Saturday, May 12, 2007

Hierarchy of Sexuality

I found this at The Art of Intimacy.

Dr. Lana Holstein and Dr. David Taylor offer a seven stage model of sexuality that I find kind of interesting.
  1. Biology: the physical and chemical functioning of our bodies.
  2. Sensuality: the energy of pleasure that flows through our bodies because of our ability to feel.
  3. Desire: what most of us have come to think of as sexy and sexual -- it is the mating dance, the hey, check me out!
  4. Heart: the energy of committed love and devotion. The way we celebrate I am yours; you are mine, with many tokens and rituals -- weddings, anniversaries, Valentines.
  5. Intimacy: the energy of truth and trust. Think of staying up all night with a new lover, just talking and getting to know each other.
  6. Aesthetics: not about superficial beauty, but rather inner beauty, a quality of the soul.
  7. Ecstatics: the energy of the sacred contributing to our sexuality -- that deep place where we lose our ego boundaries and dissolve in oneness with our beloved.




I think they are approaching an integral model based on this short clip. But I'm not sure if they see this as a developmental model. And of course, we would have to add an eighth stage in which one has access to all of the first seven by choice and at the same time.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This appears to be based on the seven yogic chakras, so therefore developmental. If we then articulate the first-, second-, and third-person aspects of each level, we can outline a basic integral model of sexuality.

Take care of yourself, Bill, and keep up the great blogging!