I’m blessed that people confided in me to tell their life stories that began during my high school years. In the late '60s, my parents addressed their abuse issues that involved their parents and other family members. My mother even offered me money to council her back then. I recall informing my mom, "I'm part of the family dynamic and you'll have to seek outside help." My parents’ vulnerability and brave admission of personal suffering made me hopeful for them, others, and myself. I soon understood that these emotional wounds people experienced were lessons for me to learn and heal from. Deeply touched by human courage, I felt my calling in psychiatry. Thanks to these experiences, I inadvertently became a seeker of truth.

I was a psychology major throughout college. However, I spent most of my time doing sculpture. Even the Art Head at Indiana University approached me during my sophomore year in '72 and said, "Why don't you become an art major? You're here more than anyone else." Indiana University was the second college I attended, having reneged on a gymnastic scholarship that I was offered at Iowa State freshman year – My parents insisted that I attend ISU in case I changed my mind, but that didn’t happen. I did very well, academically, at Iowa State, having taken more than a full load each semester to include more art classes along with my psyche studies. Without informing my parents, I had returned to my passion in art.

I only spent one semester at Indiana University where I honed the skills to create sculpture. I attended IU with my best friend, Greg Alper, a talented musician and composer. I had rented an apartment with Greg and two other music majors while spending most of my time in the sculpture room that, now looking back, proved to be the right decision. I transferred to Lake Forest College in '73 through the urging of my parents. Caught between a rock and a hard place, I rationalized a return to psychology in acquiring a more "lucrative and promising" career while, unknowingly, putting my well-being on the back burner. I was bombarded by the myth that there’s no future in art – But I had a visionary experience in '73 on one of the many courtyards at LFC that turned my worldview upside down - This provided a deeper understanding of what art is and how it affects you. I immortalized the vision in an eighteen foot long, '74 sculpture, Emergence & Transformations, at a junior college since LFC didn't have the facilities to create it. When I exhibited this work in ‘75 at the Mid-Continental Plaza downtown Chicago, IL and received a rave review on radio, my parents were convinced, like me, that art was my calling. Having unshackled myself of limiting beliefs through artistic expression, it soon became obvious that the power of my intuition and instincts had won over. Somehow, I had kept on the path to express my true bliss, inner nature, and freedom, but it wasn’t a straight arrow – Later in life, I had to deal with the business aspects of my newfound truth that remain challenging, yet increasingly hopeful with each passing day. By knowing myself to the extent that I do, I’ve learned to see everything as opportunities and act on them. My life hasn’t been easy, but it’s better than living in a false reality where fulfillment is impossible, and feelings of emptiness prevail.

Attaining goals is a step-by-step process. Having a '73 visionary experience on my Lake Forest College courtyard that altered my perspective of life from "a" to "z" in an instant required patience, resilience, and great discipline to fill in the gaps over the decades. At first, I found myself drawing profiles of simple people-like figures with bowed heads and large gravitated feet. They appeared subservient, much like the people strolling in the courtyard during my vision where everyone seemed in a trance, oblivious to the brainwashing, manipulation, and control of outer forces, including their own – I witnessed bright energy emitting from their heads and connecting them in a network that they were blind to – I held my pounding head and almost collapsed from this sudden realization. I identified so strongly with my “people-form” drawings that I had to find a way to make them more “alive”. Wood was plentiful and easy to find. I began creating 4.5" tall people-like forms out of wood, not knowing what to do with them. I bathed most with a propane flame and charred a few with a welding torch. A motif of collective identity developed that began with the '74 sculpture, Perpetuity, inspired by Stonehenge. This work evolved into the more complex sculpture, Emergence & Transformations, that integrates many burnt people-like figures with mirrors, melted plastic, towers of worship and deference including various forms of sacrifice and crucifixion. Most of these figures conclude inconclusively in mirrors, caverns, and labors over unnatural piles seemingly built by the excrement of the ages.

As I continued creating art, I became increasingly indifferent to money, realizing that there was more to life than working a job and earning a paycheck – I never expressed this to my parents. Ever since high school, I've been detached from social norms that only intensified when my '73 vision occurred. Suffering from panic attacks that began in high school, they ended soon after my vision and I experienced an inner peace that I had never felt before. I love helping others and psychiatry seemed to be the logical choice, but there was something missing inside me that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Who am I? What am I here to do? became key questions that I still grapple with as my inner voice screams for answers - This "soul" search has evolved and strengthened into an unstoppable force that continuously guides me.

Acknowledging the many wonderful things people do, I sought connections to facilitate their efforts that inadvertently helped my own. I’ve devised a plan to expand the implementation of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship that targets to end global poverty, crime, and war. To briefly explain, quoting from the Asoka website, "Rather than leaving social needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists concerned with the practical applications of their vision above all else." I applaud the efforts of individuals and organizations that place themselves on the front lines of these intensely challenging environments. The fight to end global suffering and create a better world is a battle we can win – It’s the fundamental reason for my creative pursuits.