ABSTRACT

“I who am poisoned with the blood of both
Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?
I who have cursed
The drunken officer of British rule, how choose
Between this Africa and the British tongue I love?”

In A Far Cry from Africa by Derek Walcott

Art has been a means of social, racial, cultural and hopefully more reformation for ethnic people and their practices. There have been many times the power of poetry, music, and books have led the world to positive change. The poem at the top of the page was written by Derek Walcott, a poet who won the Nobel Prize in 1992, when asked what his motivation was he said “for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.” This quote could not be more perfect for the premise of this novel. Not just anyone can use the power of creativity to handle complex issues and fight oppression, we hope that with the power of our pens, and typewriters, we too can make a difference and fight for the same mission. Historically, literature as a tool or weapon has been used among many countries. A great example of the power of the word is the novel by Jon Sinclair “The Jungle,” he personally went undercover as a journalist who fought for the same purpose. He wrote about his experience working with immigrants in unsafe and unsanitary conditions in a food factory, his message was not well received by politicians, it was challenged and banned, and it still changed laws that improved workers’ rights, especially immigrants. One more person, before we mention the power of writing which has created gigantic political and social reform such as one of the most recent and most powerful movements, the Harlem Renaissance. Another controversial work of art, for some reason unbeknownst to many, is one that fought against urban, underpaid, slavery during the industrial revolution. This interesting work is called the “Communist Manifesto” which was only a pamphlet to help give the workers more freedom similarly to Jon Sinclair “Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels” did their own ethnographic research to help break chains of oppression during a pivotal time in our civilization’s history. Books can change laws, create new solutions, and even new economic theories.

This book is meant to shatter more wealth oppression by discussing poverty, addiction, and the problems with modern society. Similar to early literature eras, The Beatniks also known as the Beats Movement also rejected the themes of Modern Society. They were a group of freethinking authors, made up of novelists and poets, who rejected Modern Society. The book “Naked Lunch” was literally banned and taken to trial by The Supreme Court, for challenging the status quo, many of the Beatnik poets and writers stood on trial to defend social rights. This era of writers challenged the limiting ideas, mainly because of Christian influence in our society. Not only this but by our unwillingness to promote our basic rights that have never been tolerated by a nation driven by fear and hate for any ethnic group that is too outside the box of our societal norms. The beat generation wrote about drug use, homosexual sex, Mahayana Buddhism and free human expression. This book will also use art and knowledge to help us return to our indigenous roots of wisdom by once again challenging the modern lifestyle, in "America" by Allen Ginsberg and in the poem "I Am Waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the writers show their frustration with modern society. One theme of both poems is Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization, which can be seen when Ferlinghetti says he is waiting "for the war to be fought" (18) "which will make the whole world safe" (19). In the poem "America" the rejection of war can be seen in the lines "America when will we end the human war / Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb" (4-5). Not only are these lines anti-war messages but they can also represent the purposelessness of modern society, in the way that killing each other is without purpose because peace will never be found through war. In the prior lines he brings light to how people are influenced to live seriously by the media of the times, referencing Time Magazine as telling people what matters and in essence guiding the way people think. People are living in a way that everything is serious, yet there is no purpose behind the attitude other than to climb up the professional ladder. This can also be seen as rejection of the prevailing American middle-class values, both poems are against the societal values as it offers no room for free expression, creativity or excitement. This theme can be easily summed up in Ferlinghetti's line, "I am perpetually awaiting / a rebirth of wonder" (44-45). This theme can be shown further in our modern society in many ways. As the current American values leaves the lives of Americans void of excitement and curiosity. Our culture could do for a little more sacred, by changing our opinions on what “secular” means. The minds and consciousness of the American people are oppressed and chained by our cultural values and the loss of our indigenous roots.

This novel will attempt to challenge the illusions of race, gender, sex, and other social constructs that divide and kill us. Our nation is currently under attack by these same agreed upon outdated illusions. America needs to acknowledge the sacredness of the planet and respect wisdom from Central America and South America. People from these continents and countries have voices that need to be heard now more than ever. Healers from around the world have been attempting to reach out to the Western World before we have destroyed every source of water, every fish, every animal, every God given resource. Humans have used and abused every resource even prior to our modern way of living, since the dawn of recorded history, we have been fighting and killing each other. Waging wars for the same old reasons. Rich man wars for resources, land expansion, and religious control. Through cultural comparison, social sciences, and scientific reasoning we can leave our dying unnatural society in the past and return to our roots. Leave our old paradigm that has us living in a dysfunctional way, because of things such as mass consumerism, materialism, and the biggest culprit, wealth disparities created by modern slavery. The elites are killing our souls and our planet. It is time to return to our roots. One major topic of discussion in this book will be that of the addiction and mental health crisis, the song by POD inspired the title of this book and we also saw it fitting because of what is happening to the Youth of the Nation today, by the millions of children and teenagers left without parents, we personally have a handful of friends who have passed away as young adults. Many lives have fallen due to a country that is shaped by outdated ideologies and social constructs. The solution can be created by analyzing the many, many, many, unaddressed problems. Included but not limited to poverty, societal norms, funding issues, and countless failed treatments and institutions made not to reform but to make the rich man richer. The criminal approach as a method of treatment for trauma and mental health problems are not working. Neither are the state ran, overcrowded, understaffed jail cells called mental health hospitals that provide nothing but one minute doctor appointments, if you are lucky, and you get some plastic silverware with heavy chairs cause god forbid you don’t throw them. Something is wrong with our culture if we need a thirty pound weighted down chair, for a normal person struggling with Major Depression Disorder. I think we as a nation could do more for these people than provide them with crayons and coloring books and if you are lucky maybe there is a library, instead of a book with nothing on the shelves. Maybe you are reading this from an institution, I think this message will be felt deep in your soul, you will love reading this book. It will without a doubt be banned from your institution. We will not allow that to happen.

This novel will attempt to create new solutions to these problems through science and spirituality. We will combine many religious ideas and other cultures ideas to fight the chains that are keeping the mind illusioned and caged. Through exploring humanities roots, and our history, specifically by looking at the affects of colonization which have led to the loss of many cultures. Although it also created many new beautiful new religious movements, thanks to religious syncretism. Please do not throw away Christianity or any of the Abrahamic faiths, they are beautiful and help us grow as humans. They are our roots as well. The theme of being against conforming from the Beat Generation continues, propelled by our disconnection from each other and our Earth, which leads to hate for our fellow man. It is our shared common home and our common beliefs that do not allow religious freedom or substance freedom. The answers can be sought through the original people, and it will be packed full of credible scholarly journals, articles, and books. Our culture will hopefully soon not judge, but allow those of different ethnicities to openly practice their unique style of living free of judgement. Indigenous healers and scholars together can be the catalyst of change this nation needs.