COLLECTION: A DAWN EMERGES

1.

LIFE AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE

2.

LIFE AND SEX

3.

LIFE AND ADULTHOOD

4.

LIFE AND UTOPIA

5.

LIFE AND ALIENATION

6.

LIFE AND SYMBOLIZATION

7.

LIFE AND MYSTICISM

8.

LIFE AND TESTAMENT

MARIA AUXILIADORA DE SOUZA BRASIL
MÁRCIA TEIXEIRA DE FREITAS
RUBENS CANÇADO MAGALHÃES RIBEIRO

LIFE AND SEX

Editorial Coordinator

Sílvia Raquel Amorim Braga

Revision

Márcia Teixeira de Freitas

Translation

Jefferson Wolfe Conboy

Collection: A Light on the Path, 2

Belo Horizonte | 2017

Collection: A Light on the Path, 2

Brasil, Maria Auxiliadora de Souza

Life and Sex / Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Márcia Teixeira de Freitas, Rubens Cançado Magalhães Ribeiro. Translation by Jefferson Wolf Conboy. Belo Horizonte: Fundação Souza Brasil , 2017. (A Light on the Path, 2).

ISBN 978-85-60974-19-1 (printed version)

1. Psicoterapia. 2. Psicologia. 3. Psiquiatria. I. Conboy, Jefferson Wolfe. II Título.

Cover:
Simone Rodrigues Alves
Electronic editing:
Frederico F. Albuquerque Leal

Published in 2017 by Fundação Souza Brasil
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30.112-000 - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brasil
Telefone:(31) 3225 7181
On web: www.fsb.org.br

All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher, regardless of the means used.

Illustration Index

Figure 1 – Female Internal Genitalia

Figure 2 – Female External Genitalia

Figure 3 – Male Internal Genitalia

Figure 4 – Male External Genitalia

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Capa

PREFACE

In response to innumerable requests, I have decided to present a series of writings in a language more accessible to a wider audience. Such writings seek to convey the concepts of self-knowledge, sex, adulthood, utopia, alienation, symbolization and mysticism, culminating in my testament as an educator.

Self-knowledge is the essential condition for programming what will allow the human being to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Self-knowledge, impossible from birth to the age of six, occurs, from six to twelve years of age, only at the practical- utilitarian level, from twelve to eighteen, at the partial-abstract level, initially of pugnacity, and later in search of one’s own consensus, and at the total abstract level, after eighteen years of age, cumulatively at the communitary, humanistic, and cosmic levels, when the individual begins to live eternity in temporality.

Sex is an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial sex is sex limited by the developmental level of the individuals who live it; it is merely genital sex, and the conflicts that emerge between the sexual partners result from the limitations of perception of each individual about sexuality. Total sex that is psycho-genital, and the conflicts that threaten the relations between the sexual partners result from limitations of perception of the infantile or adolescent partner, demanding, from the adult partner, a firm and yet gentle attitude, in defending his interest to ensure an integrated sexual relation.

Adulthood is the ideal moment to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial adulthood is an organic and also psychic adulthood only at the communitary and humanistic levels; the conflicts that arise between individuals result from the limitations of perception of each individual of himself, in particular, and of the other individuals in general. Total adulthood is the adulthood that besides being organic and psychic is also spiritual; the full adult directs his spirituality to the cosmic well-being, seeking to live eternity in temporality at its highest level.

Utopia is the attempt of imagination to fulfill the emptiness left by ignorance. The religious utopias have been hindering the spiritual evolution of the peoples; the philosophical utopias have been aggravating this hindrance with the absence of logic of thought; the sciences have been rejecting, more successfully, the incursions of the utopias in the areas of observation and experimentation. Healthy utopia points towards a future of faith and hope in the victory of goodness, peace and universal harmony.

Mental alienation is the process of distancing the individual from the reality to which he belongs; it is natural in the immature individual, cultural in the ignorant individual and pathological in mental illness, constituting the biggest impediment to obtaining ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial mental alienation is merely concrete in childhood, and also abstract, though of limited abstraction, in pre- adolescence and in adolescence. Total mental alienation is, besides animal, in the different regressive stages, also vegetal.

Symbolization is the process of approximation of the individual to the reality to which he belongs and it is the best instrument to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial symbolization is merely concrete symbolization in childhood, and also abstract, though of limited abstraction, in preadolescence and in adolescence. Total symbolization is symbolization that besides being communitary and humanistic is also cosmic; total, integrated symbolization is not possible before somato-psychic maturity.

Mysticism is the definitive means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial mysticism is merely organic in the case of the mystical living, and also psychic in the case of the mystical experience. Total mysticism is the mysticism that, besides being organic and psychic, is also spiritual, the mystical ecstasy; there is, in the sexual act, an effective path to reach it, though not necessary. The mystical living, experience and ecstasy can be learned. The ecstatic life is the anticipation, through human love, of the Definitive Love, of the Creator!

My testament, legacy, donation, summarizes the course of my thoughts and of my practice as an educator, which have always had as a goal to contribute to the happiness of each individual, in particular, and of humanity, as a whole. I have engaged myself with the description of the setting where the history of humanity takes place, with the plot that unfolds in it and with the characters that act in it. I have approached the question of the developmental obstruction of humanity, by considering the problem of ignorance, and the solution for its eradication through the technique I have called “analytical-phenomenological-existential” which determines the path to be followed by educators to overcome the impediments to the development of individuals in the passage from ignorance to wisdom.

In this manner, I have tried to clarify the importance of self- knowledge, of understanding the sexual function, of achieving adulthood, of understanding the difference between pathological utopia and healthy utopia, of perceiving the harms caused by mental alienation, of decoding symbolization and of cultivating the mystical life so that each individual reaches the greatest development he is capable of. To this end, I have described how the technique I have created and proclaim functions, with the aim of achieving humanity’s goal, which is the rational creation of man himself.

Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil

PRESENTATION

Millenary wisdom has it that a light is not lit to be placed under the table. It must be placed where it illuminates everyone. This is the spirit of “A light on the path”, a collection that gathers eight books of Professor Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Ph.D.. Written in a language accessible to a wider audience, it brings to the reader the opportunity to become informed about the developmental scheme of the human being and of the human group (Life and Self-knowledge), to know his sexuality in order to live it in an integrated way (Life and Sex), to understand adulthood as a privileged moment in the development of the human being (Life and Adulthood), to distinguish the healthy utopias from those that are a result of distorted reasoning (Life and Utopia), to learn that alienation hinders the happiness of the human being (Life and Alienation), to decode the meetings between what one thinks of reality at each phase of his life and what reality is in itself (Life and Symbolization), to reconnect oneself with the mystery of the world to live the spiritual peace (Mystical Life) and, finally, to share the legacy of the author as an educator (Life and Testament).

Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil is Brazilian, a Ph.D., Full Professor of the Department of Psychology, in the area of Psychology of Personality, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. She is the author of a trilogy consisting of a contribution to the revision of the theologies (The Newest Testament), a philosophy about the philosophies (The Metatheory of Philosophical Knowledge) and a synthesis of the knowledge of the sciences on the human being and the human group(On Analytical-phenomenological-existential Psychotherapy). The trilogy, also published by the Souza Brasil Foundation, is organized in a collection of six bilingual volumes, Portuguese-English, gathered under the suggestive title “A Dawn Emerges”.

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Technique, created, practiced and taught by the author for over half a century, as a psychotherapist, professor and researcher, offers a safe path for educators to help individuals and groups in their development. It maintains that the educator, an adult human being par excellence, must be an example of the psychological health he is capable of promoting. It is not by accident that the author has coined the neologism “adultez” (adulthood) – until then absent from the Portuguese language.

Retainer of the copyrights of the works of Professor Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Ph.D., the Souza Brasil Foundation was created by a group of professionals trained by the author in the Analytical-phenomenological-existential Psychotherapy. Among its goals, the Foundation intends to convey the humanistic ideas of the author, with the aim of increasing the knowledge about mental health, and consequently, promoting the personal and professional fulfillment of each human being. Previously limited to practicing psychotherapy, the founders envisioned the possibility of taking this knowledge to the world. Distributed to all member countries of the United Nations, the present collection illuminates the path of all of those engaged in creating conditions for each person to feel fulfilled and happy.

The publishing of the present collection thus fulfills the purpose of taking, to a wider audience, true information about self-knowledge, sex, adulthood, utopia, alienation, symbolization, mysticism and the testament of the author as an educator. It contributes, thus, so that the ignorance about the human being and his culture, a source of misunderstandings and failures in public policy and unnecessary suffering in the life of many individuals, gives place to true knowledge, a light that iluminates the path of all of us, pilgrims, whose destiny is ecstasy, maximum happiness.

