What is Homosexuality?

Homosexuality, of course, is a psychological orientation toward life. It has only been since the development of psychological sophistication and awareness of the "unconscious" (dating to the time of Sigmund Freud) that we can think in terms of something like a psycho-sexual orientation of personality. In that sense, homosexuality is something relatively new. There have always been people who have had homosexual sex, but prior to modern times they didn't have a sense of themselves as homosexuals.

Homosexuality is a category of consciousness and a manifestation of consciousness aware of itself. Both practically and metaphorically homosexuality is self-reflexive. It is about the unity of the cosmos, rather than the duality. Heterosexuality manifests the duality. (Heterosexuals are often "unconscious" of being heterosexual, because they experience their sexual feelings as normal, automatic, and invariable.)

As a "psychological orientation" homosexuality is a neurological dynamic -- most like lefthandedness. Indeed, the incidence of lefthandedness and homosexuality are about the same, between 3% and 10% of the general population. Similar also to sexual orientation, the handedness category includes ambidextrous individuals, just as the sexual category includes bisexuals. It is possible for ambidextrous people to eschew use of their left hand as dominant, just as it is possible for bisexuals to eschew their homosexual attractions. Ambidextrous people who've renounced lefthandedness and bisexuals who have renounced homosexuality appear to have changed their orientation. Lefthanded people who are not ambidextrous and homosexuals who are not bisexual do not change their orientation.

There is a wonderful article on the web by Chandler Burr about the parallels between sexual orientation and handedness titled: The Only Question That Matters: Do People Choose Their Sexual Orientation?

That homosexual orientation exists at all tells us something about the metaphysics of the universe and the nature of consciousness.

Hermetic philosophy and metaphysical thought has considered the universe in terms of "The One and the Many." "From One come Two, and from Two come the Many" is a traditional formula.

Here is a simple aphoristic explanation of sexual orientation in the style of that ancient Hermetic terminology.

The One divides into the Many
in order to experience the Many as the One.

Heterosexual attraction manifests the delight
the Many experience in its variety.
Heterosexual union propagates the Many,
from Two making many more.

Homosexual attraction manifests the delight
the One experiences in its Oneness.
Homosexual love witnesses to the One's desire to return to Itself and
to experience the multiplicity of the Many
as a reflection of the Self of the One.

Toby Johnson, PhD is author of eight books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of his teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and religious problems, three gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual issues at the heart of gay identity, and two books on gay men's spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality. In addition to the novels featured elsewhere in this web site, Johnson is author of IN SEARCH OF GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD and THE MYTH OF THE GREAT SECRET (Revised edition): AN APPRECIATION OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL.

Johnson's Lammy Award winning book GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness was published in 2000.

His Lammy-nominated book GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe was published by Alyson in 2003.