Condolence: Norman Hirst's work as a scientist and creator of the Autognomics Institute has stimulated many minds and hearts. I speak for myself when I call him a Teacher and a healer. I had the wonderful experience of using the Autognomics Institute's findings as a personal tool to understand myself and help others do the same, as a teacher teaching adults and children and as a community organizer working in inner cities with vulnerable communities and local government. Working with Skye and Norman together is an unforgettable healing experience. I don't think there is anyone in the world that can apply Norman's work like his wife Skye. I look forward to the future of Autognomics and the awakening of spirit it inspires in human beings.

Condolence: NORM by Priscilla Wallace Norm was more like family to me than a friend or a colleague. Maybe that’s because he seemed to share a close, somewhat brotherly connection with my spiritual father, Gene. Maybe it’s because he was one of the few people who “saw” me. But then, I think he saw anyone he chose to see. You couldn’t hide from Norm, but somehow that was ok. I knew that with Norm I was safe, even when I was exposed. He instinctively knew my boundaries and never over-stepped them. But even more than “seeing” me, he believed in me. And there’s no greater gift that he could have given. He cared. He cared deeply and genuinely. And he let you know that he was there for you – no strings attached. A rarity in this world. Just as he saw and intensely cared for those fortunate enough to be in his life’s circle, he saw life, energy and the order, and disorder, of it all. He focused his love, time and his brilliant mind on what mattered. He seemed oblivious to the frivolous. I don’t remember ever having to agonize over small talk with Norm. Our conversations were deep and expansive at the same time. I think that’s one of the things I shall miss most. Like my Papa Gene before him, he challenged my thinking but never, ever in a critical or competitive way. The exchange of ideas almost always brought on the exhilaration of discovery, as if we were sitting in a sand box saying, “Look what I found.” In fact, I feel that rush now as I write this. So I’m comforted to know that he’s not really gone…just shifted from this plane. And rather than focusing on mourning the loss of his being here, I feel the challenge to continue the exchange of thought with him in a new way. It’s often said, but rarely so true: Norm did leave this world a better place. His seeds have been planted and his work will continue. I’m also comforted to know that if Norman is embracing and not trying to change where he is, we all have something to look forward to.

Condolence: Dear dear Skye! It is hard to imagine a Skye without a Norm. His wise ways and insistent curiosity was a true inspiration to all of us who knew him. Somehow this praying mantis, a most amazing creature, makes me think of him. I took this last month on the 7th in my garden. It has been far too long since I have seen you both, but my memories are warm and loving and will forever remain clear in my heart. My deepest sympathy for this very sad departure and the loss it will create in your life. You are an amazing woman. Here for you... Love Barb

Condolence: Skye, We were so sorry to get your e-mail and want to express our condolences and great empathy...Norm was a most wonderful and multi-talented human being, as are you, and he will be sorely missed. I am sorry I could paste or type in the link you sent below; that is, I tried, and the message came up "the web page cannot be found." If there is anything else you could send us, we would love to have it! Please know our thoughts & prayers are with you! May Norm's spirit soar! Love, David & Vera

Condolence: Skye: Norm loved life and value so. We first met by accident the very day I arrived for my first year at MIT's Baker house September 1953 almost 60 years ago! He had recently emerged from the Pacific Theater of the War. He later was to steer me into Robert S Hartman's axiology courses at MIT, where we shared so many good times, extending to later contacts in Mexico, culminating with Hartman's untimely death when Hilda and I went to his afternoon funeral as the red sun set there in Cuernavaca on 20 September 1973. -So many megaevents seem to pass in September - Hartman always thought so highly of Norman as founder of programmed Axiology, a carrier of the flame. Then there was our glorious coming together when you all drove all the way down to meet with us at the Cliff House at our 50th 1957 MIT Class reunion in 2007. Then those last too few memorable phone conversations and emails over the next 5 years. I am struck somehow again by the refrains of Tennyson, "For now I see the true old times are dead, when every morning brought a noble chance, and every chance brought out a noble knight. But now the whole Round Table is dissolved which was an image of the mighty world, . . . . And the days darken round me, and the years . . . . ." Skye, our allotted time together seems now far too thin. I somehow cannot imagine a world without Norm and just hope against hope you will able to carry on with that wonderful mission of the Autognomics Institute. Just the other day I took some first steps in trying to set up a Website patterned on yours to get some gravity science and lifetime firsts out before it is also too late for me. Please do let me know any and all arrangements, details, mentions. Love to both of you from me and Hilda forever. Jim 9/7/2012 Jim Keith

