continue

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1. Eros is a major driving 2. In order to be so, it must

force behind be contained

growth. and channeled

within

proper

Umits.

is this process of growth In our society, the the of and adolescence. Puberty growth them the emergence of dividual bring with New conflicts, the personaUty. forces within a consequence. The successful of resolution of

ch?d

more than in confused in toward a sexuaUy mature and creative potentiaUy powerful as and rivalries develop tensions, nowhere conflicts Ues and in the direction his or her the family. In must be chan

these

from the family the child's toward independence growth a to its outside find (or abiUty partner symboUc equivalent) the to accompUsh adolescent's order successfuUy this, energies tasks: neled toward some rather large and significant 1. He

adult

or she must the home (an figures outside begin to find identification to model wishes of the same sex after whom the adolescent him-or

herself). 2. He or she needs to learn the vocational and other sk?ls that w?l prepare him or her for success from the family of origin. and independence 3. Respectful to members and more mature of of the opposite ways relating sex must be learned. 4. The must puU together adolescent aU the various of his or her per aspects a and out this identification and of sonaUty forge positive figures identity that is at least tolerably harmonious.11 are exciting of the last

and concentration. The tasks, but they require energy see so to 20 has been fritter years many away teenagers tragedy on casual sexual exploits their precious and shallow relationships and energies sense of emptiness man then try to treat the resulting the all of by ingestion ner of drugs which ruin any possibiUty of clear and lucid identity formation. is needed is not more poUce. At best, they can only help mop up the mess What when has already been sp?led. everything and forceful images of the wholeness toward are in this forceful images regard powerful Martin Luther Mother Theresa, Jr., King and other such figures come read?y to mind emulation. adolescents need is strong are The most they groping. and integrated adult personaUties. Gandhi, Day, Mahatma Dorothy as examples of figures worthy of which What

These

Adolescents need to find, however, both identification figures and are to in in If we are who ava?able them their lives. guidance daUy people aware that we ourselves are often so confused the and by complexity rapid Ufe that we do not feel Uke adequate identification change of modern figures, then we can stiU join with our teenagers in an honest search for either new or a new understanding of the old images. If we are dis images of wholeness turbed by those who seem to be suggesting that making birth control more more to teenagers accessible and encouraging casual sexual experimentation are adequate then we can and must assume the responsibiUty for de solutions, our alternative with for sound teenagers veloping approaches providing on the subject and information of sexuaUty. guidance

James Hunter

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1. Eros is a major driving 2. In order to be so, it must Let us take another ine their appUcation teUs us that Jung masculine and unconscious

force behind be contained

growth. and channeled

within

proper

limits.

we have discovered look at these two principles and exam to developments in of the last half Ufe. Carl occurring from a psychological of view we aU have both point

feminine and attributes characteristics. The usually feminine of men he termed and the "anima" the aspect or "animus." In the average man mascuUne of women, aspect comparable the development around of the first half of Ufe is organized woman, feeUngs, sex identity. that stem from his or her physical drives, and identity constructs takes on a new and potentiaUy Eros, or the drive toward wholeness, however,

the last half of Ufe. In brief, it is around creative meaning toward this time The union of the mascuUne that a person introverted. typicaUy becomes more was previously into a wholeness and the feminine outside the self in sought and other symboUcaUy and this was equivalent fam?y, marriage, pursuits, for that phase of Ufe. But now a new union of the mascuUne and appropriate feminine aspects is sought?this of the personaUty time the union of the mascuUne into a larger and richer self. and the feminine

Man's

wholeness consists in the union of the conscious and the unconscious per as Just every individual derives from mascuUne and feminine genes, and sonaUty. of the corresponding genes, so in the the sex is determined by the predominance psyche it is only the conscious mind, in a man, that has the mascuUne sign, while is by nature feminine. The reverse is true in the case of a woman. the unconscious is to rediscover and reformulate this fact.12 AU I have done inmy anima-therory

or "feminine" and the "mascuUne" that is this drive ismisunderstood, a is and middle the onto outside the person sought marriage, typical projected to steriUty, and the most Such affairs are normaUy doomed age affair begins. is that the richness with a deep history is that is accompUshed of a relationship a new and with the for the richer level toward of lost, along prospects growth integration. personal this role of sex Te?hard de Chardin regarding speaks clearly and eloquently Often func of human personaUty. "That the dominant to assure is indis the preservation of the species on the connections between Eros, procreation, he notes, commenting putable," But he goes on to note that and the family that we have already discussed. role was another more essential of hominization,13 "from the critical moment we a are to feel which role of for love, seemingly only just beginning developed Imean male and the necessary of the two principles, the importance; synthesis he points In this context of the human personaUty."14 female, in the bu?ding love therefore is not that they outrage of offences out, "The gravity against or lust, or virtue. It is that they fritter away, by neglect some sort of modesty reserves of personalization. the universe's This wastage is the true explanation "1B of the disorders of 'impurity.' uaUty or Eros in the bu?ding tion of sexuaUty was at first

