Inspiration

“Occasionally people wonder how I ended up studying and writing extensively about such an extraordinary and challenging research area as Old Europe. Regarding my personal history, where do my motivation, unique research approach and the necessary knowledge and skills come from?

Already at a young age, I read the works of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), and I was deeply impressed by his monumental “Cosmos” (5 vols., 1843). The thoughts and experiences of this wise man had a lasting effect on my entire life, my thinking and attitudes, and a spark was lit in my mind: the desire to follow in the footsteps of this great explorer. The motto of “Cosmos” is a fundamental insight on ways of life: “Beware of people that do not look at the world. Their worldview is the most dangerous.” Von Humboldt had lived in Paris for several years, frequenting the salons of aristocratic circles until he became utterly bored, and set out on his voyages to America. He did not hesitate to go on expeditions into the Amazon jungle and he encountered all kinds of obstacles and dangerous situations. Yet he continued exploring because he wanted to know more about the world.

I absorbed von Humboldt's life wisdom and felt the call to look at the world like him, and to gather information about the living conditions of people in different cultures. Already as a schoolboy, I seized opportunities to travel abroad during holidays. After graduating, I spent time as a guest participating in family life in different countries. Early on, I started learning various new languages in addition to the ones offered at school. I get along in some 7 languages and can read and understand about 12 others: Ancient Greek, Latin, Japanese, Catalan and Hebrew among them.

I continued to travel to ever more distant destinations, and my hunger for knowledge of the world continued to grow. I took an interest in academic literature already at school, and the first of my essays was published in my high school's magazine, about a topic that I have continuously explored ever since: the rise of Roman civilisation out of a milieu of multicultural contacts. I was fortunate to engage in university studies at a time (in the 1960s and early 1970s) when there were no restrictions regarding the choice of disciplines or educational programs. That was an era when one could study in the spirit of Humboldtian academic freedom.

After I had finished my doctoral dissertation I started a university career, teaching and researching in Germany and in other countries. But I soon felt the pressure of ever-present limitations in educational curricula. I was fortunate to enjoy the support of various foundations in different countries - among them the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung in Germany. Perhaps this association, named after the great explorer, was no coincidence but a sign that I had made the right choice following in his footsteps. My research work has been categorised by critics as “groundbreaking”, and I have produced a number of “pioneering” publications. For example, during a three-years’ stay in Japan, I carried out a major research project, funded by three international foundations (1982–85). The documentation of the results was published in several books and various articles.

I enlarged my fields of study continuously, a process that was spurred by the accumulation of increasing knowledge about the world, which I could build up as the result of my travels. My orientation has been constantly confirmed during my interactions in multicultural settings. A few years ago I made statistics of my travels and was myself astonished. I have visited more than 140 countries in the world and walked on all continents …including Antarctica. I have had opportunities to meet with people in exceedingly different cultural environments.

In my worldview there is no place for prejudices, stereotypes, clichés, nor for racist or sexist allures. I have been impressed by the skills of men and women alike to live under the most varying conditions, to master the challenges of daily life and to construct manifold cultural patterns. I have learned to appreciate the wisdom of indigenous people around the world, for instance as encapsulated in a saying by the Navajo Amerindians: “sa’ah naagháí bik’eh hózhóón” (the beauty of life created by the application of teachings that work).

I have met women who I have found to be as admirable and influential as Alexander von Humboldt. I got to know the works of the eminent scholar Marija Gimbutas in the 1980s, and she has left a lasting imprint on my thinking and on my scientific endeavors. It was Marija who encouraged me in an exceptional way to continue my research in the field of Old Europe. I had asked her opinion on a manuscript for my first book in this pertinent field. She gave a weighty statement: “Here is someone who understands.” The coordination of our mutual understanding about the significance of peaceful community life and gender equality has served as a reliable navigator for my research work. 

Here is my philosophy of life in a nutshell: 

I follow Alexander von Humboldt and call for people to have a look at the world, for understanding the great variety of cultures and to appreciate cultural diversity.

I follow Marija Gimbutas and encourage women to stand up against the male-dominated scientific establishment, to oppose worn-out attitudes of alleged patriarchal superiority and to replace outdated clichés about cultural history with new insights. Like Marija, I underscore the significance of peaceful intercultural exchange of ideas and the need to engage in cooperative enterprises in the spirit of gender equality.

Let’s craft a new worldview, based on the lessons provided by Old Europe, to give us an effective “tool” when confronting the challenges of future society.”