The earliest erotic arts, like the Chinese Fángzhōngshù or the Indian Kāmaśāstra traditions were developed in Asia since the Axial Age, as an integral component of the ancient arts of living, while some of the first sex manuals in history were produced by religious traditions drawing on that previous knowledge, when sexual experimentation becomes a privileged vehicle for spiritual transformation in classic and medieval times.

Later western secular cultures developed in modern times their particular forms of ars erotica, the BDSM practices, free not only from all religious connotations, but also disconnected from theintegral inner cultivation intrinsic to the ancient arts of living. Today, the term ars erotica encompasses all the different types of stylizations of sexual practices leading to sustained, expanded or intensified embodiments of pleasure complemented by continuous or discontinuous self-transformation processes, including spirituality experiences.

The Ars Erotica research line focuses on the study and exploration of the arts of love, the sexual arts and the arts of pleasure, including the techniques, exercises, methods, and traditions related with the process of mastering a sexual practice. Both normative and non-normative kinds of ars erotica are explored, from classic Indian or Japanese traditions, to BDSM practices and modern and contemporary arts of eroticism.

The experiences approached in the projects affiliated to this line of research are concrete examples of practice-oriented spirituality, and constitute privileged case studies of the intrinsic spiritual transformation founded in the long-term process of becoming a master of a sexual practice.

The intent is to generate knowledge about sensuality, the erotic arts, and the arts of giving and
receiving pleasure, learning directly from the empirical experience of those who master the sexual practices, and after, designing models of practice for all kinds of people desiring to embrace pleasure, but also wishing to start transforming their own lives.

Keywords: Alternative pornography, alternative sexualities, arts of existence, arts of making love, BDSM, eroticism, erotic art, erotic literature, Fángzhōngshù, Kāmaśāstra, Kinbaku, kink, limit-experience, non-normative sexuality, pleasure techniques, practice-oriented spirituality, self-transformation, selflessness, sensuality, sex coaching, sex industry, sex manuals, sexual arts, sexual practices, Shibari.

The earliest erotic arts, like the Chinese Fángzhōngshù or the Indian Kāmaśāstra traditions were developed in Asia since the Axial Age, as an integral component of the ancient arts of living, while some of the first sex manuals in history were produced by religious traditions drawing on that previous knowledge, when sexual experimentation becomes a privileged vehicle for spiritual transformation in classic and medieval times.

Later western secular cultures developed in modern times their particular forms of ars erotica, the BDSM practices, free not only from all religious connotations, but also disconnected from theintegral inner cultivation intrinsic to the ancient arts of living. Today, the term ars erotica encompasses all the different types of stylizations of sexual practices leading to sustained, expanded or intensified embodiments of pleasure complemented by continuous or discontinuous self-transformation processes, including spirituality experiences.

The Ars Erotica research line focuses on the study and exploration of the arts of love, the sexual arts and the arts of pleasure, including the techniques, exercises, methods, and traditions related with the process of mastering a sexual practice. Both normative and non-normative kinds of ars erotica are explored, from classic Indian or Japanese traditions, to BDSM practices and modern and contemporary arts of eroticism.

The experiences approached in the projects affiliated to this line of research are concrete examples of practice-oriented spirituality, and constitute privileged case studies of the intrinsic spiritual transformation founded in the long-term process of becoming a master of a sexual practice.

The intent is to generate knowledge about sensuality, the erotic arts, and the arts of giving and
receiving pleasure, learning directly from the empirical experience of those who master the sexual practices, and after, designing models of practice for all kinds of people desiring to embrace pleasure, but also wishing to start transforming their own lives.

Keywords: Alternative pornography, alternative sexualities, arts of existence, arts of making love, BDSM, eroticism, erotic art, erotic literature, Fángzhōngshù, Kāmaśāstra, Kinbaku, kink, limit-experience, non-normative sexuality, pleasure techniques, practice-oriented spirituality, self-transformation, selflessness, sensuality, sex coaching, sex industry, sex manuals, sexual arts, sexual practices, Shibari.

The first arts of existence in human history were developed all along the last millennium BCE, as part of the pioneer counterhegemonic cultures that emerged during the Axial Age in some regions of Eurasia, more specifically in the territories of ancient China, India and Greece. Xians, Fangshis, Siddhas, Buddhists, Yogis, Stoics, and Epicureans communities constitute the first examples of arts of existence.

These ancient arts of existence can be distinguished from the archaic and classic religions by the type of exercises cultivated by their practitioners, what ancient Greeks named as askēsis (‘training’, ‘exercise’), based in free-form prescriptions and not in moral codes, conceived as ‘spiritual exercises’ or paths for deep self-transformation: not only an incidental psychological transformation, but a long-term physiological and psychological process of self-cultivation. The life knowledge generated by the traditions practicing the teachings of the ancient arts of existence continued in multiple regions of the globe during the first two millenniums CE, but mostly, as an esoteric and secret kind of enlightening knowledge.

Nevertheless, the globalized revival and the reconfiguration of ancestral and ancient practices makes of the arts of living an unusually common demand in the 21st century, when spiritual but not religious cultures all around the planet urge the advice of trustable sources of knowledge more than the governance of a guru, and guidelines differing from restrictive religious codes or indulgent self-esteem motivations.

The Arts of Living research line focuses on the study and exploration of ancient and contemporary sources of knowledge useful and relevant for the practice of a continuous and integral process of life stylization and inner cultivation. The projects affiliated to this line of research are focused on life potentials like health, vitality, wellness, well-being, consciousness, ethics, individual and collective empowerment, among others.

