The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love: Your Guide to Life, Happiness, and Emotional and Sexual Fulfillment In a Closed-Down World

by Perry Brass, Tom Saettel (Editor)

“A lot of the advice in this book is about meeting other men for sex and maybe for love and long-lasting intimate relationship. . . . But supporting all this is a gentle and tactful theory of religion, God and the sacred as manifestations of a larger consciousness all human beings participate in and arise out of. Brass demonstrates the ability and power of gay consciousness to transcend dualities and polarities and reveal the truth about being vitally alive that is coded in the religions and cultures we've all inherited.”
Toby Johnson, Lambda Literary Award winning author and leading voice on gay men’s spirituality

“If you are what you eat, then why aren’t you what you desire?
Desire stands in the great no-man’s land of human activity: the zone of most conflict, fear, and anxiety. It scares us. We are often asked to hate it—by those who claim to have given it up for “better” things, and who often, hypocritically, haven’t.”
The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love

Finally. A private G.P.S. for your own life—positioning you authentically in control of your most suppressed and meaningful feelings and experiences, bringing genuine light to darkness.
Desire. It can open new and longed-for worlds for you, connect you to others—and to your own soul—as well as get you into big trouble. Perry Brass explains how to approach desire, how to find your own secret desires, and how to express them safely in a world that destroys privacy every day. He connects you with your own caring Deeper Self, that very real lifeline inside you that so much of our commercialized world wants you to hide, or even destroy. He takes you through the closed doors of desire to experience those moments of cosmic union he calls “Spiritual Consummation.” In this heart-opening book, the author of The Manly Art of Seduction talks about desire in plain and supportive terms, with in-depth chapters on BD-SM, bisexuality, religion and desire, aging and desire, positive and negative desires, and keeping desire alive in long-term relationships. Why are we so afraid of desire? What is its importance in our lives? And lastly, how can we allow desire to bloom in its most beautiful and healthy forms? If you have spent time in fear of hidden desires, feeling haunted by them and ashamed, start this book now.
Open its pages. And feel its wisdom, honesty, and a life-saving connection to some of your deepest, most secret places.

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2015

About the author

Perry Brass has published 23 books, including poetry, novels, short fiction, science fiction, and advice books (How to Survive Your Own Gay Life; The Manly Art of Seduction; The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love). A member of the New York Gay Liberation Front, he has been involved with lgbtq rights since 1969, shortly after the Stonewall Uprising, co-editing Come Out!, GLF’s groundbreaking newspaper. In 1972, with two friends, he co-founded the Gay Men’s Health Project Clinic, the first clinic specifically for gay men on the East Coast, still thriving as the Callen-Lorde Community Health Service. His sexually frank novels are visionary: they include Albert or the Book of Man, 1995, which prefigured the rise of a White Christian Party that would control America, curbing reproductive, gay, and women’s rights; The Harvest, 1997, about the wholesale use of “harvested” human organs; The Substance of God, a Spiritual Thriller, 2004, about the rise of a powerful religious fundamentalist network of business interests; and Carnal Sacraments, 2007, about a mega-corporation (Amazon?) that would rule the world. His latest book is A Real Life, “Like Mark Twain with Drag Queens,/b>,” a memoir. He can be reached through his website, http://www.perrybrass.com or on Facebook.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many good, positive things about this incredibly well thought out book-- it's hard to know where to start. Perry Brass has put together a master class, in book form. Most of the first half of the book focuses on Self-- the Deeper Self. The second half, focuses more on love and the many forms of sexual desires that define us.

"The Manly Pursuit..." is about acceptance, self-acceptance; followed by the ability to connect completely with others on levels many probably had not thought possible before. It's about casting away natural fears that bind us-- physically and emotionally; and setting free the true complete person inside.

All masks discarded, this book is geared towards finding, discovering and expressing who we really are-- who we are meant to be. Discovering and accepting our deep desires and allowing ourselves to come to a place where we can truly love and be loved. It's an honest exploration-- completely free of any judgement, rules or demands.

This isn't just another self-help, 'how to... ' book. It is at times scholarly and textbook and others historical and personal. Each short chapter clearly and succinctly tackles and explores a very specific topic and ends with an opportunity for the reader to question, answers or connect his own experience and feelings to what was discussed.

A lot has changed in the world towards what is openly accepted; but none of that makes any difference if we can't connect to our own wants and desires-- allowing us to live happy and fulfilled lives. This book may hold the answers to unlocking the soul.

I was fortunate to receive a complimentary ARC of this book through NetGalley. If only it had been available 30 years ago when I was younger and struggling with my own identity. It would have made my journey a little easier, clearer and helped prevent so much stumbling along the way. Make no mistake though, in my 50's now, there is still so much that this book has to offer.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a title and a cover that made me grab it off the shelf of Giovanni's Room in Philly. I consider it a good read, but I think this author is better at making titles than writing books. I found the content to be basic. It was affirming to read about the gay male experience as he tells it. It is very much my own experience. But I didn't realize any new wisdom as a result of reading.

I had not heard of Perry Brass, and I'm glad I have been exposed to him. He seems to have had a prolific writing career.