About
Vrinda Pendred – Founder of Conditional Publications
I have five neurological conditions myself: Tourette’s Syndrome, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, AD/HD, High-Functioning Autism and a mood disorder.
There really aren’t enough books and websites out there preaching positivity regarding these types of conditions – nor is there enough that expresses how truly difficult it can be to live with one of them (let alone more than one, as many people do).
Yet I have heard/read so many times that people with neurological disorders are usually highly creative people (indeed, many psychiatrists believe certain nervous disorders might even be a prerequisite to being so creative) – and that art/music/writing can be incredibly therapeutic.
This is why I wanted to start this imprint: to provide a creative outlet for people, and (hopefully) to change a few minds out there about what neurological disorders really are – including not just the limitations, pain or frustration, but also the more positive, beneficial ’symptoms’ of these strange conditions.
Involution-An Odyssey Reconciling Science to God
Description
<p>“<em>We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”(</em>Teilhard de Chardin<em>)</em></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;"><em>Involution-An Odyssey Reconciling Science to God </em> is as layered as a French cassoulet, as diverting, satisfying and as rich. Each reader will spoon this book differently. On the surface it seems to be a simple and light-hearted poetic journey through the history of Western thought, dominantly scientific, but enriched with painting and music. Beneath that surface is the sauce of a new evolutionary idea, involution; the informing of all matter by consciousness, encoded and communicating throughout the natural world. A book about the cathedral of consciousness could have used any language to paint it, but science is perhaps most in need of new vision, and its chronology is already familiar.</span></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">The author offers a bold alternative vision of both science and creation: she suggests that science has been incrementally the recovery of memory, the memory of evolution/involution</span><em style="line-height:1.6em;">.</em></p><p>“<em> Involution proposes that humans carry within them the history of the universe, which is (re)discovered by the individual genius when the time is ripe. All is stored within our DNA and awaits revelation. Such piecemeal revelations set our finite lives in an eternal chain of co-creation and these new leaps of discovery are compared to mystical experience</em>” (From a reviewer)</p><p>Each unique contributor served the collective and universal return to holism and unity. Thus the geniuses of the scientific journey, like the spiritual visionaries alongside, have threaded the rosary of science with the beads of inspiration, and through them returned Man to his spiritual nature and origin.</p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">The separation between experience and the rational intellect of science has, by modelling memory as theory, separated its understanding from the consciousness of all, and perceives mind and matter as separate, God and Man as distinct. This work is a dance towards their re-unification: Saints and scientists break the same bread.</span></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">All of time and all the disciplines of science are needed for the evidence. Through swift (and sometimes sparring) Cantos of dialogue between Reason and Soul, Philippa Rees takes the reader on a monumental journey through the history of everything – with the evolution of man as one side of the coin and involution the other. The poetic narrative is augmented by learned and extensive footnotes offering background knowledge which in themselves are fascinating. In effect there are two books, offering a right and left brain approach. The twin spirals of a DNA shaped book intertwine external and internal and find, between them, one journey, Man’s recovery of Himself., and (hopefully) the Creation’s recovery of a nobler Man.</span></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">From the same review “</span><em style="line-height:1.6em;">The reader who finishes the book will not be the same as the one who began it. New ideas will expand the mind but more profoundly, the deep, moving power of the verse will affect the heart.</em></p><p><em>(Marianne Rankin: Director of Communications, Alister Hardy Trust)</em></p><p> </p>
Story Behind The Book
Vrinda Pendred is a writer with 5 neurological conditions, including OCD. She met the other contributors to the book on OCD Tribe, a dedicated OCD social network. She soon decided to establish Conditional Publications as a specialist independent publishing house for writers like herself. 'Check Mates' is the company's first publication, and she hopes it will be the start of something inspirational.
Reviews
This powerful collection offers readers a rare and intimate glimpse into
the minds of those who struggle with OCD. We hope this book contributes
to a sense of community for those in their journey with OCD, as well as
helps to educate those who want to better understand what it is like to
live with OCD. --Ryan & Kristin FitzGerald - Founders, OCDTribe.com<br /><br />A
fascinating and enlightening read, so brave and honest. OCD: I never
really knew. And now I'm so glad I do. Thank you for this. --Nia Peeples
- Actress, Singer & Writer - Los Angeles, CA<br /><br />For far too
long, OCD has remained largely misunderstood and misrepresented around
the world. Stitched together in this collection of fiction and poetry is
a literary patchwork of OCD insights, each offering the unique wisdom
and intimacy of personal experience. What a wonderful opportunity this
book presents readers looking to understand such a complex and
multi-faceted disorder!<br /> --Jeff Bell - Author of When in Doubt, Make
Belief: An OCD-Inspired Approach to Living with Uncertainty and Rewind,
Replay, Repeat: A Memoir of OCD
