Synopsis
Reader reviews
Whether or not you see eye to eye with every word; there is no reservation in my mind that Cathy Preston’s Return to One gives its readers a distinctive opportunity to think together about the unquestioned viewpoints and assumptions that have fashioned who we are. Return to One is more than a masterful narrative of adventure and suspense. It is a rich source of compelling ideas from an author who dares us to question our beliefs.
Preston's style of writing is edgy, easy or as urgent as the storyline requires. She creates the illusion that you are there, watching as the story unfolds, rather than curled up on the couch in your living room. She also demonstrates her ability to balance the character introductions and byplay against a well-written tale. Return to One is a solid tale rich with character exploration and action.
RTO engages the reader from beginning to end. It satisfies on EVERY level. It will unglue you. It will stun and shock you. It will rearrange EVERYTHING you've learned and assumed about life, love and human interaction.
Return to One, by artist, poet, lecturer, author, Cathy Preston is a winning blend of amiable characters and damn good storytelling. It is part spiritual odyssey and part rousing adventure. Return to One has it all. If read, you’ll read it more than once.
Drew Alden Lee
Norfolk, VA, USA
I recently read this wonderful book which got me hooked right from the start. I found it a completely unique read, unlike anything I've ever read – and I've read a few!
There is a largeness to it that took my breath away, particularly in the third part and the ending. It is packed full of spiritual truth but not for one moment did I feel "preached to". The author manages to weave those messages into the experience and conversations of the characters. It is about Oneness and it is about individuality too. And I feel it’s about the place where the two meet.
The amazing thing is that I felt ever so often that the story was about myself and my own journey - in fact I think it is about the journey of all of us. And the book is about each one of us and the ONE of us.
After finishing the book I felt a huge YES in myself – there was comfort and relief. Maybe what I am trying to say is that I found a remembering of what I know deep down, but wrapped in a unique and surprising package.
There is so much more of course, symbolism, archetypal and psychological truths and insights. What I find most amazing is that I got to read this book at a time on my own journey when it really hits home.
I think Cathy Preston has created an amazing and deeply affecting story and one that I will read again and again. For me it's not just a work of art but a true story, even though the details may not be found in "real life". The essence and the message feel totally true.
I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.
Dagmar Eberhardt
Wiltshire, England
Journey Back to Oneness
So here we have it. Cathy Preston's first book has finally reached the light of day. What was going to be 'ever increasing circles' has homed in on the heart of the matter. . It's clear Cathy has put her heart and soul into this story
This is a tale of epic proportions yet it never deserts the raw processes of human existence. It weaves our everyday reality into a myth of heroic discovery. Although the story is, of necessity, linear, it is, indeed, mightily mythical and not without its biblical connotations. But it does not beat about the 'burning bush'. It beats with it.
For me, a myth must be super-imposed on one's every moment. All is available in every moment. It can be our template for living. This myth, is one of our deepest felt longing...to know Love. It uses that idealised romantic love between persons, as can Life anyway, to lead one on to the ultimate knowing of no separation. That last great 'duality' of male and female are called to resolve into the heart of the matter. The main players in this earth-shattering and earth-moulding drama, Misha and Lec, are drawn inch by inch into the intrigue that is, at once our own hearts poignant and prophetic longing. This is a template whereby any one of us might, too, become heroes, simply by a childlike listening and surrendering to our deepest longings, to our heartsong.
Edmund Croucher
Hampshire, England
Alexander's Review
"Return to One" captures the heart of a personal and universal journey in natural depth that is not esoteric, but still enlightening. The author, from her own life experience, has skillfully illuminated a path we all seek, but don't quite know how to find. Quite early into the book readers will notice many insightful truths present themselves. However, the real treasure lies in allowing oneself enough freedom to be drawn into the journey. In that process readers will come to find an endeavor of equal capacity of that expressed in the novel within their own personal potential, one that will invariably lead into the depths of the innermost soul.
Cathy has a talent for communicating the essential elements of our deeper reality in a way that non-fictional writers cannot begin to accomplish. There is an awareness that shines through her writing and penetrates archetypal issues the individual person is faced with. The portrayal of those issues is deeply philosophical, yet humbly unpretentious in the same light. To her readers, she has offered this book as a present, a short, but vibrantly evocative reunion with the Divine One. Those on a personal life-journey, no matter on what road, are destined to find this novel a diamond along the path.
