From ancient Greek society to today's varied cultures around the world, there are commonalities of spirit and sensibility that can be traced as common threads. This text, part of the 'Essentials' series, examines various mystical and spiritual writings by gay persons across time; however, not all the authors represented in this text are gay. Some (such as Shakespeare) might have been bisexual, or heterosexual, but still seem to be able to tap into that voice which seems most representative of and represented in the gay community.

There are nine chapters to this text, exclusive of the introduction by Andrew Harvey. The first two chapters look at ancient Greece and Rome, including Sappho (of course, perhaps the most famous of the gay ancients), Pindar, Empedocles, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes, Plato, Theocrius, Vergil, Horace, and poems from the Galli, gender-variant priests of the Cybele.

Chapters three through five look at native American traditions, Far East, and Persian/Sufi traditions. These include We'wa, Hasteen Klah, Qu Yan, Kukai, Zeami, Basho, Attar, Sadi, Hafiz, Iraqi, Jami, as well as the modern Mohawk descendent, Maurice Kenny.

Chapters six through nine look at the more modern Western culture, from Renaissance times (Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz) through to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where the names become too numerous to mention, but are well known - names such as Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Rimbaud, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, Dag Hammarskjold, and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle).

In his introduction, Harvey likens the gay person to the mystic in that they are both risk takers and adventurers of a sort. They eschew conventionality of some sorts, even as they might embrace conventionality and tradition of a different sort. Interestingly, one of the commonalities of many mystical traditions and paths is that for a true mystical deepening and enlightenment, the masculine and feminine aspects should be blended and cooperative within a unified spirit. Gay experience can often relate to this. Harvey has purposefully concentrated on those expressions that emphasise a breaking down of dualisms and barriers - those visions that look to eliminate the gap between heaven and earth, body and spirit, heart and mind, male and female.

Some of the authors here have never been included in a collection such as this. Some yearned for silence and solitude during their lifetime. Others sought expression and voice, but couldn't find such. Harvey also talks about the exclusions he had to make - while the likes of Mechtild and Hildegard from the Middle Ages might well fit categorially in this collection, their writing and the documentary evidence about them warrants leaving them out.

Harvey talk of putting this collection together as being one of the most fulfilling times in his life. Reading this collection and the attendant introductions and commentaries is likewise a rewarding experience, giving voice and feeling to an often overlooked presence it the past, and adds a new dimension to the gay experience in the present.


From the Heart   July 9, 2002
 15 out of 19 found this review helpful

As a Westerner brought up in a culture that separates sexuality from spirituality, it had never occurred to me there could be gay mystics who could be identified. Quite frankly, I had never given much thought about any kind of sexuality of the mystics. I knew that St. Augustine regretted his profligate youth, and that St. Francis of Assisi was a notorious hoodlum, but the idea that they had had sexual desires never occurred to me. Perhaps I was naive, and probably the closest I came to such thoughts were from Nikos Kazantzakis' book, Zorba the Greek, (the movie starred Anthony Quinn), which underlined the conflict between flesh and spirit,
between Dionysus (sometimes called Bacchus) and Apollo. In his greatest film, Kazantzakis also carried this conflict into the life of Jesus called The Last Temptation of Christ. Those who did not understand this theme picketed the movie houses at the time of its release. Look at Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. You may remember that Sean Connery won a British Academy award for best actor in this story of 14th century monks in an Italian abbey where someone is committing many murders. Both of these stories have homosexual incidents in them. Yet, somehow, I could understand that; after all, these were sequestered men living alone without women, similar to military or prison life and homosexual tensions are unbearable for some.

The evolution of psychological theories since Freud, Jung, and Adler has moved to an "integral approach," linking body, mind and soul in balance as a holistic unit. In the past, spiritual and other psychologists have treated body, mind and soul as if they were separate entities, whereas, in order to reach the wholeness of spirit, the oneness of the universe, and we must include our bodies and minds. The desires of the flesh, the ideas of the mind, and the luminosities of the soul--all are perfect expressions of the radiant Spirit that alone inhabits the universe. Physical exercise, vitamins, if necessary, sufficient sleep, a time for relaxation, and a healthy sexual life for the body; good reading and challenging creative ideas for the mind; and the joy of the here and now for the soul as observer.

