I grew up thinking Academia was a golden world, and that academics were people of integrity like my Dad (who was a professor of economics). Then, at the age of 24, I had a life-changing experience — feeling “called” to develop a Big Idea that I committed myself to developing and communicating to my fellow human beings. It was 1970.
At that time, I was scheduled to begin as a graduate student in Yale’s program in American Studies. Assured that Yale would give me the freedom to do what I felt deeply committed to doing, I moved across the continent from Berkeley to New Haven, to pursue that plan.
The experience I had there, at Yale, was far from what I’d expected. It showed Academia in a much harsher light than how I’d seen it growing up.
[What I “saw” in 1970 was the beginning of my life’s work, which has been to put together an integrative vision I call A BETTER HUMAN STORY that puts the situation of our species — our nature, our history, and the challenges we must meet if human civilization is to be able to survive for the long haul — in an importantly different light. But I have no Yale degree on my resume.]