Ask the Author: Samuel Winburn
Answered Questions (3)
Samuel Winburn
I've always written from the time I could first write. This is likely a karmic disposition from my last life who was quite a prolific author in his time. So this habit has always been there. A better question would be, "what inspired you to write something for publication?" The answer to that question is that I felt that there was a story missing from our Time, and when it occurred to me what that story was I felt compelled to write it. That story portrayed a potential future that held to a Middle Way between Star Trek and a Mad Max Apocalypse, while tipping its hat to both. A future where our greatest challenge is not to change the world, but rather to allow change in ourselves.
Samuel Winburn
The sequel to Ten Directions entitled Three Times.
Samuel Winburn
This story began in an unusual way. That is to say it was unusual compared to my preconceptions of how your average work of fiction begins – with a central concept, a plot summary and outline, followed by the methodical execution of that plan. This story didn’t happen that way. This is what happened.
Whilst taking a shower 20 years ago, an artistic vision arose from one of my daydreams. The vision regarded a teaching by the Buddha on generating compassion through the visualization of breathing in the suffering of the world, dissolving one’s own suffering in that, and breathing out liberation from suffering for oneself and all beings. In this particular day dream, I imagined a monk on a remote planet breathing in the suffering of the universe in the form of a black hole, the densest and darkest phenomenon known to science, and breathing out compassion in the form of light. Inspired by the clarity of this vision, I wrote a short story, which is still my introduction to the character Kalsang in Chapter 4.
Thereafter, the whole book gradually and organically grew from this seed of a vision.
Providing soil for that seed was an early decision to set the scene in a world where, somehow, humanity has managed to survive the fall-out from our current ecological overshoot. This choice came as a natural consequence of my career helping develop the profession of environmental accounting, an important piece in the puzzle of achieving a sustainable future from out of our current mess. The climate and sky into which in this seed grew was a commitment to exploring the spiritual evolution of my characters, in an open way, as they navigated their way through the plot. In the process, the narrative became a mirror in which to reflect on my own Path, and many of the struggles of the characters became improvisations on my own inner struggles.
Whilst taking a shower 20 years ago, an artistic vision arose from one of my daydreams. The vision regarded a teaching by the Buddha on generating compassion through the visualization of breathing in the suffering of the world, dissolving one’s own suffering in that, and breathing out liberation from suffering for oneself and all beings. In this particular day dream, I imagined a monk on a remote planet breathing in the suffering of the universe in the form of a black hole, the densest and darkest phenomenon known to science, and breathing out compassion in the form of light. Inspired by the clarity of this vision, I wrote a short story, which is still my introduction to the character Kalsang in Chapter 4.
Thereafter, the whole book gradually and organically grew from this seed of a vision.
Providing soil for that seed was an early decision to set the scene in a world where, somehow, humanity has managed to survive the fall-out from our current ecological overshoot. This choice came as a natural consequence of my career helping develop the profession of environmental accounting, an important piece in the puzzle of achieving a sustainable future from out of our current mess. The climate and sky into which in this seed grew was a commitment to exploring the spiritual evolution of my characters, in an open way, as they navigated their way through the plot. In the process, the narrative became a mirror in which to reflect on my own Path, and many of the struggles of the characters became improvisations on my own inner struggles.
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