Born 1971, Twin Falls, Idaho.
My family and elders trained me to think and to make things. We constantly discussed philosophy, health, design. They became my main interests.
Music was the air we breathed. My brother, Paul, carries that torch.
At 16, joy overcame me for 3 months. It inspired me to independently investigate its cause full-time for 21 years using my interests. A little autistic, I can focus obsessively and extrapolate correct conclusions from little data.
I tested my findings while traveling America. I lived outside, with friends and relatives, and in small groups. I played music, did odd jobs, and built alternative shelters.
In 2008, I discovered darkness as the means nature provides us to heal from trauma, the cause of our strange suffering. Out of this came the darkness conjecture*, the concept of the restful use of darkness in support of the self-healing psyche. It became my purpose. Since then I have:
- designed, built, and upgraded darkrooms (30 in America, Guatemala, Sweden, Norway, Spain, and Czech Republic, consulting on 4 more, all in 4 climates on 4 continents)
- retreated (27 times, from 2-7 days) and supported retreats (30)
- given talks (14) and consulted for readers worldwide
- refined my work, documenting it at hygienicdarkretreat.com
Proof of concept came in 2013. I rewrote the conjecture as this book. Development of the model of hygienic dark retreating ended in late 2019. All details of theory, protocol, and design were worked out. It became a practical solution. The phase of application of the solution began.
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