I would never have had a publishing career as a novelist if it weren't for John David Garcia. He arrived in my Advertising Agency office in Washington nearly thirty years ago wanting to find someone who could promote his magnificent book "The Moral Society."
Call it a convergence of mysterious vectors, but when John asked me to state my fee, I was prompted by prescience or inspiration or blind foolery to offer a free promotional gambit if his publisher, Whitman Press, a tiny press in Philadelphia, would publish my first novel, then titled "Options".
At that moment in time I was forty-four years old and, although comfortable economically, a frustrated, unpublished novelist and short story writer. By some miracle of stubbornness and mindless tenacity I had kept this adolescent fantasy alive for two or more decades, writing steadily each morning before going to the office and accumulating mountains of rejection slips.
John agreed to take me to meet his publisher and that car trip to Philadelphia became the bonding mechanism that revealed to me a most extraordinary and uncommon man.
Whitman did publish my first novel and our agency did promote, as best we could, "The Moral Society." Neither had much of a commercial success, but then John David had eschewed commercialism for the ethical and moral teaching lifestyle to which he had dedicated his life. Indeed, as earlier colleagues in business would agree, he deliberately turned his back on the prospect of becoming a billionaire technologist to pursue his great dream.
One might characterize John David's lifetime quest as Quixotic. While he did have the love and respect of his lovely wife and beautiful daughters, his family life did take a backseat to his dream of creating a truly moral and ethical society. John David was brilliant, loving, tolerant, focused on his dream and, above all, courageous.
In the thirty years since we had first met our contact was sporadic. We each had other agendas and commitments. I focused obsessively on my burgeoning writing career, he on his universal quest. Although I tended to believe in his principals, I suppose I lacked the brave single-minded courage and self-sacrifice required to follow in his path.
Yet, I have been haunted for thirty years with the message of "The Moral Society." The older I get the more I believe in those principals enunciated in that book, even though later in life John David had revised some of them.
But being right garners little rewards in a world gutted by selfishness, cruelty and violence. Indeed, it offered John David little by way of reward, even of the precious psychic variety.
I never visited John David in Oregon, nor did we correspond much. Despite my enduring thanks for that first opening opportunity in my writing career, I offered little by way of gratitude nor, I am certain, did John David expect any.
He was a man far more than someone for all seasons. He was a universal man, a cosmic man, a heroic man, possessing a powerful all-seeing mind and a heart bigger than most.
And somehow I truly believe that his spirit will live on and his thoughts and aspirations will gather momentum in the years ahead. I hope so.

According to one version of an old Jewish saying, a balanced life is composed of three parts - study, kindness, and ethics. John David Garcia embodied all three. We spoke about great philosophers and independent thought. He showed me kindness and patience. He devoted his efforts to the promotion of ethics. He wrote the book on how to live a multifaceted and independent life. The book is now sealed and his contributions can never be erased.

It is very sad for Us, to read the Your e-mail......
We will pray for Him right now at home.....
I feel He left full of all the love He gave to Us and to so many friends, He left a big lesson in life for Me, He helped Me and trust Me to become partners in life, I really love Him. I hope God will help Me to give You as much love as I received from Him, He told Me once, that He joined Me and My creativity, not the material properties, He beleived more in human heart ventures, I honor this aproach to life, I hope You will like to continue this friendship, I will love it.

However, I believe you are now even better able to guide the human race to a peaceful end. You'll always be a part of my life and I choose to honor the gift you were by continuing to live and give to the best of my ability. You live on in this simple 'ripple effect'... forever.
Thank you, John David Garcia for being Who You really were/Are!

The great creative mind of John Garcia brought him nearly equal measures of glory, difficulties and disappointment.
The unique powers of human beings are the products of original thinkers. Creators are a rare breed. They usually bring hardships on themselves by not adapting to the immediate realities of life. Their new concepts threaten established power structures. Entrenched organizations use their strengths to try to destroy the innovators who could displace them.
John lived through a procession of triumphs, disappointments and lonely sorrow. John was very lucky, however. He could have lived in a primitive land where divergent ideas often bring execution.

