June 2020 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

Lift Every Voice
by Timothy Wegner 23 Jun '20

23 Jun '20

If you are ready for some very positive but intense emotion, check this out. It is a large group of African American opera singers singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing". If you can, listen on a device that has decent sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jufE7HuY5nI Tim

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Thanks for the Memories
by Karen Snyder 23 Jun '20

23 Jun '20

When I read John Epps’ remarks titled “Thanks for the Memories,” a small echo rang in my head. I recalled he had thanked colleagues before in a talk he gave sometime in the late 1970s. Scouring the archives database, Karen found what I was looking for. John was assigned to deliver a talk on “The Life of Destiny” at a Guardians meeting. I was present for the talk and in re-reading it now, a couple of things struck me. John, surprise-surprise, had a 4 X 4 outline. He did a marvelous thing with the first three points. Instead of describing his own theological insights (which as we all recall, were numerous if not a little mysterious), he pointed back to the talks and reports given by others up to that point in the weekend meeting. That way, he reinforced and celebrated the contributions of his colleagues. I have often utilized that technique ever since. Here is the pivotal pearl of his talk (slightly abridged for clarity): The other thing we need to know and be aware of as we give the gift of destiny to people for the sake of their profound humanness is that it means also giving up your death, in the sense that death is no longer - once one is a person of destiny - it is no longer an option to at least be let alone to die peacefully. Even death becomes a sign. Even that becomes a tool, a vehicle, a device that history uses for the sake of its creative movement. That is what we are doing to folks. The impact of this remark is accented when one realizes that right before John came on stage to deliver his talk on the Life of Destiny, institute founder and dean Joe Mathews had completed his life that noon, Sunday, October 16, 1977. Well, John nailed it, didn’t he? And all I can say is, John, you have fulfilled your destinal gift as well, brother; we’ll never forget the sign you have been to us. Jim Troxel

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Good article on collaboration, great example of the importance of framing and also “guardians” in actually achieving something
by James Wiegel 22 Jun '20

22 Jun '20

Remember Brooke Krueger? https://www.womensvote100.org/the-suff-buffs-blog/2020/6/16/should-we-care-… Jim Wiegel “We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make that future a place we want to visit. “ Stephen Hawking

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Virtual Moral March on Washington
by Herman Greene 22 Jun '20

22 Jun '20

I just finished watching this watch. I will be repeated tonight at 6 and on Sunday at 6 EDT. It was very moving and inspiring. *VIRTUAL MORAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON* June 20 10:00 a.m. and 6 p.m., and June 21 6:00 p.m. *WHAT* - The Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington will be the largest digital gathering of poor, dispossessed and impacted people, faith leaders, and people of conscience on June 20, 2020. - The increasing urgency of a broad movement led by the poor and most impacted is more apparent every day. Now is the time to organize towards collective action to enact a moral agenda for the nation. As our ranks grow in the coming months due to COVID-19 and the ongoing crisis of poverty, building a platform for the plight, fight, and insight of the poor is even more urgent - We are marshalling our collective voices to demonstrate the power of our communities. We demand that both major political parties address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism by implementing our Moral Agenda <https://ecozoicstudies.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e941e14db69a49377…> . *WHEN* - This 2 hour program will be broadcast on Saturday, June 20th at 10:00am EST and 6:00pm EST and again on Sunday, June 21st at 6:00pm EST. Visit June2020.org <https://ecozoicstudies.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e941e14db69a49377…> to tune in. *WHERE* - The Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington is going digital! We will gather from all 50 U.S. states and territories, and from across the world. *WHY* - We are gathering on June 20, 2020 to dramatize the pain and prophetic leadership of the poor and build power to enact our demands. - We are *waking* the nation to the interlocking injustices facing 140 million poor and low-income people, 43% of the nation. - But it’s not enough just to be *awake*. It’s not the waking, *it’s the rising*. On June 20, 2020, we rise together! - If the rejected millions—the poor without health insurance, without living wages, without clean water, without voting protections—unite, we can move the moral and political imagination of this country and revive the heart of our democracy! *WHO* - The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is made up of people of all backgrounds, we are Black, Brown, White, Native, and Asian; we are old and young; we are Christian, Sikh, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim; we are people of faith and not of faith; we are people of all sexual orientations and gender identities; we are led by poor people *and *we are a cross-class movement; we are people of all abilities; and we live across this nation, from Alabama to Alaska, from Maine to California to Mississippi. *HOW* - We will gather online on June 20, 2020 from across the country and world. - We will launch a robust accessibility campaign to ensure those of us most affected by poverty and its interlocking injustices are able to participate fully. - To begin, go to www.june2020.org <https://ecozoicstudies.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e941e14db69a49377…> to let us know you will join us on June 20, 2020. - Spread the word in your networks and social media. - Get connected to your state’s coordinating committee. <https://ecozoicstudies.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e941e14db69a49377…> -- __________________________________________________ Herman F. Greene 2516 Winningham Road Chapel Hill, NC 27516 919-942-4358 (ph & fax) hfgreenenc(a)gmail.com

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Saying Yes to Life
by Herman Greene 21 Jun '20

21 Jun '20

Three lectures of Viktor Frankle were published this March. The book is *Saying Yes to Life in Spite of Everything.* I highly recommend it. Herman -- __________________________________________________ Herman F. Greene 2516 Winningham Road Chapel Hill, NC 27516 919-942-4358 (ph & fax) hfgreenenc(a)gmail.com

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Fwd: Corona Boredom - Toilet Paper Art (Something to do with your stockpile! )
by A.M. Noel 21 Jun '20

21 Jun '20

A.M. Noel ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Del Morrill <delhmor(a)wamail.net> Date: Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 7:30 PM Subject: Corona Boredom - Toilet Paper Art (Something to do with your stockpile! ) To: Del Morrill <delhmor(a)wamail.net> Having taken about 3 weeks to conquer the e-mail problem and having to go through the trouble of getting a new server, new address, etc., I’m back! And since the last visit, I have learned how to dialogue with my doctor electronically and learned Zoom. Tomorrow I will have a chance to try it out again with a family visit, to see if I can actually remember how to make the “first” move to be sure we’re “there”. For those who wonder how we are still doing, we are relatively fine. I’m doing better than Justin but seem to be coming closer behind him when it comes to pain, but then, I’m more used to it. My perspective is different, because I had it for over 20 years, daily. Now it hurts, but so much less often, how could I possibly complain? I can still lift things--carry a heavy basket of clothes, and our Maine Coon--and get into my pants while standing. And I’m still in awe, after all these years that I can do that! So it definitely helps me keep perspective. On the other hand, Justin’s memory is better than mine, and he’s still getting around doing things. In fact, other than the pleasure of back yard visits with family and friends, life is not much different than usual, in spite of still being in quarantine. That being said, I hope you are well and no one has killed others in the family thru the long siege. And it's ONLY been __*fill in* __ weeks?? 😳 For those of you who are running out of things to do, here are some craft ideas for all the Toilet Paper you bought…before it runs out, of course. [image: Image removed by sender.] <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…>