Condolence: MY NORMAN (and my discovery of a “Golden Pond”) It was, as I recall now, sometime in 1979 that I and my partner, Leslie D. Edmiston, were introduced by a young colleague of ours to a person he insisted we must meet. “He is a most extraordinary thinker, he asserted, with a vision for explicating the Whole”, an effort akin to my own. OK we replied! “I don’t mean whenever, he retorted – I mean put aside whatever you are attending to and go NOW”. And so we did. At the time we resided in the FINGER Lakes region of Central New York, but we phoned a “Norm Hirst” and arranged to travel to Connecticut to meet. And the rest is the proverbial history of the ongoing creation of a radical future, a Golden Pond of fundamental inquiry into the nature of LIFE ITSELF. One can explore his work directly through Skye’s elegant website (www.autognomics.org) or from links derived therefrom. Hence, without much reference to specific content, I want to leave a snippet of expression about the exceptional nature of one Life Itself -- My Norman. One particular attribute of his character set a tone for his inquiry – specifically he had no shyness when critiquing the authoritative status quo in philosophical-formal-scientific knowledge. With this recognition alone he became for me, My Norman. Generally, his research was directed at setting forth the foundations for a formal system of the natural law of value for Life Itself to be known as AutoGnomics, the theory of self-knowing autonomous systems. To begin, however, he reasoned that the assumptions which have dominated research in understanding Life Itself are fundamentally misleading and inadequate to the task. Since these assumptions were a consequence of an old metaphysics, he argued, this metaphysics must now be replaced by new logico-metaphysical foundations. And to do this he concluded we must at least temporarily reject nearly all of contemporary academic life research as being beside the point. So he began by clearing away the debris in the foundations of human knowledge as a prelude to his construction of a “World View as an AutoGnomic WHOLE”. With this World View in Mind, he not only identified certain critical foundations on which to rest this research and to evolve and apply numerous aspects thereof, but he also began to live as though he were an experiential incarnation of this newly conceived form of Life Itself. This experiment, his gift to humanity, remains a Virtual model for others to adapt for their own. For me, although he has left his carnate self, My Norman continues indefinitely as My Partner in continuing to build a “World as an AutoGnomic WHOLE”. Jon Ray – September 6, 2012

Condolence: Skye-- I am so sorry to hear that Norm died. What wonderful years you must have had together! I remember sitting with him at OSonOS by the sea a few years ago, with him prodding my imagination to fly! :- Doug. Germann

Condolence: Dear Skye, Thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute to Norm. I can invoke the spirit of our time together at your home in Camden during OSonOS by the Sea and send you a virtual hug. Tomorrow, I will be opening the space for business owners in the construction industry who are gathered in San Diego for their CISCA Leadership Symposium. I will dedicate the opening to Norm and tell the story of his love of inquiry into the nature of life itself and the organizing principles of living systems. Blessings to you, Norm and your family, Christine Christine Whitney Sanchez

Condolence: Ms. Skye - Thank you so much for sharing with us of Norm's passing. I have fond memories of exploring thoughts with you both at the OSonOS by the Sea and of visiting you both at your home for dinner and conversation - and in such a lovely environment. Please know that my thoughts are with you as you navigate through love and life and grief and loss and memories and discoveries. Take very good care of yourself, as I know you are. A big hug, Lisa Heft

Condolence: Dearest Skye, You are snuggled right into my heart space as is dear Norman. The influence you both have had in building community is strong, continuing, and unconditional~ We love you both...(That's angelic Howard and Me!) To have been so profoundly joined as you two are, (for it continues as long as we live our own lives) is so very rare and nourishing, that you shine on all of us who bask in the light of your love and commitment to making this precious energy, LOVE!....the power that connects us all!!! Much love, Winnie

Condolence: Dear Skye, I am very sorry to hear of Mr. Hirst's passing. He was a very kind and gentle man. You took exceptional care of him throughour his illness. Your love and respect for one another was very obvious. My thoughts and prayers are with you. My condolances to you and your family, Dr Diane Brandt

Condolence: Dearest Skye, Michael just shared the news of Norm's passing. I am deeply moved in hearing it. While we have not had much direct connection these past years, I have very fond memories of our time in Connecticut with the two of you. In some ways, the conversations we shared have fed into the inquiry in which I am currently (and always) engaged, and I am grateful for yours and Norm's influences and generosity of spirit in given of yourselves in ways that so moved my being. Know that I hold you and Norm at the heart in love. Kathy

Condolence: Sorry to hear of Norm\'s passing. He certainly was one of the. \'good\' guys. SW

Condolence: My dearest Skye – My thoughts and prayers and love are with you at this sad time. With prayers ascending I hold you in my heart with great love and compassion. "Nature ever flows, stands never still. Motion or change is her mode of existence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. - Aldous Huxley CB