The Rohweder Family
Mount Vernon

John David:

• had a passion for learning and understanding;
• knew how to focus on what was most important --he did not waste time on irrelevancies;
• had great confidence in himself;
• had the courage to hold unpopular opinions;
• indeed, was totally fearless;
• was industrious and enterprising;
• devoted the last thirty years of his life with a pure heart to a cause greater than himself;
• loved to teach --and to lead people to his cause;
• was more successful than I think he realized as a teacher and leader.

His Creative Transformation has been my favorite book since I first read it nine years ago. He reawakened in me the yearning for self improvement that I had as a child and helped me fuse it to a rich and robust intellectual structure.
His beliefs regarding the purpose of life has become my own.

Richard Uhtenwoldt
San Rafael, CA, USA
ru@river.org

Dear Bernice & Family,

It is with the utmost sadness that we received your message today of John's passing. There are no words to describe the impact that John's friendship and ideas had on Tony and me and our children as well. We will miss hearing from him and of his progress with his writings, lectures, and his dreams for the Society for Evolutionary Ethics. In your tribute to him tomorrow, we would like you to speak of him as we loved him and will remember him----as a man who had the courage and the intellect to truly follow his bliss and who never gave up those passions for a better world and a better mankind. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Linda and Tony

Dear Bernice:

We are deeply saddened to hear about John and want you to know that his friendship meant a lot to us. He not only helped us to see and understand the world in ways we never knew, he always inspired us to think beyond ourselves.
We have many warm memories of John and your family going back to those stimulating gatherings in the 70s. As a thinker and teacher, John shines as a bright star in the constellation of human thought. One can't help but remain in awe of how, almost three decades ago, John was able to distill so much knowledge in The Moral Society and give us a glimpse of how better the world might be. For that tour-de-force alone, John joins the ranks of our greatest thinkers.
Please know that you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

With warmest regards,
Joe and Betty Demkin

"Far and away the most courageously clear-sighted man I have known. I am sure my memories of him, and his thinking, will continue to influence my life. And I feel sure that he is now in a place of great freedom."

With great sympathy (eyes bleared by tears),
Michael Meredith

This is a copy of the translation of the Jewish Mourner's Kaddish that I read at John David's memorial service earlier today. The translation is a loose one done by me in the spirit of John David Garcia.

"I show my respect for the source of all understanding in a world where the Laws of Nature work together in balance and harmony.
May we continue to discover how wonderful life is.
The Beauty of Nature is beyond all description.
May there be long and productive lives of peace for all and all we care for.
May the harmony of the Laws of Nature bring harmony to our own lives and all we care for."

Ron Friedland
November 25, 2001

John was an evangelist. His message: It is not necessary to be a professional scientist in order to benefit from the approach to problem solving has has evolved in the scientific disciplines.
Science has resulted in almost all of the advancements from bare survival by primitive people to the wondrous life styles in advanced civilizations today.
Non scientists, John preached, need to understand the basic philosophy of science so that they will not end, or even reverse, human progress. Ignorant politicians and voters in a democracy can point the fate of humanity back down hill.

Mary and Ralph Rohweder

John David taught me the meaning of creativity, and that knowledge changed my life.
I will miss him.

Dexter Graphic

Estimada Miriam, Bernice y familia de John David:
Con mucho dolor recibimos la noticia de la muerte de John, fué una persona que quisimos mucho y muy importante para nosotros.
Recuerdo que lo visité en casa de Bernice en San francisco el año pasado y Bernice asistió a una exposición de mi obra en San Francisco,  la saludo con mucho afecto, así como a toda la familia de John.
En esta hora dificil reciban nuestra amistad y compañía, John estará en el corazón de quienes lo conocimos, el abrió una puerta de esperanza para nosotros.

Sinceramente
Rosario, Rómulo y familia
Reciban

John:
My friend, I will remember many things about you, things I could have never known with out you, things I could have never experienced with out you, thank you.
You now live in my thoughts and in the thoughts of many.
I will forever love you my friend.