Many known novelists have captured the essence of the human experience, but none have explored the spiritual experience in a fiction work as well as Cathy has done in this one. "Return to One" explores that essence of raw human "being-ness" which embroils experiences one cannot explain with the rational mind, and it does so in a most natural and intelligible language.
Even though those peak experiences of Truth tend to be such a rare gem for the modern individual, Cathy brings no mood of lacking to her words. The novel has an abundant aura of storytelling capacity intertwined into it, it radiates a natural brilliance and many chapters underpin deeply moving spiritual truths. Cathy brings in many elements into her writing that draw her readers into the very worlds and experiences of the characters, for instance, here is a short excerpt from the book:
It slowly became night, and as the sun slid behind the hills and the sky turned a rich indigo hue, then a deep dark blue, and the stars pricked the sky with pinpoints of brilliant light, at last they felt the tiredness that had been denied them. There, in that cold night, with hard earth beneath them and stone as a backrest they fell asleep. Strangely it felt warm, safe and comfortable.
"Return to One" feeds our deepest spiritual cravings and highlights the inward path to self-realization intuitively rather than dogmatically. I believe this book is long overdue to the world -- it impels a voyage in which we are granted a rare chance to rediscover the lost light of our true being. Spiritual seekers, and those of us who are just curious, will find both inner satisfaction and unanticipated delight in reading this novel. Each chapter in "Return to One" has come together to make a substantial impact on my life-perspectives. It is truly a unique and classic tale worth reading and re-reading many times.
Alexander De Foe, Australia
Andrew's Review
Return to One is an enchanting tale of the human rite of passage like no other. It describes the journey of spiritual discovery that every earthbound soul must ultimately undertake during the course of our lives; the journey that leads to the evolution of human consciousness. This book clearly shows us that although we exist as individual human beings, at the spiritual level we're all connected within the Source of Being, the Cosmic Mind – the One – and that although we each follow our own personal path, these 'different' paths all lead to the same grand destination where opposites become blissfully redundant.
Another well-expressed theme is the feeling of apparent isolation experienced by the initiate of the mysterious One. For in this materialistic world, who among the seekers of Truth and Freedom has never felt small and alone in their quest, desperately searching for like minds with which to unite? And yet, as Return to One shows us, this isolation is an illusion, for there is no separation besides that which we create in our own minds.
Return to One is, for me, a return to Hope.
Andrew K. Rippon, South Africa
Andrea's Review
In "Return to One" by Cathy Preston, the reader will find an exciting journey of two young people that truly parallels the journey we all must take in this life. There are no guarantees, but we are asked to trust in the knowledge of something "bigger" than ourselves. To do this takes great courage and faith. Most cannot do this, but the two young people, Misha and Lec, in "Return to One" show us how it is a natural progression to truly find ourselves and our "oneness" with all that exists.
In this book, Cathy uses the characters of Misha and Lec to show the nature of human beings. These two people are common, and normal in every way. They are restricted by their societal customs and the duties and obligations of living in a family and village unit. Both feel the pull to be more than this, and yet, they fear what this could mean, as well. Eventually, circumstances allow the two of them to set out on their own and discover the nature of their true selves as they learn to listen from within, and hear the voice of Gaha. By doing this, the two find that they are truly not separate from the world in any way. Yes, they have certain abilities that others do not have- or neglect to embrace, but, through this, they are better able to see the connectedness, the infinite oneness, the vast tapestry of reality that holds us all together as one being-Life.
Cathy examines many things in this book. The dynamics of familial relationships are presented. She looks at our responses to the obligations that we allow to hold us back. She also examines the ways that we "fail" in relationships due to our own sense of being set "apart" from others. It is only through pain that we can sometimes understand just how "at one" we are with everyone and everything around us. Cathy clearly understands this and illustrates this concept in "Return to One."
"Return to One" also looks at the misdirection that someone with "special" abilities might take when in pain or at a loss as to what to do. Misha feels lonely and distant and cold at times when Lec is absorbed into the affairs of daily life. A unique relationship exists between them whereby a certain boundary cannot be crossed. Eventually, through acceptance of the fact that there is no real boundary, the two people understand that we are all One. We are all here together as One. Cathy takes a difficult and to a certain extent-controversial- idea and presents it in such a way as to convey the natural sense of this idea to the reader.
