The Ecstasy of Love in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas
The Ecstasy of Love in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas

Author: Peter Kwasniewski

Publisher: Emmaus Academic

Published: 2021-05-07

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1645851060

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Those interested in the concept of ecstasy would be forgiven for assuming that a sober scholastic like St. Thomas Aquinas had little place for the idea. Yet in this groundbreaking study, sure to refine our understanding of the Angelic Doctor, Peter Kwasniewski shows that St. Thomas contemplates the nature of ecstasy at key stages in the development of his thought and that it plays a crucial role in his doctrine of love. After a stimulating study of treatments of ecstasy in ancient philosophy, Sacred Scripture, and the medieval tradition prior to Aquinas, Kwasniewski finds that he can be seen as breathing new life into the concept. While his contemporary, St. Bonaventure, for example, tended to restrict ecstasy to the soul’s union with God, St. Thomas admitted the place of ecstasy in a variety of human activities. Furthermore, St. Thomas recognized that all love involves ecstatic transcendence, whether it be the creature’s self-oblation to the Creator, the reverence of an inferior for a superior, a superior’s generosity toward an inferior, or the mutual affection and help of equals joined in friendship. Love of persons for their own sake generates an ecstatic love in which the self is borne as a gift to another subject by sharing a common life aspiring to common goods. Kwasniewski also examines Aquinas on the question of whether or not God experiences ecstasy, and if so, in what ways. The Ecstasy of Love in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the doctrine of love and to the interpretation of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. It is more than an analysis of key texts; it is an illuminating guide to the grammar of ecstasy.

Rumi: The Book of Love
Rumi: The Book of Love

Author: Coleman Barks

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 0061753408

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Rumi: The Book of Love is a collection of astonishing poems for lovers from the mystic Rumi, by the translator who made him sing anew, Coleman Barks. Poetry and Rumi fans will want to own this gorgeously packaged compilation of love poems by the thirteenth-century Sufi mystic. Rumi is best known and most cherished as the poet of love in all its forms, and renowned poet and Rumi interpretor Coleman Barks has gathered the best of these poems in delightful and wise renderings that will open your heart and soul to the lover inside and out.

Listening to Ecstasy
Listening to Ecstasy

Author: Charles Wininger

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-10-20

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1644111179

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A personal narrative and guide to the safe, responsible use of MDMA for personal healing and social transformation • Details the author’s 50 years of responsible experimentation with mind-altering substances and how Ecstasy has helped him become a better therapist • Explains how he and his wife found Ecstasy to be the key to renewing and enriching their lives and marriage as they entered their senior years • Describes what the experience actually feels like and provides protocols for the safe, responsible, recreational, and celebrational use of MDMA for individuals and groups In a world that keeps us separate from each other, MDMA is the chemical of connection. Aptly known in popular culture as “Ecstasy,” MDMA helps us rediscover our own true loving nature, often obscured by the traumas of life. On its way to becoming a prescription medication due to groundbreaking research on its use to treat PTSD, Ecstasy can offer benefits for all adult life stages, from 20-somethings to seniors. In this memoir and guide to safe use, Charles Wininger, a licensed psychoanalyst and mental health counselor, details the countless ways that Ecstasy has helped him become a better therapist and husband. He recounts his coming of age in the 1960s counterculture, his 50 years of responsible experimentation with mind-altering substances, and his immersion in the new psychedelic renaissance. He explains how he and his wife found Ecstasy to be the key to renewing and enriching their lives as they entered their senior years. It also strengthened the bonds of their marriage. Countering the fearful propaganda that surrounds this drug, Wininger describes what the experience actually feels like and explores the value of Ecstasy and similar substances for helping psychologically healthy individuals live a more “optimal” life. He provides protocols for the responsible, recreational, and celebrational use of MDMA, including how to perfect the experience, maximize the benefits and minimize the risks, and how it may not be for everyone. He reveals how MDMA has revitalized his marriage, both erotically and emotionally, and describes how pleasure, fun, and joy can be profound bonding and transformative experiences. Revealing MDMA’s versatility when it comes to bringing lasting renewal, pleasure, and inspiration to one’s life, Wininger shows that recognizing the transformative power of happiness-inducing experiences can be the first step on the path to healing.

