Sex and the Spiritual Teacher looks at the complex of forces that tempt otherwise insightful, compassionate, and well-intentioned teachers to lose their way and that tempt some of their students to lose their way as well. It analyzes why most of our current efforts to keep spiritual teachers from transgressing usually don't (and in fact can't) work. Perhaps most importantly, it suggests a set of practices and structures that can build community, encourage healthy student-teacher relationships, increase trust and spiritual intimacy between teachers and their students, and help authentic spiritual teachers stay happily monogamous or celibate. Sex and the Spiritual Teacher is for anyone who is or might become part of a spiritual community: students, teachers, clergy, lay leaders, and even casual visitors. It's a reader-friendly, no-nonsense guide to making spiritual life safer and fuller for all of us one person, relationship, and community at a time.
Sex and the Spiritual Teacher, Scott Edelstein, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 2011, 250 Pages, $22.95
Scott Edelstein has studied happily and productively with several spiritual teachers, including Toni Packer, Dainin Katagiri, Tim McCarthy, and (currently) Steve Hagen. As the friend of several spiritual teachers, he has also spent much time with them off duty, sometimes serving as confidant. He is a longtime practitioner of both Buddhism and Judaism, and a committed proponent of serious spirituality in all forms and traditions. Scotts short work on spiritual topics has appeared in Shambhala Sun, American Jewish World, The Writer, the anthology What About God? , and elsewhere. He is also the author of 15 other books on a wide range of subjects.
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Contents: Sex and the Spiritual Teacher |
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What You Need to Know About This Book |
viii |
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Introduction: Sex, Spirit, and Safety by Mic Hunter |
1 |
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PART ONE: Spiritual Teachers and Sexual Transgression |
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1. |
Five Narrow Views |
5 |
2. |
Exploiters, Errants, and Exceptionalists |
23 |
3. |
Tangled Webs |
35 |
4. |
Creating Healthy Teacher-Student Relationships |
49 |
5. |
The Spiritual Teacher as Role Model |
55 |
6. |
Why Spiritual Teachers Are Sexy |
59 |
7. |
Sex and Spiritual Experience |
63 |
8. |
The Paradox of Masculine Sexuality |
71 |
9. |
Common Pressures, Projections, and Temptations |
83 |
10. |
The Power of No |
87 |
11. |
The Spiritual Teacher as Alpha Figure |
91 |
12. |
The Sexual Power of Students |
97 |
13. |
Spiritual Insight and Arrogance |
101 |
14. |
The Spiritual Teacher's Partner: Soulmate or Saboteur? |
105 |
15. |
The Shadow Side of Celibacy |
109 |
16. |
Monogamy and Its Skeptics |
113 |
17. |
The Power and Pitfalls of Gurus |
117 |
18. |
Sex as a Spiritual Teaching |
121 |
19. |
Tantra and Pseudo-Tantra |
127 |
20. |
Crazy Wisdom and Its Shadow |
133 |
21. |
How Exploiters Crash and Burn |
141 |
22. |
How Errants and Exceptionalists Fall (and Sometimes Rise Anew) |
147 |
23. |
Disillusion and Dissolution |
153 |
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PART TWO: Cultivating Trust and Reducing Exploitation |
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24. |
Spiritual Commmunity and Sexual Transgression |
159 |
25. |
Double Helix or Tug-of-War?: Balancing Spiritual and Organizational Authority |
165 |
26. |
Why Codes, Policies, and Therapies Aren't Enough |
169 |
27. |
Building a Healthy Spiritual Community |
175 |
28. |
Hiring a Spiritual Teacher: Mindful Guidance for Spiritual Communities |
18 |
29. |
Building Support Systems for Spiritual Teachers |
187 |
30. |
Training, Encouraging, and Culling Potential Teachers |
195 |
31. |
When a Spiritual Teacher Transgresses: Responses of a Healthy Community |
201 |
32. |
An Open Letter to Spiritual Teachers |
215 |
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Some Further Questions |
219 |
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Afterword: Knowledge, Action, and Power by Anne Katherine |
223 |
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Recommended Resources |
225 |
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Notes |
228 |
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Acknowledgments |
237 |
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Index |
241 |
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About the Author |
251 |
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