Fundação Souza Brasil

1 SEX AND LIFE

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Theory, a hermeneutical exegesis of the analysand-analyst datum at the ontic anthropological level, which is founded on an esoteric vision of the being-in-the-world, a repetition of the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins, perceives, in the sexual function, an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Function is the action peculiar to each organ: if explicit, it clearly indicates the operations to be performed; if implicit, it does not offer such indications; if function of function, it enters into the natural order of the seven vital functions, those that have as a resultant the renovation of the interior environment of the being. Sex is the particular conformation of a living being that assigns it a specific role in the act of generating (male, female). The sexual function is one of the seven vital functions, which comprehend simultaneous and interdependent operations, essential to the preservation of life.

With the objective of clarifying the pseudo-discrepancy between the purely material sexual work and its meaning as spiritual work, which is pre-historical and pre-existential in its essence, we have tried to unify the data of religions, of philosophies, and of sciences on the theme sex, in general, and on the theme human sexuality, especially. From the religions we have aprehended the existing symmetry between the individual spirit and the world of objects, that is, the integration of essence and existence, and the role of the sexual function as an integrator of the organism participant of the Organism. From the philosophies, we have deduced the universality of the spirit, that is, the integration of knowledge and ethical knowledge, feeling giving validity to the sexual function. From the sciences, we have induced the universality of matter, that is, knowledge of the micro and the macro, knowledge of the general law of harmonization of the universe and of the human being in this universe giving meaning to the sexual function. From the examination of the human being and of the human group developing we have apprehended: anguish, phobia, obsession, hysteria and latency limit the sexual function, in childhood, to the level of sexual living; pugnacity and the search for self-consensus condition it, in adolescence, to the level of partial sexual experience; and cooperation with community, with humanity and with totality provides, in adulthood, the total, integrated sexual experience.

With the same objective, we have tried to unify the data of the treatment carried out on the theme specifically by biology. From the examination of the genital structure, the set of organs that insure the function of reproduction and of relaxation of sexual tension, we have induced its bi-potential emergence, undifferentiated in the first two months of intra uterine life, and differentiation from this bi-potential primordial sketch, from the second month of intra-uterine life, under genetic determination in the female gender, and genetic and hormonal in the male gender, each gender presenting specific components, function and development. From the examination of the sexual dynamics, a highly ordered succession of physiological occurrences whose objective is to prepare the bodies of two partners for the reproductive union, we have induced: the excitation, the initial phase of sexual response, characterized by lubrication of the genitals and by the erection of the penis or of the clitoris; the orgasm itself; the resolution, final phase in which the body returns to its normal state, bringing an end to the sexual act, which is satisfactory when there is the interaction resulting from the knowledge of the dynamics of one’s own sexual response and of the dynamics of the partner’s sexual response, and unsatisfactory when there is the dissonance resulting from the lack of knowledge of these dynamics.

With the same objective, we have tried to unify the data on the theme sex in all of its aspects, theological, philosophical and scientific, arriving thus at the conception of what integrated sexual dynamics is. From the examination of the integrated sexual dynamics we have induced the sexual experience as work, as a result of the taboo of incest, arriving at the conclusion that work generates need for communication, thus the types of sexual communication, whether they are instrumental, sexual living, and the consummatory, inferior, partial sexual experience, and superior, integrated sexual experience, generating, respectively, the modes of use that can be made of the partner, whether only as a sexual object, or also to have company, or in an integrated way, to share existing. We consider every individual’s sexual effort to be impregnated with the interest in achieving orgasm, while relaxation and reproduction represent interests of a second order. Limitations can occur, in the sexual performance, resulting from anatomic-physiological and/or psycho-social dysfunctions.

In summary, the Analytical-phenomenological-existential Theory, a hermeneutical exegesis of the analysand-analyst datum at the ontic anthropological level, which is founded on an esoteric vision of the being-in-the-world, a repetition of the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins, perceives, in the sexual function, an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. With the objective of clarifying the pseudo-discrepancy between purely material sexual work and its meaning as spiritual work, we have tried to unify: at first, all the data provided by religions, by philosophies and by sciences; secondly, the specific data provided by biology; thirdly, all the data provided in the two previously mentioned groups. We consider the sexual encounter the ideal condition, the path available to all to enter into communion with the Creator, since the other, the purely mystical, in general, does not depend on our will and action.

2 SEX AND PSYCHE

The sexual function is an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Ecstasy is the rapture of the spirit from its incarnate condition to the greater condition of communion with the universal whole. Knowledge of the sexual dynamics allows the human being the appropriate use of sexuality, that which leads to ecstasy. The lack of knowledge of this dynamics has led the human being to a series of misunderstandings that constitute the greatest source of human themes, from the most burlesque comedy to the most dramatic tragedy. Since the goal of the human being is to obtain ecstasy, and that the mystical way, in general, does not depend on his will and action, and that the way of sexuality is available to everybody, it is indispensable to disseminate its dynamics so that more people can live eternity in temporality. Human thinking has forever given improper treatment to the theme of sexuality.

2.1 In theology

Theology, the systematic reflection on the Absolute in relation to our being, seeks the integration of essence and existence, of infinite Absolute and finite, of eternity and temporality. The habitual hypothesis, present in the theologies, is that a oneness principle, generally denominated God, transformed itself into various organisms, remaining one, that is, it differentiated itself, in its core, into diverse elements, coordinated in hierarchies and functions that reinforce this unity, preserving the same schema in all the smaller individuations, therefore the assertion that every human being is made in the image and resemblance of God, who is his origin and his destiny. However, the theologies have been silent on the key to the mystery of existence, offering to the human being only the dilemma on the origin and the destiny of the universe and, consequently, on his origin and his destiny in the universe. The saying “transmute, find the vibration, and vibration of love” has been lost in the straying of history.

Pristine theology, hermetic, Chaldaic and orphic at the same time, by searching for similarities among several theological beliefs, shows that the ancients (5th century BC) possessed a wisdom that has been influencing humanity concurrently to the disseminated theologies and that is found in theosophy, the wisdom of God, coming directly from Him, mystical theology par excellence, of the whole truth. Notwithstanding, the theme of sexuality is not treated with clarity, and the orgiastic and mystical poles remain far from one another, generating opposite influences, since, without knowledge, the superior does not order the inferior, and thus there is not the polar bio-rhythm, necessary for the transmutation of energy, through sex, in function of love. What is observed in the natural affirmative theology are these two poles, mystical life and sex getting mixed up, on the one hand, in the orgiastic rituals of celebration of fertility by means of sexual practice and, on the other, in the expiatory rituals of sexual contention to move the Creator.

Dialectic theology, by seeking to serve God’s word, elects truth because it is already valid. Revealed knowledge, driven by the light of faith, points at times to mythic polytheistic fetishist, cosmological and/or anthropomorphic explanations, at other times to anthropologic monotheistic explanations. The most successful attempt, that of Judaism, presents the Adamic myth, which strongly associates, on the theme of disobedience, sexual practice as the basic reason for the banishment of man from Paradise and, consequently, the establishment of work as punishment. Islamism and Spiritism adopt the same theme, with scarcely significant variations concerning the clarification of sexual practice. Nevertheless, the theme sexuality receives, then, a new treatment, with more specific polarity: sexual practice is an evil, unless when it is effected according to specific canons in service of procreation and of spreading God’s word.

Radical theology, without God, whether because it states that He does not exist, or because it registers that He has died culturally for lack of people who believe in Him, gives a mortal blow to a predetermined system of values, enabling the transmutation of all values, beginning with the de-divinization, the de-Christianization and the consequent secularization of the world, which results from the fact that the human being allows himself to make judgment on the existence or non-existence of God. The rupture with the tradition of the Scriptures, because it considers it sterile for being hermetic, leads the theology without God to attempt to express a real situation without palliatives, which requires the courage of being. By denying tradition, the theology without God returns to the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins in its purity, seeks to re-establish a community of faith, with the aim of a universal brotherhood. Notwithstanding, the sex theme presents, again, the duality registered in pristine theology, with the specific poles of free sexual fulfillment and of pseudo-mystic-religious containment of sexual practice.

Systematic theology, by seeking to interpret the religious forms as cultural forms, becomes the meeting point of pristine theology, of dialectic theology, and of radical theology, showing that, in absolute union, in absolute separation or in absolute negation, the human being always revolves around the idea of God, an inalienable symbol of his existence. It presents itself as the theology of the situation, which refers to the current historical moment and to the human situation as such. It highlights the content of religious faith as it is immediately lived by the individual, becoming existential in the sense that every religious experience is, in the end, existential, that is, at the same time philosophical and systematic (scientific). It considers as theological enunciations only those that treat their objects in terms of the themes of being or not being. Nevertheless it is silent about sexuality as the way achievable by all to experience a re-connection with the Creator.

2.2 In philosophy

Philosophy, the love of knowledge, seeks knowledge of the human being, of his existence, of his nature and of his attributes, as well as of his relation with the world. It teaches that the human being, the phenomenon man, which appeared on the face of the Earth, for the first time, in a time unknown, has been freeing himself very gradually, from the ecological limitations, thanks to the cumulative knowledge of the world, things and beings, in general, and of himself, in particular. To survive, he needed to turn his attention, initially, to the surrounding space, to which he needed to adapt himself and from where he needed to take his sustenance. To the notion of space he added the notion of time, given the relative regularity of the demands of his organism, including the sexual ones, and the constancy, also relative, of external phenomena, of nature, of his “habitat”.

