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Matakana resident Hugh Major came second in the unpublished category of the national Mind Body Spirit Literary Awards last month, winning $1000.
It is the fourth time Hugh has entered the awards, but the first time he has been a prizewinner. He says he plans to put the prize money towards publishing his book, From Monkey to Moth: An Imaginal Evolution.
After studying philosophy and English, Hugh became a high school English and drama teacher and has recently been teaching a philosophy course at Mahurangi College.
He moved to Mahurangi 12 years ago and now splits his time between writing and working as an artist.
Hugh says the book is a critique of modern, western culture, which he views as overly competitive and materialistic.
“We’ve ended up in a stage of our development which is very individualistic, competitive and patriarchal. It’s quite a brutish society, but I think we have the ability to change it. We could become more advanced by making a collective choice to reject the aspects of our culture which are so destructive. We need to find greater balance in our culture, based on cooperation.”
The genre mind, body and spirit has been tainted by angles, runes, homeopathy and self help books, he says.
“Unfortunately the genre incorporates those kind of things, but it also includes philosophy and speculative science. But Ashton Wylie started the awards to encourage writing that would help society become more cooperative and loving.”
