The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog

Modern industrialized human beings are incredibly stupid – especially the ones who would seem to be the most highly educated, like doctors and university professors. That's the thought that came to me after reading some of the stories in this book, which demonstrate the idiocy that passes for cleverness today, doing untold harm to children and other vulnerable people, to our entire planet. And out of stupidity, evil is born: not that stupid people are necessarily evil in themselves, but the reiteration of adverse, uninformed treatment brings about increasingly adverse and evil results in an expanding circle, a snowball effect that has created the looming catastrophe we see all around us.

We need wisdom, real wisdom and insight, to come to our aid and reverse this barrage of stupidity. Wisdom that is not cold, empty cleverness, but filled with the boundless warmth of love, and the skill and flexibility to do its work through relationships, not fixed notions, systems, and ideologies. It's the kind of wisdom that is also demonstrated in this book, which tells not just the story of the individuals concerned, but the story of Dr. Bruce Perry's learning a new way of understanding and working with human beings, a way that is truly healing.

He learned it from the children, by listening to and observing them, in an open-hearted way, without the blind prejudice of his psychiatric profession, but with the discipline of a mind trained in clear thinking. If only we could all learn to do the same; our world would be utterly transformed.