Jonathan and The Ruler of Awareness - A Spiritual Quest

This spiritual novel is aimed at increasing readers' consciousness through understanding the Awareness of the Ant Syndrome. This original expression represents all evil acts committed by human beings and encompasses pure, extreme selfishness. The author instills an educational-spiritual system in her writing that opposes this devastating syndrome with knowledge based on ancient Jewish traditions and beliefs.

It is also the story of Jonathan, a boy who resembles the biblical King David. Jonathan develops a high level of awareness rare for a boy his age thanks to the Old Man, his unusual mentor. Yet Jonathan is essentially a lonely child. His elevated level of awareness alienates him from his classmates, who suffer from the Awareness of the Ant - especially the bully Burt the Goliath.

Jonathan enjoys learning from the Old Man, a Holocaust survivor whose family was killed, driving him to a life of isolation. Only Jonathan can breach the walls of his loneliness. The Old Man builds Jonathan a Ruler of Awareness that contains pure spiritual energy and can overcome the Awareness of the Ant. The tool serves Jonathan well during many adventures to help his classmates by countering the Awareness of the Ant in inspirational, miraculous ways.

The author, Pnina Elkayam, lives in Jaffa and is an autodidact who cherishes spiritual development. Elkayam believes that conventional education should include spiritual awareness of "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," which can be achieved by removing the Awareness of the Ant Syndrome from all people.