Tony Reyes

I met John some 30 years ago attending one of his lectures on Evolutionary Ethics, in Guadalajara, we both admired Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. We became friends for ever. I read his books many times and organized lectures for him in Mexico never tiring of hearing his ideas. I spent long hours asking questions and discussing issues with him. The depth of his creative intuition has never ceased to fascinate me. His ethical resolve to initiate a new Human Order based on the ethics of creativity never dwinndled to his last days. He died like Bach, composing an unfinished intellectual fuge: a book on the mathematics of Evolution...
As partners, we tried to build a School for Evolutionary Education in Elkton, a mystical Oregon medow, where I learned his ashes will rest. The seeds for an Ethical State, have been planted by his hand with great diligence and love, it is up to those of us who share his ethics, to nurture them until they become a tree deeply rooted in God´s Quantum Universe.
My family and myself will never forget those early days when John and Bernice offered us their generous hospitality in their beautiful home of Potomac District, Washington D.C. where we met Miriam, Jackie, Karen and Laura in their infancy. Please receive our empathy in these sad moments.

Guillermo, Beatrice, Laura, Susan, Miriam and Andrew Sánchez Penichet.

Querido John: Donde sea que estes se que me escuchas, por eso aprovecho este momento para agradecerte una vez mas que hayas tocado tan profundamente mi vida y mis motivos.
Tantas veces hablamos de tantas cosas tantas otras discutimos y tantas otras supimos estar y acompañarnos en el silencio, aun a la distancia de paises pudimos sincronizarnos y mantenrnos cercanos.
Johon un dia me dijiste 'dime todo ahora, despues va a ser muy dificil comunicarnos'... y te dije todo y me dijiste todo y ahora que no estas aqui la dificultad se hace presente...
Te extraño y me veo buscando como hacer para encontrar el cable que nos mantenia unidos y en medio de las lagrimas escribo y me voy dando cuenta poco a poco que estas aqui conmigo a travez de tus enseñanzas,de los abrazos y los momentos compartidos...
John David Garcia Maestro, Colega, Amigo ha sido un honor haberte conocido y que formes parte de mi existencia para el resto de mi vida y para la eternidad algun dia compartida...

Galia

Dear Bernice and Family,
I was so very, very sad to hear about John. I hope his words and vision give each of you some solace at this time. He was so proud of his daughters, and his grandchildren truly ligthened his soul -- it is good you were all together with him.
E-mail seems so inadequate for this message, but this one comes with my deepest sympathy to all of you. It is nearly impossible to imagine the world without John and his courage (and burden) to see the world so clearly. Some of us here will be getting together soon to remember John, and we will remember his family, whom he loved so much, in our thoughts.

Love, Sandra

Dear Bernice and family:
I have just know that John past away last 23th of November and I want to tell you how sorry I'm. Dear Bernice, We met each other when I was part of the sculpture group of Loraine Pinto and you were in México at the exhibit in the Nikko Hotel. Also I'm part of the Creative Transformation Octeto with Vera Aida, Irwin Yeroham, Kimi, and more, and I learn a lot from John and the group. I will miss John a lot even I know that he is living in al of us, his books, and all what he teaches us. And as he said he is immortal because all what he created. If there is any thing I can do from here I'll be glad to do it.