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Re: [Oe List ...] Saying Yes to Life
by Vera M Barber 21 Jun '20

21 Jun '20

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6/18/20, Progressing Spirit, Gretta Vosper: Playing for Love in the Time of COVID; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 18 Jun '20

18 Jun '20

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.yiv6215329518mcnTextContent, #yiv6215329518 #yiv6215329518templateHeader .yiv6215329518mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6215329518 #yiv6215329518templateBody .yiv6215329518mcnTextContent, #yiv6215329518 #yiv6215329518templateBody .yiv6215329518mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6215329518 #yiv6215329518templateFooter .yiv6215329518mcnTextContent, #yiv6215329518 #yiv6215329518templateFooter .yiv6215329518mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Playing for Love in the Time of COVID | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Gretta Vosper June 18, 2020 Looks like what drives me crazy Don't have no effect on you-- But I'm gonna keep on at it Till it drives you crazy, too. Langston Hughes The world has shifted on its axis since my last article appeared in Progressing Spirit. As I write, the number of COVID-19 deaths has passed 400,000, a number that shrinks from the reality experienced around the globe. As countries attempt to reopen their economies, anti-racism protests are sweeping the globe. Immune to neither challenge, we in Canada are little more than a quiet simmer when compared to the legitimate rage being expressed across America and around the world. Who couldn’t call this one? It would be lying if we said we didn’t see this coming. Maybe the clash of two tragic realities and the exponential impact they had on one another. Maybe that was a surprise. But what created those independent realities was something we’ve been watching approach in slo-mo for a long, long time. The only question was when one or the other was finally going to erupt. The only defence against a pre-existing knowledge of the approach of these matched threats is ignorance and how many of us could really claim that? The virus Let’s begin with the virus. There has been a lot of loud yelling and much finger pointing at China as the source of the virus, as though just being angry at the right people will make everything somehow better. In particular, those who often consider themselves above laying blame on “a people”, are quick to name “wet markets” like the ones in Wuhan province as the origin of the problem. That finger-pointing gets us nowhere as these very markets are often the best way for people to get local, fresh produce and meats and are among the lowest sources of microbial infections outside of Europe, the Americas, and the wealthier countries of the Pacific Rim.[1] The problem isn’t the wet markets; it’s the origins of the food that sometimes shows up in them. We cannot claim ignorance about the link between humanity’s[2] incessant destruction of Earth’s natural world and the emergence of novel viruses for which the human body has no immunity. In the 1970s, the Ebola virus emerged in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is believed that the impact of deforestation on populations, both human and animal, has led the two toward one another at an escalating pace and with devastating results. As humans are forced to venture further and further into the wild for food, their interaction with and consumption of animals previously unencountered provides viral opportunities. As animals lose habitat, particularly bats which can carry many viruses without themselves being infected, they move into areas where humans are establishing new agricultural industries. The pairing of the two can be disastrous.[3] Black Lives Matter Now let’s look at the images coming to us through news outlets the world over: the rising up of defiance against white privilege, not only its abuses, but its very existence. Regarding the oppression of Blacks, Indigenous people, and People of Colour (BIPOC), well, we white folk can’t plead ignorance there, either. We have seen, over and over again, the imposition of brutal force upon the black bodies of Americans and other populations. We’ve watched videos depicting the seemingly approved police practice of shooting first, as if anyone could answer the questions later. In February of last year, aspiring rapper, Willie McCoy, was permanently silenced for no other reason than being found sleeping in his car in the parking lot of a Taco Bell; police shot him 55 times in 3.5 seconds. Read that again. Commentators have suggested that anti-racism protests have swollen in size and vehemence because of the sense of release and purpose felt by people kept too long idle and in isolation due to the pandemic. That may, indeed, be true. But it isn’t the whole truth. It intimates that without COVID-19 setting the stage, there might have been another wave of indignation, a few marches, some judgments and condemnation expressed by Black leaders, and then the return to business as usual with an underlying sense of something isn’t quite right. After all, the return to normal seems to be what we do when it comes to killing Black men and boys. All of us, American or otherwise, who have watched graphic videos like the ones that captured the cold-blooded “I can’t breathe” murders of Eric Garner and George Floyd, walk our streets and go about our lives in varying states of post-traumatic stress disorder[4]. Our brains cannot process the depth of indifference, hatred, and horror even as we who are white begin the work of exploring our own complicity, the reality of our own investment in white supremacy.[5] The suggestion that the protests are as significant as they are is because of the injection of COVID-restlessness discounts the real fuel behind the Black Lives Matter protests. It misses, or perhaps intentionally downgrades, the anger fueled by the arrogance of the voice magnified by its presidential role. It misses the value of insurgency that marked the making of that country and that has found its place and power again. It misses the tsunami of fury felt by those who have lived in fear or watched it rain down the faces of their black neighbours, friends, and family members. The painting of BLACK LIVES MATTER on 16th Street in Washington was a decided nod to the voices of dissent. The renaming of the square “Black Lives Matter Plaza” was a moment of triumph. The announcement of the dismantling of the Minneapolis Police Force is a recognition that it is time to wash the blood of Black people from the streets for all time, streets that, we hope, will never be the same again. Those protesting at the Black Lives Matter gatherings have no interest in a return to normal. Those protesting around the world at the impudence of white privilege are drawing their line in the sand. What side of that line can we be on? What parts of democracy do our faith communities really support? These are the questions we need to ask and address in community and with our people. Let the questions come. Sit with them. Feel their impudence. Be uncomfortable. Find where you really stand and stand there. Singing on Zoom West Hill has been meeting, as have many congregations, by Zoom and not just for Board meetings. Our Sunday Gatherings have been on Zoom as well. Having already established a robust participatory Sunday morning service, Zoom provides us the ability to have the back-and-forth that we so often enjoy when we are together in one room. True, we are still ironing out the challenges, but the first one we realized was that we could not sing together. Live music without the benefit of experienced performers and technicians is gawdawful on Zoom. [6] But singing is a significant part of our gatherings. My partner, Scott Kearns, has written most of the music that inspires our Sunday mornings. It’s been written for communities who choose values over religious beliefs in a decidedly contemporary tone (Scott’s a former evangelical and brings his musical roots with him). When we sing the music of traditional hymnody, new words have been written to the same purpose: uplifting our values and reminding one another and ourselves how it is we want to live. When we realized we couldn’t sing together, we refused to give up the use of music in our Gatherings; it is just too important. So we turned to the only source of music we thought could offer the same experience even if it didn’t involve singing along: YouTube. The greater part of my service preparation these days is watching YouTube videos and determining if they are inspirational enough for our gatherings. Or clean enough; though I forgot to prepare the congregation for the F-bomb on one of the first Sundays we used music videos, I’ve warned them since. There are no holds barred in this important work. A Curated List Here are some of those songs. The first many find a focus in the earth and our relationship with it. Then, on May 31st, we fall into the abyss of racial injustice; we’re still falling. The themes grow out of the events of the day but are also linked to lectionary passages (for