response 1 of 22:

Nov 30 18:51 UTC 1991

One writer that has influenced my personal philosophy is Alan Watts.
I grew up at a time when his books on eastern philosophy were very
popular.  He had a very engaging writing style, and his books made a
lot of sense to me at that point in my life.

response 3 of 22:

Dec 1 01:44 UTC 1991

Ja, und die Frage ist nur: "Welche Wirkung hat deine personliche Philosophie
im Moment?  Eine Negative oder eine Positive?"

response 5 of 22:

Dec 1 16:11 UTC 1991

Alan Watts was great.  He took esoteric  concepts and packaged them so that
someone like me could get interested in them. He was a good storyteller, as
I recall. For a time, one of the old alternative stations ran his programs;
they were very entertaining.

I found many other authors to be helpful to me.  Among the most influential:
M. Scott Peck, _The Road Less Traveled_, _People of the Lie_
Robert Fritz, _The Path of Least Resistance_
William James, __Psychology_ ( and a few others:))
P.D. Ouspensky, _The Fourth Way_ ( My very favorite crazy person )
Don Van Vliet, musician and artist 

response 7 of 22:

Jan 12 21:57 UTC 1992

Dr. Seuss

response 9 of 22:

Aug 24 04:53 UTC 1993

Over time I collect new "major influences" ... the first I can remember
was Sammy Davis junior.  I read his auto-biography when I was in 5th grade
and was mesmerized.  I fell in love with show-biz from reading his book,
and came to a clear understanding that people un-like me were still very
much *people*.  He was a Star.  He still had things go wrong in his life.
He was Jewish (I was brought up a sheltered Catholic) and he was as spiritual
and thoughtful as anyone I had encountered to that time.  He was black.
I was a sheltered little white girl. I'd seen maybe 2-3 black people in
my life to that point.  He was a person with emotions I could identify
with.  In many ways we were very different, but I could empathize with
what he went through ... that had a major impact in my life at 10.

Then, much later, I read Abbie Hoffman's autobiography.  I had grown up
in the late 60's and early 70's in a military household.  I thought that
hippies were an artifact of history, like the pioneers, but crazy.  I
only came to understand what the whole movement had been about much later.
I went through a prolonged "activist" stage, at that point.

Much later, again, I began to read feminist authors.  Overall, I can't really
name one who has more influence on me than the others -- unless I just name
the most recent.  ;)  But as a group, they have has the most far-reaching
impact.

Except, my mother.  She told me often when I was growing up that

"You're only as happy as you decide to be"

or my father.  He told me

"If it needs to be done, do it.  If you wait for soemone else to get to
it, nothing will be done.  Take responsibility for what you can do to
make a positive difference in your world."

(He was refering to housework and job attitude, but it makes alot of
sense as a life's philosophy, too.  He discovered that, too.  At 61,
he's a neighborhood activist fighting for better conditions in his part
of the city, including environmental clean-up, better police protection,
and more responsible political representation.)

response 11 of 22:

Apr 19 01:59 UTC 1994

My father said:

If you keep doing that I'll give you a spanking.

response 13 of 22:

Apr 23 16:57 UTC 1994

Re 11:  ...so, vishnu...did you keep doing "that", or did you stop?

response 15 of 22:

May 16 19:41 UTC 1994

Robert Anton Wilson's "schroedingers cat" and stravinski's "rite of spring"

response 17 of 22:

May 17 01:18 UTC 1994

Also for me, Jim Coleman (god).

response 19 of 22:

Aug 10 19:21 UTC 1994

Me too, I loved Ed Wood's movie _Carl Or Carla_.