Love to you all,
Hebe

Thank you so much for coming today.
Yes, John really did have a wife. Although we did not live together the last few years, we were deeply committed to one another. We were best friends. I spent little time in Oregon, but John trekked to SF as often as he could, even in the last two years when his health deteriorated badly. He very much enjoyed visiting our two daughters and their families who live in the SF bay area.
There are two themes that run through John's entire life–he was independent and he was fearless. Some people make their lives small so that they will feel safe. John was not afraid to take risks, to reach far and to fight for what he wanted. Sometimes he won and sometimes he lost, but he was very focused and persistant in pursuit of his dream.
John was born and raised in San Franscisco. He ran away from home at 14, with a friend, and lived in the woods for a few days. He was fortunate to meet a Hassidic Jew who was also a very well educated, wordly man. He became John's mentor and life-long friends. His name was Leib Shapiro. He inspired in John a love of learning, which, together with his great intelligence, had him reading Darwin at the age of 15, as well as the works of such people as Bertrand Russel and others. He loved college– he drank it all in. And unlike many of us, who stop reading after school, John never stopped reading and learning all his life.
John was attending the U of CA at Berkeley when we met. My family owned a bakery, and a mutual friend coerced John to come with him to see a "real" European bakery. I happened to be there on that day. John became a regular at the bakery; I don't know if John was more smitten with me or all the free bagels he got to eat. He was working his way through college and subsisting on one meal a day. He was thin as a rail.
John was drafted into the army and sent east to Maryland. We were married while he was in the army.
After the army we settled in a suburb of Washington, DC. John worked at a variety of jobs doing what was then called "systems engineering" or "systems research"; and all geared to getting contracts or grant money from the Federal government. John was not happy working for large corporations, or even just working for someone else. So he left a lucrative career to start his own company, which became very successful, but also depended on the government for its existence.
John became frustrated seeing his work chewed up by the federal bureaucracy. In another courageous (or foolhardy) move, he sold his company and and used the proceeds to support his family while teaching and writing "The Moral Society".
From the vantage of Washington DC, Oregon seemed like a veritable paradise; a place that was liberal, forward looking, unbureaucratic. So we left Maryland, our home of 17 years, and moved to Elkton, Oregon, where John hoped to start a school and put many of his ideas about education into practice.
It did not take long to realize that OR was not entirely liberal or entirely unbureacratic. When the locals in Elkton learned about John's plans for a school, they became alarmed. They did not want any change, however good. John did not get the necessary permits to build the school. Needless to say, it was a very low point in John's life.
However, John truly loved Oregon, and so after selling the property in Elkton he moved to Eugene and continued writing and lecturing in the US and Latin America, where he was much loved. John wrote, and had published two more books, and has another one in the pipeline. The expression "larger than life" certainly applied to John. We, his family, are awed by the many people he touched and whose lives he influenced. He will be much missed., not only by us, his immediate family, but by many many people all over the world.

Bernice

---

When I was a little girl I remember waiting eagerly for my Dad to come home from work. I'd stand by the window, watching and waiting for play time with Dad. But it never quite turned out that way.
You see, he'd come home, turn on the evening news and with a great big sigh, mold himself into his leather recliner. Play time was not on his agenda. If you tried to talk to him, he'd shout "Silence! I'm watching the news."
Ah, but when the news ended– that's when our time began. Time and space, the final frontier, the parent-child relationship, an 18 year mission to explore strange new worlds together. You see, I'd figured out that I could have Dad to myself for an entire HOUR if I simply watched Star Trek with him. At least that's how it began, more importantly is how it ended. It ended as a meaningful ritual and special time that was ours and ours alone.
Star Trek was not only a part of our lives but in some strange way provided a window for the young girl to understand a bit about the complicated, dynamic galaxy she called Dad.
In each hour long episode, Captain Kirk faced and conquered a moral dilemma– there were opportunities to learn, teach and create. Of course my Dad's favorite aliens were the Vulcans: a race of highly intelligent people devoted to logic. And then there was Star Fleet and it's prime directive. When I asked Dad to explain the Prime Directive to me, he said that's what makes the show so Ethical. Star Fleet regulations require exploration (in Dad terms that's learning), lending assistance to aliens (Dad's terms: maximizing another's creativity) and Star Fleet required non-interference with a peoples' natural evolution. That was another value the show and my Dad espoused– evolution.
After hours of shared Treks through Rock Monsters, Big Brained aliens and a really tempermental warp core, perhaps the most enduring and meaningful insight emerged. Somewhere along the way I came to understand that, like Star Trek, my Dad held an optimistic view of the future. He envisioned a day when Morals and Ethics charted one's course to the stars. A day when doing the right thing always saves the day, and the good guys always win. He spent his life trying to make the world a better place... the kind of place that might someday produce a fleet of explorers seeking out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
About that same time I noticed something else: our ritual had evolved. Dad and I had found something to talk about. We'd found a common bond. It was a new frontier for us. I was growing up and beginning to understand a bit about the man and his philosophy.
On the day my Dad died, there was a Star Trek marathon on t.v. I watched it with some tears in my eyes, but also with hope in my heart. You see, Dad had crossed his final frontier and now the next step, the next evolution, is up to the next generation. He leaves all of us in this room to continue his challenge: learn, teach and create a better future.