Gods of Love and Ecstasy
Gods of Love and Ecstasy

Author: Alain Daniélou

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1992-05-01

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1620550237

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Shiva and Dionysus are the Hindu and Greek gods of magical power, intoxication, ecstatic sexuality, and transcendence who initiate us into communion with the creative forces of life. Revealing the earliest sources of the traditions of Shiva and Dionysus, Alain Danielou reconstructs the fabric of our ancient relationship with creation, vividly relating practices that were observed from the Indus Valley to the coasts of Portugal at least six thousand years ago.

Knowledge, Love, and Ecstasy in the Theology of Thomas Gallus
Knowledge, Love, and Ecstasy in the Theology of Thomas Gallus

Author: Boyd Taylor Coolman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0199601763

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Knowledge, Love, and Ecstasy in the Theology of Thomas Gallus provides the first full study of Thomas Gallus (d. 1246) in English and represents a significant advance in his distinctive theology. Boyd Taylor Coolman argues that Gallus distinguishes, but never separates and intimately relates two "international modalities" in human consciousness: the intellective and the affective, both of which are forms of cognition. Coolman shows that Gallus conceives these two cognitive modalities as co-existing in an interdependent manner, and that this reciprocity is given a particular character by Gallus' anthropological appropriation of the Dionysian concept of hierarchy. Because Gallus conceives of the soul as "hierarchized" on the model of the angelic hierarchy, the intellect-affect relationship is fundamentally governed by the dynamism of a Dionysian hierarchy, which has two simultaneous trajectories: ascending and descending. Two crucial features are noteworthy in this regard: in ascending, firstly, the lower is subsumed by the higher; in descending, secondly, the higher communicates with the lower, according to the nature of the lower. When Gallus posits a higher, affective cognitio above an intellective cognitio at the highest point in the ascent, accordingly, this higher affective form both builds upon and sublimates the lower intellective form. At the same time, this affective cognitio descends back down into the soul, both enriching its properly intellective capacity and also renewing the ascending movement in love. For Gallus, then, in the hierarchized soul a dynamic mutuality between intellect and affect emerges, which he construes as a "spiralling" motion, by which the soul unceasingly stretches beyond itself, ecstatically, in knowing and loving God.

The Weight of Love
The Weight of Love

Author: Robert Glenn Davis

Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

Published: 2016-12-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0823272133

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Supplementing theological interpretation with historical, literary, and philosophical perspectives, The Weight of Love analyzes the nature and role of affectivity in medieval Christian devotion through an original interpretation of the writings of the Franciscan theologian Bonaventure. It intervenes in two crucial developments in medieval Christian thought and practice: the renewal of interest in the corpus of Dionysius the Areopagite in thirteenth-century Paris and the proliferation of new forms of affective meditation focused on the passion of Christ in the later Middle Ages. Through the exemplary life and death of Francis of Assisi, Robert Glenn Davis examines how Bonaventure traces a mystical itinerary culminating in the meditant’s full participation in Christ’s crucifixion. For Bonaventure, Davis asserts, this death represents the becoming-body of the soul, the consummation and transformation of desire into the crucified body of Christ. In conversation with the contemporary historiography of emotions and critical theories of affect, The Weight of Love contributes to scholarship on medieval devotional literature by urging and offering a more sustained engagement with the theological and philosophical elaborations of affectus. It also contributes to debates around the “affective turn” in the humanities by placing it within this important historical context, challenging modern categories of affect and emotion.

