ABSTRACT
The Upanishads, one of the oldest spiritual texts, tell us that the energy that supports all creation manifests as the warmth that arises when we are touched. What is this energy, and how can the touched flesh manifest it? We find it in many occasions: a mother’s caress, a friend’s hug, even a casual pat on the back. Certainly, one of the most potent is erotic contact. To say so is not to reduce touch to Eros, but to recollect the full significance of our sexuality, to recognize the power of “sex with soul” (Moore, 1998b, p. xiii). How might we realize this joy of complete experiencing? We need an access back to experience, to the lived origins of our subject, from which we can reflect upon the most basic and taken for granted questions: What does it mean to be sexual? What is sexual experiencing? All subsequent work in sexology and sex therapy presupposes these questions, but too often leaps over them while reaching for neurological data by which to explain them.
