Acceptance

by Yuriria Harris

The near future. The fundamentalist priest Msrah rises to power in Europe and reignites radicalism within the Fraternity of Light. Moderates and reformers either flee, or are summary executed. The young scientist Adam, burdened by a dramatic secret past, falls in love with the rebellious new prisoner Ela who is destined to perish as a sex slave. While Adam desperately seeks to save her life, and that of the captured children who are to be indoctrinated and used in the cruelest of plans, he discovers a shocking truth that can change the course of history. With its groundbreaking new perspective on humanity based on the latest neuroscientific discoveries, Yuriria Harris’ novel is not only touching and thrilling, but also provocative and inspirational. Leaving the simplistic and stale notion of “the good” and “the bad” far behind, she effortlessly accompanies the reader into a vision that is nothing less than a cultural and sociological revolution.

268 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2018

About the author

I was born in Mexico City in 1972, my mother was a mathematician and social activist; my father, a physicist, was also involved in politics. Throughout my adolescence I was brought up in an indigenous community on the outskirts of Puebla, a city in Central Mexico, in which was located the science institute where my father worked. Since I was a little girl, I have been confronted by the great injustices that poor people in my country suffer. A typical weekend was spent in leftist political rallies, meetings of dispossessed peasants-farmers, widows of massacre victims seeking out a living, prostitutes fighting for the right to health services while being harassed by the authorities, battered women, citizens without drinking water, and hungry children.

At 19 years of age I left my family, rebelling against their expectations of me to become a great scientist. I was predestined for a life of laboratory work with physics or biology; my mission was to advance my country on the path of industrialization, something I disagreed with profoundly. I dreamed of dancing, of freeing my body from the prison in which it lived, and liberating other people from whatever it was which made them so indifferent to the suffering of others. I set off for Europe on a one way ticket with the equivalent of 500 euros and a small suitcase which carried the book that inspired my adventure: ‘The life of Isadora Duncan’. I began in Italy knowing not a soul, just renting a room for a month to sign up to the language school of Perugia. My goal: to find a dance school that was free and creative. Italy was just a stepping stone, my destination was north.

After a year of cleaning houses as an illegal immigrant in Germany and having shown my parents I would do anything to achieve my dreams, I passed the entrance audition for the University of Arts in Amsterdam to study contemporary choreography in their "School for New Dance Development".

On leaving the school I founded a company of improvisation. I've always been obsessed with teamwork and cooperation. I danced on stage with other companies and settled in Brussels. I married, I divorced, then I married my current husband and now have a son.

As well as my career as a choreographer, I was dedicated to activism. I was very involved in the early years of the Zapatista rebellion, and along with a friend we wrote a book hoping to find the necessary support to prevent the slaughter being orchestrated by successive Mexican governments. When the Indians were more or less safe, I focused on my activism within ecology and media manipulation.

When my son was born in 2005, my husband and I decided to stop protesting and transform our lives. We sold everything, we took two bags: one with permaculture books and the other with our clothes. And while carrying my baby in my shawl we went to the mountains of Michoacan in Mexico to look for some land on which we could set up a self-sufficient ranch, hoping to inspire all around us to follow the same path. But it was useless. Sad and discouraged we returned to Belgium, where we engaged intensively with Zen Buddhism. Our question: what is happening in the heads of all those who do not care about the future of the planet?

I am a fan of everything that has to do with the human mind, especially neuroscience. I avidly study scientific research and I am intrigued by autism, gifted people, as well as people who are considered 'normal'. I am a radical environmentalist. I truly believe that taking care of our ecosystems is synonymous with taking care of ourselves.