Customer Reviews
A journey for westerners into the culture of the Aboriginies
This is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. Although at first I did not like the style of writing, Morgan redeems herself with a fantanstic story of the natives of Australia. I have always been interested in Native cultures, but Morgan outdoes herself as she teaches Westerners how the "original people" live from day to day. As the main character makes her way from present-day Australia to the outskirts of what we call civilization, she learns the customs of the Aboriginies. I learned how far us humans have come from living with (not against) mother earth. The Aboriginies live a different, and possibly a better existence on earth than I have ever known. All people will gain a sense of what it means to live when they finish this book. I ask all peoples of all cultures to learn about this beautiful culture.
New Age Trash
"Mutant Message Down Under" describes the secuestration of a medical worker, who apparently bears an uncanny resemblance to Ms. Morgan, by a tribe of Australian aborigines that are unknown to, and whose existence is apparently unsuspected by, the Australian government. They train her in tribal lore, advise her of a message for the rest of us on the outside, and send her back to twentieth century reality. Ms. Morgan states that this is a work of fiction, but makes it clear that she is casting it in a fictional format to protect the identity of the aboriginal tribe that chose her to transmit this sublime message, and that in fact this is a true story. In creating a book of this sort Ms. Morgan has managed to satisfy several audiences.
One audience she pleased is lunatic fringe New Agers who prefer this sort of airy fairy, feel good way of getting in touch with ourselves and Mother Earth, and which unfortunately poses as a serious form of spirituality. An important subgroup within this species is comprised of those individuals that like stories about UFO abductions; Ms. Morgan should be congratulated on coming up with a new and interesting variation on this rather well-worn theme.
Other readers no doubt found satisfaction that her main character was a middle-aged woman, which is a rare species to find as a protagonist on a mission from God in most extant literature. It was no doubt this factor that gave the book appeal to Oprah Winfrey, who included it on her list of recommended reads - that and the fact that although it is a whole 224 pages long, the print is large and there aren't too many long words.
Unfortunately for Ms. Morgan, it also attracted attention from Aboriginal groups in Australia, along with a number of anthropologists that have worked with Native Australians, and it was clear that whatever Ms. Morgan thought she was describing, she had no idea whatsoever what Aboriginal life was like; in fact, the book is a rehash of derivative literature on Aboriginal life, leavened with some Native American spirituality where the details weren't too clear, maybe spiced with a piquant touch of Bushman lore from Southern Africa, and heavily interlarded with a healthy dose of Ms. Morgan's imagination.
That Ms. Morgan should attempt something like this is not too surprising; Carlos Castaneda managed to do the same thing, only he did it much better; in fact, he fooled an entire generation. James Redfield also did something similar with the "Celestine Prophecy".
The difference between Ms. Morgan on the one hand, and Mr. Castaneda and his Yaquis or Mr. Redfield and his Incas on the other, is that these others were dealing with ethnic groups that largely didn't read English and didn't pay much attention to what is said about them; among Australian Aborigines, however, there is an organized, articulate group that are committed to maintaining their property rights and are very concerned with the image projected about them to the rest of the world.
Ms. Morgan has apparently gone on record for "apologizing" the the Aborigines, although her apology has not kept her from writing a second book on this same idiocy. If she really feels apologetic she should consider funding some of her considerable profits for this book to support Aboriginal rights in Australia. It's the least she owes them for exploiting their culture and folkways to pander to the audience for half-baked spirituality.
As is so often the case with this sort of thing, the devil is in the details, and if you're interested in pursuing those details that make this story come apart at the seams you can search for "Dumbartung" on your computer to be taken to an Aboriginal website that has a great amount of detail on the subject.
As for Aboriginal spirituality, if you're really interested in the subject you're better off reading James Cowan's books. As arguably the oldest continuous culture in the world, I believe that the Aborigines have a lot to teach us about spiritual matters. It's a shame that the most readily available way it is being served up these days is in a sideshow caricature like this.
Fantastic
This is a fantastic book, it is one of the books that lets you reconsider all the superficial things one tends to worry about.
I wanna share some of the quotes I particulary liked in the book.
How would one put a coin in a telephone, dial a number and call someone?? We use mental telepathy...
According to the Aborigines, there are no misfits, or accidents, just mysteries not yet revealed by man.
Everything exists for a certain purpose.
We don't celebrate getting older, we celebrate getting wiser and better.
All in all this book helps you to learn so much more about the culture of this indigenous people than you could ever do through any other book.....
I recommend it highly and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!!
