The names are many, the man is one. The many questions I am asked about my motivations and actions suggest that my ways of being and doing are not ordinary. Yet like most people, I am a product of my life experiences, which in turn have been both a cause and an effect of my Weltanschauung, my view of the world. I would like to summarize these here for the benefit of my friends and associates.

I believe that much of what I am was already part and parcel of my personality in the early years of my life, during my childhood and adolescence. My forebears also instilled in me the deep conviction that wealth demands certain responsibility. This conviction has led me to seek and implement new ways of doing philanthropic work. I recall that as a very young child -- three or four years old -- my dream when I grew up was not to be a cowboy or to drive a steam engine; I wanted to be a priest and a missionary. I do not know whether that early ambition was a forerunner of my interest in spiritual concerns or of the desire to travel to faraway places that I have had all my life. Or was it simply a reaction to the fact that, despite my tender age, I already knew that I was expected by my mother to become a business leader.


However, over my mother's objections, I studied besides economics after an apprenticeship as economic assistant rather languages, social studies, arts and philosophy. My goal was not to become a buisiness leader, but to inquire into and understand the workings of society. When I left university I had been over quarter of the century a revolutionary. But I had other ideas. Ever since I had begun to develop an interest in the economic, social and ecological development of nations and societies; indeed, I felt a much greater affinity for this area than for the revolutionary struggle. Almost my entire life the abolishment of hunger and poverty and injustice was my utmost aim. Everybody should be enabled to pursue his happiness and welfare. As an artist philosopher I invented dromographics and was part of the fluxus movement. My focus is on all aspects of time. I am especially interested in designing memplexes.