the following year). All the songs were chosen because they speak to the very real realities of these issues that currently face us: environmental devastation and its connection to our current pandemic situation, and the pain of recognizing white privilege, its power and its shame. We must find the courage to work with one another to dismantle it. May these songs find a place in your broken heart and invite you to the healing work we must undertake together. Click here for Song List. Read online here ~ Rev. Gretta Vosper About the Author The Rev. Gretta Vosper is a United Church of Canada minister who is an atheist. Her best-selling books include With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe, and Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief. She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. Visit her website here. [1] For more information, check out this article and the references contained within it. ” China Is Reopening Its Wet Markets. That's Good”, by David Fickling, Bloomberg,[2] I use this word, “humanity”, and I feel the slight lift of relief. Initially, the sentence read “our incessant destruction of Earth’s natural world”. But that just feels so much more damning. So I edited it to a more remote perspective, to give you a little breathing space. If you’re reading this footnote, however, you’ve been exposed to the ruse and the bald truth. And now, like me, you might feel more responsibly to doing something about it.[3] For further reading, check out the following Forbes article and the references contained within it. “How Deforestation Drives the Emergence of Novel Coronaviruses”, by Jeff McMahon, Forbes, March 21, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/03/21/how-deforestation-is-dr…, Accessed June 8, 2020.[4] My friend and visionary speaker, Carrah Quigley, articulated this for me. You can visit her and read about her own shooting story at https://www.carrahquigley.com. Carrah will be speaking at West Hill via Zoom on Sunday, July 12. You can join us here at 10:30 EDT: https://zoom.us/j/370030792[5] I know. You think that is harsh. If you do and you are white, please pick up a copy of Layla Saad’s Me and White Supremacy and work through your blind spots and the horrors of realizing how deeply invested you are in the racist realities of our world. Saad’s book is short and provides 28 days of reflections, each with questions meant to prompt critical (in every sense of that word) self-reflection and understanding. If you can’t bear the thought of reading that, start with White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo.[6] Always learning, we are about to explore live music again using the setting corrections we found on Music Repo's YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoXM5wcpVNU. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader As a scholar of Thomas Aquinas can you help me understand his teleological argument for his belief in the existence of God? A: By Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Dear Reader, First, too much can be made of the term “proofs for the existence of God” by Thomas Aquinas. As scholar Mary T. Clark advises, he “never claimed that the five ways for trying to prove God’s existence … were his ‘proofs.’” They are found in his summa theologica right after he talks of how God’s existence is not self-evident to us. He seems more to be addressing pagan philosophers in his remarks; and, in his eminently ecumenical way, offers guideposts on where to look into science for overlaps between believers and non believers around God talk. (110f)* Your question alerts me to a point British biologist Rupert Sheldrake made to me a number of years ago. “The future of biology is Aristotle… because the future of biology is teleology.” Here are Aquinas’s words on the subject of the teleological argument which, he says, “is taken from the ordered tendencies of nature. A direction of actions to an end is detected in all bodies following natural laws even when they are without awareness, for their action scarcely ever varies and nearly always succeeds; this indicates that they do tend toward a goal, not merely succeeding by accident. Anything, however, without awareness tends to a goal only under the guidance of someone who is aware and knows; the arrow, for instance, needs an archer. Everything in nature, consequently, is guided in its goal by someone with knowledge, and this one we call ‘God.’” (124) Placing this within a postmodern scientific worldview, we might ask: Is evolution entirely random? Each species and individual within a species seems to have its goal (or purpose or aim): To Live. To survive. This goal or aspiration we might call the divine imperative since “God is life, per se life.” (Aquinas) Aquinas’s argument takes on a fuller context within his and Aristotle’s teachings about the Four Causes which they name as Efficient; Material; Formal; Final (or goal or end). What is the Final Cause? It “signifies the aim, that for the sake of which something is… The question, why?’ expects a cause.” (120) Aquinas says, “Every agent acts for an end. Otherwise, only by chance would definite results come from an agent’s action.” (128) And “the aim is called the cause of causes, since it causes the causality of all the causes.” (172) He offers the example of when we exercise to stay healthy, health is our final cause. I think it is useful also to consider the Four Causes in light of the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality. My major work on Aquinas, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, is centered around the Four Paths; and, in the course of my interviewing him, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that Aquinas is steeped in all of them--the Via Positiva, Via Negativa, Via Creativa and Via Transformativa (as is his disciple, Eckhart). Is it just coincidence that the Four Causes and Four Paths are developed so richly by both Aquinas and Eckhart? Is the final cause akin to the Via Transformativa, namely, Compassion and Justice, Celebration and Healing? Interestingly, both Aquinas and Eckhart call God Compassion and also Justice (“compassion means justice” Eckhart adds). It would follow that where justice and compassion are, God is. Is that a teleological argument for God also? ~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 35 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 74 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship (called The Cosmic Mass). His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society; A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey; Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times; Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times; Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest; Stations of the Cosmic Christ; Order of the Sacred Earth; and Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Name for God...Including the Unnameable God. To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing so rapidly, Fox started Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox - See Welcome from Matthew Fox. *Citations are from Mary T. Clark, ed., An Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas (NY: Doubleday Image, 1972). Pages within the text refer to that book and all citations are from Aquinas except the first. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Study of Life, Part 4: Tracing the Story of Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 29, 2020 Still pursuing the meaning of life as the necessary prerequisite for raising the question of what might lie beyond life, we left the Amazon Rainforest and made our way by air from Quito through Ecuador’s major port and biggest city, Guayaquil, to the sole airport in the Galapagos on the island named Baltra. This is the principal gateway into this mysterious area, which has been called everything from “the closest thing to hell on earth” to the “Garden of Eden.” These islands are a series of land masses, created by volcanic eruptions in what is called the “hot spot” of the Galapagos. The oldest island in this chain is 6.5 million years old, while the youngest is no more than 300,000 years old. These islands drift to the east as if on a slow-moving conveyor belt at the rate of about three inches a year. Given their ages, that can constitute significant distances. The oldest island, for example, has drifted 378 miles from its place of birth, while the youngest has moved only 21 miles. So the further east-southeast the islands of this chain are, the older they are. The effects of their volcanic birth are everywhere, with black ash and rolls of spewing lava, now hardened but quite visible. Each island’s vegetation reflects its age. The earliest form of vegetation is normally the volcanic cactus. That is followed by more sustainable vegetation as hundreds of thousands of years pass. The animate life native here is limited to sea birds and various reptiles, the best known of which are the giant tortoises and the iguanas. Mammals, which are by nature late developing, are indigenous to this land only in the form of sea lions and bats. The Galapagos’ sea lions have been traced to the sea lions of California, while bats have amazingly long navigational abilities and can come from almost anywhere. The scarcity of fresh water makes other forms of mammalian life all but impossible. These islands were first discovered by fishermen in the 16th century and were later used by pirates, lying in wait for galleons loaded with Inca gold and other prizes of the new world. The pirates introduced other forms of life here, such as goats, so that they would have a fresh supply of meat waiting for them on future voyages. Remarkably, these goats proved to be sufficiently hardy to survive on the slight moisture they found in plants and the occasional rainfall, while at the same time they demonstrated one of Darwin’s principles by adapting their bodies to the ability to drink brackish salt water that was available in great supply. A stop here in 1835 by the HMS Beagle, captained by Robert Fitzroy and having on board serving as the “naturalist” a young man in his mid-twenties named Charles Robert Darwin, brought change not just to the Galapagos, but to the face of human history. The voyage of the Beagle lasted five years, from 1831 to1836, but the only time spent in the Galapagos was between September 5 and October 7 of the year 1835. Of that five-week time span Darwin actually spent only 19 days on land. In that limited time, however, Darwin visited every island on which he could get ashore and immediately became aware of their relatively recent origins and even of the gaps of time between each island, small by geological standards but significant in terms of the development of life forms. Everywhere he went, he collected specimens for his study. The differences among the same species of the finch provided Darwin with what was to be an invaluable clue that would underlie his theory, namely that various forms of life were not immutable, but were in fact always changing. Indeed these changes could be so total, he found, that given the necessary time, new species could actually develop. Just as the various islands of the Galapagos chain floated eastward over time, so the life forms on each island were distinct as they adapted to the different environment and resources available on each island. Darwin thus broke two “established” conclusions present in the religious world view of his day. One was that the age of this planet Earth was far older than the 6000 or so years postulated by Irish Bishop James Ussher who, from his biblical sources dated the birth of this Earth in 4004 BCE. The second was the idea firmly stated in the creation story that God created each species “after its kind” and that there was therefore no changing or evolving after the creation. Darwin himself did not yet embrace the real dimensions of time in the Earth’s history, which we now count at 4.7 billion years. If he had, his work would have been much easier. Nor did he embrace the possibility, now well established, that our separated continents were once a contiguous land mass. This would have explained, for example, both the similarities and the differences in vegetative and animal life in Africa and South America. Yet even without these two dimensions of knowledge that were to come much later, his thesis was remarkably accurate. What, he wondered, brought about the observable changes in the various forms of life from island to island? It was in answer to that question that Darwin’s real contribution came. His answer to that question would also prove to be most controversial in religious circles, for it shattered the primary concept by which human beings conceived of God. For Darwin, biological change was accomplished by natural selection. There was no place in his thinking for a divine intelligence directing the process. The clue for this truth for Darwin was seen in the wide variety in the shape of the beaks of the finches from island to island. Since the food supply was different on each island because of its age, the finches that survived in each location had to have beaks that were well adapted to the local food supply. Over multiple generations the finches with the fittest beaks for the environment in which they lived were naturally selected for survival. That same principle is still observable today among the sea lions of the Galapagos. The dominant male of the sea lion colony patrols a limited stretch of the beach, preventing other male challengers to his kingdom, and thus he impregnates all of the female sea lions in that area. Regularly, the dominant sea lion fights off male challengers to maintain his position until finally a stronger one than he prevails and takes over. In this way, the strongest characteristics are continually bred into the offspring. Natural selection works to foster survival adaptations. When Darwin left the Galapagos after this short visit, he discovered that his record-keeping was quite happenstance. Only later, by use of the notes kept by Captain Fitzroy, was Darwin able to organize each of his specimens by the island and the date on which it was obtained. Only then, when the differences on each island became visible to him, did the theory of evolution begin to take shape, since it alone made sense of the now apparent data. Natural selection emerged as the key to the theory. Darwin himself was shocked by his own conclusions. It was such a revolutionary way to view life from anything supposed before. He sat on this knowledge, seeking to be certain, while constantly testing his thesis from 1836 to 1859. When he finally published his findings, he was quite aware of the challenge his ideas would bring. This had been made clear to him from two primary sources. First, there was the vigorous opposition to his conclusions on biblical grounds that came from Captain Robert Fitzroy. Second, his wife, a devoted member of the Anglican Church, made him aware of her fears. With the negativity destined to be so high, he wanted to be sure that he stood on solid ground before he put his conclusions into irrevocable print. Twenty-four years after the voyage of the Beagle and under pressure from another scientist named Alfred Russel Wallace, who was working in the same area and who might have become the one with whom evolution was identified if he had published first, Darwin finally released his book to the public in 1859 just 150 years ago and in the 50th year of his life. When this book hit the streets of London, it sold out on the first day of publication. The world would never be the same. Within a few weeks Darwin’s theory was the subject of the historic debate between Thomas Huxley, representing Darwin, and the voice of the threatened religious establishment, Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford. This debate took place before the members of the British scientific world at the Museum of Natural History in Oxford. Though Wilberforce was, by popular acclaim, the winner of this debate, history has not treated the good bishop kindly. He is viewed today more as a buffoon than as a serious critic. When Wilberforce tried ridicule by asking Huxley whether it was on his mother’s or father’s side that he had descended from apes, he had stooped to the oldest trick that losers regularly employ in a debate: “If you can’t deal with the message, attack the messenger.” The chief result of this debate was that press coverage guaranteed that Darwin’s ideas quickly entered the public’s awareness and began that inevitable process of seeping into universal consciousness. Today the discovery of DNA and the subsequent recognition of the interrelatedness of all living things has fairly well clinched the argument in Darwin’s favor. There is universal acceptance of his theory in intellectual circles. Medical science is organized on the basis of evolution. The study of genetics assumes it. The fields of biochemistry and biophysics have it as their prerequisite. Evolution has in fact won the day. Religious opposition is now little more than a minor skirmish fought on the battlefield along the major retreat routes of religious thinking. Darwin had signaled the fact that religion would have to change dramatically, perhaps even die, before human beings would understand the very meaning of life. This last possibility finally became clear to me in the writing of my new book. I discovered that I had to walk beyond religion in order to discover the meaning of life here or the hope of life hereafter. Before I could find a doorway into an understanding of life after death, I had to find my way into what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “Religionless Christianity.” I will seek to reveal the process this book took in next week’s column. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington The Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington is going digital! We will gather from all 50 U.S. states and territories, and from across the world on June 20th. This 2-hour program will be broadcast on Saturday, June 20th at 10:00am EST and 6:00pm EST and again on Sunday, June 21st at 6:00pm EST. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] John Patterson's kind recommendation
by Robertson Work 14 Jun '20