Laura

---

When I was four my father was a god. He towered above me, His handsome head brushing the ceiling. When He spoke even Mommy hopped to it, but the real proof of His deity was that He knew all. I knew Daddy knew everything because He told me so often and was quite willing to be tested. Whatever I asked He answered without hesitation. "How far is it to the moon?" (236,000 miles at the perigee). "Are there really fairies?" (Yes. They hang out in Golden Gate Park but they only grant wishes to boys.) "When will you die Daddy?" (Never.) "Is there such a thing as God?" (No. God is silly.)
Over time, my father came to think quite differently about these things. Near the end of life he wrote this about immortality and God.
"We are immortal in our souls, which live forever in the creativity that we have engendered in others during our life, and through our creations perhaps long after our deaths. We are also immortal in that every creative act that we ever do becomes an eternal part of the infinite mind of God, i.e. part of quantum space, the implicate order. But our ego is a product of our body, and it dies with our body."
When I read these words yesterday, I understood something.
By the time I was 9, I knew that I had two daddies.
One was a playful daddy who loved tickles and kisses and pretty girls on his lap–yet this playful daddy didn't always know when to stop, and sometimes his affections were fueled by a hunger that we children couldn't understand.
The other I thought of as the Moral Society daddy. He was stern with his daughters and we were afraid of him.
I think these two daddies can be understood as manifestations of an ego hungry for love, and a soul hungry for truth. Neither aspect was perfect and both aspects grew in wisdom over the years. In fact, one of the great gifts I have received from my father is the example he set of lifelong discovery, of experimentation and change within the limits of a given personality. My father went from rationalist to mystic, from scorning Catholic ritual, to embracing Jewish ethics. He also went from being my harshest judge to being my biggest fan. In the last few years, he gave me his unconditional love and support at last, and I was able to receive it.
On Thursday night, my mother and I were midwives to my father's ego as it faded from his body. and midwives to his soul, delivering him with love to quantum space, the implicate order. Here is what my father has to say about this final creative act:

"Death is essential to life. Without death there can be no evolution by natural selection, since then higher life forms could never replace the less evolved life forms. It is inevitable that as we grow older, we eventually begin to decline in creativity, until our life costs more in the creative efforts of others to maintain than what our total creative output will be for the rest of our life. At this point the most creative thing we can do is die and allow someone else to take our place in the ongoing experiment that is evolution.
"The sole value and meaning of our life is the creativity that we engender in others. Each human life is an experiment in evolution. It will have been a successful experiment, if we leave the biosphere a little more creative than we found it. If we have had a good life, someone will be able to build on the reflection of our soul that we left behind, and help humanity take one more step along the road that leads to the Ethical State, the Moral Society, and ever closer to union in God. Solely moral beings achieve true union with God; solely they can continue to grow in creativity forever. Solely morality, can engender immortality."

Now, my father's awareness is part of infinity. I'm glad that he left surrounded by love, and I have no doubt that he will continue to live on in the creativity he engendered – and will engender – in others. In a little while, any one who wants to speak will have a chance to talk about John David and let us know how he may have touched your life.

Miriam

I always enjoyed hearing myself described by John David because he always managed to enhance into a little bigger than life the most creative features of everyone.
I'm quantumly unsure how to say anything simple about John in a few sentences because he was such a catalyst for others and loving with each of us, uniquely in our lives--that only each of us might know.
I shared some wonderfully vital days of my life with John and with the folks of us drawn to him. Shared in some unusual adventures in creativity, beauty and compassion. Easily I love John and I put into my own son some of the love he often expressed regarding his own family. He was so proud of each of you.
I expect many more synchronicities now that John David Garcia is free from boundaries. Thank you dear John for freely sharing your precious, precious life with me.

Robert Elder

Dear Bernice,
You don´t know me but I was a student and friend of John. I just receive the news about him passing away. My deepest sympathy.
He was a great teacher for many of us, he gave us tools to be more ethical and creative. I remember this phrase he said in one of his workshops. "Death is the last creative act in the life of a person, when he realizes that he is not enhancing creativity to life and to others".
I heard his health had diminished, I hope he didn´t suffer too much.
All my love to you and your daughters,

Ana Lilia Córdova

Imposible describir lo que Juan David me dió a través del Diplomado de Creatividad fundamentado en sus teorías y enseñanzas. Transformó mi vida y le dió sentido. Desde que su mensaje tocó mi vida, todo el trabajo comunitario que hago ha sido influenciado por él. No sólo mi trabajo, sino mi vida misma. Si yo creo, es porque creo que creando soy!
Un aplauso a un hombre que tocó y transformó muchas vidas. Y que dejó sembradas muchas semillas de amor, ética y creatividad que haremos florecer en su honor. Gracias John, te amo.