There have been two habitual hypotheses concerning the evolution of human thought: one, that each generation has been representative of a distinct evolutionary stage; another, that evolution occurs in a disorderly way over time, where it is even possible that more advanced acquisitions precede others of lesser significance. A problem of a more general order is that of the approach to knowledge, on the one hand, by reason, and, on the other, by intuition: rationalists and intuitionists have existed at all times and in all places, in the same way there are the conciliators, the neutral ones; thesis, antithesis and synthesis present themselves, generally, in spatial and temporal simultaneity. Nonetheless, as with the theologies, the philosophies have been silent on the key to the mystery of existence, offering the human being only the recorded history as being the truth about the real-current of that which has been lived. The saying “be fruitful and multiply” has become the nightmare of humanity.

Philosophy of reason and philosophy of intuition, the two poles between which the endeavors of human thought have vacillated in regard to knowledge, in general, can be summarized as follows: existence surpasses science, which only deals with that which is material; the world exists, independently of being well or poorly understood; man “is”, independently of knowing that he “is being”; the phenomena surpass, by far, the human capacity to become conscious of them. As a consequence, the problem of the irrational nature of the world arises, and various systems ardently turn towards the principles of altruism, fraternity and love, blaming scientism for being the main factor of the cultural catastrophe, which carries in its essence, as a fad, unbridled sexuality, even though such a judgment does not make explicit, by itself, the problem of the morally valuable.

Also in terms of ethical knowledge, especially, the endeavors of human thought have not escaped the same symptomatic polarity: reason and intuition. Those who wished, by reason, to establish what is and what is not morally valid, reached the conclusion that it is necessary to establish limits to individual freedom, proclaiming that man ought to aspire to what is best for the greatest number of people. However, in the attempt to systematize what is valuable, they could only do so in the material sense: a return to the simplicity of the things of nature; communion of the goods of production, consumer objects and products of work; economy of thought and biological utility. As a consequence, what arises is the problem of the need for feeling to provide existential validity to the materially valuable, which includes, necessarily, the sexual issue.

From scientific phenomenology, the synthetic reflection that seeks to comprehend and describe the world beginning with the unified data from the various experimental sciences, an equilibrium of the systems can be expected, an intermediate system that remains open to the progress of thought in its two fundamental aspects, rational and intuitive. The past of humanity thus considered constitutes the permanent source of valid information for a better lived present and a better planned future. If happiness is the end of every culture, it becomes necessary to plan the appropriate processing for the transmission of knowledge and values, including, and mainly, of knowledge and values that concern sexuality, the path available to everybody to experience reconnection with the Creator, so that each individual and each group achieve, with the minimum expenditure of energy, the greatest happiness he or they are capable of.

2.3 In science

Science, exact knowledge, also seeks knowledge of the human being, of his existence, of his nature and of his attributes, as well as of his relation with the world. It teaches that the human being is “bios” (empirical science), “psyche” (interpersonal eidetic science) and “socius” (multipersonal eidetic science), and that he expresses himself, at each moment of his life, in function of the level of integration of his components of temperament (biochemical) and of character (ethical-social), in function of motives (variables that engender, sustain and direct conduct), which can be submitted to control, a control that is susceptible of organizing itself at the highest level of abstraction, in function of the elaboration of the affects, which depend on the level of perception regarding ethical and religious problems, as a result of the functioning of morality. The saying “transmute, find the vibration, and vibration of love”, from the theologies, and the saying “be fruitful and multiply”, a nightmare that philosophy has not solved, have found in science, the formula for its viability.

Science teaches that the individual becomes a person in function of the transformation of his instinctive, impulsive, unconscious living into rational, intelligent, conscious living. Life, a continuous alternation of decomposition and recomposition of protoplasm, sustains the instinct, a property of it that externalizes itself when life is in danger. The affect, the intellectual elaboration of instinct, transforming it into desire or rejection, is at the basis of impulse, a dynamic process that makes the organism tend towards an end, which is to suppress a state of tension underlying an excitation. The impulses manifest themselves in self-preservation and in the sexual functions (reproduction, orgasm). When the impulsive system suffers interference, conflict occurs; when the level of conflict reaches the organism’s limits of tolerance, the impulsive act erupts, self- or hetero-destructively. Often the eruption of the impulse is necessary to determine conditions of survival.

In the dynamics of the individual, two types of production can be distinguished: the automatisms, already constituted adaptations, and the yields (attention, acquisition, intelligence), productions in which the intention and the will intervene. The psychological tension determines the mental field in which production occurs. Intelligence makes it possible to learn to control motivation and to organize this control. Controlling motivation implies controlling the motives of the organism in their original manifestations (pure) and in their manifestations modified by cultural pressures (conditioned). Organizing the control of motivation implies organizing the control of such motives in function of the degree of consciousness that the individual has of his existing. Thought can, thus, provide an appropriate treatment to the theme sexuality and programme the sexual function in accordance to the philosophy that the person built up for his living and that includes, necessarily, some degree of religiosity.

There are degrees of consciousness: spontaneous conscious living, pre-objectal and precarious objectal, is the living that occurs before the reflective disassociation between subject and object, leading the individual to consider his sexual partner’s body as an extension of his own body; reflective conscious living is consciousness of that which occurs in spontaneous conscious living, leading the individual to perceive that there are limits between his sexual partner’s body and his own; conscious living of the absolute is the rethinking of reflective conscious living, leading the individual to perceive that the limits between his sexual partner’s body and his own, when appropriately granted, can lead to co-participation of sexuality up to the level of re-connection of his vital energy with the universal, cosmic energy, through the contact with the partner’s vital energy.

The total science of the human being, the knowledge of his structure and of his dynamics (which include his somatic, psychic and social aspects), depends on successive syntheses of the approaches of each formal object. The science of the “soma”, having concluded that man is a superior animal and that the biological contains the necessary conditions for the psychic life, has sought to unveil the mysteries of the human body based on the concept of integration of all of its functions, among which the sexual one plays an important role. The science of the “psyche”, having concluded that physicalism and mentalism are currents from the same source, has sought to do research on the psyche through both channels, with the objective of understanding the phenomenon man, whose origin and destination prove themselves frankly sexual. The science of the “socius”, having concluded that there is no human nature without a social environment and that the science of total man is the fruit of generations and generations of scholars, has sought to know the human group, the factor and transmitter of culture, and has celebrated sexuality, not only as a means of reproduction, but as a factor for bringing together its members.

2.4 In the development of the human being

The human being, in his life journey, from the encounter of the spermatozoon with the ovum until the transformation of the body into dust, seeks to be happy. A long time had passed before there was any knowledge of these particles, ovum and spermatozoon, but dramatic occurrences of losing the embryo and the fetus, and later on, surgeries of the womb permitted knowledge of the intrauterine phenomenon. In any case, the birth of each child always offered itself, to those who followed the delivery, as the result of the growing intumescence, for months and months, of the womb of the woman and the advent of each newborn could be witnessed by all those who knew that it was not there before. Many observations, transmitted from generation to generation, were necessary to establish the connection of cause and effect between the contact of the male and female and the occurrence of pregnancy and delivery, and the history of birth records shows how communities acted and have been acting in terms of placing responsibility also on the father to raise and guide the child.

Every child, when he is born, begins a life full of needs and the consequent appeals, which only end after the defenseless body, dead, has been consigned to its dissolution in a place where it does not disturb the community. The assistance that a child needs is offered to him, with greater or lesser facility, with greater or lesser willingness, according to the material and emotional resources available to those who are impelled to assist him, either out of a sense of duty and/or for pleasure. The pressures individuals place upon one another are always in terms of placing responsibility on each other for the tasks necessary for the survival of each one and of all. These pressures occur through the most varied manipulations. The manipulations of individuals on one another, in order to guarantee individual and collective survival, vary from the coarsest impositions through force to the most subtle persuasions. The reactions to such manifestations occur according to a developmental scheme common to individuals.

The developmental scheme of the individual can be summarized as follows: there is the living field, where events occur, and the way the individual perceives this field at the moment the event occurs determines his conduct. The quality of individual perception depends upon the quality of his emotion and intelligence. The quality of his conduct depends upon the quality of the functioning of his restraining apparatus to the impulsive response. The individual acts because of motives, and his main motive is living; living, he tries to satisfy all his needs. The barriers he finds in seeking to satisfy his needs force him to inhibit impulsive conduct, imagine alternative conduct and execute it. Concerning sexuality, the child lives a diffuse exploration up to the age of six, followed by a period of calmness, until around the age of twelve, when the adult structure of the genitalia and the dynamics proper to fertilization are installed.

