The heart knows what the mind cannot see : Toby Negus

This is a thought-provoking and enlightening exploration of
spirituality and perception. The text functions as a guide to self-improvement,
with a mixture of autobiographical elements and snippets of universal wisdom.
The speaker provides accessible solutions to life’s difficulties, and an
outlook of optimism applicable to any circumstance. The illustrations and graphics
are thoughtfully chosen, and the interactive textual elements give this work an
originality that sets it apart. The speaker’s own experiences and conclusions
are at the heart of this fiction, and the first person narrative voice creates
a sense of proximity between author and reader. The text describes itself as ‘a
journey to the heart’, and this truthful discovery of the self is reflected in
the speaker’s revelation of his whole self through the text. The narrative
often presents a dichotomy between positive and negative outlooks or voices.

For example, the speaker includes sections in which his
self-doubt speaks, ‘you’ve got no proper education, you can’t spell properly,
you’re dyslexic and your grammar is crap. You’re not really a writer’. This
negative voice directly opposes the sense of self-belief the speaker builds
within the narrative. He uses examples such as this to remind readers that the
journey to happiness is complex and that flaws or setbacks are natural. The
negative separation or fragmentation of the self is prevalent in the lines, ‘I
do not love the grumpy me, the sad me, the hostile me, the parts of me that act
as if I do not care’. The act of writing represents a unification of the self
and an attempt to reframe the speaker’s life into coherence. The frequent use
of direct address and rhetorical questions promotes an active reading
experience, in which the author opens up a dialogue with the reader. The text
includes prompts and activities for the reader to engage with and learn from. Encouraging
readers to take part in the text is emblematic of their journey to
self-fulfilment and love, in which they must take responsibility for actively
creating their own happiness.

The speaker depicts his process of enlightenment as a
framework for others to emulate, and the format of the text demonstrates the
transfer of agency to those who take part in the speaker’s challenges at the
end of each chapter. This work ultimately teaches us that ‘we are the cause of
what is’ and thus sheds light on the crucial idea that every individual has the
power to create themselves and their world positively.

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