Condolence: Hi Skye, In the best of worlds, I would be writing this in a note and sending it via snail mail, but I just wanted to be in touch sooner to let you know how sad I felt to learn of Norm's passing. I know it has been a struggle for a while, so the end to the physical hurdles is a blessing. The end of good life on earth is worth pause. Someone who has a great mind and heart and worked so hard to try to make this world on this planet in this time, a better place to live as human beings. You were such a great partner and care-giver and I know the void must be heart-wrenching. I honor the light in him, and pray for the repose of his soul. Fondly, Amy

Condolence: Dear Skye, When your message reached us, of course, a picture of you and Norm on your wedding day came to mind. Oh, my! The internet found us at our little beach place near a fishing village on the coast close to Merida. I had gone down for a day of solitude and writing. Clifford is here with me, and we reminisced about you and how our lives entwined. Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” came to mind, the last stanza particularly: I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Who could have imagined where the path of that beautiful, leggy show-girl would lead. Who could have imagined where the kid from West, Oklahoma and the kid Texas Panhandle would wind up. Hum! Norm’s paper, “Towards a science of life as creative organisms,” I have kept by my bedside since you sent it. And it informs my view of reality. On the last page, Norm states the question: “Can we get there from here?” He now knows!

Condolence: Hi Skye, It was so good to hear and be touched by your voice today and hear more about the amazing journey of your life and of Norm's final changes and passing. His legacy of so much selflessness and perseverance in work will take form somewhere/somehow -- and, is, I feel already happening in ways that are not quite palpable yet. He continues to feel alive and present to me.

Condolence: Beloved friend: I am so sorry, my darling. There is nothing I can say to make things better, but just know I think on our times together with such love and affection and laughter; I am with you in spirit. He was a remarkable man. And I am so glad you had all your years together to elevate the consciousness of the Earth. Love and blessings, this moment and every moment.

Condolence: Skye – I was thinking about you guys and regretting the fact that we never got together over the summer. I still have those regrets, and now I hear about Norm. Marvelous fellow and such a pleasure and privilege getting to know him a little bit. He will be missed, most especially by your self – but you are not alone. Take care, and see you next summer for sure. Harrison

Condolence: I have been reflecting on his influence in my life and will share on the memorial page but just wanted to let you know how sorry I was for the loss of this dear kind beautiful soul.

Condolence: I have been reflecting on his influence in my life and will share on the memorial page but just wanted to let you know how sorry I was for the loss of this dear kind beautiful soul.

Condolence: Today I remember with Rumi's words...From Rumi: Teachings of Rumi, Andrew Harvey, page 170 Reciprocal Loves WHEN OUR GUIDES and those who are cherished by us leave and disappear, they are not annihilated. They are like stars that vanish into the light of the Sun of Reality. They exist by their essence and are made invisible by their attributes. This subject has no end. If all the seas of the world were ink, and all the trees of all the forests were pens, and all the atoms of the air were scribes, still they could not describe the unions and reunions of pure and divine souls and their reciprocal loves

Condolence: Dear Skye, I can not begin to know or understand what you are feeling in this moment. I do know and understand this that God simply defined is love and that you and Norm shared a powerful love that touched and hopefully transformed others as it has transformed me. At this time when it is natural for us to feel a sense of lost, the love that I witnessed between the two of you has helped me transcend the natural to feel fulfilled for even in death Norm's love for you, for learning and for life continues to live in me and makes it possible for me to find and experience joy daily. I, therefore, can not honestly say that I will miss Norm because he will be with me always.

Condolence: My dear Skye, Your warmth and love for Norm when I visited on Friday was palpable. Your profound gift of keeping a vigil for him at home - giving his soul the time to transition- is a stunning model for our times. Sharing a small part of your grief and loss was such an honor and to meet Norm's adult children added great dimension to my image of Norm. Also hearing of his founding and subsequent work with you at the Autognomics Institute was very moving. Let us share with you the burden of your loss. Blessings.

Condolence: Dear Skye, What fond memories I have of working with you and Norm on one of my columns several years ago. Working as a team, you and Norm have co-created a strong legacy that will endure. May the depth and longevity of your bond, provide comfort during this challenging time. Beauty & Light, Teresa

Condolence: Dear Skye-sending love and support to you. Wish I could come by today. Sad for this loss :( Take good care!

Condolence: Dear Sky, Although I did not know Norm, I feel his loss as well as your pain. Please accept my deepest condolences to you. Losing one's life partner is one of the most difficult passages we can endure. Be strong, Sky! All my best to you. Lily

Condolence: Norm was such an intelligent, warm & thoughtful man! So glad to have met him and Skye...both very much respected and loved.Skye: Please let me know if you need anything...even if it is just company after the hubbub is over. Love and Peace, Kathleen