The word "mysticism" means a direct intuition or experience of God, what Abraham Maslow called a "peak experience." This will frequently happen to almost everyone who is taken breathless at a sunset, a soaring mountain, or just waking up one day feeling exhilarated for no reason at all. A mystic is a person who has had such a direct experience, not merely from accepted religious beliefs but from first-hand personal knowledge. There is no intermediary of priest, rabbi, or shaman. In addition, mysticism
need not be religious or theistic, but can express itself in art,
literature, music or poetry.

The other word, "gay," is slightly more difficult to define because it is understood in such a narrow and usually limited construct. Gay usually refers to a middle-class homosexual male living in the West in the late 20th century. "Lesbian" comes from the name of the island of Lesbos where Sappho, the poet, wrote her inspiring works. Cultural and historical evidence shows that not only has same-sex desire always existed and been known to exist, but that in many cultures those who followed this path were seen as connected to the sacred. To give only one example, the berdache, the cross-dressing shaman of various American Indian tribes, holds an esteemed and fundamental place in the life of a tribe.

The book, Gay Mystics, is set forth on the hypothesis that sin and sex do not need to be approved and that gay sexuality is as innately spiritual as heterosexuality. In the East, Tantra considers all seemingly lesser occasions (errors, stumbling blocks, sin) not as distractions from the Spirit, but celebrations of Spirit's exuberant, wild, overflowing, ever-present creativity. For there is only God, only Spirit, only Goddess, only Tao. More simply, every single thing and event in this universe, high or low, sacred or profane, has the same feeling or taste, the taste of the Divine.

Excerpting passages from 60 gay and lesbian writers--covering 20 centuries and at least a dozen traditions including classical Greek, Native American, Sufi, and Christian, Andrew Harvey explores a variety of religious and sexual experiences. He includes texts from Sappho, Plato, Vergil, Basho, Attar, Hafiz, Michaelangelo, Emily Dickinson, Jean Cocteau, Audre Lorde, and many others. His extensive research, empathetic perspective, and compelling grasp of spirituality make this book not only unique, but also vital to an understanding of contemporary theology,
religion and psychology.

Ken Wilber, psychologist, has said "Andrew Harvey has pulled together some of the most passionate and touching works in all of mystical literature, and as it happens, the authors are all gay. But the words speak for themselves: that is, the Divine directly speaks through the words in this volume, words that flowed through gay hearts and gay minds and gay love, but words which speak
profoundly, eloquently, gorgeously, to the same Divine in all of us. A mystic is not one who sees God as an object, but one who is immersed in God as an atmosphere, and the works collected here are a radiant testament to that all-encompassing condition. Harvey has given us a cornucopia of mystical wisdom, tender as tears and gentle as fog, but also passionately ablaze with the relentless fire of the very Divine."

At age twenty-one Andrew Harvey attended Oxford, and received England's highest academic honor, becoming the youngest Fellow of All Soul's College in its history. He is now a visiting professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He lives with his husband, writer and photographer Eryk Hanut, in Nevada.

A prolific writer, Harvey is the author of over ten books, including Journey to Ladakh. He collaborated with Sogyal Rinpoche on the best-selling Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Harvey is the subject of a 1993 BBC documentary, The Making of a Mystic.


FLOODS OF JOY   March 9, 2000
 23 out of 29 found this review helpful

Andrew Harvey has assembled an amazing collection of Gay mystics and their writings. His arrangement of mystics throughtout history and by culture is well suited to this type of study. I enjoyed the profiles of each mystic and sailed from one to the next. The writing of these ecstatics and enlightned ones was truly a blessing to find. I told a co-worker I was reading about gay mystics and she said "I didn't know there were any". The next day, I was able to show a deluge of them via the book and her own androgenous currents broke through. Thanks Andrew.