In the transformation of the individual into a person perturbations can occur, that have a direct or indirect effect on the sexuality. These perturbations can be of two types: inadaptations, when the individual does not overcome a certain developmental stage; dysadaptations, when the individual loses a stage that he had already achieved. Maladjustments, neuroses, psychoses, innate or acquired retardation and lesions, psychopathies can manifest themselves. Maladjustments are circumstantial, due to physical health problems and/ or excessive pressure from the environment. Neuroses are psychogenic disorders in which the symptoms are the symbolic expression of a psychic conflict whose roots are found in the history of the individual’s childhood. Psychoses are primary perturbations of the relation between vital energy and reality. Retardation and lesions, innate or acquired, have, each one of them, their specific clinical history. Psychopathies result from a pathological immunity to the educational efforts of the environment.

Therefore, the human being is born, grows and dies. His journey, from the cradle to the grave, is unique, singular and solitary. His genitors and the community find themselves impelled to assist him out of a sense of duty and/or for pleasure. Human beings manipulate one another seeking their own survival, which depends on the survival of the others. The manipulations occur according to a developmental scheme common to most individuals, and there can be perturbations in this scheme. History and tradition offer the means for humanization, transformation of the individual into a person. The person organizes his living by looking for such means in theology, philosophy and science, in order to transform his spontaneous conscious living, primordially placed as a belief in the reality of the external world, into transcendental conscious living, which gives meaning to everyday life, instead of letting himself be taken by the current of everyday events of the external world, thus being able to integrate his sexuality into his total living.

2.5 In the development of the human group

The human group, in its life journey, from the first encounter of its members until its dissolution, also seeks to be happy. What characterizes the group is the connection between its members, which occurs because of common interests, following specific principles and laws. The members of a human group can be human beings or smaller human groups that, in this case, lose the original characteristic of small groups to acquire the current characteristic of components of the larger group. Humanity is the large group, of which all the others are components and to whose principles and laws they should all submit. The groups can be: simple aggregations, collections of members; groups that arise from the similarity among various components (common properties or familiar similarities); groups that arise from the functions carried out by them; groups that arise from all the causes cited, at the same time. Human groups are communities, they have a history; they are physical entities, consisting of organisms endowed with sexuality and mental processes, agents of reproduction and cultural products.

Each group, upon emergence, initiates a global-totalizing existence, based on the principle of survival, and it lasts as long as it is felt to be necessary to carry out this purpose. The pressures of its members upon one another seek to maintain its cohesion and guarantee the fulfillment of its purpose. The manipulations of the group members in order to guarantee collective survival, necessary for individual survival, occur at various levels, from the coarsest impositions through force to the most subtle persuasions. The reactions to such manifestations, as in the individuals, occur according to a developmental scheme common to groups. Starting from this principle, we can describe such development based on the cause and effect connections that allow the passage from a syncretic view of phenomena to the analytical and synthetic view of them, in their basic sexual and cultural aspects, which lead to knowledge of the role of sexuality in the universe.

The developmental scheme of the human group can be summarized as follows: there is the group living field, where group events occur, and the way the group perceives this field at the moment the event occurs determines its conduct. The quality of the group’s perception depends upon the quality of the group emotion and intelligence acting at the moment. The quality of the group’s conduct depends upon the quality of the functioning of its restraining apparatus to the impulsive response. The group acts because of motives, and its main motive is existing; existing, it seeks to satisfy all of its needs. The barriers it finds forces it to inhibit its impulsive conduct, plan alternative conduct and execute it. All of this dynamics results from an adjustment of the moments of each individual that makes up the group, working in terms of the power of the dominant majority, which numerically can be a minority.

In the transformation from groupality into sintality, as in the transformation from individuality into personality, perturbations can occur, that have a direct or indirect effect on the sexual and cultural aspects of the group events. These perturbations can also be of two types: inadaptations and dysadaptations. There is the sum of the intricacies of the physio-genetic and psycho-genetic factors that occur in each one of its members, with all the resulting possible consequences in the group conduct. Since its dynamics is a result of the interaction of the moments of each one of its members, the development of the group is dependent upon how the dominant power handles the obstructions of the group machinery, the reason why assistance from the group to each one of its members must be provided permanently. One may speak of maladjusted group actions at the level of neuroses, psychoses, retardation and lesions, and psychopathies.

Thus, the human group emerges, develops and dissolves itself. Other groups of the larger community find themselves impelled to assist it out of a sense of duty to survive, since its existence and actions can be useful or harmful to the other groups, directly affecting the equilibrium of the community as a whole. Human groups manipulate one another in seeking their own survival, which depends upon the survival of the other groups. The manipulations occur according to a developmental scheme common to most groups, and there can be perturbations in this scheme. History and tradition offer the means for the humanization of the group, the transformation from groupality into sintality. The group organizes its existing by searching for such means in theology, philosophy and science, so as to transform its spontaneous conscious group living, primordially placed as a belief in the reality of the external world, into transcendental conscious group living, which gives meaning to the everyday life of the group instead of letting itself be taken by the current of everyday events of the external world and can, thus, guide the integrated sexuality of each one of its members to assure integrated group living.

3 SEX AND SOMA

The sexual function, one of the seven vital functions, depends on the female genitalia and on the male genitalia, the protagonists of the event, whether in the solitary sexual act, or in the shared sexual act, to accomplish its ends of reproduction and of relaxation of sexual tension. From the examination of the female genitalia and of the male genitalia one can observe their bi-potential emergence, undifferentiated at the beginning, and their posterior differentiation, under genetic and hormonal determination, each one presenting specific components, function and development. From the examination of the sexual dynamics one can observe the need for physical maturity for the adjustment between the sexual function and the other organic functions, both for reproduction or for relaxation of sexual tension. From the examination of the sexual act itself one can induce the excitation, the initial phase of the sexual response, then the orgasm and the resolution of the tension, the final phase of the sexual response, phases whose sequence manifest itself in the same way for both sexes. From the examination of the event one can observe two possible occurrences, which are: the satisfactory event, when there is the interaction, resulting from knowledge, on the part of each individual, of the dynamics of his own sexual response and of the dynamics of the partner’s sexual response; the unsatisfactory event, when there is dissonance, resulting from the lack of knowledge of these dynamics.

3.1 In the woman

The female genitalia are the set of organs that compose the female sexual reproductive system, whose functions are the orgasm, which permits relaxation of sexual tension, and reproduction.

The formation of the genitalia starts on the sixth week of intra-uterine life, with the emergence of bi-potential structures, identical for both sexes. From then, the chromosomal structure of the embryo determines, in the woman, the formation of the ovaries and the development of the other components of the genitalia that, from the twelfth week of intra-uterine life on, already presents a particular conformation of the female sex. Since birth, the female already presents her complete genitalia, although with structures of different dimensions from those found in the adult woman and still unprepared to exercise its functions.

In puberty, between the ages of eight and twelve, a complex sequence of endocrine, physical and behavioral events starts that lead to sexual maturity. The elevation of the levels of hypophyseal hormones, follicle-stimulating (FSH) and luteinizing (LH), by hypothalamic stimulation, resulting from cerebral maturity, leads to an increase in the production of the ovarian female hormones, estrogen and progesterone. With the increase in estrogen production there is the development of the breasts, an accumulation of adipose tissue in the buttocks, the shape of the body becomes rounder, and the adolescent growth spurt occurs. At the same time, the production of male hormones by the ovaries and adrenal glandules stimulates the growth of pubic and armpit hair and the development of the libido. The activation of the ovaries culminates in the first menstruation, the menarche, making reproduction and the orgasm possible, although there is not yet adequate physical maturity to sustain conception nor psychic maturity for the affective-sexual relationship.

The physical and psychic maturity for the sexual life is completed in adulthood, the genital and encephalic maturity permitting the perfect adjustment between the sexual function and the organic and psycho-social demands of the woman. The menstrual cycles, generally irregular in adolescence, become regular and take place for about thirty-five years, marking the female fertile period. Between the ages of forty-five and fifty-five there is a gradual decrease in ovarian activity which induces the climacteric, characterized by menstrual irregularities and other symptoms such as hot flashes, irritability, depression, insomnia and anxiety.

The climacteric is followed by menopause, a suspension of ovulation and menstruation resulting from the interruption of the production of estrogen by the ovaries, which marks the end of the female reproductive capacity. The process of senile involution of the genitalia starts when structural and functional alterations typical of the estrogenic shortage occur. These alterations include the reduction of the uterus volume and of the vulva structures and the decrease in the capacity of vaginal lubrication and elasticity, which can produce some symptoms or difficulties during or after the sexual function. Such regressive alterations are treatable, and may not occur in women who remain sexually active. The senile involution of the genitalia is not accompanied by a reduction in sexual pleasure, which may, on the contrary, remain in an ascendant direction, towards an ever greater satisfaction.

3.1.1 The structure

The female genitalia are composed of internal structures, which are the ovaries, the tubes, the uterus and the vagina (Fig. 1), and of external structures, which are the mons pubis, the labia majora and minora, the clitoris and the vaginal introitus; the external structures, as a set, are called the vulva (Fig. 2).