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Eros

and spiritual

growth

from the infant's and truest sense aU growth, In the broadest learning how to a is of spirit of the mystic, to the highest breast-feed single continuum rapture we of that caU "mys Those ual development. aspects traditionaUy experience are not the special province of a few gifted individuals.16 tical" or "spiritual" are very common be almost and would universal Such experiences probably a were our training more normal from and upbringing spiritual point of view. What in terms of child-rearing is this would mean, practices specifically, in passing that it would in the scope of this paper, but we can observe beyond to the myths and fairy tales that of our children volve at least the exposure facet of our world's cultural heritage. Bettelheim17 form such an important and von Franz18 have pointed out the importance of such tales in the development different of children from somewhat (Freudian and Jungian). perspectives to an adult's The relation of Eros growth (using this term in its spiritual more to many limited sense) has been evident thinkers. It is not an accident the issue of sexuaUty teacher who that every great about speaks spiritual to one degree or another. Sexual abstinence is urges restraint (Brahmacharya) one of the key discipUnes the ancient recommended by PatangaU,19 authority on the practice of this practice has been reemphasized of yoga. The importance leaders such as Ramakrishna20 in more recent times by spiritual and Gandhi.21 was clearly a central of the passions and control of their expression Restraint as described to the "Eternal" in the Sympo aspect of the ascent by Socrates out that "there are many reasons sium and Phaedrus. Jesus pointed different cannot marry; born because that way; others some, why men they were because men made them that way; and others do not marry for the Kingdom of An alternate is clearly suggested. of ones energies In channeUng even over one's sexual restraint of control included a degree deed, for Jesus mental and wants to possess her is processes. "Anyone who looks at a woman of committing is adultery with her in his heart."23 The control of Eros guilty an important for Jesus of the path to that state of oneness with God aspect that he refers to as "The Kindom of Heaven." Heaven."22 What teachers is the meaning that most of the connection of the great spiritual of different the control of sexuaUty cultures have seen between and

the spiritual path? Was


read Masters cultures, we and Johnson? cannot accuse

it simply that they lacked the advantage of having

as they are aU from different and Clearly, periods the Victorians of being responsible for their pUght. a central Is it possible that the spiritual leaders of the past have aU understood the fact about existence that remains unaltered and by piecemeal fragmented we moderns bits of information have gleaned by our "scientific" procedures? the ancient of reUgion and moraUty teachers What often seemed to grasp bet ter than we moderns to is need the understand Ufe as a single fabric do usuaUy a certain wholeness. its itself toward which, organizes despite complexity, a to to seemed be with there Eros, general regard understanding SpecificaUy a channeling new levels of of these energies that through and intensification were has made This and sometimes been psychic spiritual integration possible.

James

Hunter

187

to a new of the vibrations of as the raising of the level or intensity thought in biological level or "octave."24 At times this process has been conceptualized as breathing and posture of such physical terms, and the efficacy techniques The notion of the raising of intense has been emphasized. from a energies a level to themselves around higher pur they organize point where physical in the Indian concept This is the "serpent of Kundalini. is seen clearly poses that is thought latent or unmanifest of as lying coiled (in a relatively power" can at the base of the spine and be raised upward condition) through various center of the brain. Here in the highest it leads to pro centers until it arrives in the person's One mod found reorganizations psychobiological functioning. ern author of Indian background who has had personal along these experience and Kunda In his books The Awakening Unes is Gope Krishna. of Kundalini lini2* he puts forward the theory that transformations of this kind represent As he ar evolution. the next important social, and spiritual steps in biological, we this point weU, ticulates quote at some length. From my own experience, extending to a quarter of a century, I am irresistibly led to the conclusion that the human organism is evolving in the direction indi cated by rqystics and prophets and by men of genius, by the action of this won located at the base of the spine, depending for its activity derful mechanism, mainly on the energy suppUed by the reproductive organs. Though not in its gen eral appUcation as the evolutionary organ inman, but in the individual sphere as the means to develop spirituaHty, supernormal faculties and psychic powers, the from very ancient times. When has been known and manipulated mechanism and aroused to intense activity by men already advanced on the manipulated subject to numerous factors, especiaUy favourable heredity, path of progress-and constitution, mode of conduct, occupation and diet, it can lead to most remark the organism by general stages able and extremely useful results, developing from its native condition to a state of extraordinary efficiency, conducting it ulti to zenith of consciousness and the cosmic genius combined. mately CiviUzation and leisure, divested of the glaring abuses that have crept into both due to ignorance and a fundamentaUy wrong conception of the goal of human Ufe, are but means to this important end. Crudely planned and wrongly used at pre sent, they wiU necessarily have to pass through a process of refinement when the goal is clearly estabUshed. AU great sages and seers of the past and all great founders of reUgions, whether guided intuitively by evolving Ufe itself or led by on only or unconsciously laid emphasis mostly have consciously observation, such traits of character and modes of conduct as are definitely conducive to pro men of genius, gress. The highest products of civilization, prophets, mystics, clearly indicate the direction and goal of human evolution. Studied in the Ught of in this volume they w?l aU be found to have common charac the facts mentioned teristics. The motive and guiding power behind them in aU cases without excep tion is KundaUni.27 is interesting approach Gopi Krishna's the "biological" and "spiritual" aspects tual framework the that synthesizes to proaches reaUty. because of its effort to bring together in a single concep of the phenomena the "scientific" and ap "mystical"