14 Jun '20

Dear Doris, Thank you for your kind words about reading my memoir/autobiography, Serving People & Planet. There is so much more I could have written about so many people in my life and how they inspired and cared for me. Deep thanks to you and Charles and the whole Hahn family for being iconic people who care. I'm so grateful that I could participate in your recent online memorial for unforgetable Charles. I have an image of him in my mind where he is standing, talking, moving from foot to foot, yet appearing so solid and humble and kind. And you dear lady, I was always blown away by your strength and wisdom. Blessings and love, Rob Compassionate Civilization Collaborative (C3) ................................................................................................ New book (2020): Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684716160<https://www.amazon.com/Serving-People-Planet-Mystery-Gratitude/dp/1684716160> Previous book (2017): A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617 Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/><https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/movementofmovementsMOM/ ________________________________ From: Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of Doris Hahn via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2020 11:34 AM To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Doris Hahn <dshahn31(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] John Patterson's kind recommendation Rob, I am not sure that I told you how much I appreciated reading your book. But, it was a great read, even when my time was pretty chaotic. Thanks for sharing your amazing engagement in an amazing life! Peace, Doris Hahn On Sat, May 16, 2020 at 3:52 PM Robertson Work via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: John Patterson, in the closing session of the recent ICA Social Research Center sojourn, spoke about reading my autobiography, Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude. He said that he couldn't put it down, had a wonderful time reading it, appreciated the depth of experience born out of my association with ICA, followed my many UN missions setting up programs, and found it stunning, as part of our common effort of being the ICA. Deep gratitude to you, John, for your kind and generous recommendation. If you would like to read it, you can find it on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes & Noble, BookDepository, and many other sites. The Amazon URL is: https://www.amazon.com/Serving-People-Planet-Mystery-Gratitude/dp/1684716160<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Compassionate Civilization Collaborative (C3) ................................................................................................ New book (2020): Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684716160<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Previous book (2017): A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcompassio…><https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcompassio…><https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcompassio…> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linke…> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.faceb…> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/movementofmovementsMOM/<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.faceb…> _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…>

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6/11/20, Progressing Spirit, Jenifer Berit: The Powerful Medicine of the (Divine) Feminine
by Ellie Stock 11 Jun '20

