Books
Tim Lewis has published twelve books of poetry, history, short stories and full-length fiction. Seven remain in print, and there are limited numbers of three others available. Two remain unobtainable, other than through specialist bookstores, where first editions can cost hundreds of dollars.
Tim’s life work has concentrated on several keys themes. All his writings deal with these these themes, which is why most of his books (excluding the histories) are collated into one cycle of work: the Return2Being Cycle.
The Return2Being Cycle
The Return2Being Cycle comprises five novels, a travel/self discovery book, and a book of spiritual and moral philosophy. In this cycle, Tim explores the conflicts and contradictions in our present social and political forms and in our religious and spiritual beliefs. He investigates various options for our future, including new social constructs and spiritual ideas.
Tim feels that our present social and political forms leave a lot to be desired. They are dominated by powerful state machines over which we have very little control, and are run by political parties who listen more to the rich and powerful than to the dispossessed and disempowered. Far more money is spent on repressive military, police and prison programs than on health, education, housing, community projects, the arts and the environment.
He believes that spiritually we have been lied to by all religions and that we need to be totally free of them. We each need to discover a spiritual path that is our own and is free from dogmatic self-righteousness and inflexible doctrine, and that enables us to reach out to all human beings, all creatures, and our environment as a whole; a spirituality based on our mutual needs and destiny.
This philosophy is fully outlined in You Are All and in several articles on this website.
As part of this philosophy, he offers all his current books for FREE download as PDF files, as well as in purchasable hardcopies. If you take advantage of these free downloads, please enjoy the books and send Tim your comments, but also respect his copyright over the material. If you wish to use it for any other purpose than to read it yourself (or pass it on to a friend), please ask Tim first. Thank you.
Tim feels that the people of the world need to come together, organize to take power into their own hands, and replace established religions and states if we are to achieve a world in which all people can live in harmony, where conflicts are resolved peacefully, where all cultures are equally respected, and where we control our own economic, social, political and spiritual destinies.
Above all: We are all.
Each part of the Return to Being Cycle stands on its own, with different characters and locations. The cycle is involved with common themes, but each book can be read separately. These themes involve characters struggling to overcome their own individual problems and the limitations and contradictions of their societies as they participate in experiments to create better societies.
Novels for a New Age
The five novels in the Cycle comprise the Novels for a New Age. These stories explore issues around the present inadequacies and conflicts of our cultural structures and our struggle to find new ways of living. They take characters caught up in struggles to find meaning in their lives, whether it is in terms of family, loving relationships, spiritual freedom, economic justice, or political democracy. They explore the ludicrous obscenities of our present societies and look at ways to achieve better models in which to live:
Amandla Salaam sees a group of exiled colonists on a tiny tropical island where they are imprisoned by a troop of gendarmes as part of some experiment in social control. The exiles come from all countries and backgrounds, representing every major political and religious viewpoint of the 20th century. They struggle to find some form of life together as the main character, Amandla Salaam, searches for her own personal freedom from both an oppressive husband and memories of her equally oppressive mother.
Pisspote’s Progress follows King Arthur’s jester through a country ruled by an evil witch-queen who is trying to turn the clock back on every aspect of society. As he bumbles through this mess, the ugly, selfish jester is forced to confront his own inner demons and come to terms with who he is. Personal transformation – the discovery of self-love, compassion and community caring – are as vital to building a new society as political and economic change.
Mehtanawack explores an island (Long Island) torn apart by the enforced and rapid transformation from one social system to another. It explores the benefits and costs of such a transformation, debates the conflicts involved, and shows what a new society based on caring, sharing and belong might look like.
The Mayabharata explores these same issues within the context of modern India. It plunges us into traditional Indian life, with its castes and corruption, and journeys with the main characters as they fight to transform the village into a place of equality and respect, where everyone can flourish. The village is a microcosm of the immense problems facing, not just India, but the whole world as we attempt to find a better way to live.
The Martyrdom of Innocents takes a historical look back at the terrible cost those who fight for social change must sometimes pay. We are thrown among the British coal miners during their historical strike to preserve their lives, families and communities; we are part of the horrific apartheid regime that legislates against love and affection and caring of any sort between races; and we journey to India where we see the cost that young Muslims pay as tools for extremist beliefs. But ultimately, we live through the terrible price our two lovers had to pay for caring about the world and attempting to transform it against the will of state interests.
Personal Philosophy and Experience
Tim’s work also comprises two books that reflect his own spiritual and philosophical journey: a book of spiritual philosophy and a book of spiritual transformation and travel.
Journey to the Center of My Being is a fictionalized account of a journey Tim took in a motorhome across the American High West one summer. Leaving behind an abusive, traumatic relation, he journey for 3 months across Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, Oregon and California in search of himself and a deeper meaning to life. He discovered his own depths of transformation and emerged with a powerful sense of the joy and wonder of All - of our intimate and total connection with the universe.
During this journey, Tim recorded and systemized his philosophical, spiritual, moral
and social ideas in a short work
called You Are All.
We must all free ourselves from the straightjackets that religions and priests impose
upon us. We must find our own spirituality, free from all ideologies and dogmas,
that are based on compassion, love and togetherness. This booklet takes us from the
nature of matter – all is interaction and change – to a profound spirituality free
of gods and heavens and hells, to a morality based on our love for and connection
to all things. That morality forms the basis of a new set of social principles –
being, belonging, caring and sharing – upon which all societies should be built.
Histories and Poetry
As well as novels and spiritual journeys, Tim has written several histories and collections of short stories. Three are out of print: Coventry Voices, which looked at Coventry, England, during the economic depression of the early 1980s to see how the community coped with the loss of jobs and closed factories. Moonlight Sonata is an account of the bombing of Coventry by the Germans in the Second World War. Commissioned by the Coventry City Council, it witnesses the night of terrible devastation through the eyes of the people of the city.
The third of these books, The Human Shield, while out of print, is available here for free download, and copies are available over the Internet through various bookstores – but they may be expensive. This book chronicles the story of the hostages held by Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kuwait, as well as their families organized in the Gulf Support Group.
The one history still in print is The Virginiad, a history of Virginia in poetry, written from the point-of-view of ordinary people, such as slaves, indentured servants, farmers and office workers. It deals with people usually marginalized by history, such as women, children and the poor. We see the great leaders and events of Virginia’s history through the eyes of their servants or people around them, to build a picture of the emotions, thoughts and ideals that drove our forefathers to build America.
