Alice and the Looking glass

First published May 21, 2005

Quick tribute to Alice Miller http://www.alice-miller.com, who was the first to reveal the true extent of human suffering and to give us a true glimpse at the staggering level of psychological trauma that exists within human populations. This has profound political consequences for those that dare to think in terms of the individual (Stalin's favourite crime).

Alice gave us this glimpse back in 1981 with her first book Prisoners of Childhood and carved out a path that leads directly to todays ideas of emotional intelligence. Today her voice grows stronger and is heard ever more clearly.

We can and will eliminate all cruelty towards children, especially abuse in early childhood that has such a devasting impact on the developing brain.

As far as I can tell humanity is unique in that so much development continues after birth. Evolution found a bottleneck in the human pelvic girdle combined with the human upright stance. So development continued outside the womb, especially in the first year before language acquisition. A crucial point.