AWARDING-WINNING AUTHOR AND ONE OF MILLENNIUM'S LEADING SPIRITUAL TEACHERS GLENVILLE C. ASHBY, Ph.D. CRAFTS SERIES OF CRITICAL "NEXT STEPS" FOR AFRICAN DIASPORA THROUGH "CONFLICT OF INTEREST: FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO PRESENT DAY - ONE MAN'S HEALING IN BENIN, AFRICA"

 

      On Friday, 18 January 2019 award-winning author; one of the Millennium’s leading spiritual teachers; and graduate of the University of West Indies, EUCLID, the London School of Journalism, and the International School of Applied Psychoanalysis  Glenville C. Ashby Ph.D. placed his feet on ancestral soil – Benin – in Africa for the first time.   Dr. Ashby, who has spent four decades on a spiritual journey which has found him crisscrossing the globe, was so drawn to Benin that he visited it on two subsequent occasions --  in April 2019 and then again in November 2019.   What Dr. Ashby experienced and learned in Benin moved him to pen  a cathartic, instructive and groundbreaking historical literary work – “Conflict Of Identity: From The Slave Trade To Present Day – One Man’s Healing In Benin, Africa” (www.amazon. com; www.barnesandnoble.com; www.booklocker.com)  He solemnly reminds us that no soul is impervious to history and that history, no matter how distorted or painful, is not something we can run away from, hide, or ignore.   Dr. Ashby points out that for souls of African descent in the Diaspora and on the Continent, history is both brutal and fractured and goes on to explain how that brutal and fractured history manifests itself in our individual and collective thinking, decision making, and in what he describes as our “maladaptive behavior”.    

          Through “Conflict Of Identity : From The Slave Trade To Present Day – One Man’s Healing In Benin, Africa,”  Dr. Ashby explores, among other things, the psychodynamics of slavery, the “Plantation Syndrome”, the aftermath of slavery, reparations,  and the foundation of African Psychology, a “Collective Unconscious” which all cultures possess.  He explains how the world serves as a mirror for children of African descent and instructively reminds us that children of African descent react consciously and unconsciously to the responses they receive to the color of their skin.   While “Conflict Of Identity : From The Slave Trade To Present Day – One Man’s Healing In Benin, Africa,” serves as a mirror through which souls of African descent in the Diaspora and on the Continent can inescapably see that they are operating from a position of psychological, spiritual, and emotional “brokenness” that spans four centuries, it provides a blueprint for healing, catharsis, and closing the 401 year chasm created by the TransAtlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism.  How do souls of African descent in the Diaspora and on the Continent heal from transgenerational psychological, spiritual, and emotional trauma; build a “Bridge of Conciliation and Repatriation”; transform violent and marginalized communities into an economically vibrant and peaceful oasis; and reclaim shared familial and cultural identities?  Dr. Ashby implores us to “Re-Think”, “Re-Learn”, “Re-Speak”, and “Re-Do” as he presents a “Code For Daily Living”, symbols, and proverbs that are tools to utilize in “re-thinking”, “re-learning”, “re-speaking”, and “re-doing” and psychoanalytical tools that include “Womb Therapy” to stem  our “psychological hemorrhaging”. 

                The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Perry Floyd, Jr. have meteorically moved Africans in the Diaspora to the proverbial fork in the road.   Murmurings of “What are our next steps?” emanate from communities of African descent in the aftermath of several months of mass demonstrations in the streets of cities in the United States and in nations around the globe sparked by the death of George Floyd, Jr. while in police custody on 25 May 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.   Dr. Ashby, through “Conflict Of Identity : From The Slave Trade To Present Day – One Man’s Healing In Benin, Africa,” masterfully crafts a series of critical “next steps” for communities of African descent in the Diaspora and on the Continent and provides a blueprint that souls of African descent can utilize to navigate the proverbial “fork in the road” which lies ahead.