Dr Bryan is a retired psychiatrist presently living in the suburbs of Paris, France, with his wife, Genevieve. He had practised psychiatry in Ventura, California, specialising in adolescent juvenile offenders, with training in psychoanalytic theory. His first wife died several years ago from a protracted illness that resulted in his turning to a different view of what he had been writing for many years. After more than twenty years of meditation, a spiritual awakening occurred as a consequence of her loss and the writing turned to that experience, enhanced by his psychoanalytic knowledge. The present book is a product of those events.
As a collection of verses, these may be enjoyed at first read simply as they are for all age groups, or the discerning reader may find multiple levels of understanding to be reflected upon. There is an emphasis on coping with loss, as well as a frequent exploring of existential questions. Observations of the thinking process as an obvious essential tool but also as a nuisance to personal growth is explored. They bring the reader along author’s personal journey into increased spiritual awareness. The assumption being that such internal experiences are potential in all of us if one finds the tools to pursue it. The verses offer those tools. So, while underscoring our primitive underpinnings, altogether they reflect a final view of us with purpose and hope.
This book of poetry deals with the conflict where science is dominant in working its wonders, and the religious has become questionable regarding its relevance. It results in our culture’s tendency to view science as our major source of defining and controlling reality. This is suggested in Arthur C. Clarks novel, Childhood’s End, as well as in the classic Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The point being that we are no longer children dependent upon a father, but are on our own, alone.
Science utilises information of the external world, ie. collection of data and statistics, but is weak in its ability to cross the boundary into the internal world of the individual. In fact, it frequently disparages claims of noetic witnessing as fancy, hysteria, illusion, or outright psychosis. The poems are a mixture of fantasy and reality, leaving the reader to determine their personal view. The two convictions noted have consequences. Our culture’s present absolute trust of science in all knowledge leaves a sense of control, but results in a terrifying feeling of alienation in a cold universe. The religious view, having a quality of support, offers comfort of hope, but at the price of having to submit to a power greater than ourselves.
Speculation is that our world of common experience, with its mix of good and evil within us, as well as without, is in fact an odyssey of repetition and judgement. It is our home, it is Purgatory.
A collection of poems that explores the most ancient of questions: is there a reason for my existence, or am I just an artefact of nature? The animal of us is very clear, but our consciousness appears to be an enigma: a Darwinian survival tool par excellence, but its sense of self leads to feelings of despair and countless fears.
We appear to possess a religious sense that leads us to reach for ideals such as communes, or communism, with frequent violent fervour, as well as religious cults, and organized religion per se – raising the question, why? The poems explore these questions.
Science has been miraculous in its rapid growth and influence in our present culture, to the point of it becoming like religion itself, answering questions of cosmology and affecting human identity and longevity. This raises questions of morality, which underscores the importance of our recognizing our underlying animal nature and never underestimating its influence in even the best of us. The poems address this.
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