Product Description

Soulfully Gay is a personal memoir of an intellectually rigorous gay man wrestling with fundamental issues of meaning and self-acceptance. Joe Perez finds himself on a quest to understand what it means to be gay at the intersection of conflicts between homosexuality and Christianity, faith and skepticism, mysticism and madness. His journey unfolds amid challenges to his health as a recovering addict, a survivor of a psychotic episode, and a man living with AIDS. Joe is able to integrate seemingly contradictory elements—his Roman Catholic upbringing versus his openly gay lifestyle, his authentic mystical experiences versus the delusions for which he was hospitalized. With a solid understanding of theology and an ability to see through the veils of political correctness, Joe brings a new level of intellect and understanding to the challenges of being a gay man.

Click here to listen to the author, Joe Perez, discuss Soulfully Gay on Seattle's Public Radio KUOW FM, The Beat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #713491 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-08
• Released on: 2007-05-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Crystal meth, the Catholic church, leather bars, Jesus, a psychiatric ward, falling T-cell counts, terrifying visions—these are just some of the topics in this collection of blogs, personal journals and newspaper columns from 2003 and 2004. Perez, now 37, came out during his senior year at Harvard, lost his brother to AIDS a year later and tested HIV-positive at age 24. Raised Catholic, he suffered addiction and psychosis as he tried to reconcile his gayness and his hunger for religious experience. Then he discovered the books of Ken Wilber, a leader in the Integral Movement, and for the first time thought he had found a way to reconcile his warring drives; much of the book explains the philosophy of Wilber (who pens the foreword) and that of his follower Jim Marion. Bloglike, Perez's account leaps from memoir to book review to exposition to interview. Perhaps his most successful entries are his psychedelic descriptions of madness: his breakdown in his late 20s, his mystical experiences in the hospital, his nightmares as psychosis returned. This is an arresting record of a soul in progress, but readers who come for the story may leave during the lectures. (May)
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Review
"Perez's account leaps from memoir to book review to exposition to interview. . . . His most successful entries are his psychedelic descriptions of madness. This is an arresting record of a soul in progress."—Publishers Weekly

"Perez is certainly not the first writer to try to find a unique mixture of alternate sexuality and religiosity, but his memoir has the heat and immediacy of the blog from which it developed. As Perez comes to terms with illness, loneliness, and the spirit, he also shows us a part of the future of reading and publishing—the voyeuristic thrills of blog diaries and a continual dialog between print and electronic media."—Library Journal

“Soulfully Gay is a work of passionate spiritual intelligence, a thoroughly contemporary expression of what mystics call the completely open, questioning mind that is essential to the discovery of inner divinity. That Perez is gay in a time when major religions systematically depreciate gay persons and their spirituality is in itself a major gift of Spirit to our confused world. It is a gift of love from which all can benefit.”—Jim Marion, author of Putting on the Mind of Christ



“An author of unstoppable courage, Joe Perez is unafraid to question any and all assumptions about spirituality, sexuality, homosexuality, and himself, writing with probing analysis and common sense. Soulfully Gay is a brave act of self-examination and self-revelation as well as a valuable addition to the growing body of literature that explores the spiritual meaning of same-sex love. To read Perez’s journal is to accompany him on his spiritual journey.”—David Carter, author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution

About the Author
Joe Perez is a Seattle-based writer, the author of Rising Up: Reflections on Gay Culture, Politics, and Spirit, and the founder of the Gay Spirituality and Culture weblog. His columns and articles on spirituality have appeared in numerous gay newspapers nationwide.

Customer Reviews

The first of a new era of gay books (hopefully!)
I simply loved this book, and this despite its sometimes chaotic unfolding, its narcissism, its focus on drug experiences and regular psychotic episodes. What is fascinating about Perez's book is the ultra-conscious description of the spiritual journey on which AIDS takes him. It's Perez's ability to use every single dramatic moment of his life to open his heart and his soul even more. The result is unique: the victimization stigma that plagues homosexuals and homosexual identity in general is simply and purely transcended, in other words, it disappears into a much larger awareness about what being homosexual is about. Try searching on Amazon.com again, but I can assure you that we will not find another book that conveys a transformative process of such scope and depth. At the end, pride, love, and a deep sense of connection with the universe all emerge from our gay being, effortlessly, beautifully. Perez is describing the true experience of gay-self-love that gay activism has been faking now for decades.
This book will open a new era of gay literature.

Believing
Perez, Joe. "Soulfully Gay: How Harvard, Sex, Drugs, and Integral Philosophy Drove Me Crazy and Brought Me Back to God", Integral Books, 2007.

Believing

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

"Soulfully Gay" is a book filled with passion. It is intelligent and spiritual and open--wide open. Joe Perez is a man of courage who is not afraid to question his own spirituality, homosexuality, and himself. His analyses are filled with common sense and he bravely explores the literature of the spirit and gay love. Reading his book is taking his journey to self-examination and self-revelation.
Perez carefully looks at the relationship between one's individual belief and the values of culture. He makes his own conclusions and then presents them to the reader to consider.
The book is personal--a memoir of a man dealing with the fundamental issues of meaning and self-acceptance. By doing so he embarks on a quest to understand what it means to be gay and delves into the relationship between homosexuality and Christianity as well as skepticism and faith and madness and mysticism.
He must also face himself and his own problems--of being a recovering addict, having had a nervous breakdown and living with AIDS. What he is able to do is to integrate successfully issues that are contradictory--being Catholic and gay as well as true mysticism versus delusions. He looks at political correctness through the gaze of theology.
The book is about the experiences of one man but what he experiences is universal. The quest to be human is part of the majority of all of us and we have all struggled, at some tie, to understand ourselves in light of what we have been taught. Perez raises consciousness and he brings sexuality together with spirituality. His thoughts read like a journal and when he hurts, we hurt. He ultimately brings about a vision of the higher modes of awareness.
As a non Christian, I found some of this hard to follow but when I reread certain passages, what Perez had to say became clear. I feel rewarded for having read this and hope that it will help me better to understand myself and others. We are all seeking that inner peace which seems so unattainable but that Perez has managed to find.
I cannot think of a better way than reading this book to open yourself to spirituality--I did not say belief--which many of us so badly need.

What a gift!
One way to summarize this book is to say it is a compilation of blog entries written by a very intelligent, articulate gay man over a span of several years. They chronicle his spiritual evolution, as he finds his place on the map of humanity in its psycho-social-spiritual axis. This book is a great gift to all who will read it, particularly gaymen with an awareness of their spirituality. Thanks again, Joe.