Bruce P. Grether: Bruce Grether grew up in Thailand as the son of Protestant missionaries. He returned to the USA at age 15. He later attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland in the early ‘70s, then Colorado State University in Fort Collins from 1990—94, where he obtained a B.A. in English with a Creative Writing Concentration, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Grether moved to Texas early in 1996, where he lives with his partner and continues to write novels.
Have you ever wondered about the deeper meaning of being a gay man? Not only that it's all right to be gay, or even a wonderful thing worth celebrating, but that there must be more to it than the obvious attraction to your own sex? What are the special gifts and blessings of being a gay man that provide you with unique opportunities of awareness and personal growth? What might your identity as a gay man mean in the context of human history and contemporary culture? What innate qualities of being a gay man could comprise your special contribution to the whole of humanity? These intriguing questions are among those explored by Toby Johnson in his fascinating new book, Gay Spirituality: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness, from Alyson Books.
Consider how growing up gay forces you to sort out many hidden messages for yourself and to figure out things not openly discussed. Painful as it can be along the way, this also renders you more perceptive in many ways than “straight” guys who have so much mainstream affirmation and reinforcement of their given identity. Heterosexuals may never be called upon to question what their culture teaches them as truth. Not so for gay people. “We naturally see that if the conventions of society are wrong about something so basic as sex,” Johnson writes. “They are probably wrong about a lot of other things.”
A psychotherapist, scholar, and former Catholic monk, the author is unusually well qualified to examine such ideas, and he offers some truly satisfying and inspiring explanations. He eloquently shares the harvest of his own diverse experience, as well as his wide-ranging interests and enthusiasm. He insists on no particular interpretations, yet develops some meaningful conclusions. Gay Spirituality provides a convincing structure of ideas to make many good points. For example, as a student of comparative religions and of the great mythologist Joseph Campbell, Johnson re-examines religious traditions in terms of a new metaphorical understanding. He considers this one of the gifts of being gay &Mac247;that we tend to question those aspects of religious dogma that irrationally undermine our self-esteem.”
The book also contains many practical insights about erotic pleasure, relationships, and gay lifestyle: “perceiving sex as innocent and our love and desire for one another as holy would change the trappings of the modern gay subculture.” Johnson adds: “When we seek spiritual answers as gay people, we are necessarily looking for sex-positive and gay positive answers. This puts us in a special place in the evolution of religion.” Thus we may be able to reclaim some valuable aspects of any religious tradition by viewing it as a set of meaningful metaphors.
Johnson urges us to consider these metaphorical views of religions and thus be able to mine them for nuggets of value. For example, Christianity historically contains a genuine message of “loving one another,” and Buddhism provides useful insights into the causes of suffering and how to minimize suffering in our lives. His advice to evoke of a sense of wonder as the basis for sound meditation I find especially useful.
One of the author's most compelling ideas is that same-sex attraction may manifest a genuine experience of unity. Contrast this with the heterosexual paradigm of duality based on attempting to unite opposites that are in fact fundamentally different. “Gay people do not have to experience the world dualistically,” Johnson suggests. “We can experience androgyny directly. We do not have to get caught in the polarities of masculinity and femininity.” In fact, in our overpopulated world, it makes sense to encourage homosexual activity as a life-enhancing alternative to mindless reproductive behavior.
Johnson masterfully covers the wide range of contemporary concepts developed over the last few decades that he finds significant to gay identity. Such important and influential elements as the Gaia Hypothesis, the Global Brain, and Quantum Physics are gracefully related to the special purpose gay men serve within the human community.
“The existence of openly gay people in society,” he writes, “challenges the assumptions that everybody is in a heterosexual nuclear family, or else desperately unhappy. We are changing the great thoughts of the planet about what a good life is.” Thank goodness for the contribution of such a thoughtful and encouraging writer as Toby Johnson.Obviously gay men have always led the way in the arts and humanities, as well as fashion. On the frontier of spirituality, gay men are leading the way and reclaiming their ancient roles. This marvelous book offers abundant reasons to consider that this may be so. As an avid reader, I seldom read a book more than once, but Gay Spirituality is so good that I've already started reading it again.
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