The ovaries are two oval shaped structures, situated one on each side of the uterus, next to the tubes extremities, responsible for the sustenance and the nutrition of the female reproductive cells, the oocytes, and for the production of female hormones, estrogen and progesterone. The ovarian hormones determine, in the young in puberty, the genital and body transformations that characterize female maturity and regulate, with the hypophyseal hormones, the occurrence of menstrual cycles during the woman’s fertile life. The ovaries, with the adrenal glandules, also produce a small quantity of male hormones, androgens, which exert a determinant effect on the female libido, increasing sexual arousal and permitting the orgasm.

The tubes are two muscle-membranous tubes that leave the uterus and open out over the ovaries. Their function is to capture the ova, after their release from the ovaries, and to conduct them towards the uterine cavity. Fertilization, when it happens, occurs during this course, and the egg, fertilized ovum, migrates to the uterus, where, in two or three days, it implants itself, initiating pregnancy.

The uterus is a hollow muscular organ, with thick walls, composed of the body, a portion where the fetus develops, and of the cervix, a portion that opens inside the vagina permitting the passage of the sperm, the discharge of the menstrual flow and the exit of the baby in childbirth. It is internally lined by the endometrium, an inner lining membrane rich in blood vessels and glandules which, every month, prepares itself to house the fertilized ovum (egg) and to nourish it. The uterus provides the ideal environment for the development of the conceptus and, at the moment of childbirth, by means of vigorous contractions, propels the child to the external world, through the vaginal canal.

The vagina is an elastic muscular tube, internally lined with a wrinkly mucous membrane and provided with sensitive nerves only in its most external third, next to the vulva, especially in the superior part of the vaginal introitus that, if pressed, generates a sensation of completeness often not achieved only with penetration and that inhibits the orgasm. It is the communication canal of the uterus with the exterior world, providing an outlet for the menstrual flow, receiving the penis during intercourse and forming the canal for childbirth. Its vulvar extremity is partially blocked by a mucous membrane denominated hymen. Vaginal penetration does not necessarily lead to the rupture of the hymen that, when it occurs, can, indeed, be painless and without bleeding.

The vulva consists of the portions of the female genital system which are externally visible. The mons pubis is an elevation of fatty tissue covered with hair, in a triangular shape, characteristic of the female sex, located at the pubic region. Extending from it, down and behind, are two folds of skin, the labia majora, also covered with hair, which surround and protect the vulva fissure. In the vulva fissure, between the labia majora, there is the labia minora, two smaller folds of skin, firm and thin, without hair, which join together at their anterior extremity, forming the protective cover of the clitoris, the prepuce. Between the labia minora are the urethral orifice and the vaginal orifice.

The clitoris, an erectable organ, small and cylindrical, is composed of the glans, the body and two pillars that are attached to the pubic bone. Only the glans is externally visible, seen as a little salience located in the superior junction of the labia minora, which is protected by the prepuce of the clitoris. The clitoris is richly provided with nerve ends and has an important function in the female sexual dynamics, since the physical stimuli to bringing about an orgasm must necessarily act upon it.

3.1.2 The dynamics

The exercise of the female sexual function, in that which concerns reproduction, depends on the integrity of the internal structures of the female genitalia and the proper production of sexual hormones by the hypophysis, follicle stimulating (FSH) and luteinizing (LH), and by the ovaries, estrogen and progesterone, which regulate the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle is the phenomenon that results from the preparation of the female organism to exercise reproduction. It starts with the elevation of FSH blood levels, which leads to maturation of ovarian follicles, increase in estrogen production by the ovaries and thickening of the endometrium, a layer that lines the interior of the uterus whose function is to receive the fertilized oocyte (egg). High levels of estrogen stimulate the hypothalamus, causing a peak of LH production, which causes the ovulation, the liberation of the oocyte to the interior of the uterine tube, and a large increase in the secretion of progesterone by the ovaries. The phenomena that follow ovulation depend on whether there is or not fertilization, the encounter of the ovum with the spermatozoon, the male reproductive cell. When there is fertilization, the egg migrates to the uterus, where it implants itself at the endometrium, in two or three days, initiating the pregnancy. When there is no fertilization, the drop in the ovarian hormones leads to the sloughing off the endometrium and, fourteen days after the ovulation, menstruation begins, an excretion of the endometrial remains through the vagina, which mark the beginning of a new menstrual cycle. The ovulation generally occurs around the fourteenth day of the menstrual cicle and marks the fertile period of the woman.

The exercise of the sexual function, in that which concerns the relaxation of sexual tension, depends on a series of reactions of the genitalia and of the whole organism, perceived as a growing increase of sexual tensions, which prepares the individual for the sexual act and that, as they reach a determined level, trigger more vigorous corporal reactions, which are responsible for the extremely pleasant resolution of these tensions, with the consequent physical and mental relaxation. In the woman, sexual pleasure is achieved by the succession of three moments, arousal, the orgasm and resolution, which are under distinct medullar and encephalic control. Various influences are capable of facilitating or inhibiting either the arousal or the orgasm, which can be achieved by the manipulation of the genitalia or, even just by the power of imagination.

The arousal is characterized by the awakening of sexual tensions from physical and/or psychic stimuli, which induce the organism to prepare itself for the sexual act. The first reaction perceived in the woman is the vaginal lubrication, which is triggered by the female desire and by the stimulation of the erogenous zones of the body and of the genitalia and is produced by the transudation of liquid from the dilated blood vessels in the vaginal wall to the interior of the canal causing the vagine to become humid as a whole. In parallel, blood fills the vulva structures, particularly the clitoris, the labia minora and the most external third portion of the vagina with an increase in the volume of this structures, felt as an increase in the local pressure.

With appropriate stimulation, which, in the woman, must involve, necessarily, friction of the clitoris, corporal reactions intensify, the whole organism is dominated by a network of tensions close to its maximum limit, and local reflex reactions are triggered, generating rhythmic and simultaneous contractions of all the genital region muscles. The woman is, then, overtaken by sexual ecstasy, and there is a temporary obnubilation of the sense organs and suspension of reasoning, the orgasm. After the orgasm, there is a period of complete and profound physical and mental relaxation, accompanied by a general well-being. A woman is able to experience consecutive orgasms, with a short interval between them, provided that sexual stimulation is maintained, but a single orgasm is sufficient for complete female sexual satisfaction. The female orgasm may last longer than the male one, and the return to the resting state is slower.

In summary, the exercise of the female sexual function depends on the close interaction between the nervous and the endocrine systems, and only at the adult age does the woman find herself in the stage of physical maturity that permits the adjustment between the sexual function and her organic and psycho-social demands. Although the woman does not have her reproductive function preserved throughout all her life, her capacity for relaxation of sexual tension by means of an orgasm, is not, in general, endangered by aging. Knowledge of the structure and the dynamics of the female genitalia are indispensable to achieve the complete exercise of their functions.

3.2 In the man

The male genitalia are the set of organs that compose the reproductive system of the individual of the male sex, whose functions are the orgasm, which permits the relaxation of sexual tension, and reproduction.

The formation of the genitalia starts in the sixth week of intra-uterine life, with the emergence of bi-potential structures, identical for both sexes. After that, the chromosomal structure of the embryo determines, in the man, the formation of the testicles, and the fetal male hormones determine the development of the other genitalia components that, from the twelfth week of intra-uterine life, already presents a particular conformation of the male sex. Since birth, a boy already presents his genitalia ready, but with structures of different dimensions from those found in the adult man and yet unprepared to exercise its functions.

I n puberty, around the age of elev en, a complex sequence of endocrine, physical and behavioral events starts that lead to sexual maturity. The elevation of the levels of the hypophyseal hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), by hypothalamus stimulation, resulting from cerebral maturity, lead to an increase in the production, by the testicles, of the male sexual hormone, testosterone, and these hormones, together, trigger the beginning of spermatozoa production. With the increase of testosterone production there is also an increase in the penis and in the testicles, a significant increase in the muscle mass, the distribution of hair takes on the configuration proper of man, the voice becomes deeper, the libido develops and the adolescent growth spurt occurs. The adolescent lives, initially, the awakening of the sexual function in its aspect of releasing sexual tension and, a little later, in its reproductive aspect.

The physical and psychic maturity for sexual life is completed in adulthood, when the genital and encephalic maturity permits the perfect adjustment between the sexual function and the organic and psycho-social demands of the man. Around the age of sixty, a slow decrease in the production of testosterone and spermatozoa begins, the andropause. Andropause marks the beginning of the process of senile involution of the genitalia, when there is a decrease in its dimensions not necessarily accompanied by a reduction of the reproductive and sexual pleasure capacities; on the contrary, sexual pleasure can remain in an ascendant direction, towards an ever greater satisfaction.

3.2.1 The structure

The male genitalia are composed of internal structures, which are the testicles, the vas deferens, the accessory glands and the urethra (Fig. 3), and of external structures, which are the penis and the scrotum (Fig. 4).

