Determining Features of the Ecozoic Era

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Allysyn Kiplinger

The Determining Features of the Ecozoic Era
By Thomas Berry

1. Earth is a communion of subjects not a collection of objects.

2. Earth exists and can survive only in its integral functioning. It cannot survive in fragments any more than any organism can survive in fragments. Yet, Earth is not a global sameness. It is a differentiated unity and must be sustained in the integrity and inter-relations of its many bio-regional modes of expression.

3. Earth is a one-time endowment. It is subject to irreversible damage in the major patterns of its functioning.

4. The human is derivative, Earth is primary. Earth must be the primary concern of every human institution, profession, program, and activity. In economics, for instance, the first law of economics must be the preservation of the Earth economy. A rising Gross National Product with a declining Gross Earth Product reveals the absurdity of our present economy. It should be clear, to the medical profession, that we cannot have healthy people on a sick planet.

5. The entire pattern of functioning of Earth is altered in a transition from the Cenozoic to the Ecozoic Era. The major developments of the Cenozoic took place entirely apart from any human intervention. In the Ecozoic, the human will have a comprehensive influence on almost everything that happens. While the human cannot make a blade of grass, there is likely not to be a blade of grass unless it is accepted, protected, and fostered by the human. Our positive power of creativity in the natural life systems is minimal, while our power of negating is immense.

6. “Progress”, to be valid, must include the entire Earth in all its component aspects. To designate human plundering of the planet as “progress” is an unbearable distortion.

7. A new role exists for both science and technology in the Ecozoic period. Science must provide a more integral understanding of the functioning of Earth, and how human activity and Earth Activity can be mutually enhancing. Our biological sciences especially need to develop a “feel for the organism”, a greater sense of the ultimate subjectivities present in the various living beings of Earth. Our human technologies must become more coherent with the technologies of the natural world.

8. New ethical principles must emerge which recognize the absolute evils of biocide and geocide as well as the other evils concerned more directly with the human.

9. New religious sensitivities are needed that will recognize the sacred dimension of Earth and that will accept the natural world as the primary manifestation of the divine.

10. A new language, an Ecozoic language is needed. Our Cenozoic language is radically inadequate. A new dictionary should be compiled with new definitions of existing words and an introduction of new words for the new mode of being and functioning that are emerging.

11. Psychologically all the archetypes of the collective unconscious attain a new validity and a new pattern of functioning, especially in our understanding of the symbols of the tree of life, the heroic journey, death and rebirth, the mandala, and the Great Mother.

12. New developments can be expected in ritual, in all the arts, and in literature. In drama especially, extraordinary opportunities exist in the monumental issues that are being worked out in these times. The conflicts that until now have been situated simply within the human drama are magnified considerably through the larger contours of conflict as these emerge in the stupendous transition from the terminal Cenozoic to the emerging Ecozoic. What we are dealing with is in epic dimensions beyond anything thus far expressed under this term.

13. Mitigation of the present ruinous situation, the recycling of materials, the diminishment of consumption, the healing of damaged ecosystems – all this will be in vain if we do these things to make the present industrial systems acceptable. They must all be done, but in order to build a new order of things.

Used by permission of Thomas Berry
The original handout (1998) is in the library of Santa Sabina Conference Center in San Rafael, CA.

Posted in Ecozoic Era, Thomas Berry, Thomas's Lists | Leave a comment

Thomas Berry – Healing a Savaged Earth

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Allysyn Kiplinger

by Vincent Di Stefano of Melbourne, Australia

Link to article on original blog posted April 19, 2012

thehealingprojectweblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/thomas-berry-healing-savaged-earth.html

Despite the fact that we have clearly entered uncharted territory in relation to the effects of industrial civilisation on the fate of the earth and her creatures, big government of all persuasions seems intent on relentlessly pursuing economic growth, environmental plunder and social and political control at every level.

In view of our gathering predicament reflected in such intangibles as steadily rising carbon dioxide levels, deepening ocean acidification and accelerating methane exhalations from formerly locked under-sea and tundra deposits – to say nothing of the numerous social, political and environmental pathologies that continue to assail humanity – it may be instructive to revisit the thoughtful offerings of Thomas Berry, a wise elder who sought to awaken us all to the changes that have already occurred and those that will inevitably follow.

