Sunday, June 15, 2014

Author Interview: Charlotte Luxhoej: Fragments of A Whole: Poems: The Way Back Home

She is a poet when she writes poems, an author when she writes books, a social scientist when she studies herself and society, but always she is a human being and a dreamer. 

Thirty years ago she was born in a windy city (Esbjerg) at the West coast of Jutland in the fairytale land of Denmark. She grew up surrounded by comic books, fairy tales and the stories her grandfather always told. Later on this developed into a love of the written word, the world of magic that was the realm of imagination. Later on this turned toward studying consciousness and energy.

Welcome Charlotte Luxhoej !

Please share some of the best memories of your childhood:

The first thing that comes to mind is the memory of going into my grandparents’ basement, where all the comics and books were. We didn’t have that many books at home I recall so whenever I was at my grandparents’ I could just surrender myself to another world. A world I came into contact with whenever I began reading.  It was a world, an inner realm, that didn’t need anything from me other than just my attention.  Sitting still, reading, listening to the story and feeling the emotions that travelled through me. Sitting there with and in the silence.
Silence has always been very important to me. It’s there that all things are found.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge I have ever faced was standing face to face with myself, I think. I was “forced” to do so during a depression in my early twenties. I could no longer run from myself or from all my questions. All the questions I had left unanswered were demanding my attention. Questions such as: who am I? Does God exist? Why am I here? As part of answering these questions which was also the process of overcoming this challenge (myself, really) and my prejudice I had to look within to find Love (or God if you will). This was something I had always feared doing, unconsciously fearing what I would find. However, at that time and place that was the assignment. And coming out on the other side, I found that the world looked differently – and was even more magical – than I had ever imagined.

About your education:

How to answer this question? There is the education that has been constructed by society on certain premises and is acknowledged as having high value in society: the colleges, universities etc. are a part of this. In that realm Intellect is king. Then there is the education of life; where wisdom is the ruler. This is the realm of intuitive knowledge that everyone everywhere has access to at all times. In my view, we need both “worlds”. However, the latter is the one that must come first. If there is no wisdom there cannot be true knowledge.  Elaborating on this statement, I am currently working on a project that is centering on the paradigmatic shift that we are facing in these times. We are shifting from a purely intellectual form of knowledge to a knowledge that comes through the heart, combining heart and intellect. It’s a merging of the old divide between science and spirituality.
Alongside my writings I study sociology at university.

What is you biggest source of inspiration in life?

That would have to be life itself. Reality is truly stranger than fiction. =)

What hurts you most in this world?

Literally, as we are all interconnected, it hurts me how we treat each other and ourselves. I can give an example. My fiancé and I were coming back to Stockholm, where we live, after taking a cruise to Helsinki. As we were getting ready to leave the ship, we stepped onto one of the on board elevators. As we did so a middle-aged woman, short and curvy, with blonde hair did the same. Her husband who was swearing at the elevator then decided to take the stairs instead. The swearing was probably due to the sight of us four people in there already. (There had been a man already in the elevator as we entered). Though, there was plenty of room for all of us including her husband.
“Will you wait for me down stairs?”, the woman asked, warmth and hope in her voice. The elevator doors began closing, her husband didn’t answer. My heart sank with hers.
As the doors opened again a few decks below her husband was just passing by. The woman, happy to see him, said with delighted surprise in her voice: “Heeyy!” Her joy was too quickly destroyed by a husband that projected his emotional baggage onto her. He shot her a hard look and walked off, replacing the joy on her face with sadness.  
The fact that very few people realize how much, to what an extent, we actually impact each other both on an emotional as well as a spiritual level is one of the core reasons that I write. I would like to transform sadness into joy, prejudice into understanding. Basically, I write to bring love back.

When did you start writing? What is the purpose of your writing?

I started writing when I was around twelve. It started out as diary-writings. I’d write down experiences, feelings, reflections. When I was around fourteen or fifteen I decided to write a novel. However, I never finished it mainly because of two things. One: I wanted it to be a love story, but I didn’t really have any experience in that area. Second: I think that’s when I first learned that there are two different types of writers. The type that writes from imagination and another who writes from experience.  I am more like the latter. I need the experience of life in order to write. From then on I think I unconsciously began steering toward my “material”.
Basically, I think my writing now has somewhat the same purpose as it did when I started. At least as far as I can see, but what writer really knows the purpose of her or his work? Anyways, the purpose is first and foremost to get to know myself and perhaps to understand myself to some extent also.  This in turn leads to understanding the world around me. Understanding means revealing the universals in experience and a coming together instead of coming apart. You could say that writing to me is a form of healing. Of the mind and the soul.

What are your forthcoming writings?

I’m working on editing a novel, The Knight of Stockholm, which is a look into the Feminine Energy, the Templar knights and “original” spiritualityAlso,I’ve recently begun a “side-project” that revolves around the shift of consciousness that we are in the middle of.

Which of your work has been published so far? Would you like to share a synopsis of your work?

At the moment I have a giveaway on Goodreads going (until the end of June). It is a collection of poems, “Fragments of A Whole: Poems” that were published at Christmas. They are also available for purchase through Amazon.com.
Also available online for free, through Authonomy, is The Way Back Home, which is a story about depression and the often overlooked gateway or shift of consciousness available there in.

Is a high level of imagination important to have for an author?

Imagination, as Einstein said, is more important than knowledge. So yes, it is very ,very important, but it is so for all not just for an author. Whatever you do your ability to imagine is vital.

What is the last book you finished reading? What is the current book you are reading?

The last books I read… was “The O Manuscript” by Lars Muhl, a wonderful Danish esoteric writer and seer. I am currently reading “The Ethnographic I: a methodological novel”. Somehow it fits into the side-project I’m doing.

What is your favorite time of day?

My favorite time of day… I don’t really have one and then again all times are my favorites. It’s in the simple things: the smell of coffee, the feeling of the wind on my cheek as I let out our dog in the morning, the call of the swallows in the summer evening…

Your dream destination on Earth?

There are so many wonderful places, but right now I’d have to say that I dream of one day snorkeling at the Six Senses Laamu Resort on the Maldives. Hopefully along with my fiancé, sister and parents.  Any sponsors? =)

Links: 
Website and blog: www.charlotteluxhoej.com
Twitter handle: @char_lux
Facebook page: Charlotte Luxhøj
Goodreads author pagehttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7570694.Charlotte_Luxhoej
Authonomy page for The Way Back Homehttp://authonomy.com/books/46300/the-way-back-home/

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