Leticia Córdva Lira
Akumal, Q.Roo, donde John dió un sminario de creatiividad.

Hola, John

Nunca sentí la necesidad de decirte esto, de alguna manera pensé que serias eterno y lo lograste, me siento lleno de agradecimiento a la vida, por el habernos hecho coincidir, me siento nostálgico por los buenos momentos que pasamos juntos y de ese amor real, que se sentía al esta junto a ti, quedan para mi.
Gracias por ese regalo y por la reacción en cadena de regalos que fuiste para mi.
Llegaste justo a tiempo en mi vida para despertar, renacer y darle fuerza a ese ser que soy,. Ese ser al cual había olvidado y dejado de amar. Tú lo recuperaste, le dijiste que valía y que era importante crecerlo, amarlo y creativamente recrearlo, todos lo días. En ese momento donde yo estaba en la cueva; cuando había guardado todos estas ideas, por poco prácticas y tan utópicas que las creí delirios de una mente insana,; cuando vivía en la comodidad que brinda la comunidad mansa, estática y sin destellos de vida.
Tarde mucho tiempo en incorporar tus conceptos, pues como buen mexicano, solo si los vivo aprendo, dude de todo lo que me decías, pues era tan parecido a todo lo que yo había pensado, que dude por mi, no por ti, aun cuando así lo aconsejaras. Siempre fui hijo desobediente y rebelde, tu me hiciste comprender porque.
Tuve dos padres uno que me trajo al mundo y otro me explico para que, Doy gracias al creador por pensar tan personalmente en mi y tan generalmente en nosotros.
Gracias por anteponer la verdad a la felicidad, gracias por nombrarnos responsables de todo lo que nos sucede y somos, gracias por relacionar al amor con la creatividad, gracias por convertir el mi odio a la ética, en amor, a través de presentarme a Espinoza. Gracias por sugerírmelo y no ordenármelo, gracias por amarme y así lograr vencer mi miedo a lo que tu llamas transformación creativa.
Tratare de no extrañarte, pues ese día, el día que te extrañe estaré olvidándome de me, ayúda me, desde donde estés, a no hacerlo frecuentemente.
Buena jornada, buen viaje te veo luego.........

Berenice, Laura, Miriam:

No tengo el gusto de conocerlas personalmente, pero siempre estuvieron con nosotros en nuestras platicas y en los problemas que tenia John en mandar sus mails y en ciertas similitudes de lo que vivieron con él y que yo viví con mi familia, se de la admiración y amor que sentía por todas ustedes y como buen amigo compartió sus tesoros, a ustedes y todo lo que el era, es y seguirá siendo en nosotros.
Personalmente les agradezco el carecerlo para que nosotros lo tuviéramos mas tiempo. Se que fue un hombre que sabia amar correctamente y si se los dio fue por amarlas y si dejo de dárselos fue por amarlas más, brindo por su familia y por él.
El me dijo: Lo único y mas importante que tú mismo, es la familia, no hagas lo mismo que yo. Y lo desobedecí porque lo mas importante era la familia.
Un abrazo, con todo mi amor a la familia de John,