These projects constitute solid alternatives to mainstream self-improvement programs founded in self-centred cultures because they are centred on life and not the self, and this approach opens an opportunity to cultivate selflessness and solidarity. Indeed, the exercises described, analysed and practiced in the case studies presented in this line of research can be considered ‘spiritual’ because of its emphasis on cultivating life always in service of other people and other forms of life.

The objective is to design models of thought and models of conduct for the new generations grounded on solidary and selfless ethics, models of egoless empowerment at the service of common good and social well-being, models of practice-oriented spirituality, and new models of social equality along ecological modes of living.

This intent implies the study, the practice and the creation of programs, guidelines, values, prescriptions, habits, and techniques for strengthening and refining the body simultaneously to the processes of expanding consciousness and cultivating the ‘spirit’, a notion empirically grounded in intangible but real phenomena, like mood, attitude, will, intention, purpose, and an immanent sense of divinity grounded on nature.

Keywords: Alternative cultures, alternative lifestyles, arts of existence, arts of living, asceticism, celibacy, counterculture, critical theory, cultural transformation, divinity, ecology, egolessness, ethics, globalization, health, immanence, inner cultivation, life, lifestyle, mindfulness, new ways of living, selflessness, self-transformation, social equality, social empowerment, spiritual but not religious, spiritual exercises, spiritual guidance, spiritual orientation, spiritual practices, vitality, well-being, wellness.

Gender problematizations became a paramount issue in human societies in the middle of the 20th century, when identity construction consolidates as the central process of subjectivity production in modern life. Feminist Theory and Queer Theory in Europe and America were at the forefront of gender inquiries, contributing significatively to the deconstruction of patriarchal values and androcentric practices.

The Religion, Sexuality and Gender field of studies has been developed in western academic programs since the 1960’s, producing relevant investigation focused on gender issues related to religious cultures. Today, when the spiritual but not religious communities grow and expand all around the planet, a new field of studies and research emerges, focusing on the gender perspectives emerging in the everyday life of these contemporary spiritual cultures.

The Gender Perspectives line of research makes part of the Sexuality and Spirituality field of research, and its objective is to generate knowledge on gender and transgender equality, as well as women’s empowerment in 21st century spiritual communities.

This research line focuses on the study and exploration of gender issues and problematizations related to everyday life within globalised spiritual but not religious cultures, including gender identity, sexual orientation, subjectivity construction, femininity/masculinity
construction, and gender power relationships, among others.

The projects affiliated to this line of research investigate the intersections between gender, sexuality and non-religious spirituality, embracing heterosexual, homosexual and all kind of LGBTQI perspectives, heterocentric or non-heterocentric traditions and communities, as well as all types of sexualities, sexual conducts and counter-conducts.

This research line, in general, provides case studies and data analysis pertinent to state-of-the-art debates and conversations exploring the micropolitics generated in the everyday life of spiritual communities.

The intent is to bring light to the dynamic interaction between two opposite but complementary processes of life in globalized post-pandemic times: self-realization and selflessness, singularity and divine union.

Keywords: Alternative sexualities, counter-conducts, divinity, femininity/masculinity, Feminist Theory, Feminism, gender identity, globalization, identity construction, LGBTQI, micropolitics, non-heteronormativity, power relationships, Queer Theory, selflessness, self-realization, sexual orientation, singularity, spiritual but not religious, subjectivity.

The biological sexual potential intrinsic to a human being in its interaction with the particularities of the cultural environments in which is developed generates the experience commonly known since the 19th century as sexuality. Any sexuality experience encompasses fundamental human potentials as love, pleasure, reproduction, sexual orientation, intimate relationships, subjectivity production, gender construction, wellness, and many more.

Certainly, sexuality constitutes the core of all personal development: its subjectivity, its intimacy, its individuality, its singularity, its ethos: it all depends on how sexuality is lived by an individual. Moreover, because sexuality indeed is the fundamental ground for life development, it is also a privileged ground for power relationships strategies, and not only micro but also macropolitical battles. The codes of sexual conduct of a society unveil its diagrams of power relationships, while the sexual conducts, behaviours, and practices actually lived always uncover the necessities, the urges, the desires, and the forms of empowerment and emancipation created by their own individuals and collectives.

The History of Sexuality research line focuses on the study of the sexuality experiences lived by spiritual but not religious cultures from all eras and all regions of the planet, from prehistory to the present day, including its sexual conducts, behaviours, practices, problematizations, forms of stylization, and modes of living.

The projects affiliated to this line of research are centred on determined periods of human history and specific cultures practicing diverse types of non-religious spiritualities, from pre-religious cultures BCE and ancient Eastern arts of living, to secret Western spiritual traditions and modern secular artistic movements, or even contemporary virtual communities. Any human history period can be explored, including genealogies of the present era. All forms of non-religious spirituality can be studied, like non-orthodox spiritual traditions and spiritually undetermined cultures.

The objective is to make visible the historical experiences of spiritual but not religious cultures, and more concretely, the modes in which diverse kinds of sexualities took shape in direct interaction with spiritual values and spiritual practices.

Keywords: Arts of existence, biopolitics, divinity, eroticism, ethos, gender, governmentality, history of sexuality, individuality, intimate relationships, modes of living, power relationships, sacred/profane, sacred sexuality, sexual conducts, sexual orientation, singularity, spiritual but not religious, spiritual exercises, subjectivity.