Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Vincent Van Gogh – three sensitive people whose art is profound, beautiful, inspiring; three sensitive people whose lives were marked by suffering and early deaths.

Is the place of sensitive people in the human world to be martyrs, as the story of Jesus in the Western culture seems to say? Is the plight of sensitive people to suffer and die, as Don McLean’s tribute to Vincent Van Gogh suggests:

“And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.”

There are many kinds of people. The violent men, the money-chasers and the puritans that hold sway over the larger human world can be overwhelming for sensitive people. Sensitive people seek to live in ways of beauty, of peace and of deeply held ideals that yearn for a better human world—a world, we are told, that is not for mortals to attain.

Yet, in my life, my sensitivity has been a blessing, because I have protected it from the harsh world of the violent men, money-chasers and puritans. The natural world and the loving practices of community activists seeking to improve the life of those around me show me what humanity can be.

Given my good fortune as a sensitive person flourishing in a world of suffering, I was able to study the human world around me and found ways to separate off from the suffering. With the guidance of older women and some older men in my life, I have led a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.

There are sensitive people in the world, far more capable than me; their lives are too precious to be lost as the lives of Schubert, Chopin and Van Gogh were lost. I wish to be able to provide some aid to these special people. While my life and my own character are far from perfect, more than two decades into my journey as a self-aware sensitive man I have some suggestions for sensitive people like me.

Source for Sensitive People, an essay written in the late 1990s scheduled for publication in the fall, has the beginning of what I can offer sensitive people. It will contain a glimpse of life that nurtures sensitive people’s needs for peace, beauty and harmony. Central to the content of this book is that as sensitive people we must lead our lives in ways that protect and nurture us, rather than make us victims of a human world controlled by violent men, money-chasers and puritans. In our own life-affirming personal world of beauty and love, we can flourish and celebrate life fully.