“Healing a Savaged Earth” is a tribute to the prophetic insight, vision and integrity of cultural historian Thomas Berry. Though others viewed him as a depth theologian and cultural guardian, he chose in his later years to call himself a “geologian” as an acknowledgement of his earth-centred philosophy which drew strongly from the insights of Taoism, Confucianism  and the mysticism of Teilhard de Chardin and Henri Bergson.

This post offers an audio presentation drawn primarily from “The Ecozoic Era”, a lecture given by Thomas Berry in 1991.

thehealingprojectweblog.blogspot.com.au/2012_04_01_archive.html

Thomas Berry. Healing a Savaged Earth can be streamed using the media player above. A CD quality mp3 file is also available for download here.

In bringing this program to formation, I am grateful for the inspiration offered by chazk of Virtual Renderings in his remarkable 2008 tribute to Thomas Berry, Notes on Thomas Berry’s Great Work, and for his more recent exploration of the transitional time within which we presently find ourselves, Notes From the Great Turning.

Program Notes
 
Voices:
vincentd (Intro)
Thomas Berry, “The Ecozoic Era”, Great Barrington, Massechusetts 1991 (Schumacher Society)

Music:
Nico Di Stefano, “The Inverloch Sessions”
Digital Samsara, “C#” (SoundCloud)
Ani Difranco, “Millennium Theatre”
Yggdrasil, “Al Dabaran”
Prem Joshua, “Daia”
Xavier Rudd, “The Letter”
Paul Kelly, “Last Train to Heaven”
Tryad, “This” (Jamendo)

Further Sources:
1. For a more detailed account of Thomas Berry and his ideas, see the short essay posted in Integral Reflections on June 26th 2011, Restoring a Ruined Earth. The Heroic Mission of Thomas Berry.
2. A high quality 13 minute video of Berry discussing his ideas can be viewed at the Ecological Buddhism website.

Posted in Art, Audio Mix, Live Audio, Music, theater, Thomas Berry, Vincent Di Stefano | Leave a comment

Thomas Reads Nine of His Poems

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Allysyn Kiplinger

One of Lou Niznik’s video’s, now on YouTube, of Thomas reading his poetry. With a few funny stories thrown-in!

www.youtube.com/watch

Published on April 29, 2012 by thegreatstory (Connie and Michael)

One of the last videos made of Thomas Berry (1914 – 2009) speaking to an audience (Asheville, North Carolina). This performance captures the artistic, playful side of a beloved and influential leader in “Earth literacy” and a deeply meaningful celebration of an evolutionary understanding of this ancient cosmos and of the human journey within it. Filmed by Lou Niznik (1932 – 2011).

Here are the time stops below to instantly access that portion of the video:

00:45 – “Awaken to a Youth”

02:24 – “We are all children of the forest”

06:00 – “The Quiet Hills of Carolina”

10:05 – “Valentine Season” (“The Great Red Oak”)

14:40 – “Earth’s Desire”

18:05 – Late Summer in Carolina

20:52 – (story of his family and especially of his mother)

24:23 – “The Old House” (“There were lilies in the field”)

33:03 – “A Solstice Poem” (winter celebration at Cathedral St. John the Divine)

43:53 – “An Appalachian Wedding”

Listen to short excerpts of Thomas Berry reciting from his book “The Great Work”
https://thegreatstory.org/tb-audio.html

Other websites on Thomas Berry:
https://www.earth-community.org/
https://www.thomasberry.org/

“We have a new story of the universe. Our own presence to the universe depends on our human identity with the entire cosmic process. In its human expression, the universe and the entire range of earthly and heavenly phenomena celebrate themselves and the ultimate mystery of their existence in a special exaltation. Science has given us a new revelatory experience. It is now giving us a new intimacy with the Earth.” — Thomas Berry, “The Dream of the Earth” 1988.

Posted in Art, Live Video, Lou Niznik, Poetry, theater, Thomas Berry | Leave a comment

Bibliography of Thomas Berry

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Allysyn Kiplinger

Thomas Berry in his Study at the Hermitage, Greensboro, NC, August 2003. Photo by Caroline Webb.