Love is the Drug
Love is the Drug

Author: Brian D. Earp

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2020-01-30

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1526145561

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What if there were a pill for love? Or an anti-love drug, designed to help us break up? This controversial and timely new book argues that recent medical advances have brought chemical control of our romantic lives well within our grasp. Substances affecting love and relationships, whether prescribed by doctors or even illicitly administered, are not some far-off speculation – indeed our most intimate connections are already being influenced by pills we take for other purposes, such as antidepressants. Treatments involving certain psychoactive substances, including MDMA—the active ingredient in Ecstasy—might soon exist to encourage feelings of love and help ordinary couples work through relationship difficulties. Others may ease a breakup or soothe feelings of rejection. Such substances could have transformative implications for how we think about and experience love. This brilliant intervention into the debate builds a case for conducting further research into "love drugs" and "anti-love drugs" and explores their ethical implications for individuals and society. Rich in anecdotal evidence and case-studies, the book offers a highly readable insight into a cutting-edge field of medical research that could have profound effects on us all. Will relationships be the same in the future? Will we still marry? It may be up to you to decide whether you want a chemical romance.

Love, Sex, and Awakening
Love, Sex, and Awakening

Author: Margot Anand

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780738751719

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Famed tantric practitioner and teacher Margot Anand has led a life of spiritual bliss and erotic ecstasy. This book recounts the fascinating adventures, turning points, and breakthroughs on her path from sex to awakening, and it includes techniques and exercises to help you connect to the powerful energy of the erotic spirit.

Tantric Love
Tantric Love

Author: Ma Ananda Sarita

Publisher: Gaia Books

Published: 2005-01-15

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9781856752053

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For most people, Tantra is known as a method of improving sexual performance. The real Tantra is muxch more than this - it is an ancient way of finding our true selves and enriching our relationships. Tantic Love follows Tantra in its purest sense, presenting a practical, step-by-step guide that will not only help you discover a deeper understanding of yourself but will also show you how you can achieve a loving, long-lasting relationship with your partner.

Fate, Love, and Ecstasy
Fate, Love, and Ecstasy

Author: John A. Sanford

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780933029965

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Whether you are reading Greek mythology for psychological insights or studying the classics in college, there are a number of goddesses who have been almost entirely over-looked. They are who John Sanford calls the lesser-known goddesses. However, there is nothing lesser about them. They personify the deeper elements that exist across all life, nature, and spiritual reality. Our current culture often neglects their qualities but would be wise to increase its understanding of them. Many books, including the bestseller Goddesses in Everywoman by Jean Bolen, illustrate well-known goddesses who are the main characters in their stories. But behind the scenes and often running their personalities are the lesser-known goddesses from the ancient matriarchal era of Greek culture. To bring forward their spiritual meaning, Sanford has pieced together information from various Greek stories, plays, and poems. In so Boing, this unique book reacquaints us with: PEITHO Goddess of gentle persuasion who wins love by consent rather than force. THE THREE CHARITIËS Goddesses of Beauty, good cheer, and abundance who inspire both charm and grace. AIDOS Goddess of modesty, self-respect, and shame whose sensitivities heighten the joy of love. ANANKE Goddess of necessity who brings the realization of what must be done. THEMIS Goddess of right order who shows the rule of lines, limits, and boundaries. ATË Goddess of folly, ruin, and sin who disregards all morals and consequences. THE THREE FATES Goddesses of the unchangeable, and fateful events whose irrationalities shape each person's life. THE THREE ERINYES Goddesses of fury who unleash the unceasing, relentless, and envious anger of feminine justice. DIONYSUS God and goddess of ecstasy who vitalizes life through divine energy and creative Inspiration. JOHN A. (JACK) SANFORD is a Jungian Analyst, Marriage and Family Counselor, and Pastoral Counselor practicing in San Diego, California. He is the author of eighteen books on the subjects of psychology, religion, and individuation. He is well known for his works The Kingdom Within: A Study of the Inner Meaning of Jesus' Sayings and Evil: The Shadow Side of Reality. His most recent works include Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John, Healing Body and Soul: The Meaning of Illness in the New Testament and in Psychotherapy, and Soul Journey: A Jungian Analyst Looks at Reincarnation. Dr. Sanford served as an Episcopal minister with the Reverend Morton T. Kelsey and studied depth psychology with the Tate Fritz Kunkel, M.D. He completed his training in Jungian analysis at the C. G. Jung Institute in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Lynn, have two grown children, a grandson, and a number of cats and dogs.