B. A. Agha
A warm welcome to my fellow readers, poets and photography enthusiasts.
I am the proud but humbled author of the fable The Sage and the General, which I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed bringing to life.
Getting a glimpse into the author’s persona is a key part to better understanding their storytelling. I guess the reverse would also be true…
I was not a touted writer, certainly not one who thought of ever releasing a fable or revealing his poems or photos to the world. For most of my adult life, I was quite reserved, unbending and overall conservative in my principles. A foreshadowing of the General perhaps…
I did not live in my creative truth, allow my mind to explore further openness or know the fulfilling power of softer expression.
As you can imagine, this transformation happened over years. Afterall, not all of us are born a Sage…
Many readers are surprised to know that this fable took 10 years for me to conceptualize, draft and comfortably share with those around me.
My loving and incredibly patient wife, alongside a rewarding fatherhood, memory-marking life and world events have had a meaningful impact on welcoming vulnerability and greater sensitivity into my life.
I had to let go of the version of myself that I thought was expected of me, the pressures and subconscious fears I was holding onto, and allow myself to trust in the good of a changed self.
Allow myself to evolve mentally and spiritually.
In diving into this book, as well as this page, I encourage you to do the same and thank you sincerely for welcoming and fortifying this freeing metamorphosis.
I look forward to having the immense pleasure of connecting with you.
“Yet all is not lost. Not unless we turn our backs on joyful harmony, peaceful living, and spiritual abundance,” the Sage.
"You can destroy what your eyes can see, but you cannot demolish what your heart can't understand."
Q&A
Most frequent questions and answers
10 years of turning on and off self-doubt, of healing my own subconscious wounds and letting go of disappointments in humanity to let in the genuine good in the world, encouraged me to publish this book.
I finally had the courage to release into the world a poetic rendition of my life experience, my journey’s findings, my growth. One of these findings being that we can somehow all relate to the Sage or the General…
I wanted to share my amplified hope for humanity and passion for peace.
Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner how pleasantly binding yet emotionally freeing this would be?
There are moments within the fable where I encourage to step away and disengage with the ‘opponent’ in the greater pursuit of tactful restoration of peace. This is a crucial pivotal point of internal growth that must first occur before one can skillfully disarm and encourage curated change in one’s ‘opponent’.
I, myself, am on the continued journey of discovery to honing this skill and hope readers will join me in this mission…
I also hope that readers enjoy letting go of the, at times, rigid structure of standard literature.
Enter the world of fable with an open heart and welcome any inner mindful and spiritual magic that may emerge from this read.
The bees depicted within this novel are an overly simplified illustration of an ‘opponent’.
There are undeniably truer foes and evils in this world, but for this fable I wanted to guide the reader into a deeper understanding that in certain circumstances the ‘opponent’ can truly be conquered through a show of patience, understanding and an unwavering commitment to shared peace.
I have lived and bore witness to the heartbreaking tragedies of war and, at certain times, lasting scars of prejudice. All the while being, in turn, forever changed and inspired by the relentless courage that forever prevails within the human spirit.
Because of my own experience, I now in hindsight see more than ever how connected I am to both the General and the Sage. How easily I could’ve lost myself in the hardships and struggles, and so allowed the General to reign. But instead, I chose the more difficult path of forgiveness.
I have come to truly hold onto the simple fact that our humanity forever binds us. The constant dance of good and bad, hope and discouragement, bravery and fearfulness, that pas de bourrées within all of us.
Both sides, equally deserving of understanding in order to coexist harmoniously.