Yin and Yang at the End of the World
Yang & Yin at the end of the world
Peter Alexander Uncategorized 2 0
The themes that have interested me the most during the first decade of the twenty-first century have been about the empowerment of women, and the possibility that spiritual evolution may advance in a manner just in time to save our planet from destruction.
You find these themes to one degree or another present in all my books, even my series for children – Mubu, the Little Animal Doctor™. Mubu is a heroine, and she is also a real person. It is not simply fiction that this little girl rescued, raised and made friends with a variety of birds and animals in remote northern Thailand. I have seen first hand the magic that the woman who was once Mubu can perform with the animals she protects today.
Children often have the time and capacity to devote great love for the animals that enter their lives. It has, therefore, been my wish to see my Mubu books inspire more children all over the world to realize that they have the ability to make a difference in the lives of so many disadvantaged animals.
Beyond all the obvious “end of the world” scenarios that appear in ‘Beneath’ (which required copious research to make those consequences not only possible, but frighteningly plausible), the book at a deeper level is about balancing the male and female energies on our planet. The state of Yang and Yin at the end of the world.
Stated another way, if the planet is to survive its current descent, the patriarchy can no longer dominate life on earth as it has for centuries. The current political-economic-social disasters that reveal themselves daily, together with earth changes and climate change, can be seen in large part due to the existing imbalance between male and female influences.
(Probably I should add now that this is not a diatribe about men being bad and women good. When we speak about yang and yin, there is the assumption that all men and women possess aspects of both male and female energies.)
The main characters in ‘Beneath’ who survive the cataclysm that befalls earth are a 47-year-old writer-martial arts expert named Dennis, and his 15-year-old niece, Aggie. Dennis is strong, worldly and noble. Additionally, he is often somewhat professorial, so perhaps we can suggest he is an ‘Indiana Jones’ archetype.
Aggie is a very bright and sensitive girl, who has been influenced by Dennis to learn martial arts, and therefore she has attained a level of confidence in herself not frequently seen in teenage girls. However, she never dreamed she would be living underground with Dennis and his cat Gilda after the cataclysm destroyed much of humanity.
The archetypal older man and teenage girl must survive together for five years, searching for wild edible vegetables and hunting animals above the ground during the day and spending seemingly endless nights in their confined shelter beneath the ground. As Aggie grows toward womanhood, the gender balance experiences many subtle and not so subtle changes.
In ‘The Girl Who Threw Stars,’ the story of a very different kind of male-female dichotomy plays out in sometimes horrific terms in northeastern Thailand.
Though the heroine, Kanthida, a 26-year-old Bangkok prostitute, is flawed, she nevertheless attempts to observe Buddhist principles, while avoiding her ex-husband’s journey of vengeance. Kanthida can be ruthless herself, even as she manages narrowly to resist killing her deadly adversary.
The book’s genre blends magical realism and horror. Even though the bloody body count rises as Major Wororat, a Thai policeman who operates fluidly on both sides of the street, chases his former wife, spirituality emerges as a countervailing theme.
In the realm of spirit, death does not end certain forms of existence on earth, for the evil as well as the sublime.
Peter Alexander Uncategorized 2 0
The themes that have interested me the most during the first decade of the twenty-first century have been about the empowerment of women, and the possibility that spiritual evolution may advance in a manner just in time to save our planet from destruction.
You find these themes to one degree or another present in all my books, even my series for children – Mubu, the Little Animal Doctor™. Mubu is a heroine, and she is also a real person. It is not simply fiction that this little girl rescued, raised and made friends with a variety of birds and animals in remote northern Thailand. I have seen first hand the magic that the woman who was once Mubu can perform with the animals she protects today.
Children often have the time and capacity to devote great love for the animals that enter their lives. It has, therefore, been my wish to see my Mubu books inspire more children all over the world to realize that they have the ability to make a difference in the lives of so many disadvantaged animals.
Beyond all the obvious “end of the world” scenarios that appear in ‘Beneath’ (which required copious research to make those consequences not only possible, but frighteningly plausible), the book at a deeper level is about balancing the male and female energies on our planet. The state of Yang and Yin at the end of the world.
Stated another way, if the planet is to survive its current descent, the patriarchy can no longer dominate life on earth as it has for centuries. The current political-economic-social disasters that reveal themselves daily, together with earth changes and climate change, can be seen in large part due to the existing imbalance between male and female influences.
(Probably I should add now that this is not a diatribe about men being bad and women good. When we speak about yang and yin, there is the assumption that all men and women possess aspects of both male and female energies.)
The main characters in ‘Beneath’ who survive the cataclysm that befalls earth are a 47-year-old writer-martial arts expert named Dennis, and his 15-year-old niece, Aggie. Dennis is strong, worldly and noble. Additionally, he is often somewhat professorial, so perhaps we can suggest he is an ‘Indiana Jones’ archetype.
Aggie is a very bright and sensitive girl, who has been influenced by Dennis to learn martial arts, and therefore she has attained a level of confidence in herself not frequently seen in teenage girls. However, she never dreamed she would be living underground with Dennis and his cat Gilda after the cataclysm destroyed much of humanity.
The archetypal older man and teenage girl must survive together for five years, searching for wild edible vegetables and hunting animals above the ground during the day and spending seemingly endless nights in their confined shelter beneath the ground. As Aggie grows toward womanhood, the gender balance experiences many subtle and not so subtle changes.
In ‘The Girl Who Threw Stars,’ the story of a very different kind of male-female dichotomy plays out in sometimes horrific terms in northeastern Thailand.
Though the heroine, Kanthida, a 26-year-old Bangkok prostitute, is flawed, she nevertheless attempts to observe Buddhist principles, while avoiding her ex-husband’s journey of vengeance. Kanthida can be ruthless herself, even as she manages narrowly to resist killing her deadly adversary.
The book’s genre blends magical realism and horror. Even though the bloody body count rises as Major Wororat, a Thai policeman who operates fluidly on both sides of the street, chases his former wife, spirituality emerges as a countervailing theme.
In the realm of spirit, death does not end certain forms of existence on earth, for the evil as well as the sublime.
No comments have been added yet.
