EMBRACING THE INGREDIENTS OF SOUL WORK In my previous post, How to Care for the Gay Soul, I explored the four masculine archetypes described by Robert Moore: Warrior, Lover, Magician, and King. Moore believed these archetypes were universal to all men—offering symbolic guidance on the path to masculine maturity. And in my own journey, these patterns have helped illuminate the terrain of...
THE SOUL IN INTEGRAL NONDUALISM Being soulfully gay means living at the crossroads between emotional depth and ecstatic spirit, self-acceptance and self-transformation, connection to nature and contemplation of timeless realities. But what is it within us that is constant through all of these things? Is it a “soul”? For some, the word soul sounds dated or theological, too burdened by dogma or...
By Joe Perez, M.Div.Sermon For Pride Sunday – Episcopal Church Service LOVE THAT GROUNDS: INTRODUCING THE DESCENDING CURRENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Some forms of love do not lift us upward but bring us inward and downward—into the body, into memory, into the palpable here-and-now. They deepen us. They help us settle into presence. They ask us not to rise above life but to be fully in it. This is what...
LOVE THAT GROUNDS: INTRODUCING THE DESCENDING CURRENT Some forms of love do not lift us upward but bring us inward and downward—into the body, into memory, into the palpable here-and-now. They deepen us. They help us settle into presence. They ask us not to rise above life but to be fully in it. This is the Descending Current of Love: the movement of spirit not toward escape or transcendence, but...
LOVE THAT LIFTS: INTRODUCING THE ASCENDING CURRENT Some forms of love don’t just ground us—they lift us. They set fire to our hearts and beckon us toward something higher, more expansive, more radiant than we thought possible. This is what I call the Ascending Current of Love: the movement of desire that draws us beyond the ordinary and into the sublime. It is not content with what is; it longs...
ALREADY WHOLE: THE INNER TRUTH OF BEING GAY In Soulfully Gay II, I explore a spiritual truth that may sound paradoxical in a world that still teaches queer people to doubt themselves: being gay means being already complete in yourself. This isn’t a feel-good slogan. It’s a radical spiritual insight with roots in centuries of philosophy and mystical wisdom. It’s based on the principle of self...
GAY LOVE: EXALTED OR CONFUSING? Sometimes I am asked—directly or indirectly—if my vision of gay love as sacred resonance is out of touch. Too noble. Too pure. Too disconnected from the gritty, painful, and yes, sometimes profane reality of what it means to be a gay man in the world today. And to be honest, I’ve asked that of myself. Not as an intellectual exercise, but from the ground of lived...
THE IRONY WE ALL CARRY The experience of being born homosexual in a world of heterosexual normativity and extensive homophobia is never one free of sadness. When same-sex love and desire become inescapable in teenage or adult years, homosexual feelings sometimes emerge into a gay, bisexual, or lesbian identity. At this stage in human development, gayness becomes the task of informing joy with...