Javier Ceballos
Valle de Bravo

John David Garcia embodied the very essence of what I had come to value in my life, above all creativity. Apart from his deep insights into humanity and civilization, what most inspired me about him was his apparent courage to actually live independently according to his beliefs, and do so with some success. Ever since childhood I was obsessed with notions of justice and my greatest ambition was to dedicate my life as a pragmatic Renaissance Man for a better world. Much as John, my studies carried me from biology to chemistry to physics into the arts and the social sciences. I too became frustrated by the industrial machinery, and left to dedicate my life to work in an ethical context. As John, although a logical positivist, I had found my greatest resonance in the ethos of Judaism, and have recently had to append my purely rationalistic world view with that of mysticism.
When I came upon John's book "Creative Transformation" it was as if my very soul had found a mirror in someone else, someone, as I subsequently discovered, of far greater intellect and discipline than I could ever hope to attain. As with Baruch Spinoza, I came to truly love the man behind his work, not just for the works content and significance, but for the courage and sincerity of its author. It touches me to the deepest to know that people like him existed.
Although I never personally met him, I did correspond with him per email and recently on the telephone. His openness to communicate freely surprised me.
I must admit that his work, and my resolute attempt to incorporate many of its principles into my life, has brought me far more grief than I initially bargained for. But I still believe that it will, in the long run, bring me closer to truth, be it ever so painful. As John, I have always striven towards truth over happiness. It is now my hope to live up to the creative potential that John has helped stir within me. His creativity should indeed live on in others!
My warmest regards to those who survive him, and may his work serve as a beacon to those willing to listen. He remains perhaps the most notable intellectual inspiration of my life.

M. H. D.

JUAN DAVID:
El viernes por la tarde te sentí en todo mi ser. Hablé de tu filosofía y quiero decirte que dejas mucha luz y amor en mi corazón. Tu CREATIVIDAD se extiende más allá del tiempo y del espacio. Siempre trataré de escuchar tu voz que hace eco en toda la humanidad.
JOHN estrella.
JOHN mariposa que vuela de flor en flor.
JOHN "buda".
JOHN universo.
JOHN cimiento del nuevo milenio.
JOHN ETERNO.

GUILLE MORALES DE MARIN
MEXICO

Dear John David:

My teacher, my mentor your have helped me trough your vision find my path in life.

"Helping others to maximize creativity is the way to maximize your own."

For me this statement defines the foundations of your paradigm.
Your capacity to sinteticise and define in one evolutionary path, so many ideas and proposals of so many historic men, as well as to interpretate the history an evolution of religions and human kind trough a simplistic ethical point of view has helped me define my own transcendent path.
Man needs to live in a new transformed and creative way for his evolution. you where the messager of how human beings can achieve as a group a new evolutionary way of life.
Man first needs to evolve in his own consiosness and then he will be ready to evolve as a group conciousness.
Your paradigm was to advanced for your life time, but thas doesent mean that all the sacrifices you did on your self and on your family wont have a transendence in the near future.
Your purpose in life was to be able to transmit your vision and that it wont die with you.
So be it. it comit my self to have a space where we will put in practice your proposal so that future generetions will be able to explore your legacy.

With all my love,
Irwin Yeroham

Dear Bernice:
My heart goes out to you and your family in this time of grief.
John was an angel sent from above to gide us, and he did!
We will miss him but his true energy continues with us.
He changed our live for the best and naw it is our turn to continue his dream. The dream of all mankind: to live in peace with ourselves and others.
God bless you and your family!
God blessed all of us by putting John in our path!
Love always,

Maggie Tejeda
Mexico City

Berenice y Miriam

Desde Guadalajara, les mandamos un calido y afectuoso saludo de nuestro octeto, y sentimos profunda pena por la muerte de Juan David, que Dios lo tenga en su reino, el nos abrio el camino de la amistad, de la creatividad y de la aplicacion de la etica evolutiva, nosotros seguimos practicando sus enseñanzas desde aqui.
La autopoiesis es para nosotros un valioso camino que esperamos se continue para bien de la humanidad.
Un abrazo de sus amigos de Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico, y sepan que estamos dolidos igual que ustedes, pero muy orgulosos de haber conocido a Juan David Garcia.
Que Dios les de paz y que alcancen pronto el consuelo
Les deseamos:

Maggi, Alma, Carmen, Lupita, Judith, Guillermo, Carlos, Ramon y Javier.

John David was such a kind and generous man. When my husband Raphael was dying, John flew here to Hawaii to help him. The story of that adventure (and it was an adventure) is told in the compiled email letters that I wrote to our friends and family, called Death by Email, available from www.death.highvibrations.net.
I have the gift to follow people after they die. When I found out about John David's passing, I tuned in on him and I heard him say, "It's so much better here."

