By Stephen Russell-Lacy Emanuel Swedenborg was a spiritual philosopher. He believed that a good marriage helps each partner in their personal growth. As humans, we all have limitations, which is why this is so important. Sometimes, we know what’s right but still struggle to act on it. According to Swedenborg, nobody can be blamed for this … Continue reading Personal growth – Does marriage help?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy Spiritual philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg introduced the doctrine of ‘conjugial love’ to express the deeper side of a lasting sex relationship. Sexual loyalty Swedenborg emphasized the importance of faithfulness in a lasting sex relationship. Loyalty creates a foundation for trust and intimacy, helping couples navigate life’s challenges together. Infidelity, whether through physical actions … Continue reading Sex relationship – When does it last?
By Stephen Russell-Lacy Marital happiness can be hard to sustain. Living with someone can be a lot tougher than living on your own. In a relationship, you must figure out the day-to-day stuff together—money, kids, all of it. That means making decisions as a team and learning to compromise, which isn’t always easy. Couples often have … Continue reading Marital happiness – What matters?
Book Review of Making Sense of Sex by Adrian Thatcher 2012 SPCK By Stephen Russell-Lacy The issue of sex and gender is a complex and controversial subject that often generates more heat than light. Yet I am sympathetic with Adrian Thatcher’s assumption ‘that there is some possible way of understanding it, and so of arriving at … Continue reading Making Sense of Sex
The United States Bureau of the Census says the fastest-growing household type since the 1980s has been the single person. The same is true in some other countries like the UK and Japan. A report says that sixty percent of people living in Stockholm live alone. It raises the question of whether it is … Continue reading Alone or with a partner – which is better?
It is sometimes argued that watching porn helps some adults with a low libido become more sexually aroused, and also that with some people it reduces anxiety and even adds spice and novelty to their sex life with their partner. However, such ideas perhaps need to be treated with caution, given the wide continuum of … Continue reading Where is the harm in watching porn?
A Jane Austin novel seems to end at the altar as if the wedding were all that is necessary for a happy marriage for all time. Yet these days a lot of marriages seem to finish up on the scrap heap and you might have a sneaky feeling that perhaps a well-known film star was … Continue reading Happy marriage — How can this happen?
Do you lack confidence when it comes to certain situations? It could be anything: dancing, playing sport, chatting with strangers, doing your job, making love. Yet, even confident people can get unstuck somewhere along the line. Calamities oblige us to reconsider the bigger picture. So when it comes down to it, in what can we place our confidence? In our own abilities? In the ideas of others? Or in something beyond all of us? One example of the last of these three possibilities is to do with what the psychologist Abraham Maslow called `the whole of Being’.
Whether to allow gay bishops is currently a hot issue in the Church of England. Many people feel puzzled by this reluctance to embrace homosexuality by strands of organised religion. And some feel angry and want to promote the idea that gay people should be proud of their sexual orientation feeling this is their natural inclination. From a spiritual perspective, we might ask whether a gay partnership has the same potential for human happiness as that of a heterosexual one. So what does Swedenborg have to say about it?
Society as a whole tends to take polarised views of sexual permissiveness. Emotive language is used by those on both sides of the debate – one side being labelled as narrow-minded, prudish and moralistic and the other as being decadent, indecent, and exhibitionist.
Those with a more balanced perspective use more moderate language. They ask …