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       # 2019-02-25 - The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You by Dorothy Bryant
       
       The unnamed protagonist is an antihero who reminds me a little of
       Thomas Covenant.  Both are antiheroes who are transported to a dream
       world during a crisis.  Both are redeemed by the generous people in a
       dream world.
       
       Ata is an island on Earth but it may as well be a separate world.
       The setting is Utopian and i enjoyed the radical simplicity.  They
       made all their own clothing, food, shelter, containers, mats, etc.
       Everyone had one piece of clothing.  Dishes were communal and made
       out of simple materials such as sea shell bowls.  Once used, dishes
       were placed in an open area to be cleaned naturally by the rain, sun,
       and ocean winds.  A big portion of the winter was spent fasting.  The
       lifestyle was more than adequate for survival but not comfortable by
       our standards.  The remarkable part to me was how this simple
       lifestyle eliminated a lot of labor, thus enabling a slower pace of
       life.  The people place great emphasis on dreams, and they try to
       live so that they can dream higher dreams.  Ironically, just after i
       finished reading this book, my dream life exploded into action after
       a long period of dormancy.  I guess it was a powerful experience for
       me.
       
       I thought the author did a fairly good job of writing the story using
       the voice of a male protagonist.
       
       I heard once that women can generally write from a male perspective
       more convincingly than men can write from a female perspective.  I
       read that this same thing generally holds true for minority groups.
       Because of social pressure to fit in, minority groups are generally
       more conscious of majority perspective, and majority groups are
       generally less conscious of minority perspectives.
       
       There is a scene in the book where the kin are performing dances in
       the evening and sharing dream visions in front of everyone at once.
       The protagonist sees gems and jewels.  Asking about those, he is told
       that he sees them because that is how he understands something of
       great value.  The gems and jewels are subjectively true expressions
       or representations of higher principles.
       
       I felt a little disappointed how the story ended.  The book implies
       that the greatest spiritual teachers were frequently people who had
       spent some time in Ata and then transported to the normal parts of
       Earth to help guide the human race away from complete depravity and
       destruction.  The protagonist returns to Earth, goes to court on
       charges of murder, pleads guilty, and is given the death sentence.
       At this point everything becomes blissful for him as though he had
       passed some test.  I find it challenging to equate a guilty plea to
       the works of great spiritual leaders.
       
       author: Bryant, Dorothy, 1930-
 (TXT) detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/The_Kin_of_Ata_Are_Waiting_for_You
       LOC:    PZ4.B91477 Ki3 PS3552.R878
       tags:   book,counterculture,fantasy
       title:  The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You
       
       # Tags
       
 (DIR) book
 (DIR) counterculture
 (DIR) fantasy