Acknowledgements

It is not possible for me to list or properly acknowledge all of those who have provided strong shoulders for this book.  Lonny Harrison and Terry Schultz have been life-long friends who have helped me to think my way through life’s issues.  My sister, Patricia Reppenhagen, and Melissa Hill have helped me to respect and understand the right brain.  David Kellner, Palmer Cook, Shawn Curtner, and Sally Haltom have all reviewed some of these writings and provided invaluable comments, thoughts and suggestions.  I have also been inspired by some of the words of Oprah Winfrey.

I also owe early inspiration from Joyce Bleby who introduced me to eastern thought and a set of mantras that altered my ways of thinking.  She also introduced me to the writings of Karen Horney that have been helpful.  In the same vein, the experiences and writings of Viktor Frankl were powerful in understanding the essence of our humanity, although the more recent works of Harold Kushner had an even greater impact on these insights.  I thank Michael Harris for introducing me to him…and also for being a strong voice of reason and compassion in my life.

Some of my earliest inspirations came from reading Julian Jaynes, who really caused me to think about the human mind and its development.  Edward Wilson was excellent follow-up reading.  Steve Mithen provided very useful thoughts about early development of the mind.  Jared Diamond provided a firm background for understanding the environments from which we have developed and many other developmental issues. 

Two writers have particularly helped to crystallize my thoughts on our human development: Samuel Huntington has written an excellent book on Civilizations in our current world and Charles Van Doren has reviewed the development of Western Civilization with tremendous insight.  JM Roberts has also provided a very good narrative of human history.  Elaine Pagels has provided excellent documentation and thoughts about a special period in our history.

I also thank the several friends and colleagues who took a course that I taught, entitled “Vision, Mind and Civilization”.  Comments and critique by Hannu Laukkanen, John Hayes, Johannes Tan, Marti Fredericks, Cathy Evans, Ruth McCullough, Collin Robillard, and Patrick Campaign were particularly useful in helping me to refine and focus my ideas.

And, finally, in addition to the contemporaries listed above, I stand on the very strong shoulders of the many people that have gone before us and built this Western Civilization.  I have mentioned some of them in this book, but the number mentioned is woefully incomplete.