The Interview.

both books are now on amazon.ca.

news: What inspired you to document your experiences in Unprotected Sects? 

Nathan: ‘Unprotected Sects’ is a book that just sort of demanded to be written. The idea for it had been in my head for a long long time. I really wanted to write about a tricky subject not written about and largely ignored: the sexual component to a spiritual life. And once I finally decided to begin it became very obvious that my personal experiences had to be its basis. 

News: Unprotected Sects is quite the explicit read, did you go into the project planning on being so honest or did you realize after starting that writing it like that was necessary? 

N: Yeah, I definitely went into the project wanting to be honest, even brutally honest. We’re always hearing about abuses by the clergy, gurus and others. We don’t hear about why. I wanted to describe the theory behind the practice of abstinence, celibacy. I wanted to describe the possible powerful benefits and the apparent great dangers. And whether as a feature-writer, in articles, books or my blog, I’ve always been careful. I simply didn’t wanna be careful this time.

News: How did it feel writing so explicitly? 

N: I’d like to offer you a very deep and insightful response to your valid question. Instead I’ll tell you the truth. I realized almost immediately that I really enjoyed writing explicitly, I enjoyed it quite a lot. 

News: I for one appreciate honesty in writing but not everyone does, so did the thought that some people would think its disgusting, or worse, pop into your head while writing Unprotected Sects? 

N: What’s worse than disgusting? Listen, I’m under no illusions about this book. People close to me will tell you that the idea many will not appreciate it, for various reasons, did not just pop into my head. I am very aware of it. However, I love it and I’m tremendously happy to have written it. 

News: How did you have time to write two books at once? What was that juggling process like? 

N: I drink a lot of coffee. Anyway, it’s what I do. I talk to people about meditation, I write, I watch Netflix.

News: Was it hard to switch in between writing fiction and writing an autobiography? 

N: Not at all. It was easy. In fact it was really fortunate that I got into writing those stories when I did. There’s just so much of me in ‘Unprotected Sects’. So much of it’s about me. Sometimes I get tired of me. I wanna leave me. That’s why I meditate. But ‘The Legend of Anson Minor’ also allowed me to step away, to escape. And I really love each of the stories in that book. I’m very proud of it. The fact is there’s a lot of me in there too. 

News: Do you run any workshops or guidance seminars around the Outaouais? 

N: Nice of you to ask. I teach meditation in my home, these days only two to four folks at a time upon request. And once in a while I’m asked to give a talk or hold sessions elsewhere, although not recently. I’m available for that.