(Ebook) Koan by Jay Edson ISBN 9780578055831, 057805583X

(Ebook) Koan by Jay Edson ISBN 9780578055831, 057805583X

In the 1980s and into the 90s, the United States came under the sway of a strange public fantasy. Otherwise sane individuals came to believe bizarre and impossible stories about how children in day care centers were being tortured and abused in unspeakable ways. The acts against these children included rape, being penetrated by sharp objects, witnessing murders, and being whisked around to strange places in airplanes, vans and boats. Yet when they were returned to their parents at night they seemed none the worse for wear. Moreover, it was believed that this activity in the day care centers was just one part of a larger epidemic of abuse perpetrated by a large network of dangerous psychopaths. This was the Satanic Panic. In response to the Satanic Panic a large number of innocent and ordinary people were prosecuted and incarcerated, and many lives were destroyed by well meaning people who genuinely believed the stories. The reliance on the recovered memories upon which these stories were based has since been debunked and the highly aggressive fantasy inducing techniques for interrogating children used by social workers and police have been brought into question. Yet the draconian laws, the hysteria, and the cultural conflicts that gave rise to the Satanic Panic remain in force. Koan takes place in the heat of the Satanic Panic of the 80s and explores what may have been some of the passions, hopes fears and misunderstandings that gave rise to this unfortunate cultural phenomenon.About the AuthorJay Edson was for many years a licensed social worker (MSW) who worked in a variety of capacities. At one point in his life he provided treatment to individuals who were diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. In this capacity he struggled for a long time to understand many highly charged issues which clustered around the whole question of satanic abuse. One of the pivotal issues had to do with the literal truth or falsehood of the many stories of extreme abuse that the clients narrated to him. Another key issue concerned the psycho-social meaning of the whole phenomenon of multiple personality and satanic abuse. Jay Edson is also the author of a number of other works of fiction in addition to Koan, as well as professional articles related to psychotherapy and the interface between spirituality and psychology. Currently he is retired and dedicates most of his time to writing, editing, and gardening.