"Return to One" is an easy book to be entranced by. Cathy's words flow freely and honestly as if she is speaking from personal experience and conveying these situations and scenarios from a first hand account. More than this though, she has created characters that everyone-yes, everyone- can relate to. There is no one out there that could not identify with Misha and Lec as they go through their trials and tribulations, their learning journey, together.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone seeking a better understanding of the nature of the Universe, a better understanding of the self, or anyone seeking to understand the nature of restriction and obligation. We are free and must allow others to be free as well. Only through freedom can we truly understand ourselves and the nature of all "that is." Cathy Preston certainly illustrates this idea in her book, "Return to One." This is a must-read for all that desire more in their lives.
Andrea Hendryx
Texas USA
Sample Chapters
Misha drew a circle in the sand with the tip of her finger. Circles had always fascinated her. She wasn't entirely sure why, maybe because they had no beginning and no end, they just went on and on. She felt they somehow held the answer to the question that lay deep inside her, a question she could not even put into words or make any real sense of. As long as she could remember she had known there was more to life than could be seen, heard or touched. One day she would find out what it was.
She sat back and looked across the lake. What a beautiful tranquil place this was. There was no sound but the gentle whisperings of nature; the water lapping on the shore, the rustle of the breeze in the trees, birds wheeling in the sky. None of these sounds disturbed her thoughts or feelings. The mountains that flanked the lake on the horizon seemed to enclose this place from any outside disturbance, her special sanctuary.
"Misha!"
She turned, startled to see Lec running down the banking.
"Your mother wants you. She has more chores for you. I knew I would find you here. What's so special about this place?"
"There is no one to ask me endless questions usually" Misha replied.
Lec laughed. "You always manage to turn things round!" He sank down on the ground beside her.
Misha looked at him with great fondness. At seventeen Lec was two years her senior and was beginning to turn into a man. She had known him as long as she could remember. He was almost like a brother, but was much more than that. She could be herself with him, and it never disturbed or worried him.
She wondered what the future held for their friendship. Childhood was a time of relative freedom, rules were lax and discovery and adventure were encouraged. Adulthood was an entirely different matter. Men and women were virtually segregated except in marriage, and there were hundreds of silly rules Misha could make no real sense of. It wasn’t far away, particularly for Lec, and she could almost feel the grief she was going to have to endure.
"Come on, we'd better go before your mother get angry" said Lec, and taking her hand pulled her up the banking.
As they walked Lec told her about all the excitement that had been going on in the village. Apparently Nira and Tickhara had come to blows over the rights to a washing line that hung between their homes. Both being loud by nature virtually the entire village had ended up becoming involved.
"You should have seen it!" related Lec with relish, "It was ridiculous. Everyone was taking sides, and everyone had a point of view. The trouble was they were all talking at once, so no one could hear what anyone else was saying. Then all of a sudden Vena appeared, smiled, clapped her hands and said 'Nira, you have the line on even days, Tickhara you have the line on odd days. Let us have peace now'. Then it was over. I think they were all a bit disappointed, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they accepted it and went home."
Vena. That was who she needed to talk to. Why hadn't she thought of it before?
After she had completed her chores Misha lay down in her sleeping corner and tried to gather her thoughts. She was a little afraid. Vena was so wise. She advised the council and most adults would consult her if there were disputes they could not settle. What would she make of little Misha paying her a visit? Perhaps she would laugh and dismiss her, or would she get cross? She had never seen Vena angry, and she feared that. She hated anger anyway; it never seemed to solve anything. The men of the village seemed to rule with the threat of anger or punishment, and it didn’t make for happy people.
What did she want to ask? She didn’t really know, except for the aching question inside her; and she couldn't ask Vena that because she didn't know what it was.
She turned her head as she heard a sound. It was her father entering through the heavy curtain that was the door of their home. He padded quietly across the hay that softened and warmed the ground and knelt beside her.
"My little Misha, why so solemn, why so alone?" he asked gently, not expecting an answer, "Why are you so different from other children? I love you dearly, yet I fear for your future. What man would want such a still, deep wife?"
Misha took his hand. "I cannot be but who I am father. I love you too. Could I not stay in this peaceful home?"
