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K-PAX is the name of the first novel in the K-PAX series by Gene Brewer and a film based on the series:

The books deal with the experiences on Earth of a man named "prot" (rhymes with "goat", and is not capitalised). A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Gene Brewer (born 1937 is the Author of the K-PAX series of Novels: K-PAX K-PAX is a 2001 science-fiction Drama film about a mental patient who claims to be an alien K-PAX IV A New Visitor From The Constellation Lyra is the name of the fourth novel in the K-PAX series by Gene Brewer. Prot claims to be from a far away planet called K-PAX, where sex is considered unpleasant, raw veganism or fruitarianism is preferred, eating meat is never considered, and there are no laws, governments, or schools (see anarchism). A planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU is a celestial body Orbiting a Star or stellar remnant that is Raw veganism is a diet which combines Veganism and Raw foodism. Fruitarianism is a form of Veganism that is limited to eating the ripe fruits of plants and trees In modern English usage meat most often refers to Animal tissue used as food mostly Skeletal muscle and associated Fat, but it may also refer Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i

Although fictional, the story is presented as based on real events. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. It is written in the first person from the point of view of prot's psychiatrist, who shares his name with the author; the psychiatrist's wife is Karen, the name of the author's wife. See also First person First-person narrative is a Narrative mode in which a Story is narrated by one character, who explicitly

The 2001 film K-PAX was directed by Iain Softley and is based on the first book in this series. K-PAX is a 2001 science-fiction Drama film about a mental patient who claims to be an alien Iain Softley, born November 30 1956 is an English Film director. Kevin Spacey portrays prot, and Jeff Bridges plays the psychiatrist. Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26 1959 is an American actor and Film director. Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is a four-time Academy Award -nominated American Actor and Musician. There are some very significant differences between the film and the book, however, not merely in detail but also in terms of prot's overall "message".

Contents

K-PAX

A white male is picked up by the New York Police after being found bending over the victim of a mugging at Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan. "Grand Central Station" redirects here For other uses see Grand Central. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York Having responded to the police questions with somewhat strange answers, he is transferred to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation. Bellevue Hospital Center, founded in 1736 is the oldest Public hospital in the United States Although not physically ill, he is found to harbour a strange delusion: that he is from a planet called K-PAX in the constellation of Lyra. In common usage a constellation is a group of celestial bodies that are connected together in some arrangement typically stars to form a visible figure or picture Lyra (ˈlaɪrə Lyre) is one of the 48 Constellations listed by Ptolemy, and is one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International The patient, who calls himself "prot", is eventually transferred to the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute (MPI), where he becomes the patient of Dr. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York Psychiatry is a medical specialty which exists to study, prevent, and treat Mental disorders in Humans Psychiatric Gene Brewer. Gene Brewer (born 1937 is the Author of the K-PAX series of Novels: K-PAX

Dr. Brewer, with the help of a journalist Giselle, discovers that prot may simply be an alter ego (the result of Multiple Personality Disorder) of Robert Porter, whose life has been devastated by the murder of his wife and child and his subsequent killing of the perpetrator. Dissociative Identity Disorder ( DID) as defined by the American Psychiatric Association 's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM

When prot returns to his own planet, Robert Porter is left in a catatonic state. Catatonic is a syndrome of psychic and motoric-disturbances In the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association However, Bess (another patient prot had promised to take with him) disappears along with a box of souvenirs prot has been collecting.

Prot promises to return in "about five of your years".

Between the main story about Brewer, Giselle, the patients, and Robert/prot, Gene Brewer has several discussions about K-PAX and the society of K-PAX as the doctor/psychiatrist thinks Robert just imagined this near-perfect world. The novel has a foundation from the ideas and informations of science (Albert Einstein), green politics, the five people Gandhi, Goodall, Lennon, Schweitzer, Thoreau and the spiritual teachers Buddha, Jesus Christ and philosophers such as Schopenhauer.

K-PAXians

K-PAXians are a fictional community of beings from Gene Brewer's novels K-PAX, K-PAX II, K-PAX III and K-PAX IV. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. Gene Brewer (born 1937 is the Author of the K-PAX series of Novels: K-PAX K-PAX IV A New Visitor From The Constellation Lyra is the name of the fourth novel in the K-PAX series by Gene Brewer.

Prot sees himself as a (living) being, "I'm a being", not as a person, "I'm not a person".

The K-PAXians are a seemingly infinitely advanced community on the planet K-PAX. All knowledge of K-PAX and its attendant species came from the individual known as prot (rhymes with goat, K-PAXians only capitalize the names of planets and stars and other celestial bodies). Prot was interviewed extensively by psychologist Gene Brewer who was of the opinion that prot was simply an "alter"; a second personality of the human Robert Porter.

Prot notes for Brewer (the doc, not the writer, of course) and Gizelle that Jane Goodall, John Lennon, Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) and Albert Schweitzer are the most K-PAXian-like human beings of the Earth. The planet is much older with its big variety of life and species inhabiting it. The age of the planet's life (K-PAX) consists of 2 billion and squashed years after prot sayings, whereas humanity only reached twenty thousand and some squashed years yet. K-PAX and our Neptune have similar size, Earth is smaller. K-PAXians' forefathers were something like worms and lived in the ground, whereas humans' forefathers were fishes and other aquatic beings. Prot pointed out that palaeontology has to do with upbringing everything. Palaeontology redirects here For the Scientific journal, see Palaeontology (journal.

