Richard E Jensen

Perhaps the greatest human disappointment is that we all die. This book deals with problems of living and acceptance of death. It provides knowledge and skill resources needed to come to terms with both life and death.Many people react by denying, pretending or minimizing. They may harbor a fantasy that we all live in a world everlasting and that we, too, are everlasting. Once born, we have a 100% chance of dying. The only question is when. The institutional answer to our disappointment is organized religion, prayer, theology, reassurance, and externalizing the problem of death to a distant, idealized and personal God. Deep down inside, we all know the truth. This book is based on a simple notion: we can all learn to cope with the issues of living in a natural world in which we die. Although narrower in scope, this book is in the tradition of the large questions which are always relevant to human-kind. For example, the meaning of life, how to live a life, what is truth, where truth and justice lie. This book takes a substantial departure from the supernatural world offered by many world religious traditions and the personal and institutionalized denial supported by prayer to an external personal God. An analysis of the problem is provided together with a path toward a personal solution. The path requires the seeker to do both intellectual and emotional work. We need to understand the problem that is smothering us and we need to equip ourselves for action. The strategies offered for making needed changes include: skepticism, problem analysis, knowledge and understanding, skill development, confronting the realities of the natural world and coming to terms with who we are as people. In addition to conceptual approaches, there are practical remedies incorporated in a methods section. These include; personal growth, refuting obsolete beliefs, relaxation skills and meditation skills. The connection between deep muscle relaxation, meditation and avenues of personal and psychological change are developed. The reader is invited to become a new person of their own making. The book provides only the opportunity and the means. Readers will need to deliver the motivation, the sustained energy, and the tenacity to make the life changes they wish to achieve.At its core, this is a self-help book written by a psychologist. However, the emphasis here is more fundamental than learning behavioral self-regulation or being a fully functioning person. The focus is on coping with the problems of life and death. More than getting our affairs in order, we need to come to terms with ourselves. In order to do so, we need to cultivate the grit to face up to the many challenging questions before us. Issues like anxiety, mood, communication skills and behavioral tune-up remain highly relevant, but there are much larger issues. The book offers a path to both good living and good dying.

On a wintry day in December 1890, near a creek named Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. Army opened fire on an encampment of Sioux Indians. This assault claimed more than 250 lives, including those of many Indian women and children. The tragedy at Wounded Knee has often been written about, but the existing photographs have received little attention until now.Eyewitness at Wounded Knee brings together and assesses for the first time some 150 photographs that were made before and immediately after the massacre. Present at the scene were two itinerant photographers, George Trager and Clarence Grant Morelodge, whose work has never before been published. Accompanying commentaries focus on both the Indian and the military sides of the story. Richard E. Jensen analyzes the political and economic quagmire in which the Sioux found themselves after 1877. R. Eli Paul considers the army's role at Wounded Knee. John E. Carter discusses the photographers and also the reporters and relic hunters who were looking to profit from the misfortune of others. For this Bison Books edition each image has been digitally enhanced and restored, making the photographs as compelling as the event itself. Heather Cox Richardson tells the story behind the endeavor to present a meaningful account of this significant historical event.