Spirituality, sexuality and identity: A story of dis-possession

ABSTRACT

Taking an autoethnograpic approach, this story begins with a personal account of the experience of growing up with a working-class North of England background in the late 1950s, and the emergence of sexual identity. Set in the context of changing national and international mores, the story unfolds to include the author's spiritual awakening and the impact of spiritual teachings about the nature of non-attachment, identity and freedom. As the paper explores, the freedom that comes from the first acknowledgement of sexual identity (in this case ‘being gay’) can be immense and life affirming, but may also be self limiting. There is a possibility of a more expanded consciousness through spiritual work that breaks the connection with the need to have any identity at all.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• homosexuality
• spirituality
• non-attachment
• liberation
• awareness
• awakening

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Stephen Wright has a distinguished background in nursing practice and academia, but his focus shifted following a series of spiritual awakenings and encounters. He currently works as a spiritual director for the Sacred Space Foundation and was ordained as an interfaith minister in 2003. Stephen writes, researches and leads retreats on the connection between spirituality and wellbeing. He is Visiting Professor and Honorary Fellow of the University of Cumbria, UK.

Notes

1 It was acknowledgement that we are not our bodies or our lives, but that there is an ‘I’ which inhabits these (in the Christian tradition it is the ‘soul’, to Buddhists it is the ‘witness’; to Sufi’, the 'Essence', etc)