Exhibit Viewer Response

“There is an exhibit in town so outstanding that I would like to recommend that everyone I know go see it.  The exhibit is called Continuum… The scientific study of the “mind” is of growing interest worldwide. While we are gaining some knowledge of the brain we know very little about the mind…the Continuum display studies consciousness from the standpoint of its potential continuation.   I think you will find it fascinating.” Earl Bakken– Founder of Medtronic

“I am writing to express my appreciation for the wonderful exhibit.  My brother was killed in a car accident on Dec 18, 1979…an honor student at U of M and I was very close to him.  On my first day back to work my supervisor told me what he’d heard about [the exhibit] and suggested we view it.

It’s hard to express what a comfort and enlightenment it was…to be bombarded by the thought and wisdom of so many different cultures and thinkers on the subject of life after death was powerful.  I have since read several of the recommended books and found them opening new doors for me.

 My brother’s girlfriend viewed Continuum the following day and was also thankful for the opportunity during her period of grief.”Susan Grumann Jan 25, 1980

“A number of our teachers have visited the Continuum Exhibit and it has provided another option for Minneapolis students.  The exhibit is a tool the teacher can use in helping students look to examine their long term values.

 A goal of the MPS is to provide the widest possible range of experiences for our students in order to prepare them to be successful and functioning citizens in the long term…Please know how much we appreciate your efforts to make these opportunities available to our student body.”Larry E Harris, Coordinator: Legislative and Community Relations.

“The enthusiasm I exhibited on the occasion of my visit to the Continuum Exhibit is shared by my colleagues at Macalester.   It is my hope that the exhibit finds a permanent home in the Twin Cities area.  It is of great value and the subject is of increasing importance. “John Davis – President, Macalester College

“Some of our staff reviewed the Continuum Exhibit and they were lavish in their praise.  The brief journey into the depths and reaches of man’s search for meaning provided our staff with a marvelous background of the thoughts, the concepts and the knowledge of the great thinkers of the past…Our human services are enhanced as we reflect on the growth and progress that we must be a part of in our present continuum…Our home health care system can benefit tremendously from a fuller understanding of mankind’s search for his own immortality and his roots.  I would like to relay our gratitude and support for this treasure your exhibit in our midst.” Robert G Loftus Executive Director, Metro Home Health Care, Inc

“The Continuum exhibit gently describes the metaphor of science and the reality of connectedness.  It harmonizes the insights of specialization and knits where we are all one with all time and matter.  It describes the total framework within which we sculpt out own beings and educate society.  It will be valuable educationally to show that the humanities and the sciences are part of the dame fabric.”Roger Staehle – Dean, Institute of Technology, U of M

“Recently I had the opportunity to experience the Continuum exhibit on the 51^st floor of the IDS Tower.  It was a fascinating exhibit, one which truly must be experienced, both as an individual and later with others in a “continuum” of sharing. I understand that Continuum has been well-received by our schools as well as the public in general.  My background as a Roman Catholic nun and science teacher for 13 years, as well as an alderman for the city of Minneapolis, helped me realize the greater benefit this exhibit is and will be for our community and the many people who visit our city with its many riches and resources in this cultural-educational field.  I am hopeful you will see fit to designate Minneapolis as the permanent home for this inspirational work.”  Jackie Slater – Alderman, Sixth Ward

“We are all living in a time of great hope, uncertainty and rapidly shifting values, a time which compels us to make some important personal and societal choices. To help us make wise and caring choices, we need to touch the creative/intuitive side of our nature and learn more about our greater wholeness and interrelatedness which can serve to strengthen and bond us in our time of struggle and decision.  The Continuum Center stretches us to see ourselves interconnected with one another, growing through love, compassion and selflessness as we expand our understanding of the continuum of life.”US Senator Dave Durenberger

“As a professional in the field of aging, I would like to compliment the exhibit. Recognizing the purpose of the exhibit is to provide an opportunity to inquire into the meaning of life, death and life after death, I felt that the senior citizen population would find this extremely interesting. I arranged for a group of Richfield seniors to view the exhibit. I found their responses personally meaningful for each participant and very, very positive.  The Continuum is an educational program that hopefully will remain in the Twin Cities. I also see the potential of intergenerational programming between high school students and elderly. I see an exciting exchange of viewpoints occurring.”Lillian Hipp, Richfield Senior Citizen Center

“I have had the opportunity to view the exhibit on 3 occasions, with three different student groups. Each time different aspects stand out and invite discussion and contemplation. One of the most interesting groups was my 9th grade mythology students. I wasn’t sure if they would be mature enough…I was wrong on several grounds; not only were they mature enough to study the exhibit carefully and thoughtfully, but they revealed in reaction papers that they had grappled with these profound ideas in their own lives and welcomed with excitement and sometimes even relief the knowledge that thinkers throughout human history have confronted these questions with the same doubts and awe and hope that the students themselves felt.

