Deepest thanks to the Evolver Network and its cofounders, Daniel Pinchbeck and Jonathan-Talat Phillips, whose tireless efforts to bring together evolving hearts made this book and my own evolution possible. Rich gratitude goes also to Charles Eisenstein and Lewis Hyde, who helped me to think deeply about the nature of the gift world, and to Rupert Sheldrake, who taught us all about morphic resonance.
Most reverent thanks also to my intellectual, spiritual, and poetic predecessors whose work and example help me to live every day: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Johann Goethe, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas De Quincey, William Blake, Søren Kierkegaard, William James, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Alice Bailey, Annie Besant, H. Emilie Cady, Madame Helena Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Rainer Maria Rilke, Zora Neale Hurston, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, James Hillman, Thomas Moore, Ken Keyes Jr., Edward Hirsch, Robert Bly, Pablo Neruda, Allen Ginsberg, Julia Cameron, Marianne Williamson, Elizabeth Gilbert, Anne Carson, Martha Beck, Rob Brezsny, Brian Browne Walker, Jane Hirshfield, Robert Thurman, Chögyam Trungpa, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Reginald Ray, Acharya Adam Lobel, Stephen Mitchell, Pema Chodron, Byron Katie, and to all the dreamers in my Reading Poetry class at the University of Pittsburgh and the Facebook group that I facilitate, the Dreamer’s Tantra.
I also offer thanks to a whole vast stream of astounding geniuses who touched my heart profoundly with their friendship, wisdom, love, and madness throughout the idea-brewing, writing, and making of this book: Andy Lapin, Sophie Batchelor, Rebecca Wigginton, Frances Frasier, Bruce Elliott, Julie Moore, Robin Clarke, Joshua Zelesnick, Becca Mertz, Chris Miller, Carlos Antonio Delgado, Allison Delgado, Lucia Tedesco, Robin Gunkel, Adam Elenbaas, Magenta Imagination Healer, Meg Rivers, Jonathan-Talat Phillips, Remi Gurcak, Brian Duffy, Donna Greco, Elaine Holmes, Bill Holmes, Daniel Joseph Montano, Jessica Duval, Sara Wetmore, Noah Owens, Danielle Laubach, Susan Richter, Eric Venuto, Debadeepta Dey, Annie Derek, Aaron Fraser, Chad Mosseso, Sheryl Laffey, Danny Laffey, Gloria Viveros, Terry Boring, Conor Keelan, Brian Hussar, Christopher Comp, Jesse Scheck, Stephanie Pinsky, Levi Marcus, Tait McKenzie Johnson, Simon Zealot, Alex Baker, Josh Lee, Brittany Bankert, Allen Hart, Susan Richter, Phil Osophical, James Gyre, Laura Gyre, Matthu Stull, Christa Brashier, Mike Sablowsky, Poetry Pilgrim Crystal Hoffman, Michael “Sneaky Mike” Lübbert, Caroline Savery, Sigh V. Meltingstar, John Chriest, Eliza Bishop, Dean Cercone Jr., North Star, Susan Rose, T. Klinkhamer (YOU = LOVE!), Isaac Hill, Thomas Coleman, Cathy Rescher, Jane Bullard, Chase Connolly, Hannah Dubrow, Molly Greenfield, Michael Powers, Verity Grace, Julia Walker, Erin Dougherty, Josh Munsch, Aaron Gordon, Julia Johnson, Ketan Bakrania, Thomas Zimmer, Mikio Akagi, David Teot, Betsy Reiling, Matthew Keener, and Chad Whitacre.
And more endless thanks to the best and most challenging writing, reading, and thinking teachers a woman could ask for: Ruth Dines, Mara Creegan, Kristin Kovacic, Jane McCafferty, Hilary Masters, Terrance Hayes, Jim Daniels, Jon Klancher, Marian Aguiar, Paul Hopper, Barbara Johnstone, Alan Kennedy, Peggy Knapp, Kathy Newman, Don Bialostosky, Paul Kameen, Nancy Glazener, Susan Smith, Phil Smith, Paul Bové, Ben Lerner, Toi Derricotte, Mariolina Salvatori, Dawn Lundy-Martin, and Marianne Novy.