11 Jun '20

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.yiv5581236511mcnTextContent, #yiv5581236511 #yiv5581236511templateHeader .yiv5581236511mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5581236511 #yiv5581236511templateBody .yiv5581236511mcnTextContent, #yiv5581236511 #yiv5581236511templateBody .yiv5581236511mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5581236511 #yiv5581236511templateFooter .yiv5581236511mcnTextContent, #yiv5581236511 #yiv5581236511templateFooter .yiv5581236511mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Powerful Medicine of the (Divine) Feminine | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Jennifer Berit June 11, 2020 Twelfth century Christian Mystic Hildegard of Bingen says of the divine feminine, “she is so bright and glorious that you cannot look at her face or her garments for the splendor with which she shines. For she is terrible with the terror of the avenging lightning, and gentle with the goodness of the bright sun. And both her terror and her goodness are incomprehensible to humans. But she is with everyone and in everyone.” I’m really interested in how we, and by we I mean seekers, teachers, preachers, clergy, laymen, mystics, atheists and everything in between, think and talk about the divine feminine. Hildegard, who 800 years after her death was canonized as a Saint and Doctor of the Church (only one of four women to ever receive that honor), was an advocate for women’s empowerment in her time, and even she describes the archetype of the divine feminine with two tropes about women that we see endlessly: the gentle goodness, and the vengeful ferocity. I’m particularly curious about how exactly the divine feminine is “terrible with the terror of the avenging lightning.” Is there something true about the feminine carrying not only the nurturing sweetness of motherhood, but also the frightening scorn of a woman wronged? Or is that a misperception of western philosophy that has been unconsciously passed down generation by generation so that even the wisest and most radical of us forget to examine it? It feels important to emphasize that Hildegard in speaking about the divine feminine was not talking about female humans as opposed to male humans, for we each carry both the feminine and masculine archetypes within us. And as I continue on this subject I want it to be very clear that is how I approach it as well: I want to consider the spiritual energy of the feminine and how it shows up in each and every human being, and in our world. And also where it is critically absent. In the summer of 2016 I spent six weeks walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Northern Spain and experienced an incredible physical and emotional healing that to this day I attribute to the blossoming of the divine feminine power within me, aided by my journey and the companions I met along the way. But that’s a story for another time. I was blessed on my walk to make friends with an Episcoplanean priest and after a few days of walking together, to my great benefit, he started practicing his sermons on me. One morning he asked me if I was familiar with the biblical character Lilith. I told him I wasn’t, and he looked at me as if he were about to give me great news. Then he told me a true story, that went roughly like this: Did you know that there are two conflicting creation stories in Genesis? There are two distinct stories about the moment that humankind was created and they don’t match up. The second story is the one I myself was very familiar with, and it appears in Chapter Two. It’s the one where Eve is created from Adam’s rib cage and it begins in verse eighteen. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.” Then Adam names all the animals, but found that none of them was a helper “fit for him.” So this happens in verse twenty-one. “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Ahem. Excuse me? Does anyone else feel the tingles down your spine when you read it? In this version of the creation story “Woman” was made as a helper to man, and in fact formed from a measly rib bone, taken out of Man. There are two words in particular I want you to pay attention to because they are very telling. The words are “at last.” This, at last, is bone of my bone. We’ll get back to that in a minute. There’s another creation story that comes before this one, in Genesis Chapter One. After God makes light and water and land and fish in the sea and animals, this happens: “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Then there’s the bit about having dominion over everything that I reinterpret in a previous article. And then there is this: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Now that’s a different story. In the image of God he created male and female. He created them, and blessed them. Together. That sounds like a story in which men and women from the beginning were created equal. There’s another interesting linguistic thing happening here. Both of these verses are pulled from the English Standard Version of the bible and the diction is very telling. In the story of Eve created from Adam’s bone she is described using the word “woman,” the origins of which are “wife of man”. In the chapter one creation story where the two are equally made in God’s image, she is described as “female” whose origins are simply the scientific description for any animal who has the physiologically capacity to breastfeed. The female created in God’s image is described by her own unique power and offering to life. The woman created of Adam’s bone is described simply as his wife. If you have ever read the Bible or are somewhat familiar with Christian theology then you know that it is littered with inconsistencies like this. You may also know that there is a whole canon of texts about the old testament written by Rabbis, called the midrash, which attempt to interpret and explain the more challenging passages of the Bible, or Torah, particularly the frustrating ones that utterly contradict themselves. They have an explanation for these two conflicting creation stories, and the explanation is Lilith. The midrash interpretation says that the original creation story shows the moment that God created Adam, male, and Lilith, female. And Lilith was powerful and strong, created in God’s image just as Adam. And one day in the garden they were having a dispute. Now I’m not making this up, the dispute was that they were being fruitful and multiplying, and in doing so Adam, the strong man, wanted to be on top. But Lilith, an equally strong woman deeply aware of pleasure and passion and love, also wanted to be on top. The story goes, they couldn’t get over their dispute and Lilith decides, rather than remain in Eden with Adam, to escape it. So Lilith, powerful and wise as she was, learned the name of God, whispered it on a wind, and flew out of the garden, never to return. Remember that “at last” part? Adam doesn’t have such a great time living with his equal, so finally when God makes a subservient companion for his aid, made from his rib, he sighs in relief. “At last, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh” and thus Eve comes into existence. But that’s not the end. Lilith doesn’t actually disappear. Rather, over the centuries she becomes absolutely demonized in Christian theology. Women feared her. Men feared her. When men were unfaithful to their wives, Lilith the seductress was often blamed. She evolved over time to take on a demonic image, often depicted with Medusa-like snakes in her hair, or a grotesque face. Right around Hildegard of Bingen’s time, women would chant incantations against Lilith while they were pregnant, for fear that she would find them and steal their newborn babies and eat them. Now don’t we see this stereotype play out over and over, even in our modern fairytales, movies, shows and books? Isn’t Lilith the wicked witch of the west? Isn’t she Nurse Ratched? The evil step sister? The spiteful, jealous wife or girlfriend? The devil who wears Prada? Of course our pop culture and media is an expression of our lived culture, and aren’t there many ways, both vulgar and subtle, that we live with the same message every day? I think about growing up as somewhat of a “tom boy.” I loved hiking and being active, wearing shorts and getting dirty, playing soccer, and was praised for being strong and driven. At the same time my transgender younger sister who, though socialized as a boy, loved to wear dresses and put on makeup even from a young age, was shamed for being “weird” or “indecent.” In the way that we sexualize and engender children from an early age, and what is considered acceptable, do we not subtly tell them “it’s okay to want to be like a boy, but not at all to be like a girl”? If the microcosm of the demonization of femininity is my trans sister not feeling safe to fully express her feminine nature until her late twenties, the macrocosm is the one we are so familiar with: the way humanity has repressed mother earth and all her creatures and the wild nature within ourselves for centuries. This is what is at stake. Our full beautiful identities. The planet we call home. This is what we sacrifice when we demonize divine feminine power, force her out of our hearts and bodies, and replace her with a distorted, subservient ghost of who she is. Friend and Mentor Matthew Fox says in the introduction to his book about Hildegard de Bingen, “even today, despite all our progress, denial of the feminine is so pervasive that anthropologist Glenn Hughes says a male terror of women is woven into every institution. It’s this denial of the feminine that’s destroying the ecosphere.” And yet, I know there is a way to integrate the two energies, the masculine and the feminine and the power of each, in a divine dance in ourselves and in