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This article is an attempt to study the problem of ‘the little death’ in all its depth and complexity. The subject will be approached through an empirical-constructivist model of interdisciplinary research on sexual trance and ecstasy, tracking the nucleus of convergence between scientific, philosophic, artistic, and religious sources, plus testimonies of empirical experimentation. Continuities and discontinuities are traced between Eastern and Western heterogeneous forms of knowledge, like the practices of ancient spiritual traditions, avant-garde poetry, post-structuralist philosophy, and neurophysiological models of explanation. It is proposed that the expression la petite mort functions as a highly accurate description of the neurophysiological core of the sexual trance embodiments, of trance in general, and of all mystical experiences in general. Orgasm and the embodiment of sexual trance are contrasted with three key problems: selflessness, death, and absolute ultimate reality. The article concludes by outlining a new, immanent model of empirically grounded mystical experience.
Author:
Abstract
While sexual abuse, sex addiction, sexual indifference, and sexual dissatisfaction remain present in our societies, people depend on medical/clinical treatments that don’t prevent any of its causes. Sex, sexuality, and sex life are a matter of art much more than of science. Sex is about stylization: stylizing the body, the sexual act, the couple relationship, subjectivity, and the use of freedom: ethics. In times of sexual self-regulation and the biopolitics of self-management, when pornography replaces sex education and online sex work replaces intimate relationship, sex life cultivation emerges as a recovery of the knowledge focused on the sexual practice itself. It is a new model in the field of ars erotica, grounded on the historical archive of teachings composed by both Eastern and Western arts of living. Sex life cultivation assembles the techniques and the spiritual perspective of traditions like Taoism, Yoga, Tantra, Buddhism, Stoicism or Epicureanism, plus cutting-edge critical thinking regarding gender equality and sexual orientation, to generate alternative sexual knowledge about the development of erotic skills; the exploration of pleasure techniques; the physical cultivation of vitality, health and wellbeing; emotional self-mastery in the relationships; and, finally, sexual ethics. Critical selflessness and selfless sexualities are the key for an ethical transformation.
Beyond the Biopolitics of the New Normal
The cultural change denominated as “the new normal” goes far beyond the adaptation to habits like physical distancing, limited person-to-person contact, teleworking, and self-isolation established with the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of significant transformations in human behavior spreads today in societies all around the world: physical intimacy decreases while virtual reality expands and alterity declines while artificial intelligence emerges, leading to structural reconfigurations of sex, relationships, gender awareness, and subjectivity. Sexuality and Eroticism in a Post-pandemic World explores this new cultural atmosphere through twelve interdisciplinary essays questioning global governmentality and challenging the biopolitics of the new normal—the administration of self-control societies so politically correct that repressed desire for otherness only finds a simulation of its satisfaction with the forced abnormality, outrageousness, and violence of mainstream porn—, going from ars erotica to alternative pornography, from online dating to gender fluidity, from LGBTQI+ artivism to sex life cultivation, and more.
Beyond the Biopolitics of the New Normal
The cultural change denominated as “the new normal” goes far beyond the adaptation to habits like physical distancing, limited person-to-person contact, teleworking, and self-isolation established with the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of significant transformations in human behavior spreads today in societies all around the world: physical intimacy decreases while virtual reality expands and alterity declines while artificial intelligence emerges, leading to structural reconfigurations of sex, relationships, gender awareness, and subjectivity. Sexuality and Eroticism in a Post-pandemic World explores this new cultural atmosphere through twelve interdisciplinary essays questioning global governmentality and challenging the biopolitics of the new normal—the administration of self-control societies so politically correct that repressed desire for otherness only finds a simulation of its satisfaction with the forced abnormality, outrageousness, and violence of mainstream porn—, going from ars erotica to alternative pornography, from online dating to gender fluidity, from LGBTQI+ artivism to sex life cultivation, and more.
An Introduction to an Interdisciplinary Field
The wide spectrum of links and interrelations found amongst the diversity of human sexual expressions and spiritual practices around the world constitutes one of the most fruitful grounds of scholarly research today. Exploring Sexuality and Spirituality introduces an emerging academic field of studies focused on the multiplicity of problematizations intersecting spirituality and sexuality, from eroticism and ecstasy embodiments to inner spiritual cultivation, intimate relationships, sex education, and gender empowerment. This collection of essays addresses subjects such as prehistoric art, Queer Theology, BDSM, Tantra, the Song of Songs, ‘la petite mort’, asceticism, feminist performative protests, and sexually charged landscapes, among others. Through varied methodologies and state-of-the-art interdisciplinary approaches, this volume becomes highly useful for readers engaged in the integration of scholarly and practical knowledge.
An Introduction to an Interdisciplinary Field
The wide spectrum of links and interrelations found amongst the diversity of human sexual expressions and spiritual practices around the world constitutes one of the most fruitful grounds of scholarly research today. Exploring Sexuality and Spirituality introduces an emerging academic field of studies focused on the multiplicity of problematizations intersecting spirituality and sexuality, from eroticism and ecstasy embodiments to inner spiritual cultivation, intimate relationships, sex education, and gender empowerment. This collection of essays addresses subjects such as prehistoric art, Queer Theology, BDSM, Tantra, the Song of Songs, ‘la petite mort’, asceticism, feminist performative protests, and sexually charged landscapes, among others. Through varied methodologies and state-of-the-art interdisciplinary approaches, this volume becomes highly useful for readers engaged in the integration of scholarly and practical knowledge.
Page:12