The voices of the desert
The voices of the desert -or Mutant Message Down Under, by its original English title, is a biographical self-help and self-improvement fiction written by American biochemist, oriental doctor, and author Marlo Morgan. The work was published by Ediciones B | B Books in 1991, and had a reissue in 2005. Soon, Morgan's story accumulated a sum of 250.000 copies sold, and became a commercial success in the United States and other countries.
The readers were pleasantly surprised and ecstatic with the experiences that make up the story of Marlo Morgan, who, together with his publisher, I affirm that The voices of the desert It was a story inspired by his own experiences with an Australian tribe.. However, in 1996, a group of Aboriginal elders confronted the author about the verisimilitude of her work. At the end, Morgan admitted that his text No. was more than fiction.
Synopsis of The voices of the desert
A surprise call and the beginning of a journey
The plot begins when Marlo Morgan is summoned to a meeting with an Australian Aboriginal tribe known as The Real Ones.. The author felt an initial surprise when she received the news of her call, but, not being quite sure what awaited her, she went out to receive the one who would take her to the desert. Morgan was shocked when they went to pick her up in an open Jeep, which she had a hard time getting into because she was wearing high heels.
Later, the writer found herself surrounded by dunes and a hot sun. Once in the bowels of the arid Australian land, The authentic ones received her with a strange request. The aborigines They asked him to get rid of all his clothes so they could start the walkabouts, a trip aimed at learning that would last around three months. Marlo Morgan's outfit was burned and replaced with a traditional cloak, leaving the woman without any material possessions beyond that garment.
The mute walkers
Marlo Morgan says that The Authentic ones preserve ancestral rituals dedicated to all kinds of activities, such as waking up, hunting, searching for water, and dealing with foreigners. The first protocol that the woman witnessed had to do with a gift. The aborigines made her choose between several stones, and When he chose the one he liked the most, They allowed him to keep it, telling him that this would bring him luck.
However, the author reports that The Authentic do not usually communicate with words, but with gestures and, more properly speaking, with the mind. Yeah, According to Marlo Morgan, the tribe with whom she shared three months uses telepathy to express their opinions and feelings. The writer states that The Authentic Ones taught her that, if she has a heart free of lies, the mind is capable of saying everything, getting others to listen to her in the process.
The heat and the flies
The writer and The Authentics went much deeper into the desert, observing wonders, landscapes and animals that, on very few occasions, are seen at their peak. When the heat got too intense, the tribe showed Marlo Morgan how to combat it: They opened a hole and asked him to get into it. After her, they covered her up to her neck so that the sand would cleanse the impurities from her and cool her skin.
Later, the author complained about the vastness of flies thatThey constantly entered his ears, nostrils and mouth. Instead of chasing them away, The real ones explained to Morgan that she had to allow these things to flow, because insects were designed to purify their body. So the woman let them be hers, and increasingly became one with the nature of her environment, understanding that she should not fight it, but accept it and unite with her reality.
Thirst and requests
Subsequently, The real ones told Marlo Morgan that human beings must go through all of life's experiences, and that, if this did not happen, these events would repeat themselves again and again until the person in question learned their lessons. Consequently, they also told her that it was time for her to lead the tribe. At first she felt lost, because she didn't know the desert.
They spent three days without eating or drinking water, hungry, thirsty and hot. The writer turned to The Authentic Ones for help, but they only smiled, telling her that this was their process, their proof of life. At some point, Marlo heard a voice that told her “Be water, when you are like water you will find water.” Afterwards, Morgan put the stone she was carrying in her mouth, salivated, and then found a small hole that the rain had left for them some time ago.
The message of the work
Whether the adventures that Marlo Morgan lived in Australia are real or fictitious, the truth is that The voices of the desert has moved spiritualists and aseptics alike. The work, in large part, talks about the excesses of modern cities, and about how human beings have contributed to the pollution, extinction and subsequent death of the terrestrial flora and fauna. Likewise, it refers to the fact that we all have the capacity to be creative, intuitive and kind.
About the author, Marlo Morgan
Marlo Morgan was born in 1937, in Iowa, United States. He completed his high school studies at St. Agnes High School. Later, studied at Barstow Community College, University of Missouri, as well as at Cleveland Chiropractic College, where he earned a doctorate in biochemistry and oriental medicine. She worked as a doctor for a few years, while she moved to Missouri and got married. Two children were born from this union.
25 years later, the author divorced and left her medical career to dedicate herself to literature full time. However, his first novel brought with it a controversy that marked his career forever.
After the publication of The voices of the desert, Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation collected, an Australian Aboriginal association, presented a study that indicates that there is no evidence that the author has presented herself with any tribe of that country.
The group declared that it seemed worrying that their tradition and culture were being distorted by a message that they have never given.. On the other hand, Marlo Morgan still gives lectures regarding his alleged experiences during his days with The Authentics.