The testicles are two oval shaped structures contained in the scrotum, responsible for the production of the male reproductive cells, the spermatozoa, and for the production of the male sexual hormone, testosterone. The testosterone determines, in the young male in puberty, the corporal and genital transformations that characterize the male maturity and maintains, throughout his entire life, the proper functioning of the genitalia in both its functions, reproductive and of relaxation of sexual tension, exerting a determinant effect over the libido, the sexual arousal, and permitting the orgasm. The spermatozoa, cells endowed with locomotive capacity, are continuously produced, since puberty, and are stored by the epididymis, to where they migrate.

The epididymis are structures that besides storing the spermatozoa after their production, form, with the vas deferens and the ejaculatory ducts, the spermatic vas, canals that extend from the testicles to the urethra. In the spermatic vas, the spermatozoa mix with the seminal liquid, formed with secretion from the seminal vesicles and from the prostate, which nourish the spermatozoa and provides them motility.

The urethra, the canal that connects the bladder to the exterior, passing through the interior of the penis, responsible for the elimination of semen during ejaculation and for the elimination of urine during urination, is, after all, the natural continuation of the spermatic vas. Also connected to it are the ducts of the bulbo-urethral glands, which secret a substance that lubricates the glans penis during the sexual act and can already contain the spermatozoa.

The male external genitalia are formed by the scrotum and by the penis. The first one is a muscle-cutaneous bag divided into two compartments that contain, each one of them, a testicle, an epididymis and the initial portion of the vas deferens. The scrotum has the function of protecting the testicles and of keeping them at an ideal temperature for the production of sperm, keeping them far or close to the body according to the necessity of cooling or warming them.

The penis, copulating male organ, is constituted of three cylindrical masses of erectile spongiosum tissue, each one containing a great number of small spaces that are filled with blood and increase in volume from the proper nervous stimulation. Two of these masses, denominated corpora cavernosa, form two-thirds of the penis, and the third one, denominated corpus spongiosum, surround the urethra and stays among the corpora cavernosa. In its extremity, the corpus spongiosum is enlarged, forming the glans penis. The skin of the penis has, in its extremity, a double layer, denominated prepuce, which covers the glans in a variable extension and is connected to it by a fold, denominated fraenula of the prepuce. The function of the penis is to make intercourse and ejaculation possible and to facilitate urination.

3.2.2 The dynamics

The exercise of the male sexual function, in that which concerns reproduction, depends on the integrity of the genitalia and the proper production, by the hypophysis, of the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and of the luteinizing hormone (LH), and, by the testicles, of testosterone, hormones that regulate the production of spermatozoa and the functioning of the accessory glands.

The exercise of the sexual function, in that which concerns relaxation of sexual tension, depends on a series of reactions of the genitalia and the whole organism, perceived as a growing increase of sexual tensions, which prepares the individual for the sexual act and that, as they reach a determined level, trigger more vigorous corporal reactions, which are responsible for the extremely pleasant resolution of these tensions, with the consequent physical and mental relaxation. In the man, sexual pleasure is achieved by the succession of three moments, arousal, the orgasm, and resolution, which are under distinct medullar and encephalic control. Various influences are capable of facilitating or inhibiting either the arousal or the orgasm, which can be achieved by the manipulation of the genitalia, or even just by the power of imagination.

The arousal is characterized by the awakening of sexual tensions from physical and/or psychic stimuli, which induce the organism to prepare itself for the sexual act. In general the penis erection happens rapidly, as a consequence of blood filling the corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum. In parallel, other phenomena, such as the increase and the elevation of the testicles, occur. The proper stimulation of the man, which must involve, necessarily, the movement of the skin of the penis over the erected penis, will lead, thus, to a maximum increase in sexual tensions, accompanied by the emission, by the urethra, of some drops of a viscous fluid, coming from the bulbo-urethral glands, which provide a little lubrication of the glans. If such stimulation is maintained, the alterations described above culminate in ejaculation.

The ejaculation, or the emission of semen, is the result of the simultaneous contraction of the spermatic vas, of the accessory glands, of the urethra and of the muscles of the perineal region. Such contraction is perceived as an extremely pleasant sensation, when the man is overtaken by sexual ecstasy, the orgasm, and there is a temporary obnubilation of the sense organs and suspension of reasoning. After the orgasm, there is a period of complete and profound physical and mental relaxation, accompanied by general well-being, and there occurs, then, a period of time, variable, in which any sexual stimulation is inefficient to provoke an erection of the penis or ejaculation. In this period, sexual manipulation may, even, be perceived as unpleasant.

In summary, the exercise of the male sexual function depends on the close interaction between the nervous and the endocrine systems, and only at the adult age does the man find himself in the stage of physical maturity that permits the adjustment between the sexual function and his organic and psycho-social demands. The man, generally, maintains his reproductive functions throughout all his life and his capacity for relaxation of sexual tension is not endangered by aging, as long as there is no disorder that impedes the erection of the penis. Knowledge of the structure and the dynamics of the male genitalia are indispensable to achieve the complete exercise of their functions.

3.3 In copulation

Copulation is the sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, which consists in the introduction of the penis into the vagina. The ignorance concerning the female and male sexual dynamics has generated a series of misunderstandings in relation to the role of copulation in the sexual act. To solve such misunderstandings, it becomes necessary to study the sexual interaction that occurs in copulation, from the knowledge of the female and male sexual dynamics.

From the study of female and male sexual dynamics it may be concluded that, to exercise the reproductive function, it is necessary to have the ovulation, the production and ejaculation of spermatozoa, the encounter of the spermatozoa with the ovum, fertilization, the implantation of the egg in the uterus wall and the maintenance of a proper environment for the development of the conceptus until birth. As such, one may conclude that, for reproduction, it is essential that there is an interaction between fertile partners, of opposite sexes, and, in this sense, copulation is a facilitating element of the process, since it permits the deposit of the spermatozoa internally, in the woman, in a propitious environment for making fertilization viable.

From the study of female and male sexual dynamics it is also concluded that the orgasm is achieved, in the woman, by the proper manipulation of the clitoris and, in the man, by the proper manipulation of the penis. Being so, it is concluded that, for relaxation of sexual tension, the sexual act can even be solitary, and thus, copulation may be considered dispensable, be it for female pleasure, or male pleasure.

From the study of the sexual interaction that occurs in copulation one may infer that the friction of the erected penis in the vaginal canal is an effective instrument in achieving the male orgasm, but for the woman, although it is enjoyable, it is, in general, an insufficient means for sexual satisfaction, since, in copulation, clitoris stimulation does not necessarily occur. Being so, one concludes that the differences between the female and male sexual dynamics determine different expectations in that which concerns sexual pleasure to be achieved by the introduction of the penis into the vagina and, in this sense, it can be said that copulation, besides having much less importance for the woman’s satisfaction than it is commonly imagined, does not necessarily lead to the partners’ simultaneous orgasm.

From the study of the sexual interaction one infers, also, that copulation performed in a position that the male partner is able to have his hands free, in order to, at the same time, stimulate the clitoris, as in the “coitus a tergo”, from behind, permits the female orgasm to occur during the act of penetration, making it possible, even, simultaneous orgasms.

Sexual relations do not involve mysteries, and the person who knows one’s sexual dynamics and the partner’s sexual dynamics is capable of satisfying oneself, and one’s partner, without anxiety. In this sense, each couple is free to establish its way to sexual satisfaction, but, since the female orgasm does not occur, necessarily, during the coitus, many times it is intelligent, on the man’s part, to satisfy the woman before seeking his own orgasm.

There are no patterns that define the so-called “normal” frequency for sexual relations except the fact that the woman, generally, requires an interval between copulations that permits the recovery of the vaginal mucosa from occasional irritation caused by the penis’ friction or by the action of the spermatic liquid.

It must also be observed that, since copulation is not an effective means to achieve the female orgasm, the man’s concern about the penis’ size, about the duration of the penetration and about the moment of ejaculation in an attempt to provide an orgasm to his partner is useless and can be a source of anxiety for both of them.

The sexual relation, when satisfactory, leads the partners to a state of satiety and calmness which makes the immediate repetition of the sexual act unnecessary or, even, uncomfortable. The post-coitus sadness, a vague sensation of discomfort and emptiness, which occurs with frequency in some psychically fragile individuals after copulation, may, however, lead to a compulsive seeking of the sexual act or to its avoidance.

We may conclude, therefore, that sexual pleasure is an individual pleasure and the level of satisfaction that each partner will obtain from the sexual act depends on him or herself, and that copulation, despite being the moment of the closest physical contact of the sexual act and despite being pleasant, both for the woman and for the man, is not essential for orgasm, that is, for the relaxation of sexual tension of both of them.

