Posts by tom_bunzel:
The Next Chapter
December 26th, 2012The Next Chapter is my mother’s personal story of her recovery after imprisonment in a Nazi slave labor camp during World War II to retirement in La Jolla; she wrote it at the age of 74 on an electric typewriter. She emphasized that this is not a Holocaust memoir but rather a psychological exploration of what it takes to persevere, survive and try to resume a “normal” life after severe trauma.
The Next Chapter describes what it was like to live through the horrors of World War II in occupied Czechoslovakia, endure concentration and labor camps, and then try to resume a “normal” existence in a hostile and alien world.
My mother’s account emphasizes, however, that this is not a Holocaust book but rather an examination of reality under totalitarian oppression. She makes it a point of explaining that the Nazis were not only after the Jews—but wanted to exterminate all dissidents including gypsies, communists and homosexuals. Hers is a story of the inner spirit to recover and to return to a life of love, freedom and personal fulfillment.
The book combines personal anecdotes with psychological insight. My mother survived with the help of an inner alter ego she calls “Miriam” – her middle name. She consults Miriam at various junctures to get the strength to go on and also to try to make sense of a world seemingly gone mad.
The manuscript was accepted by a literary agent shortly before my mother’s death and was well-received though it remained unpublished. My mother did not seek recognition nor did she have a “platform.” However, shortly before her death, concerned by the rise of Revisionists (deniers of her experiences), she visited high schools to discuss her experiences and was warmly received and hugged by students.
The four leaf clovers on the cover are the original ones found by my mother upon her liberation from the Mauthausen labor camp, and preserved in a cigarette package. They are physical evidence that her story is true.
With the advent of electronic scanning and self-publishing, I wanted to finally make her story available to all who might be interested, and who could learn and be moved by it.
Presence of Mind: Journey to a New Operating System
December 26th, 2012Presence of Mind is the personal journey of a technology writer who hit the wall and became overwhelmed with the struggle to keep up with the demands of both his profession and his inner programming. The journey back was facilitated by insights into the deep connection between the software which is programmed by humans, and the genetic code which is the intelligent energy behind Life itself.
Presence of Mind begins with a deep exploration of how dark things can get from the inside, and a description of the painful process of peeling back the layers of inner programming and a distorted belief system with the help of a compassionate and brilliant guide.
The author explores the roots of his personal and philosophical influences, which led him to question much of what he saw around him and took him on a search for answers to questions that many feel it is safer to avoid asking.
The turning point came when he reconnected to his true passion – technology – in a way that led to the realization that we have created computer software “in our image” as a pointer to the intelligent patterns and geometry behind life and nature itself. It turns out that DNA is code.
These insights convinced the author that life is not random but immensely intelligent beyond the comprehension of our rational minds, and must be experienced through a newly developed heartfelt connection with reality.
He retraces some of the steps of his previous studies and travels to discover that answers are not found in concepts and books, but in concrete experience and energetic investigation.
The road back includes a leap of faith in adopting a cat, which changes his inner alchemy to begin to truly care and love life in a completely new way. This creates an opening to a world of new feelings and perspectives that had always been there but from which he been cut off.
He shares the practices learned through continued study and participation in communities of those who also had experienced many of the same feelings and fears with which everyone struggles—but he ultimately learns that perhaps the struggle is unnecessary.
As these new beliefs were integrated, the author believes that he reprogrammed his own inner operating system in a way that has forever transformed his experience, and which he hopes may also be of value to others.