"I wish it were that easy" he replied, "but you know the way we are. I will try and find you a man who has the same gentleness you do, but it will not be easy. Still…." and he visibly brightened," we do not have to worry yet. Let us both enjoy the childhood you have left."
He kissed her and went to build the fire in preparation for the meal Misha's mother would be cooking.
Misha closed her eyes. She had so little time to find some answers. She could not bear the thought of being a wife and having to fit in with all the rules and regulations of the village. It felt as if her life was going to end in a few short years. Life was so full of mysteries and she longed to understand them, explore the nature of her being, to find the invisible which hung over her and called to her in every moment.
When she woke in the morning, in that half sleeping state she could almost touch it, it seemed to caress her. She would curl up in its warmth and love, not understanding anything of it other than knowing that it was safe, and that it wanted and loved her.
She had never dared to speak of such things, even to Lec. When she was tiny she had assumed that everyone experienced this. As she grew older it became obvious by their behaviour that they did not. As time passed she hugged it closer to herself, feeling more and more isolated and different.
She turned on her back, and staring beyond the seen came to a decision. Whatever the cost she must follow this. Wherever it took her, however much it hurt, she would go where it led. She was flooded with a sense of relief, but in the back of her mind was also a deep fear. She chose to ignore it.
Hovering nervously outside Venas house Misha seriously questioned her decision. If she lacked the courage to speak to Vena she doubted her ability to see this whole thing through. Perhaps it would be better to conform and live a safe life. She ran this possibility through her mind, but stamped across it was one word: boring. Besides, she knew this unknown thing was not just going to go away and leave her in peace. It would probably get stronger as time went on, it had so far. No, she had made a decision and the time for dithering was over.
She took a deep breath and prepared herself. At the same moment Vena popped her head out of the doorway.
"Ah, there you are. I was wondering if you’d ever make up your mind," she said.
On one level Misha was completely stunned; how had Vena known she was even thinking of speaking to her? On another, much deeper level it all made complete sense. It certainly confirmed that she had made the right decision.
"Come in child, let us begin" said Vena and held open her door curtain.
Misha, wide eyed, entered and looked around the large space. She had expected to see all sorts of mysterious objects but this place was incredibly simple. There was an emptiness about the room, yet it seemed heavy with expectancy. Misha imagined that if she could see the invisible Vena's house would be filled to overflowing with it.
She was shown to one of the colourful rugs that were arranged around the fire.
"I expect you are wondering where to begin, what questions to ask" said Vena, "Don’t worry, if you are open to the possibilities the right words will come. You must bear in mind however that without a question there will be no possibility of an answer."
Misha looked into Vena's eyes. There she saw eternity, love and encouragement. Doors opened in her mind and she knew the right questions would come.
"Can you answer any question?" She asked.
"I will respond to each question, but many will not produce an answer, only another question for you to follow."
"What is this feeling inside me, and why does it make me see everything differently from other folk?"
Vena smiled, a patient look on her face. "That, my dear is more than one question. It is many, many questions. Try again. Reach down deep inside yourself and find the beginning. Take your time, this goes beyond time."
They both sat in silence facing the fire. It was a good silence. Misha began to relax.
"How did you know I was coming to see you?"
"A good question" replied Vena, "I knew from the moment your mother placed you in my arms, just a tiny baby, that this moment would come."
"How?"
"Think, ask a different question." Vena touched Misha’s arm reassuringly.
"This feeling inside me, you have it too, I know it," Misha said, "What or who is it?"
Vena, surprisingly, threw her arms around Misha and whispered in her ear, with almost a giggle in her voice: "That, my dear, is Gaha."
Gaha. Misha rolled the name around in her mind. It has a familiar ring to it, though she had no recollection of having heard it before.
"Vena, who is Gaha?"
"I suggest you ask them. It’s time you got to know them, but how can you get to know anyone without talking to them? Speak, listen, look. Everywhere you go be awake and aware. Find a new way to listen and a new way to look. They are in everything you see.
I'm sure you have hundreds of questions to ask me now, but we will meet again very soon. The quality of your questions will change as you open yourself to Gaha. It is an exciting time for you Misha, but so important to take one step at a time."
Misha rose from the floor, knowing that her time with Vena was over for now.
"Thank you Vena, I am so glad you are here to help me. I will do my best."
Vena smiled, and putting her arms around Misha's shoulders, guided her out of the house.
"For now, speak to no one of this," she said, and was gone