Figure 1 – Female Internal Genitalia

Figure 1 – FEMALE INTERNAL GENITALIA

Figure 2 – Female External Genitalia

Figure 2 – FEMALE EXTERNAL GENITALIA

Figure 3 – Male Internal Genitalia

Figure 3 – MALE INTERNAL GENITALIA

Figure 4 – Male External Genitalia

Figure 4 – MALE EXTERNAL GENITALIA

4 INTEGRATED SEX

The sexual function, an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence, can be partial, merely genital, or total, integrated. The partial sexual function requires, for its efficacy, that the individual knows the structure and the dynamics of his sexuality, for the solitary sexual act, and also the structure and the dynamics of his partner’s sexuality, for the shared sexual act. The total sexual function requires, for its efficacy, that the individual also knows, deeply, the structure and the dynamics of his psyche, for the solitary sexual act, and the structure and the dynamics of his partner’s psyche, for the shared sexual act. The knowledge of the structure and the dynamics of his sexuality and of his partner’s sexuality encompasses the knowledge of the components, of the function and of the development specific to both of their genitalia. The knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the individual’s psyche and his partner’s psyche encompasses the knowledge of the components, of the function and of the development specific to each psyche. Partial sex is an artificial figure and total sex is a natural figure in the life process of the human being.

4.1 Partial sex

Partial sex is an artificial figure. An artificial figure is one that has as a background only a part of the whole living, whether it is only that of the dynamic field of stimuli and responses of a reflexive nature, or whether also those of the fields of determination, of intention and of imagination, with the absence of the field of elevation. Thus, even for partial sex, the individual needs knowledge of his sexuality, for the solitary sexual act, and also of his partner’s sexuality, for the shared sexual act the individual; he also needs, for the same reasons and on the same circumstances, knowledge of his psyche and of his partner’s psyche. The quality of the practice of partial sex is determined by the developmental degree of the individual who exerts it. The individual, when there are favorable circumstances, develops from the unconscious act to the conscious act, commensurate with his potential, according to a framework common to all normal human beings, and there is, cumulatively, a dominance typical of each stage, making a specific integration of sexuality possible, as follows.

From birth to the age of nine months, the child’s psychic structuring occurs only at the level of organic motivation, all his sensations can generalize spontaneously to sexuality. The child at this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond in a global-totalizing way to any stimuli, and achieve the greatest pleasure possible of the function that they are exercising. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for orgiastic living, of pleasure for pleasure’s sake. Common manipulations done over children at this phase are the body care, including hygiene, clothing, feeding, and the solitary pleasures of smelling, touching, tasting, urination and defecation. When dealing with children in this age bracket and with elder individuals fixed in it, the conscious adult, and, therefore, responsible, needs to be aware of the distinction between the purely sensitive contact, the only kind of contact that must be permitted in this circumstance, and the sensual and sexual contacts, which he must avoid completely.

From the age of nine months to one year and a half, the child’s psychic structuring also occurs at the level of psycho-social motivation, with perverted-passive control, the sexuality being lived, indeed, as a means of communication already at the consummatory level, although inferior, just to obtain company. The child at this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli already in function of the welcome they imagine their attitude may have from the person, or people, whose attention they wish to obtain. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for relating in search for company. Common manipulations done over children at this phase are the same body care, and the same pleasures of the previous phase occur, with the difference that they will do everything to make the duration of such events last as long as possible, so as to guarantee the adult’s attention for the longest time. This tendency to prolong contacts provides greater sensualization and the child learns about seduction, the utilization of pleasure to obtain company, and the adult must avoid consenting to such manipulations.

From the age of one year and a half to three, the child’s psychic structuring already possesses an active-aggressive perverted control, sexuality already being lived as an instrument of power. The child at this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli already in function of the rejection they imagine their attitude of pleasing could suffer from the person, or people, whose attention they wish to obtain. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for confrontational relationships, the search for quarrels to keep company. Common manipulations done over children in this phase are the same body care, and the same pleasures of the previous phase occur, with the difference that, while seeking to make the duration of these events last as long as possible, they act aggressively. This tendency to aggressively make contacts last longer provides a sexualization of the relationship and the child learns about imposition, the negation of pleasure to maintain company, and the adult must show himself immune to such attempt of domination.

From the age of three to six, the child’s psychic structuring already possesses a pseudo-passive perverted control, sexuality being already lived as an instrument of manipulation of the environment by means of planned seduction to obtain company. The child at this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli in function of the rejection they imagine their attitude to please or to aggress could suffer from the person, or people, whose attention they wish to obtain. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for pretense, whether it is pretense of submission, or pretense of conflict, according to what their perception concludes about which is the most advantageous conduct, at each moment, to achieve his intention of obtaining company. Since it is no longer necessary that the adult take care, completely, of the personal hygiene and of the feeding of children in this phase, they generate all possible embarrassments, seeking, at the same time, to seduce and irritate the adult, creating, the whole time, a clearly sexualized environment.

From the age of six to twelve, the child’s psychic structuring already possesses the organization in terms of cooperation in the utilitarian-practical level, sexuality losing a lot of its functionality, and comradeship starts to appear as a means to obtain company. The child at this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli in terms of the functionality of their responses. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for the emergence of a search for practical rules for useful and advantageous relationships to their ends. Since children at this phase already have complete independence in that which concerns their personal hygiene and their feeding, and do not yet have the demands of a true sexuality, their appeals occur more in the immediate-practical sensitive level, simplifying a lot the day to day games. On other hand, the adult who takes care of them will constantly be tested in the coherence of his attitudes, and any movements of corporal intimacy that seems unnecessarily prolonged will be rejected.

From the age of twelve to fifteen, the adolescent’s psychic structuring possesses the organization in terms of pugnacity, sexuality serving as the principal instrument of aggressive communication with the environment. The adolescent of this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli in function of the repression they imagine their attitude of self-affirmation could come to suffer from the person, or people, from whose tutelage they would like to be free. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for the emergence of pugnacity, the only way at his reach to face his crisis of unconscious and disorganized sexual growth. Since the adolescents at this phase have complete independence in that which concerns their personal hygiene and their feeding, exacerbated by sexuality that is blossoming, added to their capacity for quarrelling about everything, their efforts occur more at the rebellion level, complicating to the maximum the day to day games. On the other hand, the adult who takes care of them will be permanently harassed in terms of teaching them the “secrets” of sexuality.

From the age of fifteen to eighteen, the adolescent’s psychic structuring possesses the organization in terms of searching for self-consensus, sexuality being transmuted into feelings of love towards his fellow, with much confusion about the limits between the sensitive, the sensual and the sexual. The adolescent at this age and the individual fixed in this phase, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli in function of seeking harmonization, peace, searching for self-affirmation through tolerance and through permanent self-criticism. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for the emergence of a Catilinarian discourse impregnated with messianic themes of peace and of love. Since the individuals at this phase, besides the complete independence in that which concerns their personal hygiene and their feeding, possess a sexuality and a critical spirit already installed, their efforts occur more in the level of sublimation of sex by the exaggeration of charity and of love to his fellows. On the other hand, the adult who takes care of them will be permanently questioned about the moral values that guide his sexual living.

As can be deduced, partial sex, an artificial figure because it has as a background part of the whole living, is sex limited by the developmental level of the individual who lives it. When there is, on the part of each partner, at least some knowledge of his sexuality and of his partner’s sexuality, sexual needs can be satisfied occasionally, between one disagreement and another, which can range from the burlesque to the most abyssal destructiveness. Such disagreements occur in function of the discrepancy of interests of each partner, according to his developmental range: to live sex for sex’s sake; to make the sexual encounter last longer in order not to be alone; to be irritated for feeling affectively dependent on the partner; to want to use the partner to solve all his problems; to want to establish with the partner an equalitarian commerce of rights and duties; to use the partner to be discussing his reasoning; to allure the partner to his philosophy of life. Possible plots in partial sexuality are all those determined by the conflict of interests between the partners of different developmental levels and, not infrequently, for the same reason, between partners of the same developmental level.

It is not difficult to visualize the disagreement between an individual that only desires the encounter to practice sex and his partner inserted in any of the other ranges of interest. Nor the misunderstandings between an individual who desires to make the sexual encounter last longer only in order not to be alone, and some other who does not feel this need. Nor the misunderstandings between the individual who is always irritated for needing the partner, and this partner requested and repudiated at the same time. Nor between the individual who always wants to exploit the partner, and this partner that sees himself permanently exploited. Nor between the individual who always desires to weigh and measure the advantages and disadvantages of each one in the relationship, and a partner that does not concern himself with this point. Nor between the individual who is always seeking to defend his points of view and his superiority, and a partner victim of his dithyramb. Nor between the individual who is always seeking to show the partner the way to good, and this partner harassed by his catechism. And not even between both partners, who are either solitary, or irritated, or exploiters, or equitative, or querulous, or messianic.

Thus, partial sex is merely genital sex, and the conflicts that emerge between the sexual partners result from the limitations of perception of each individual about sexuality, in particular, and about life, in general. The individual that searches for the sexual act only for the momentary sexual pleasure, completely unattached from his total being, is alienated from his dignity as a human being. The one who practices sex under an atmosphere of dread and guilt is already attentive to the humanity of his being, but he finds himself alienated from his greatest good, freedom. This alienation from freedom remains in the phases that follow, when the individual has sex and attacks the partner, or when he exploits him, or when he argues with him permanently, or when he seeks to allure the partner to his points of view. As can be observed, before genital maturity procreation is not possible and there is nothing that justifies the sanction of sexual intercourse of any nature. Even after the reproductive capacity has been installed, there is not, until the age range of eighteen, psychic maturity that recommends any kind of shared sexual practice.

