John Siwy

The Coming and the Going: a History and a Story of Baja California John Siwy

Why were the Jesuits expelled from the Dominions of Portugal, France, and Spain by the year 1767? Why was California considered to be an island for over 200 years after it's discovery? What were the real circumstances of the colonization and missionization of Baja, California? And How does a religious belief gradually give way to spiritual truth?These topics, among many others, are addressed in this fictional narrative about a Jesuit missionary in Baja California who sees the effects of missionization on the native peoples and becomes disenchanted with his ideology. He is then lead to discover something different, something real. His discoveries are made during a lengthy and solitary wilderness experience during which his psychology changes to reveal the nature of his religion, the construct of the human mind, it's functioning, and it's possibilities. This book is interdisciplinary in nature. It incorporates many years of research in history, anthropology, psychology and religion. It reveals new information and perspectives on the Spanish colonial system, the Society of Jesus, and the early indigenous peoples of Baja, California. These many topics so artfully intertwined will ultimately cause the reader to question, who is it I have learned to be, and who is it I really am?