Bibliography from www.thomasberry.org/Biography/

Books by Thomas Berry

  • Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community. Edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books and University of California Press, 2006.
  • The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future. New York: Crown-Bell Publishers (Random House), 1999.
  • The Universe Story (with Brian Swimme). San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
  • The Dream of the Earth. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988. Reissued 2006.
  • Befriending the Earth. Mystic, CT: Twenty-third Publications, 1991. Also in a 13-part video series available from Lou Niznik, 15726 Ashland Drive, Laurel, MD 20707.
  • The Religions of India. New York: Bruce-Macmillan, 1971. (Second Edition) Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1992. Since 1996 available from Columbia University Press.
  • Buddhism. New York: Hawthorne Books, 1966. Paperback edition by Crowell Publishers, 1975. Since 1996 available from Columbia University Press.
  • The Historical Theory of Giambattista Vico. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1951. (Thomas Berry’s PhD thesis)

Pamphlets by Thomas Berry

  • Bioregions: The Context for Reinhabiting the Earth. In Teilhard Studies. No 14. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books,1982.
  • Contemporary Spirituality: Its Global Context, Its Historical Dimensions, Its Future Vision, as Seen From a Western Perspective. Riverdale Studies. Number 1, 1978. Also in Cross Currents 24.2-3 (Summer/Fall 1974): 172-183.
  • Creative Energy (a selection of several essays from Dream of the Earth). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1995.
  • The Ecozoic Era. Great Barrington, MA: E.F. Schumacher Society, 1991.
  • Every Being Has Rights. Twenty-third annual Schumacher Lecture. Stockbridge, MA. 2003.
  • Five Oriental Philosophies. Overview Studies. Magi Books, Inc, 1968
  • Human Presence on the North American Continent. An Alfred P. Stiernotte Lecture in Philosophy. Quinnipiac College, Hamden, Connecticut. September 28, 1994.
  • The Lower Hudson River Valley: A Bioregional Story. Brochure for the Hudson River Bundle, distributed by Planet Drum Foundation. Spring 1985.
  • Management: The Managerial Ethos and the Future of Planet Earth. In Teilhard Studies, No. 3. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books,1980.
  • The New Story. In Teilhard Studies, No. 1. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1978.
  • Technology and the Healing of the Earth. In Teilhard Studies, No.14. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1986.
  • Teilhard in the Ecological Age. In Teilhard Studies, No. 7. : Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1982.