4.2 Total sex

Total sex is a natural figure. A natural figure is one that has as a background the whole living, where there are the dynamic field of stimuli and responses of reflexive nature, of determination, of intention, of imagination and of elevation. If even for partial sex the individual needs knowledge of his sexuality, for the solitary sexual act, and also of the partner’s sexuality, for the shared sexual act, in the case of the total sexual act this knowledge must be as complete as possible; the individual also needs, for the same reasons, the largest possible knowledge of his psyche and of the partner’s psyche. The quality of the practice of total sex also presents levels, according to the developmental degree of the person who exercises it. The adult individual, when there are favorable circumstances, develops from reflective conscious living, to conscious living of the absolute, commensurate with his potential, according to a framework common to all normal adult human beings, and there is, also cumulatively, a dominance typical of each stage, making possible a specific integration of sexuality, as follows.

From the age of eighteen to thirty, the psychic structuring of the adult possesses an organization in terms of cooperation at the communitary level, and sexuality acquires prerogatives of means of communication already at the superior consummatory level, for sharing the existing, which includes, necessarily, the comprehension of the limits between the sensitive, the sensual and the sexual. The adult at this age and the adult fixed in it, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli in function of the search for appropriateness to the interests of the community, seeking self-fulfillment according to communitary social canons. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for the emergence of fraternal dialogue, in the search for rules for sexual practices, seeking the common good. Since the individuals at this phase, besides having complete independence, possess a philosophy of life focused on the community, their demands occur more in terms of establishing a home and programming procreation, and there is the possibility of the enlargement of their field of consciousness to more elevated levels of life.

From the age of thirty to sixty, the psychic structuring of the adult possesses an organization at the humanistic level, and sexuality is used as a means of humanization in general, communication is also at the superior consummatory level, regarding the whole of humanity as a big family. The adult at this age and the adult fixed in it, temporarily or definitely, respond to stimuli in function of the search for appropriateness to the interests of humanity, searching for self-fulfillment according to the humanistic social canons. Thus, any manipulation over these individuals provide an opportunity for the emergence of a humanistic dialogue in the search for rules for sexual practices, seeking the good of humanity as a whole. Since the individuals at this phase, besides having complete independence, their sexuality focused on the establishment of a home and programmed procreation, possess a philosophy of life focused on humanity, their demands occur more in terms of consolidating humanism in its full potentiality.

From the age of sixty and over, the psychic structuring of the adult possesses an organization in terms of cooperation at the universal level, and sexuality is used with the aim of mystical ecstasy, communication also at the superior consummatory level, regarding the universe in its wholeness, the supreme work of the Creator. The adult at this age responds to stimuli in function of the search for appropriateness to the interests of the universe as a totality, searching for self-fulfillment according to the inter-galactic social canons. Thus, any manipulations over these individuals provide an opportunity for communion, the rules for sexual practices seeking mystical ecstasy, the anticipation of the definitive copulation, with the Creator. Since the individuals at this phase, besides having complete independence in that which concerns their immediate survival as incarnated beings, and natural incapacity for procreation, possess a philosophy of life focused on the universal, their demands occur more in terms of universalism in its full potentiality, the mystical wedding of temporality with eternity.

As can be deduced, total sex, a natural figure because it has as a background the whole living, is sex lived in an integrated way, and there are some limitations only in that which concerns the progressive installation of adulthood or sporadic episodes of physical health fragility of the individual. The adult knows his sexual and psychic structure and dynamics, as well as his partner’s sexual and psychic structure and dynamics, a knowledge that puts him in a position to rationally work out the conflicts that a partner fixed in childish or adolescent conducts may try to create in the relationship with him. The young adult is geared to the use of sex within his programme of communitary adaptation, occupying himself with the formation of a home and procreation. The mature adult lives sex integrated to his concept of contributing to the well-being of the greater community, humanity. The elderly adult lives sex integrated to his concept of communion with the universal whole, the mystical ecstasy. At any of these levels, the adult respects his partner’s freedom, devotes himself to his partner, stimulates him to self-fulfillment also as a total, integrated being.

Thus, total sex is a psycho-genital sex, and the conflicts that threaten the relations between the sexual partners result from limitations of perception of the childish or adolescent partner, demanding, from the adult partner, a firm attitude and, at the same time, tender, in the defense of his interest in ensuring an integrated sexual relation. The adult does not consent to sexuality only for sexual pleasure because sex for sex’s sake represents a waste of energy for him. The young adult, when choosing sexual company by pursuing, besides sexual pleasure, the formation of a home and procreation, is seeking to satisfy his basic instinct of self-preservation, which includes, necessarily, the preservation of the social. The mature adult, seeking to adapt his basic interests, of sex, of self-preservation, of preservation of the close social and of the remote social, is amplifying his perception of himself living in the world. The elderly adult, seeking to harmonize sex and religiosity, is seeking, by means of this power which is vital energy, to anticipate similar moments to that of the possible final encounter with the total energy of Creation.

5 LIFE AND SEX

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Theory, a hermeneutical exegesis of the analysand-analyst datum at the ontic anthropological level, which is founded on an esoteric vision of the being-in-the-world, a repetition of the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins, perceives in the sexual function an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. With the objective of clarifying the pseudo-discrepancy between the purely material sexual work and its meaning as spiritual work, we have tried to unify: firstly, all the data provided by religions, by philosophies and by sciences; secondly, the data provided by biology; thirdly, all the data provided by the two previously cited groups. We consider the sexual encounter an ideal condition, the way available for everybody to enter into communion with the Creator, since the other, the purely mystical, in general, is independent of our will and action.

Our cosmovision of sexuality points towards the integration of the data from theology, philosophy and science on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: the human being, an organism participant of the Organism, has within himself the whole truth, which he should submit to reasoning, with the courage of being, and seek his reconnection with Him, that can be effected, at the material-concrete plane, by means of sex. The human being must know, and know ethically, so that he can aspire to the best for the largest number of people, which requires him to act with feeling when seeking the reconnection with the universal whole by means of sex. The human being must know the general law of harmonization of his living in the Whole, with the Whole and for the Whole, in order to give meaning to his sexual actions. The sexually adult human being is he who has transformed his operant sexuality into thematic sexuality, that is, he who does not use sex for sex’s sake, or only to escape from loneliness, but to live communion with the partner.

Our anthropovision of sexuality points towards the integration of the data from biology on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human being, even before being born, is a being of sex; this sex in-uterus is initially non-differentiated and, afterwards, already defined as male or female. Sex, in the female, which has as components the gonads (ovaries), the excretory system (tubes, uterus, vagina) and the external genital organs (vulva), has the function of helping the spermatozoon deposited into the vaginal fornix by the male to arrive at the ovum released by the ovary, and to provide the conditions for the development of the egg, from the fertilization to birth. Sex, in the male, which has as components the gonads (testicles), the excretory system (epididymis, vas deferens, urethra), the external organ (penis) and the accessory glands (prostate, seminal vesicles, bulbo-urethral glands), has the function of producing the spermatozoon and offering conditions for its encounter with the ovum, depositing it, immerse in seminal liquid, into the vaginal fornix. Any version of the spermatic liquid out of the vaginal canal is a per-version.

Our ergovision of sexuality points towards the practical integration of the data of our cosmovision and of our anthropovision on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human psyche uses sex (soma) to enter into concrete-material communion with the universal whole by means of the union of the spirits (nous) of the sexual partners. To avail himself of a sexual partner, the human being needs to communicate with him. The orgasm, a muscular reflex spasm, with the sensation of intense pleasure, which leads the male to spermatic emission and the female to vaginal peristaltic contractions that facilitate the absorption of the seminal liquid, is obtained by the appropriate manipulation of the genitalia, female or male, and can result from a solitary act or from a shared act. The orgasm can occur at the simply mechanical level (physical) as living, or also at the plane of feeling (psychical), as experience, or even more, at the level of reconnection with the universal whole (cosmic), as ecstasy.

Sex, in light of the Analytical-phenomenological existential Theory is, thus, the instrument par excellence of the human being in the search for self-realization, which consists in the transformation of operant intentionality (simply act) into thematic intentionality (consented act). The human being is a being of ecstasy; the orgiastic is found in the earliest times of his history, individual and group, and the mystical at the top of his development, individual and group. There are other paths, which is not that of the orgasm, to ecstasy, whether orgiastic, or mystical, paths that lead to the necessary physical stimulation to trigger the event, and which are found by means of consuming chemical drugs and of producing and consuming mental drugs (artistic, scientific, philosophical and theological works).

Since the sexual encounter is the ideal condition to integrate eternity and temporality, by means of integrated sex, which leads to ecstasy, it urges that each individual in particular and humanity as a whole seek to live sex with freedom and responsibility.