Early memories and the experiences they represent are important to one’s future life. In my case, my two earliest memories from around age four are walking up the front steps of Hull House, the famous Jane Addam’s settlement house in Chicago and, somewhat later, riding the bus down Skid Row, Chicago’s equivalent of the Bowery in New York. Both experiences left an indelible impression and ever since I have seen the oneness of all humanity and the importance of each and every person.
Entering my teen years, I moved with my family to suburban Washington, DC as my father was in the government and Washington was the place to be. This was 1950, and Washington was still a rather sleepy Southern town. You could hitchhike anywhere and, if you so desired, walk into the visitor’s gallery of the House or Senate and sit-down, no questions asked. It was all quite different from the Midwest of my early years.
As with most classmates in the public high school I attended, I went off to college. Having picked a school with a five-year program, I was able to graduate with a degree in Engineering with what amounted to the first two years of a Liberal Arts degree, something no one else was doing at the time. Subsequently, I completed an MBA and a Master of Urban Affairs. So, all told, I realized a broad education that was a good academic foundation for the work on the future of humanity I have been doing for most of my life.
After college, I tried my hand at engineering but was clearly not of the engineering mentalily. However, high tech was the place to be so I stayed there for most of my career. Within this context, I found my calling in strategy and strategic planning and international operations.
During this period, I developed and taught graduate courses in systems thinking and computers for public administration graduate students in addition to my normal daytime job. The systems thinking course reflected my lifelong focus on seeing life and its many aspects as interrelated systems instead of separate and distinct areas of expertise. Systems thinking and information will be hallmarks of the next evolutionary stage for humanity.
In 1982, I went through a life-changing event, dying to my life as I had known it. Spiritually, this is known as the first death and is not to be recommended for the faint of heart. At this time, I made the commitment to spiritual growth and transformation to the greatest extent possible (Be careful what you ask for). Since that time, I have kept pushing the evolutionary envelope of humanity with an unending commitment to the future of humanity and the Earth. This website is a culmination of this work.
John A. Wolaver
Copyright © 2011 by John A. Wolaver
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. However, it may be quoted in commercial works with attribution.
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