Reena struggles to preserve the life of her unborn child. The sacrifices she makes, and the changes that occur once Tremlo is born, are quite dramatic. In one sense extreme, in another rooted in a certain reality.
What does this say about the process and pressures of motherhood?
What are some of the shifts and changes you can relate with?
2. Tremlo is born with excruciating sensitivities. It is painful for others to be near him, and this inadvertently sets up a pattern of isolation.
What might this say about childhood trauma, and how it can impact us throughout our lives?
3. Jormah is forced the leave the safety and sanctity of the tribe. Donan assures him that he is the right person to go.
What does this say about an “outsider’s” role in society?
Think of a time you felt like an outsider. What was that experience like for you?
4. Jormah meets the Carooh. Their culture and understanding of the world are very different.
What were some of the things Jormah learned from them?
What are some of the things the Carooh learned from him?
How might each of their lives have changed because of the exchange?
5. Knowledge and ritual are often passed down from one generation to another through mentorship. Mortulla is Kenectka’s mentor and Donan is Stelbin’s.
Did you have a mentor in your life? If so, what was that like?
Were you ever a mentor for someone else? How was that experience similar and/or different?
6. The Rehloy are a people with heightened sensitivities. So much so, that they need a system of psychology to balance themselves. The ‘mind-of-the-body’ is a tool or narrative they developed to look at themselves.
Is there a modern equivalent?
How might we benefit from such a system?
7. In several places the book personifies nature.
How might thinking of nature as a living being change our relationship to it?
8. The Rehloy’s perceptions of the world contributed to the creation of their culture.
Can you think of examples of a worldview that shaped the Carooh? The Ontarans?
What are some examples of how our own worldview shapes our culture?
9. The process of colonization is one of the underlying threads to the story. The story of a technological culture overcoming an indigenous one is seen throughout history.
How might indigenous cultures typically survive in the aftermath?
What is the role of ritual?
All chapters about the Rehloy begin with quotes. Some are philosophical, some psychological, some winsome. They are designed to convey their mindset and world view.
Here are a few examples and questions to reflect on:
1. “The light we cast, is what we see.” –Early Ruminations
What does this mean to you?
Can you site examples from your own life?
2. “What we touch, touches us.
We know ourselves by the other.”—Early Ruminations.
How does the outside world give shape to our ideas of ourselves?
—And Furthermore (see next question)—
3. “Soft thoughts beside a waterfall.
Harsh thoughts in the blazing sun,
Inner states look for invitation.” — Elements
How do external events influence what we think and how we feel in a given moment?
4. “A leaf from a distance is a leaf.
A leaf held close, a universe.” — Land Speak
What does this say about our perception of reality?
5. “Clouds block the sun’s rays.
Moods, our inner light.” — Land Speak
What is the sun in relation to the clouds?
Who are we separate from our moods?
How can it help to remember this in any given moment?
6. “To love without owning is love.
To own what one loves is greed.” — Ruminations
This is a strong statement.
What do you think the author means?
How does this relate to the idea of unconditional love?
7. “False prayer asks,
True prayer celebrates.” —Ethial
What’s the difference between asking for help and being in a state of grace?
Can they be related?
8. “Lose everything, find yourself.
Find yourself, find everything.” — Ethial
What does one have to lose in order to find oneself?
Midwest Book Review — (For Libraries)
It is said that 'one door opens when another closes.' Such could apply to the events of Loy: In the Forests of the Mind, which opens with the scenario of a humanity of the future stripped of all its technological wonders, with people born blind until they hit puberty. This situation forces the remnants of humanity to build extraordinary senses before they evolve into adulthood and are granted the gift of vision, which serves as another layer augmenting reality rather than being the main sense that perceives and translates the world.
The story opens with an event that changes everything, prompting Daniel's decision to lead his family on an outing to a cave that winds up sheltering them from disaster. An edible plant feeds them, but in fact it does much more. It transforms them into survivors of this apocalypse.
Readers who anticipate the usual progression of apocalyptic events, rebuilding, and struggle will find that Loy operates on a less predictable, more metaphysical level as it follows the growth of a spiritual culture and what happens when it confronts an industrial force that threatens to tear down the physical and spiritual forces driving this new world.
Descriptions of this process of takeover and change provide vivid observations about the horror of change that arrives to once again transform the world:
"A nearby meadow was invaded and tented. The muffled sounds sent a new sensation through the land. Garbled voices became prominent. That night, flickering points of firelight burned their way deep into the forest. The following day flat, stabbing sounds pierced the air as trees came under attack. Men with axes moved with unmerciful speed. An area that had stood and sounded together for a millennium vanished within days. In their absence lay an open, desolate sound. Each day this emptiness grew. Each day a dull ache spread further through the land."
Todd David Gross paints a richer story of endings and beginnings than most dystopian or apocalyptic sci-fi, embedding these scenarios with spiritual and metaphysical components that capture the disparate approaches to life that each sector of humanity represents.
As shocking discoveries are made about these invaders and what they truly represent ("They kill their own kind!"), underlying messages about ecology, Spirit, darkness and light lead readers on as much a philosophical and intellectual journey as one of entertainment and discovery.
Different experiences drive characters that represent shifting realizations and realities, from a shaman driven from his home to both discover and lead his people to truth, to a mother struggling to protect her sensitive and extraordinarily blessed child, whose pain evolves into hope and strength.
As these disparate lives intersect, questions of connections between nature and humanity and a tunnel that leads to evolution and transformation come to light that brings readers into a milieu filled with new possibilities and discoveries.
Gross is especially adept at contrasting the changing natures of individuals and communities forced outside their comfort zones and into situations that test not just their perceptions of the world, but their choices in either engaging with or altering it.
Libraries and readers interested in apocalyptic sci-fi may at first think that the nature and setting of Loy: In the Forests of the Mind portends the usual read about physical struggles and adaptations, but the greater joy of this story lies in its mental and spiritual explorations. Sci-fi fans seeking higher-level thinking from their futuristic reading will find Loy: In the Forests of the Mind not just thought-provoking, but well suited to book club discussions. Topics range from the challenges of transformation and risk-taking to the bonds between people and paradigm-changing encounters with contemporary issues the world faces today, from diversity and inclusion to ecological awareness and global exploitation's impacts.