Sex, Love, and Marriage in the 21st Century: The Next Sexual Revolution

Rating:
Summary: Sex, Love and Marriage in the 21st Century: The Next Sexual
Review: I appreciate Bill's remarks, but this revolution is not for future generations; it is for ours. There are many of us around Bill's age who have been practicing responsible non-mononogamy for years. As such an individual, this book gave me words for concepts I have struggled to verbalize.

Each of the 22 contributors offered their own personal stories of their journeys to join their sexual selves with their spiritual selves. Our culture has long tried to deny the natural connection between these two elemental parts of each human.

For me, the most enlightening aspect of this book was the devotion to achieving the spiritual/sexual connection that many authors communicated. Their journey was not one of self-pleasuring but rather one of self-fulfillment by connecting with the divine aspect within themselves and others with whom they related deeply. Their's were indeed religious quests.

My rating is not five stars in spite of my glowing remarks about the book. There are technical difficulties with editing that make it a four star book rather that five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Sex, Love and Marriage in the 21st Century: The Next Sexual
Review: I appreciate Bill's remarks, but this revolution is not for future generations; it is for ours. There are many of us around Bill's age who have been practicing responsible non-mononogamy for years. As such an individual, this book gave me words for concepts I have struggled to verbalize.

Each of the 22 contributors offered their own personal stories of their journeys to join their sexual selves with their spiritual selves. Our culture has long tried to deny the natural connection between these two elemental parts of each human.

For me, the most enlightening aspect of this book was the devotion to achieving the spiritual/sexual connection that many authors communicated. Their journey was not one of self-pleasuring but rather one of self-fulfillment by connecting with the divine aspect within themselves and others with whom they related deeply. Their's were indeed religious quests.

My rating is not five stars in spite of my glowing remarks about the book. There are technical difficulties with editing that make it a four star book rather that five stars.

Rating:
Summary: 22 stories by alternative lifestyle pioneers
Review: I've just finished reading "Sex, Love, and Marriage inthe 21st Century," and, as a serial monogamist for nearly 40 years,I truly envy many of this wonderful book's story tellers, who have experienced non-sexually-exclusive, permanent, life-long marriages and relationships. It's good to know that future generations will have a variety of lifestyles to choose from.

What really appeals to me about "Sex, Love, and Marriage" (SL+M) is that there are so many voices in support of the 22 stories about untraditional, alternative, non-sexually-exclusive lifestyles. "These are not stories of wild thrill seekers!" (from SL+M, page xvii). The story tellers, editors, and reflectors participating in the SL+M project are credible and respectable individuals and professionals.

"Sex, Love, and Marriage" is not the vision of a philosopher like Bertrand Russell or the views of some expert sex and marriage therapist like Dr. Ruth. These are not words of wisdom from SL+M's editors. SL+M carries messages from scores of like-minded folks: "The stories recorded in this book are precious because they come out of the struggle of spiritually driven people learning to be human..... The insights offered and the lessons learned are invaluable to the rest of us who are struggling to find meaning to our life experiences and to turn our own stories into a journey well worth traveling" (from SL+M, page xvi). And, there are supporting messages from ministers, sisters, priests, sex and family counselors, and other professionals. ....

When you read SL+M, you will see clearly that there is a place in the world for non-sexually monogamous lifestyles along with the traditional, sexually exclusive lifestyles. If you are at all interested in facilitating greater awareness and tolerance, if not acceptance in our society of sexually nonexclusive lifestyles, then buy lots of copies of SL+M. Keep a copy for yourself and read it carefully and often. And, give copies to family and friends as well as any sex and family counselors and other social science professionals you know.

Rating:
Summary: An antidote to conventional thinking
Review: The 22 moving stories in this volume are a welcome antidote to conventional thinking about sexuality, spirituality, marriage, monogamy (no, they are not synonymous), and life. Under the influence of Saints Paul and Augustine, Western Christian thought has long driven a wedge between body and spirit. The stories in this book point the way for us to move beyond that false dichotomy.

These are the stories of real people, struggling with real issues of how to nurture and support the Divine within, not by denial, possessiveness, or compressing love into a tiny box of "acceptable" dimensions. Casting off the falsely imposed shackles of Greco-Roman asceticism concentrated through the lens of Puritanism, the people whose stories are told in this volume offer a message of hope to all of us.

These men and women, lay and clergy, drawn from an array of spiritual paths, are not self-indulgent, spoiled, immature, lascivious, lustful, or any of the other pejoritive epithets likely to be hurled by the ignorant defenders of the confining status quo. Their quest to recognize, nurture, and sustain the love instilled in us all by the Creator of life is sober, mature, responsible, and considered.

I strongly urge anyone who wants to have a better, more mature understanding of the alternative ways of loving that we all may ethically, morally, and responsibly choose to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: An antidote to conventional thinking
Review: The 22 moving stories in this volume are a welcome antidote to conventional thinking about sexuality, spirituality, marriage, monogamy (no, they are not synonymous), and life. Under the influence of Saints Paul and Augustine, Western Christian thought has long driven a wedge between body and spirit. The stories in this book point the way for us to move beyond that false dichotomy.

These are the stories of real people, struggling with real issues of how to nurture and support the Divine within, not by denial, possessiveness, or compressing love into a tiny box of "acceptable" dimensions. Casting off the falsely imposed shackles of Greco-Roman asceticism concentrated through the lens of Puritanism, the people whose stories are told in this volume offer a message of hope to all of us.

These men and women, lay and clergy, drawn from an array of spiritual paths, are not self-indulgent, spoiled, immature, lascivious, lustful, or any of the other pejoritive epithets likely to be hurled by the ignorant defenders of the confining status quo. Their quest to recognize, nurture, and sustain the love instilled in us all by the Creator of life is sober, mature, responsible, and considered.

I strongly urge anyone who wants to have a better, more mature understanding of the alternative ways of loving that we all may ethically, morally, and responsibly choose to read this book.