The Mystery of Us

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.

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.