by Gary Powell.

ONE SIMPLE QUESTION to a trusted mentor of all things requiring a deep understanding is what started this performance idea. His name is Ralph Person who is 73 years old with a Doctorate of Theology (DTheol) from the University of Basel in Switzerland. His lifelong relationship with church, philisophy and political history is rich.

So, I asked him this question at dinner with no provocation: “What happened in this country (USA) in 1776 that caused such an explosion of human potential and production in every aspect of how humans live, work and prosper together?” Without blinking he said, “You’d have to go back to Aristotle to answer that question!” Ralph expanded the answer by saying, “Aristotle believed that man was uniquely ‘the rational creature’ and that reason was man’s sole source of conceptual knowledge.” Ralph then made a quick leap through the middle ages showing that Thomas Aquinas had rediscovered Aristotle and taught that reason and faith need not conflict. This led to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

Ralph then went on to explain how Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was the emancipator of reason. For the first time in history, Aristotle had suggested faith and reason be held apart and that reason is man’s basic tool for understanding his world and surviving and living effectively! Probably not a fabulously popular idea in 350 B.C.!

Ralph then made this remark which astounded me: “Aristotle’s idea, for the most part, didn’t surface again until …….. well, Thomas Jefferson in 1776!” And…there was the answer to my question.

This conversation happened in October, 2004. I was so inspired by the prospect of gaining insight into my own choices and inevitabilities that I thought I could have a two-hour show up by Christmas, 2005. The inevitabilities have stepped forward, but the passion has not flagged. Thanks to Ralph with his wisdom and knowledge, I will add one more voice to the “Choir of Emancipation” in which Ralph has been singing for decades before me.