|
Gwe was born in Stone Age New Guinea.
Alan was born in New York City.
This is their story and the story of Gwe's people.
In this book you will take a trip to the heart of Papua New Guinea, to the mountains, peaceful and turbulent, where Gwe lives. You will experience, as close to you as your fingertips, an ancient culture, real people, and real events. The anthropology of this book is authentic.
We invite you to a new understanding of the human self, as you meet Gwe, his relations, his enemies, and Alan, the anthropologist who lived with them. Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy founded by the great poet and educator Eli Siegel, is that understanding. It explains: There is a fight in every person between respect for the world and contempt for it. From the desire for contempt, arises the cruelty of man, including racism. From the desire to respect comes a seeing of people's feelings as real, and justice, fairness, compassion.
Thanks to this education, the author tells us, "I began to understand the people of New Guinea more exactly by far than when I was living amongst them. I began to realize how alive the people were, how their flesh, like mine, contains a heart that can beat slower or faster with emotion; that I had the same feelings they did."
|