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Homosexuality: The Psychology of the Creative Process [1971] by Paul Rosenfels

Paul published the hardcover edition of his last book in 1971. Two years later, when the paperback edition appeared, he added a Foreword. In 1986, I wrote an Introduction which told his life story briefly as well as the early history of the Ninth Street Center.

From Paul's 1973 Foreword:

. . . There is a great deal more in homosexuality than a simple release of new levels of sexual permissiveness. True psychological mating is not only possible between individuals of the same sex, it is actually the rule in human interactions (whether sexual or not). How can two men, biologically alike, find a true difference between them through which mating can occur? The answer is simple but profound in its implications: through character specialization. What this book says in effect is that character specialization is dominant over biological identity, and that therefore two men (or two women) can have a masculine-feminine interaction which can lay the basis for a true romantic union, pregnant with possibilities for creative self-development. The concept of masculinity and femininity, used in this way, has nothing to do with conventional masculine and feminine roles in our society. . . .

From my 1986 Introduction:

      The book you hold in your hand is a time bomb. Read it, and you risk overturning cherished assumptions about human nature and psychological growth. The author's ideas, while subtle, are infectious; their implications are likely to stay with you much longer than you expect. If the unexamined life seems to you the most prudent course in these difficult times, best to put this book down now and move along. . . .

My 1971 dust jacket:

      Crisis is not new in human history, but the crisis of our age has assumed unprecedented proportions. Material abundance is everywhere, but spiritual peace is still the blessing of the few. Crisis speaks to us in the passion of the revolutionary, in the suffering of the neurotic, in the complaint of the critic and in the defiance of the delinquent. It also gains expression in the lives of the creative personalities of our time who forge new values and fashion new meanings.
      This book examines the crisis of our age and illuminates the role that creative men and women must assume in resolving it. The author offers no panaceas, no quick and easy solutions, no echo of past dogmas. He believes we must begin to understand human nature in all its forms, yet he advocates no return to traditional concepts of man's nature, for their rigidity stifles the very creativity which alone holds promise of releasing man from the imprisoning web of commonly held psychological pseudo-truths.
      Homosexuality in its broadest sense emerges as the key to this creative struggle, particularly the growing relationship between fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters. The principle of polarization, as defined and elaborated by the author, operating above and beyond the conventional transactions of life, explains human beings as psychologically masculine and psychologically feminine regardless of gender. This principle of development, which is not found in the animal world, amounts to a new kind of vibration in the universe and accounts for the rise of civilization. The implications of this theory are worked out in probing detail with a simplicity and clarity that is unique in psychological literature.
      On a scientific level this book is offered as the record of a monumental discovery comparable to the Newtonian revolution in physics, yet it is written as a guide to living for all who are independent enough to seek out the rewards which come from understanding it. Homosexuality: The Psychology of the Creative Process is the offering of a brilliant physician who has given a lifetime of thought and analysis to his subject. It stands as an astonishing answer to the hopes and fears of a troubled world.

	See the full text of the 1973 Foreword (6Kb)
	See the full text of the 1986 Introduction (33Kb)
	See the full text of this book (368Kb)