Eros Unredeemed: The World Power of Sexuality

I have written this book because it was inevitable. Sexual love had to be viewed and approached from another angle. It is the subject of our time, even if the slogans proclaimed about it sometimes sound different. The theme of sexual longing is the focal point of our inner thoughts and feelings. More people today suffer from a sexuality which they are unable to cope with than from environmental poisons. In whatever area I have been involved in life, whether in revolutionary groups of the student movement, in the emerging alternative movement of the seventies, or in my work as professor and therapist, in the end I always encountered this subject. Up to now, the attempts to solve it in communes or through experiments of free love have failed. The various therapeutic or spiritual approaches have not helped much either. The core of the problem is intrinsically linked to our daily thought and behavioral patterns. It therefore cannot be viewed or solved while at the same time maintaining these habits. People say that the sexual revolution is over. Inside of us however, it has really not yet even begun. The previous attempts were too disoriented and too emotional to lead to the center of the problem. At the beginning it does not have to do with revolution, but rather with recognition.
I have written this book for love, even where I have had to show its dark spots. So that such passages do not get too heavy, I have at times chosen a lighter tone. I hope that the book can be read and understood by all ages. If one does not understand everything immediately, it is not so important, since it will become clear later. I would like to demonstrate that there exists a realistic possibility for love between the genders which is free of disguise, fear and jealousy. I would like to encourage all of those readers and lovers who can follow this train of thought to find this possibility within themselves and to act upon it. If there is a future for us and our children that is worth living, then it is to be found in a new form of sensual love.
It is not necessary to read the book from beginning to end. One should begin at the most interesting point addressed in the table of contents. Those who find the negative balance in the first few chapters to be too much should not restrain from skipping these pages and instead begin by reading the more enjoyable aspects first. By doing so, no important theory will be missed, since almost every section creates its own context which is understandable without further explanation. Despite the gravity of the subject, I do not wish the readers of this book any new nightmares, but rather genuine hope and anticipation. Love is no longer a fairytale; if we understand it, we can make it come true.
I dedicate this book to all who love, to all who are on their way to new shores with hearts ready to love: all who are seeking true faithfulness which no longer forces anyone to lie. I dedicate it to the children who will come after us, to the animals and plants that need protection and to comradeship of the human being. I dedicate it to the peace workers who do not let themselves be distracted by over-hasty spiritual slogans and half-truths, but instead are ready to face the incorruptibility of life itself.
In the service of warmth for all that has skin and fur.
~ Dieter Duhm