Physiology

The conditions on the planet K-PAX explain a number of prot's oddities.

K-PAX is seated far from the two stars it orbits: K-MON and K-RIL. Thus, K-PAXians experience an eternal dusk as K-PAX orbits in a helix around the two celestial bodies. These stars are also not like our Sun because they are not main sequence stars. From the descriptions in the novel it is assumed that they are protostars nearing their inevitable collapse. The constant phase shift of light on K-PAX and the lack of light made it necessary to evolve the ability to detect lower frequencies of electromagnetic radiation i. e. infrared. This explains prot's refusal to ever remove his sunglasses. In the book where prot is assumed real he is questioned as to why a dremer appears human on Earth, prot responds, "Why is a soap bubble round?", meaning K-PAXians appear human because the humanoid form is the most efficient shape to explore the planet. The K-PAXian method of reproduction, unlike the human one, is considered extremely unpleasant, due to intense feelings of pain and horrible smells, amongst other unpleasant sensations. Explaining his complete disregard to flirtation. Prot can age to a thousand years like his parents which are in their late six-hundreds while prot is 337 years old in the first novel. Prot's age contributes to his knowledge base and on earth prot is considered a savant, although it is never specified whether dremer intelligence is inherent or a result of K-PAXian society. Prot makes it clear that dremer's make every attempt to improve and disseminate their understanding of truth. Prot ultimately communicates that sentient beings on K-PAX have such a universal awareness of life that it would seem a majority of human endeavor is benign, but he is excited for us because our race has a bright future if only we disregard our primitive misconceptions of our surroundings.

Society

In K-PAXian society where sex is considered unpleasant, raw veganism or fruitarianism is preferred, eating meat is never considered and there are no laws, governments, or schools (in other words - anarchy). Raw veganism is a diet which combines Veganism and Raw foodism. Fruitarianism is a form of Veganism that is limited to eating the ripe fruits of plants and trees In modern English usage meat most often refers to Animal tissue used as food mostly Skeletal muscle and associated Fat, but it may also refer Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Anarchy (from αναρχία anarchía, "without ruler " may refer to any of the following "Absence of government a state of lawlessness The anarchy on K-PAX is a non-destructive, non-violent and peaceful one, it's a self-harmonizing, ordered anarchy. The beings reason out with the being(s) which go too far with destructive or wrong behaviour. All living beings from worm-beings to the more humanoid dremers (prot's exact species) are regarded as civilized part of the planet's community. Some readers view this as a more advanced society, or utopia/eutopia, with individuals living in peace and harmony with each other without the need for law. Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the K-PAXians have no fixed abode and instead live a sort of nomadic life drifting between certain settlements/villages where food, clothing, and other things are stored. The work of cleaning, infrastructure maintenance, harvesting food, etc. is performed by all K-PAXians when it needs to be done; K-PAXians do not have a set occupation. Children may or may not know their parents, but this is unimportant as they are raised by their society as a whole. K-PAXians do not develop strong interpersonal bonds but rather consider all beings with compassion. Despite a lack of major cities, K-PAX does feature a number of large library type structures for the dissemination of knowledge; K-PAXians are far more technologically advanced than humans. K-PAXian society seems very similar to that described by Sir Thomas More in his novel Utopia. Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535 from 1935 Saint Thomas More, was an English Lawyer, author and statesman who in his lifetime gained De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply It seems that truth, with its absolute nature, is very desirable for prot. Readers can suggest that truth has something like a divine state for the K-PAXian society, when the readers consider prot's vast knowledge, scientific aptitude and admiration for the arts. In this light truth becomes as important to prot as it was for Mohandas Gandhi. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January Besides truth's honourated state in K-PAXian society, God/god is seen as an illusive notion and false conformity. The idea of god was kicked out of K-PAXian society.

K-PAX society doesn't have a need for jokes or games, because life (on K-PAX) is fun and interesting(!).

Prot even says that humans don't have a (good) sense of humor; games and jokes are seen as obsolete on K-PAX and even as mindless by prot. K-PAXian enjoy time with meditative walks in the woods, community needs, the arts (sculpturing, painting, music, henceforth), scientific observations, conservation about ideas and informations and journeys to other planets. The whole civilization of K-PAX despises and doesn't use any kind of punishment or ostracism, as prot stated that the mystery of life contains non-violence. K-PAXians don't domesticate each other (for example dremers domesticating ruli or amps doemsticating the worm beings, etc. ).

Technology

Despite living a fairly agrarian lifestyle K-PAXians are highly technologically advanced. Agrarianism is a social and Political philosophy which stresses the viewpoint that the cultivation of plants or Farming leads to a fuller and happier life Most notable is their ability to travel faster than the speed of light both around a planet and between planets. K-PAXians have developed computers with complete holography. These computers generate events of history (of K-PAX or other hospited planets, Earth) which occupy all senses. K-PAXian villages contain laboratories in which the different ingredients of herbs and other plants are analyzed for medicine for cure of every ailment which ever occurred. K-PAXian usually don't synthesize different elements to new things as they have mastered chemistry to gain directly any needed substance from the plants. They don't have the need to create something new with genetics (like blue trees) as humans do. K-PAXian use two types of solar energy for the libraries. In the past they used bacterial decay, gravitational energy and muscle force as energy. Prot warned Gene Brewer about nuclear fission as it would create too much dangerous garbage to handle.

See also

External links

K-PAX is a 2001 science-fiction Drama film about a mental patient who claims to be an alien Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the
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