Vaya Con Dios, Mi Amigo
Joy Gardner

It was my privilege to have worked as John David's editor from Creative Transformation through his book on political ethics now in press. He and I wrangled over many a word and definition, and I am pleased to believe that I was of help to him. We agreed on many things and disagreed on many others, but even when we disagreed, we seemed always to understand each other. John had gifts that are extremely rare, especially among prophets: he listened and he strove for objectivity.
He was my true friend, and I will remember him as he once said he wished to be remembered. For his kindness.

Russell Becker

We want to add our names to the list of those who were enhanced and encouraged and enlightened by knowing him. May his work continue to bring peace and love to the world. He will be missed.

Michael and Mo Oster

What Have I Ever Lost By Dying?

I spent millons of years in the world
of inorganic things
as a star, as a rock. . .
Then I died and became a plant--
Forgetting my former existence
because of its otherness
Then I died and became an animal--
Forgetting my life as a plant
except for inclinations in the season
of spring and sweet herbs--
like the inclination of babes
toward their mother's breast
Then I died and became a human
My intelligence ripened, awakening
from greed and self-seeking
to become wise and knowing
I behold a hundred thousand
intelligences most marvelous
and remember my former states
and inclinations
And when I die again
I will soar past the angels
to places I cannot imagine
Now, what have I ever lost by dying?
-Rumi

Dear John,
I miss you terribly--yet feel irresistably impelled to speak to you rather than about you.
You are a true and good and deep friend, and it has been a great priviledge and joy to know you and be your friend. The world will surely be a more lonely place without you--and heaven knows it's a lonely enough place anyway.
Here's the Rumi poem you so loved when I first read it to you about twenty years ago.
I couldn't lay my hands on that exact version, so I arranged this anew from a literal translation of the Persian. I hope it will please you. My mind swarms  with pleasant memories of our times together, our wonderful phone calls and e-mails.
May God bless you and keep you and illuminate your soul.

-Bill Cassady

México, D.F., a 26 de diciembre del año 2001.

Querido John:
Hoy escribo recordandote con mucho amor y agradecimiento por todas tus enseñanzas, además de una gran admiración que te tengo por la labor tan enorme que has dejado no sólo en tus libros, sino también como legado a la consciencia colectiva terrestre.
En mí sembraste un nuevo paradigma de vida, sé que me ahorraste muchos años de vanas experiencias y sufrimientos. Recuerdo como si hubiése sido ayer todas las conversaciones que llevamos a cabo y agradezco infinitamente los razonamientos que debatimos y concluímos juntos. Sabes que sembraste en tierra fertil.
Espero que en las esferas que estes viviendo en estos momentos estemos modificando juntos el nuevo paradigma para la humanidad.
John, sé lo que hiciste en tus últimos momentos en esta esfera y no tengo palabras con que agradecertelo, de verdad con todo mi corazón y mi vida gracias. No te voy a defraudar.
Sé que la autopoiesis es la forma más poderosa que existe para salir adelante y resolver y llevar a cabo nuestros proyectos y objetivos de vida, sin ella no estaría en el proceso en el que me encuentro ahora. Estoy trabajando sobre las últimas imágenes de mi primera autopoiesis que comentaremos un poco más adelante. Como siempre pido tu asesoramiento por medio de la autopoiesis individual, gracias.

Tu discípulo que te ama:
Francisco Enrique Espino Bravo.

Bernice, Miriam and family

Posiblemente demasiado tarde para hacerles llegar mi cariño y amor, sin haberlas conocido personalmente, les conoci en fotos que mi querido amigo John no mostro en sus visitas a la ciudad de Durango, Dgo. dandonos cuenta del gran amor a ustedes.
Cuando tuvimos la oportunidad de atenderlo siempre nos lleno de amor y fueron muchos los conceptos que nos comunicó.
John donde quiera que estes gracias, muchas gracias.
Preservare tu presencia promoviendo tus tesis y conceptos, en todos los momentos de mi vida.

Germán Oyosa Roldán

I am saddened to learn of the death of John David Garcia, an extraordinary man with a marvellous vision for our future. I first learned of him and his ideas when I was lent a copy of his book 'The Moral Society' in 1979. In 1984 I visited him in San Francisco and also travelled with him to his farm school near Elkton.

Chris Manning
Monbulk, Victoria, Australia