“They were able to talk about things which were important to them but they had never had the right occasion to pursue. I feel the exhibit is a rich teaching tool. It has been useful to me in class discussion and points of reference.” Dorothy Rutishauser, Breck School

Students from Grace High School:
“I found the exhibit most inspirational and suggest that more research be done of this kind. I would give the exhibit a ten in all possible aspects and feel it deserves more recognition and publication than it now receives.”John Jacobsen

”Continuum seems to probe man’s most innermost thoughts about immortality. Einstein astonished me with his knowledge… It’s almost as if God sent him to be a messenger. Other people – if I could only remember their names – proposed many thought-provoking ideas. All in all it’s probably the best compilation of death and immortality that has ever been created.  One thing that really struck me was when they started talking about reincarnation. I firmly believe that this has happened to me. For some odd reason when I see antiques I start to think of some past of mine. The 1930’s – 50’s seem to “spook” me the most.”Pat Lyden

“I learned much from the information…It was exciting to know what people like Benjamin Franklin and Mother Theresa thought of death and immortality.”Kathy Raskob

Students from Metro State:
“This exhibit was totally moving to me. I got a lot out of this. Mainly proof for my mind of what my heart already knew. It reinforces what is really important in life and death. This exhibit gives meaning to the saying – The future is now. Now is where it’s at, and it is important to make the most of now – with love.”

“The trip to the Continuum Exhibit is one of the most satisfying things I have done. I have so many thoughts and emotions involving this experience it is difficult to describe them. The primary thought that kept going through my mind was, “I want to share this.” I have a firm belief in an existence after life on this earth. I am not sure what form it takes, but I know it exists. I’m so grateful someone is committed enough to develop and share it with us.”

“The visit to the Continuum Exhibit was incredible. It was really thought-provoking. It’s difficult to explain the depth of it. I tried telling a friend about it and it must have taken hours. It was really stimulating.”

“The Continuum exhibit made me think. More so than any other exhibit I have seen…Perhaps death is not to be feared, but to be looked upon as a promotion to a much higher form of life.”

Star Tribune – Larry Batson, Continuum exhibit fascinates in many ways 2/8/81:
“Many say they stay for hours and the great majority that they have been comforted, encouraged, enlightened or stimulated. Religious, political and business leaders and educators as well as private citizens, people of all faiths, and none, from all over this region have visited Continuum, an exhibit on the 51st floor of the IDS Center in Minneapolis…

…It isn’t easy to write about the Continuum. It is designed as a personal experience for each visitor, a blend of the arts and sciences, an offer to explore. It doesn’t preach. Indeed, one fairly frequent reaction is, “But it doesn’t tell me what to think.” Man has always speculated about the possibility of life after death, or after the present perception of reality. The Continuum explores the beliefs and research of many of history’s great thinkers in science, medicine, psychology, art, philosophy, religion and parapsychology.“

Skyway News – Steve Kaufman, 10/10/80:
“For most Americans, whatever their religious convictions, death is the ultimate catastrophe – not a mysterious adventure or the beginning of a new phase of existence, but the bitter, terrifying end. We’re very much of a vulture of here and now, not hereafter. Death is the province of hospitals and funeral homes, something that happens to other people and we’d rather not hear anything more about it, thank you.  But there are indications this is changing, among them an exhibit called “Continuum…the Immortality Principle,” which opened recently on the 51st floor of the IDS Center. From a wide variety of sources, birth ancient and modern, the exhibit pulls together and array of data designed to support the premise that the material world is not all there is to life – that, in fact, life extends beyond death.

“Death” writes Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of a much talked about book on the subject, “is simply a shedding of the physical body, like the butterfly coming out of the cocoon…and the only thing you lose is something you don’t need anymore – that physical body.” The ideal of thoughtful contemporary scientists, says the exhibit, is for us to “come in peacefully, live constructively and go out with understanding.

The premises of the exhibit are cited at the outset: That matter is not limited to the perception of the 5 senses, that energy is indestructible, and that consciousness can exist independent of the physical body: “There is no evidence that consciousness ends at death”, says one panel, “and much evidence that it continues”.”

St Paul Dispatch – Linda Owen, 9/2/82:
“Walk into the main floor exhibit at Landmark Center and you’ve taken the first step into an extraordinary world. The main topic of Continuum Center’s exhibit is death, but its real themes are life, hope and potential.”