our world. There are examples everywhere around us, that don’t require action or effort, only a willingness to surrender. In his book, Fox calls Hildegard a “mover and shaker” and even “a virtual earthquake to the establishment today.” I grew up in California, the land of earthquakes. It’s such an interesting way to describe a powerful woman channeling the Divine Feminine. In the world of Man, the world of dominion, the one where we enslave animals to eat them and build fortresses to protect ourselves from the feared wild earth, Earthquakes are indeed one of the most destructive and violent natural forces a human can encounter. The year I was born, the Loma Prieta Earthquake brought its wrath on my home city of San Francisco. It killed people, destroyed homes, started fires in the outdated electricity of our buildings. It must have looked terrible with the terror of avenging lightning. It must have looked wicked. And yet, taken out of the human context, say in a time before humanity, or in a place we haven’t colonized, what is an earthquake? It is a powerful natural force of creation - one that has the ability to create seas and mountains, much like God. Are they really terrible? Are they wicked? Or is it our fear of the uncontrollable wild that moves us to call them disasters? We learned a lot in California about the intensely hard, structured, rigid buildings that penetrate our skylines all over the world. We learned how to adapt to these “disasters” knowing that there would be no way to attack, distinguish, or trample over them. So we figured out how to build our cities in such a way that they wouldn’t crumble if the earth shook beneath them. The only way. Do you know what brings a modern man-made building to code in earthquake country? It has to be flexible. It must be designed to shift and move. It has to make room for the intense force of nature. It needs to surrender to the earthquake, so as to stand before it and let it move through its very bones. It needs to be able to dance. This is how palm trees survive intense hurricanes: they bend. Is that not the same in each and every human being? If we could relax the masucline rigidity we have been conditioned to build up within ourselves, and allow room for the uncontrollable wild feminine within, then we are flexible enough to dance with all the divine forces this universe offers. As I write, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep the globe, while Black Lives Matter protests ignite across the country. In this unprecedented shake up of cultural norms and business as usual we are seeing the floodgates open that have long repressed our collective anger toward toxic masculinity, while at the same time we have gotten a glimpse of a possible world where feminine energy balances the masculine, in the COVID lockdown. With no intention of trivializing the deep suffering that has been caused by the pandemic, I do want to share how I have felt optimistic and inspired by peering into the possibility of a new story for our culture: one where mutual aid is a way of life, where humans respect the well-being of total strangers to the point of being willing to sacrifice their own agendas and comfort, where we prioritize our relationships rather than our to-do lists, check in on one another just because, make meals for those who can’t provide for themselves, slow down our work, our commute, where we need less and want less and ask for less of the planet, where our rigid masculine skyscrapers remain mostly empty, where wildlife once again roams the landscapes they’ve been banished from for generations. We have called the pandemic disastrous for how it has absolutely upended the way of life we are so used to. How might it also be contributing to building a new world? Poet Rainer Maria Rilke says “Take your well-disciplined strengths, stretch them between the two great opposing poles, because inside human beings is where God learns.” The divine feminine is not terrible or wicked or disastrous. Neither is the masculine, though we’ve allowed it too much toxic dominion over it’s creatively opposing force. If we can make room for the fminine within us and within our world, if we can stand between the polarities of the energies between us and let God move through us to learn, we will find ourselves collectively dancing to the rhythm of love. ~ Jennifer Berit Read online here About the Author Jennifer Berit is the co-author of Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action and works in book publishing as a private consultant for authors assisting with manuscript editing and book publicity. She is also the co-director of Wild Awakenings, an adult Rites of Passage organization dedicated to fostering the thriving of Earth, life, and humanity. Jennifer was on the Board of Trustees at the Unity in Marin Spiritual Community for three years, serving as the Board President for 18 months. Also at Unity in Marin, Jennifer was a guest speaker for Sunday mornings, she led Rites of Passage groups for teenagers, and founded a young adult interfaith group committed to conscious connection, community service, and social activism. She is a passionate hiker, reader, writer, and public speaker. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader When people say I want to walk the way of Jesus what should that mean? A: By Rev. Matthew Syrdal Dear Reader, This is a big question. I suppose nothing is more important than getting curious about Jesus, and what his Way really was. Become a beginner and forget (nearly) everything you think you know about Jesus. Jesus asked a lot of questions. Ask questions like, was Jesus a Christian? If you read through the Bible thoroughly and the Gospels a few times, what do you notice really mattered to Jesus? How did he live his life? What was his view of money? His relationship to power and privilege? How did he understand (and use) his sacred texts, Torah? The Prophets? Writings? What was his relationship to nature like? From what inner-authority did Jesus speak and act? What’s that about? To whom did Jesus speak — the egoic personality or to the deeper nature — in his encounters with strangers and when teaching his disciples? There are many ideas and images out there about the way of Jesus. Many great resources, even communities can help shape our faith. But at the end of the day, no one can walk the Way for you, and to some extent at least, you must go it alone. To paraphrase Carl Jung, to pick up your cross and follow Jesus is not to do what Jesus did, rather it is to live your life as fully, as authentically, and as dangerously as Jesus lived his. When people talk about ‘walking the way of Jesus’ can mean justifying our own moralistic and self-righteous attitudes (those of the ‘in-group’, whether we are Bible-believing fundamentalists or progressive eco-feminists) that actually impede our development and spiritual growth (individuation). Moralism in this sense is a survival strategy, like an inner-conformist, victim, or critic that keeps us safe by keeping us (and our image of God) small. ‘ ‘Walking the way of Jesus’ should mean putting the journey of individuation before all else. “Whoever would come after me must take up (their own unique) cross… for whoever would save their life will lose it, but whoever would lose their life (for my sake and the sake of the kingdom) will find it.” This journey is cruciform for it always necessitates a death before a resurrection, a collapse of an old way, before opening a new path. It often leads through multiple little deaths, ‘molts’, to who we thought we were, and who we thought God was, or what the world actually is. The way of Jesus offers conflict, fear and pain, but it also leads to the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price! ~ Rev. Matthew Syrdal Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Matthew Syrdal M.Div., lives in the front range of Colorado with his beautiful family. Matt is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian church (USA), founder and lead guide of WilderSoul and Church of Lost Walls and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Matt speaks at conferences and guides immersive nature-based experiences around the country. In his years of studying ancient Christian Rites of Initiation, world religions, anthropology, rites-of-passage and eco- psychology Matt seeks to re-wild what it means to be human. His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world in which they are a part. Matt’s passion is guiding others in the discovery of “treasure hidden in the field” of their deepest lives cultivating deep wholeness and re-enchantment of the natural world to apprentice fully and dangerously to the kingdom of god. Matt has been coaching, and guiding since becoming a certified Wild Mind nature-based human development guide through the Animas Valley Institute and is currently training to become a soul initiation guide through the SAIP program. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Study of Life, Part 3: On Meeting a Shaman in the Amazon Rainforest Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 13, 2009 In studying for my recent book on life after death I spent considerable time examining the religious history of human beings. Our religious journey has been long and complex. Beginning in the hunter-gatherer religion of animism we have traveled as a species through the fertility cult religions of our early agricultural civilizations into the coupled gods of the Olympus and then through tribal religions into the budding monotheism of today. At each stage we picked up practices that still remain a part of the human religious scene, from the fire we place on our altars at the time of worship to the evolving recovery of the feminine that is occurring now in the Christian Church. Far more than most religious people know or are willing to admit, modern religious practices have ancient roots stretching back far beyond the boundaries of our particular religious system. We tend, however, to have very little understanding of, or sympathy for, the religious traditions of those who are different from us. It was, therefore, a rare privilege for me, while in the Amazon Rainforest, to have an opportunity to meet a Shaman, who lives and functions within an animistic religious world akin to that of our earliest human ancestors and to see firsthand some of the most primitive stages of human religious development. It was an experience so moving and profound that I want to share it with my readers through this column. The Shaman’s name was Domingo. That is all, simply Domingo. He was about 65, though he looked old for that age. He was a single man, having never married. Being single was not a requirement of the office, but it was encouraged by suggesting that sex was not appropriate while actually functioning as the Shaman. Domingo had served his people in this office for some 40 years. In true animistic fashion he viewed the world as “spirit-filled” and defined himself as a “spirit-filled man” or at least as one through whom the spirit flows. His role within the tribe is to be “the banisher of evil spirits,” a not an untraditional role for the designated “holy man.” Both he and his tribe believe that he enhances the wellbeing of his people. Domingo was introduced to us by our guide in the Amazon. It was a regular feature offered on the tour, a unique way to open Westerners to the culture of the area. While pleased with this opportunity, I discovered in this meeting what the barriers to real communication were. The Shaman spoke no language other than his tribal dialect. There are perhaps six different tribal groups in the rainforest, most of whom cannot even communicate with each other, to say nothing of with the outside world. It slowly dawned on me that because of this language barrier, this Shaman had never read anything unless it had been translated into his native dialect. He had not heard of Galileo and had no concept of space as we know it. He had not heard of Darwin and had no sense of evolution. He knew nothing of Pasteur and had no awareness of the causes of sickness other than “evil spirits.” He had only the vaguest sense of the world beyond the rainforest. Places like Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea had no content in his mind. In order for us to talk with the Shaman we spoke to our guide, who translated our English into the Spanish of our native expert, who in turn translated the Spanish into the native dialect of the Shaman. The Shaman responded and his words made the reverse journey. One never knew how our questions were interpreted or what was lost in translation. We wanted to know how he became the Shaman, what the selection process involved? He answered that he was “chosen by the spirit of the forest” and that it was the responsibility of the Shaman to reflect the “unity of the forest.” We asked how the “spirit of the forest” made the selection. He said that a young man or woman (yes, in rare instances women could be Shamans in this tribe) would go into the forest and have some kind of transcendent experience, perhaps losing consciousness and even staying in the forest under the forest’s protection for a number of days. When regaining consciousness, the candidate would seek out known hallucinogenic leaves in the forest in order to test the vision. The three major hallucinogenic leaves available and used for this purpose were ayawaska, the most potent of the three; wanto, also called “angel’s trumpet;” and tobacco. All have known hallucinogenic properties. Domingo favored tobacco, hand rolled, but he also used wanto. He tended to avoid ayawaska. In this drug-induced state of euphoria, Domingo said he saw visions and perceived things that others could not see. Among them were the causes of sickness and the harm that evil spirits did to people. He used these powers in the practice of his healing art. When the people of the tribe heard about these experiences upon his safe return from the forest, they acclaimed him chosen by the “Spirit of the Forest” to be the next Shaman. He was then apprenticed to a Shaman nearing the end of his life and career from whom he learned the rituals and the words to use in fulfilling his calling. People came to Domingo to escape perils like the evil eye, a spirit of weakness, or in an attempt to contact the dead in time of grief. His treatment included the use of hallucinogenic leaves so that the boundary between this world and the Spirit world might be breached, fear banished and the comfort of seeing a deceased loved one happy or at peace could be known. Domingo indicated a willingness to perform one of his ritual practices on a member of our group. A volunteer quickly raised her hand and was invited to sit on a stool in front of him. She closed her eyes and the rest of us were told to be silent and to enter as deeply as we could into the meaning of this experience. We did. The ritual began. Domingo carried a leaf fan, gray in color, that rustled audibly when he shook it or gave it a whip-like stroke into the air, which we were told meant that he had cleansed the troubling spirits from the victim. He moved the leaf fan up and down the woman’s body, not touching her with anything but the breeze of the leaves, while he chanted words that we could not understand. They did, however, seem repetitive as many religious chants are. Periodically, he would face away from his “patient” and flick his leaf fan vigorously toward the woods. After this had gone on for some five minutes, he began to make guttural sounds, as if to clear his throat of a lingering phlegm, then circled his “patient’s” head with his hand and began to blow on her head. This, we were told, was his attempt to pour a new and positive spirit into her. In about ten minutes the ritual was ended. Was this Voodoo? I do not think so. It would be easy from our perspective to be critical and to see this as some primitive act that more developed cultures have discarded. But is it? In the Christian baptismal service, we pour water on the child’s head and pray that all evil spirits will be banished from the child’s life as the child renounces “the world, the flesh and the devil.” Is that really very different? Are not both experiences attempts to bring life into harmony with what we perceive to be infinitely real? Can modern people make contact with the religious and health practices of a tribe of people who live isolated in the Amazon Rainforest? I think we can, but only if we make a crucial distinction. All human experience is the same. It is the way that we interpret that experience that is so different. All human beings live with forces we cannot control. To help us cope with that world and our powerlessness we all design cultural rituals to bring help from beyond ourselves. It is also the fate of self-conscious beings to feel alone, separated from the world of nature, and so every religion develops a method of achieving atonement which, we assert, is ultimate. Thus the thing we have in common with the people of the Amazon Rainforest is that we share the anxiety of what it means to be human, which includes the knowledge that we are mortal and on a one way path toward death. This human experience is universal. When any one begins to explain or interpret that experience, each of us does so in terms of the way each perceives the nature of life and the nature of the universe. Here the explanations vary widely as the perceptions of the universe are based on the knowledge available to us, the time and place we live in history, the nature of our education, the values handed down for many generations and many other factors. Are our modern explanations better than those of a people who inhabit the Amazon Rainforest? We do see through a wider lens. We have lived through changes in the perception of reality that have been given to us by the intellectual giants of our cultural past. We know things about the universe, about the laws of cause and effect, about our evolutionary history and about germs and viruses as the causes of sickness that they do not know. We can minimize the effect of epilepsy with drugs while earlier, even in Jesus’ time, he sought to banish the demons that had apparently possessed the victim. We treat pneumonia with penicillin, leukemia with chemotherapy and remove tumors surgically. None of these things are available in the world of Domingo, the Shaman. The explanation of why things are as they are will always vary widely based upon the knowledge available to the one explaining. No human explanation, however, is ever final and thus no human explanation can ever be literalized. Every explanation is always an expression of cultural knowledge, but no explanation can ever be substituted for the human experience, which is common, universal and real. I do not judge the work of Domingo the Shaman. I seek to appreciate it. He works within his animistic world view to make sense out of life. I work within my Western mechanistic world to make sense out of life. The goal of us both is to create human wholeness, to introduce us to transcendent dimensions of reality that our experience tells us must either be real or be delusional. Both Domingo and I are convinced that we are in touch with reality. I am glad I had the experience of entering, if but for only a few moments, into the worldview of a culture vastly different from my own and was able to see a oneness in the humanity we share. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | | | Announcements Discover how to deepen into your spiritual journey toward wisdom, justice & compassion. 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