188

Journal

of Religion

and Health

same notion of transformation is found in the Western of reU history seems if It clear that not of in the form alchemists most, many, alchemy. gion were not concerned It was the transfor with making gold as an actual metal. into higher forms that interested them. The of lower forms of energy mation was of the level the of integration higher psychic they "gold" experience interest in alchemy. sought. This, of course, was the reason for Carl Jung's The and pointed out this concept by the term "transformation" Jung expressed wholeness the forth various of how the psyche the m?ndala, images (e.g., put as to the of the Christ process symbols guide energies figure, hermaphrodite) levels of integration.28 themselves into higher organizing his metaphysics did not allow him to value the Freud himself, although same as saw in the human attainments of way beings Jung did, "higher" the clearly achievements.
tion."

connection Eros between He attempted to explain

and the higher artistic these facts by his concept

and cultural of "subUma

a higher psychic is an individual matter The path toward in integration same no two the which needs. Corresponding to this vari people have exactly is the diversity of "paths" that have been ety of needs and temperaments the ages. Some approaches found useful tech through emphasize physical on emotional or cognitive others concentrate For processes. niques,29 while an integrated of us, the most one which most is probably beneficial approach and cognitive takes into account the physical, of our emotional, aspects and which in the world with meditation, balances action and service nature, in private.30 The evidence and introspection is very strong that any prayer, we have been va?d spiritual path leads to the type of energy-transformations that approach efforts, devotion, talking about, whether emphasizes physical or some combination of approaches. It is because the service, understanding, an aspect issue of transformation is or becomes of energies of any path that the need for restraints and the proper spiritual guides have always emphasized so lucidly and Few have made of the powers of Eros. the point channeling as Teilhard de Chardin. beautifuUy

The world does not become divine by suppression but by subUmation. Its sanc of the sap of the earth. Thus the idea tity is not an elimination but a concentration as we shaU see, but is translated of spirit matter into a new ascesis-laborious, much more comprehensive and effective than the old.
Sublimation. Therefore conservation. But also, and even more transformation.

If it is true therefore that man and woman wiU be more united to God the more closely they love one another, it is no less certain that the more they belong to God the more and the more beautifuUy they w?l find themselves led to loving one
another.sl

we Chardin that affirm rather "transformation" than is the of paths, key. As there are many people with a diversity "suppression" the whole matter cannot be reduced to a few "do's" or "don't's" that are to be seem foUowed But it would that the that rigidly by everyone. general principle With de

James Hunter

189

one should channel Eros in a manner that gives consideration to the whole fab for everyone, ric of Ufe would be appUcable and would be the optimal circum stance for the desired transformation.

