Howl vs How well

More than seventy years ago Allen Ginsberg published a poem, entitled Howl that can be viewed as the opening salvo in a clash between the younger generation of the 1950’s and the traditional views and norms of older people. Here are the first few lines…

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night…”
Allen Ginsberg, Howl, 1955

I was a part of the younger generation of the 1960’s and I would like to tell our story in a different way. I call it: How well!

I saw the best minds of my generation, overcoming madness, adequately nourished, rational, appropriately dressed, driving through the streets at dawn, looking for what they could fix Angel-headed young people burning for the ancient heavenly connection to what is truly worthwhile and beautiful in this one life we have to live.

Dr. Paul Farmer fits the description pretty well, so maybe it makes the most sense to start with him. Paul was a full professor of infectious diseases at the Harvard Medical School. He was one of the best minds of my generation. He did have to overcome madness (his upbringing was crazy!) and poverty but he was able to live a life that was full.

Growing a Dream into Reality

I had a dream and now I am trying to help it grow into a reality. I had a dream that the field of psychology could provide lifesaving hope to me and to members of my family and others. After fifty years in the field, I have come to some conclusions about where and how this dream has or could become a reality. The purpose of this website is to share what I have learned.

One of the things that provided the most lifesaving hope for me was outside of psychology. I rediscovered the Catholic faith at a very dark time of my life and that faith has provided a life- giving foundation for me for the past fifty years. Since Christianity and psychology seem to overlap in so many ways, I have spent my career trying to understand how….

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