Allen McKiel

I am the Dean of Library Services for Western Oregon University. My motives for writing non-fiction include the pleasure of the processes of learning and thinking, particularly as facilitated by writing. Thinking is an internal discussion and writing, like conversation, can be a form of edited thinking. Integral to the processes of learning is the desire to share findings. Writing derives from the internal conversation that has an intended listener other than self. My interest and publications as a librarian focus on the transition of libraries into an environment of electronically distributed information. My most compelling personal interest is in the evolution of religious experience and thought particularly as it has shaped the evolution of human culture. My first book, Beyond Tolerance: Religion and Global Community, is a view of the scriptures of the world's religions as confirmation of their underlying unity, a view which I believe is essential to the health of global society. My second book, Human Being: Reflections from Psychology and Religion, uses reason and evidence from the testimonies of psychology and the world’s scriptures in reflections on human nature. It proceeds from an underlying hypothesis that reality is whole and unified beyond human conceptual understanding but within the reach of experience. For example, seeing self in another is a transcendent experience. Unity with the self of another is the definitive characteristic of being human. It is the capacity from which language and the objectification of reality proceeds and around which free will revolves within the phenomenal and transcendent aspects of being human. It is the capacity by which we discover ourselves, each other, and the greater world. This transcendent capacity is also what causes us to ponder our nature and to seek purpose and meaning for our existence. The works of Jung, Vygotsky, Erikson, and Maslow along with scriptures from the world’s religions, are used to focus the discussion. The selections are not meant to be comprehensive in any way and have been selected for their contribution to the theme of the work. The work is literature in that it is a reflective essay on the nature of being human as much as a thesis with supporting evidence from the writings of philosophy, religion, and psychology. The primary premise is that we all share the same nature, which in its essence possesses a transcendent capacity that gives birth to language, thought, self-awareness, and the search for meaning and purpose.