Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body--New Paths to Power and Love

Rating:
Summary: Not another utopia but a life based on sanity
Review: The partnership-model, where Riane Eisler refers to is the healing tradition of Heaven and Earth, before humanity made the shift to separate nature and spirit in two different realms. And where one became more important than the other, with all its dehumanizing and destructive consequences. Although her tone is servere, it is not to put something in place, it is to highlight that, which is out of place, which is in utter disbalance. Before we act, we have first to see! Needed is the discovery of Heaven in ourselves, where all is One: to see the Grail(and this can be experienced) but at the same time asking the rebalancing question: Why is the Fisher-king Ill? And Riane Eisler answers this question with an astounding but uplifting compassion. She points not to a theory, another Utopia by and for men, but a practical living based on core values as freedom, respect and equavalence of man, woman and children. Don't believe her but try for yourself. For me it is the most re-connecting experience in my live. As if my eyes for the first time starts to see.

Rating:
Summary: Accentuate the Positive
Review: The premise of this book -- the sacredness of sexual union and the importance of gender equality, is noble indeed and warrants a great deal more attention by society. But I found the author to be far too negative in spite of some excellent comments. It was painful to me, a man, to have to wallow through an extended chronicle of relatively obscure examples of misogyny, used to make a case for change that is probably self-evident to anyone reading this book. Had the author devoted more of her research to the positive to which we may all intrinsically aspire, it would have been a more valuable read. The world can benefit enormously from a deep respect for all creation that transcends the sordid, selfish history upon which she dwells.