Nowell:

I went through a similar process after writing TGC.  

Frankly, I was scared of it, because Gryka stated so many things so plainly that I could no longer ignore or rationalize them.  Sure, most of them were things I knew, or suspected: but I had never put them together before.  And it took me a long time to understand the consequences: the Epilogue went through more drafts than the rest of the book combined, because I was still discovering and integrating new knowledge for perhaps a year afterward.  It is not an exaggeration to say I was revising and polishing up until the moment the files went to the printer.  

Who knew a hyena-woman would have so much to teach us?  Well, we've been listening to distinguished-looking men in expensive clothes for millenia, and somehow they still own and run everything and we still live like cattle...

I'm still learning and moving forward, and I will continue learning and moving forward until I die, most likely with much left undone.  Hazrah nachti.  Yet we have a direction to move in, and we have a place here where we can speak freely about the joys and challenges of reclaiming our future as humans and post-humans, and that is something more than we have had before.

"Now, I see what's wrong. Being born into this era of pencil-pushing and drudgery, it all just seemed… normal to me. Not natural, but just what we do."

Exactly.  You can domesticate humans, but you can't make us enjoy or desire our captivity.

Thank you for sharing your experience here: it means a lot to me to know that I've successfully communicated some small part of what I've learned from Gryka.  Please continue to do so.

JS