James Richard Brett, Ph.D.

B.A. in History, University of Virginia
M.A. in History, Cal State U, Long Beach
Ph.D. in Russian History, U.C.L.A.
Lecturer in Russian History, U.C.L.A., University of Southern California, California State University, Northridge, California State University, Long Beach
Director, Office of University Research, California State University, Long Beach

My interest in Russia began at age ten or so, when I discovered that my ancestors had come from part of the Russian Empire. In college I concentrated on Russian History and when I wrote a dissertation for the doctoral degree it was on the life and thought of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov (1829-1905), honored as the "Father of Russian Physiology," author of the important work Reflexes of the Brain. Sechenov was really more interested in epistemology than medicine or physiology, and he ended up laying the ground and framework for modern Psychology in Russia—a form of Behaviorism.

My interest in consciousness stems from an introduction to abnormal psychology acquired at close hand from a person close to me, whose mental breakdown was quite vivid and the consequences of it very important to my life. When something like this happens one begins to ask questions about what we consider normal. After well more than fifty years on that question I have decided that it has no permanent answer. Each of us is different and the idea of all men and women being created equal is a political, not a scientific truth.

In the course of my formal and continuing education I studied the progress of the discipline of Psychology, the history of religion, the spirituality expressed in Zen and Buddhist thought, the politics and economics of thought systems, including the very special position of the American people. America is the only country of which I am aware that has enshrined in its fundamental premises and documents the notion that Happiness is something we have a Right to pursue.

I understand life as a inherent phenomenon in the Universe. That is, I have concluded from the scientific study of biology and cosmology that Life is normal, that it is probably also rare, that it is therefore precious, that it may have aspects that we cannot ever understand because of how we have evolved. I have reverence for life and hold that all living things are related through the "spark" that is the energy and motion of Life. I am a father ... and a son.

My personal dialogue is with an entire planet. I have chosen to expose my thoughts through the internet and so they are available to billions of the human beings on this planet. I suspect dozens know of them. My personal Inquiry is about Mind and Consciousness as phenomena, but I will agree that I am also seeking more knowledge of myself and of my loved ones. I, too, am pursuing Happiness.

We all are travelers with one inevitable destination. We tend to fear death, but I maintain that that fear is really a form of self-pity. We would all like to know "how it all comes out," but really, it does not "come out," it only continues.