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Russ Volckmann, (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Political Science and Public Administration) has worked for over thirty years as an organization development consultant and executive coach. In addition he studied humanistic psychology at Sonoma State University and focused on Gestalt Therapy and Jungian Archetypal Psychology. He was a Fulbright Fellow in India. He is publisher and Editor of Integral Leadership Review and LeadingDigest. He is currently on the Editorial Board of Integral Review, published by ARINA, Inc. He has published numerous professional articles.

Response to
Benjamin

Russ Volckmann

As someone who has physically matured, deteriorated or transformed over the years, the questions Elliot Benjamin is raising [in "Life, Death, Meaning and Purpose"] are ones I have faced under varying conditions over this lifetime. As a teenager, in the military, college and on to today where the potential for death seems to grow on a steady, nonreversible path, similar questions have presented themselves.

I will not recount the many experiences I have had around these topics, only where I have come to. Mine is not a sophisticated response, for years ago I recognized that religions perpetuate their control and influence by promising that there is such meaning and purpose and that after death each of us will have a continuous path through eternity.

Why would I want to be part of that con?

I also came early to the appreciation of mysticism, that is, not having answers to such "ultimate" questions. Not knowing seems to me to be the healthiest position to be in, while still leaving open the question of purpose and meaning in the life I monologically and dialogically navigate.

Being clear on purpose and meaning-making now, in living, makes a lot of sense to me. After death? Who knows!

But, for sure, the day is not that far away when I will find out, as will each of us. Frankly, I am looking forward to discovering the cosmic joke of it all.

Russ Volckmann, PhD

Publisher, Integral Publishers
Integral Leadership Review, Exec. Editor
http://www.integralleadershipreview.com
http://www.integralpublishers.com