Conclusion The American ing definitions Heritage to the Dictionary of the English term "promiscuous": aspects Language gives the foUow

1. Consisting and unrelated of diverse no standards 2. Having of selection. 3. Indiscriminate in sexual relations. 4. Casual, random.

of individuals,

confused.

used in this article we could say that promiscuity is any terminology sever that tends to between different the natural connections behavior aspects and loss of wholeness. Sexual tends toward fragmentation of Ufe and thereby as a as sin against de Chardin makes misbehavior, clear, is best thought of not an individuals's some sort of Victorian and de ethic but a sin against growth more a and emp toward SteriUty integration. higher and satisfying velopment of the of the resulting tiness are the inevitable consequences disintegration In the of selection" this lack of unifying "standards for It is, perhaps, personaUty. our our behavior with which that the and central difficulty thoughts pinpoints us. Progress wiU He in the direction of discovering, Ufe has confronted modern around new and more and organizing ourselves adequate images of creating, same at the old images that are the wholeness time, re-understanding and, our an cultural heritage. such part of important

References
New York, The Macmillan 1. Yeats, W. B., Collected Poems. 1972, pp. 184-185. Co., New York, Har C. S? The Four Loves. of this, see, Lewis, 2. For one interesting discussion 1960. court Brace & Co.. New Random In The Works 3. Plato, "The Symposium" 1928, pp. York, House, of Plato. 353-355. in Eliade, and is found 4. A most time" elucidation of the idea of "mythical useful M., Myth and Row Publishers New York, Harper Inc., 1963. ReaUty. 5. "Symposium," p. 369. International 6. Guntrip, and the Self. New York, Phenomena, HM Schizoid Object Relations 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Universities Inc., 1968, p. 354. Press, of Sex," Synthesis, V. E., "The DepersonaUzation Frankl, Ibid., p. 9. Ibid., p. 10. Reconstitution J. E., and Schuman, N., "Chronic Hunter, 1980, 25 (6), 446-451. November, on this subject. writer informative Erik Erikson is a most 1968. New York, Norton, and Crisis. 1, 1977.

as a Family See Erikson,

Style," E.,

Social Identity,

Work, Youth

190 Journal

of Religion

and Health

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

and Symbol Garden Anchor City. N. Y., Doubleday Jung, C. G., Psyche to that point at which "Hominization" in evolution the distinctively refers existence become manifest. " tic Universe. de Chardin, In Human Teilhard of a Personalis Sketch P., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1962, p. 73. Ibid., p. 75. A., The Sociology of the Paranormal Greeley, 1975. and London, Sage Publications, New Bettelheim, B., The Uses of Enchantment Tales. Von Franz, M. L., Interpretation of Fairy are given The in the Yoga?Sutras steps eight See, nia, A Reconnaissance. York,

1958, p. 141. Books, human of aspects Energy. New York,

Beverly

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Califor

20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

A. Knopf, Alfred 1976. 1978. Texas, Publications, Irving, Spring of Patangali. to Mircea Eliade, According and in this manner recorded and synthesized he was traditions, already existing Pantangali a system able to codify and philosophy that was to become the dominant of yoga force in In See Eliade, New dian spirituality. Princeton M., Yoga. Princeton, Press, Jersey, University 1969. an introduction The Gospel and with Translated Edition, of Sri Ramakrishna, Abridged by Swami Nikhilananda. New York, Ramakrishna?Vivekananda M. K., The Story With Truth. of My Experiments Also Truth. New York, see, Erikson, E., Gandhi's 19:11. 5:27-28. of these energy transformations school started by G. F. Gurdieff two books The contain following in terms and can be 1974. Center, Beacon Boston, Press, W. W. Norton & Co., 1957, Inc., pp. 1969.

Gandhi, 204-211. Matthew Matthew

" of "Octaves is a part of the teach in the writings found of Ouspensky on this subject: useful material (1) Nicholl, M., and Watkins, Commentaries. Stuart P. D., The 1970; (2) Ouspensky, London, Psychological New York, Vintage Fourth nine. These books do not Books, 1971, especially Way. chapter make* exactly the same point the place of Eros in spiritual that we development regarding are making. a useful it provides This material is cited simply because and interesting way of about transformations of energy in the human, and psychological thinking biological Explanations ing of the and Nicoll. systems. Krishna, 1964. G., The Awakening of Kundalini. The Evolutionary in Man. Energy New York, E. P. Dutton Calif., & Co., Inc., 1975. Inc.,

25. 26.-, 27. 28. 29.

Berkeley,

Shambahla,

Publication,

30. 31.

Ibid.t pp. 241 and 242. A good to the thought introduction of Carl Jung and His Lon is, Jung, C. G., Man Symbols. 1984. Books Limited, don, Aldus Certain or Hatha such as some found in Kundalini be types of physical techniques yoga may or without if used This is not to say dangerous exclusively, proper excessively, guidance. are invalid. these with in conjunction Used other be techniques they may approaches, to some persons. beneficial and comprehensive A good discussion of the balanced is by Aurobindo. See Sri approach The Synthesis India Press, 1973. Aurobindo, India, All of Yoga. Pondicherry,de Chardin, Teilhard op. cit., p. 76.

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