Book excerpt: Under the guidance of phenomenological insights, this book presents the sensuous in its elemental sense. The elemental is not to be confused here with the classical notion of the atom, which is viewed as a self-contained entity into which all reality is reducible. Rather, the elemental is a living creative force that resists categorization. This force embodies the principle of openness and opening, a principle celebrated and given expression by numerous artists and other friends of the sensuous. As elemental, the sensuous irreducibly expresses itself in multiple ways. The editors of this volume avoid posting themselves between the sensuous and those to whom it presents itself. Each of the contributors here responds to the call of the elemental, and each finds his or her starting point where everyone else starts and ends. The multiple voices brought together here constitute a concert, with the elemental sensuous as the conductor. In reading this book, the reader will become more aware of himself or herself, and more aware of the world in which he or she lives.