Essays by Thomas Berry

  • “Affectivity in Classical Confucian Tradition.” In Confucian Spirituality. Eds. Tu Wei-ming and Mary Evelyn Tucker. In World Spirituality Series: an Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest. General Editor Ewert Cousins. New York: Crossroad Publishing Co. 2003.
  • “The Bush.” In Sculpting with the Environment by Baile Oakes. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995.
  • “Christianity in an Emerging Universe.” In Light Burdens, Heavy Blessings: Challenges of Church and Culture in the Post Vatican II Era. Essays in honor of Margaret R. Brennan, IHM. Eds. Mary Heather MacKinnon SSND, Moni McIntyre and Mary Ellen Sheehan IHM. Quincey, IL; Franciscan Press, 2000. Pages 361-369.
  • “Christianity’s Role in the Earth Project.” In Christianity and Ecology. Eds. Dieter Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether. Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World Religions and Harvard University Press, 2000. Pages 127-134.
  • “The Cosmology of Religions.” In A Source Book for Earth’s Community of Religions. Ed. Joel D. Beversluis. Grand Rapids, MI: CoNexus Press, 1995. Pages 93-98. Also in Pluralism and Oppression ed. Paul Knitter. Volume 34. Published by the College Theology Society.
  • Designing the Green Economy: For a Post-Industrial Transition. By Brian Milani. Prologue by Thomas Berry. Toronto: Eco Materials Project, 2000.
  • “The Earth: A New Context for Religious Unity.” In Anne Lonergan and Caroline Richard’s Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology. Mystic Court, CT: Twenty-third Publications, 1987. Pages 27-40.
  • Earth Charter: A Study Book of Reflection for Action. Elisabeth Ferrero and Joe Holland (Pax Romana Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs). Preface by Thomas Berry. March 11, 2002. www.ecreflection4action.org
  • Earth, Sky, Gods, and Mortals by Jay McDaniel. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Mystic CT., Twenty-Third Publications, 1990.
  • “Earth Systems … Human Systems.” In Fugitive Faith: Interviews by Benjamin Webb. Conversations on Spiritual, Environmental, and Community Renewal. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998. Pages 31-43.
  • “Ecological Geography.” In Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment. Edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994. Pages 228-237.
  • “Ecology and the Future of Catholicism.” Embracing Earth: Catholic Approaches to Ecology. Eds Albert L. LaChance and John E. Carroll. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 1994.
  • “Economics: Its Effects on the Life Systems of the World.” In Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology. Eds. Anne Lonergan and Caroline Richard. Mystic Court, CT: Twenty-third Publications, 1987. Pages 5-26.
  • “The Ecozoic Era.” In the series Guideposts to a Sustainable Future: The E.F. Schumacher Lectures, 1996. Ed. Mike Nickerson. Voyageur Publishing, 1995. Also in The Other Half of the Soul: Bede Griffin and the Hindu-Christian Dialogue. Compiled by Beatrice Bruteau. Quest Books, 1996. Also in People, Land, and Community. Ed. Hildegarde Hannum. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. Pages 191-203. Also in Deep Ecology by George Sessions.
  • “Education in a Multicultural World.” In Approaches to the Oriental Classics. Ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary. New York: Columbia University Press, 1959. Pages 11-23.
  • Endangered Environments by Bob Burton. Gareth Stevens Publishers, 1996. Foreword by Thomas Berry.
  • Endangered Species: Saving the World’s Vanishing Ecosystems by Anna Maria Caldera. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Mallard Press: New York, NY, 1995. Pages 8-15.
  • The Forsaken Garden: Eco-psychology Restoring Earth, Healing the Self. Four Conversations on the Deep Meaning of Environmental Illness: Laurens van der Post, Marion Woodman, Brian Swimme, and Thomas Berry. By Nancy Ryley. Foreword by Thomas Berry.. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books of the Theosophical Publishing House, 1998.
  • Forty Meaty Meditations for the Secular-Religious: Motivation for the Great Work. John P. Cock. Foreword by Thomas Berry New York: Authors Choice Press, 2000.
  • “Foundations of Indian Culture.” In Six Pillars: Introduction to the Major Works of Sri Aurobindo. Ed. Robert A. McDermott. Wilson Books, 1974.
  • “The Gaia Theory: Its Religious Implications,” ARC: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies (McGill University) 22:7-19.
  • Growing Up Green: Educating for Ecological Renewal , or The Recovery of the Earth Process Through Children. By David Hutchinson. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Toronto: University of Toronto. 1998.
  • “The Hudson River Valley: A Bioregional Story.” In At Home on the Earth: Becoming Native to Our Place. Ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Pages 103-110.
  • “Individualism and Holism in Chinese Tradition: The Religious Cultural Context.” In Confucian Spirituality. Eds. Tu Wei-ming and Mary Evelyn Tucker. In World Spirituality Series: an Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest. General editor Ewert Cousins. New York: Crossroad Publishing Co., 2003.
  • Invested in the Common Good by Susan Meeker-Lowry. Foreword. by Thomas Berry. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers,1996.
  • “John Dewey’s Influence in China.” In John Dewey: His Thought and Influence. Ed. John Blewett. New York: Fordham University Press, 1960. Pages 199-232.
  • The Lost Gospel of the Earth : A Call for Renewing Nature, Spirit, and Politics. By Tom Hayden. Introduction by Thomas Berry. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pages ix-xv.
  • “The Meadow.” In Cathedrals of the Spirit. Ed. T.C. McLuhan. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996. Pages 220-221.
  • Meditations With Animals: A Native American Bestiary. Gerald Hausman. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Bear & Co Publishers, 1986.
  • Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen. Gabriele Uhlein. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Bear & Co Publishers, 1984.
  • “Moments of Grace.” In The Breathing Cathedral by Marthe Heyneman. Foreword by Thomas Berry. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books,1993. Pages xiii-xviii.
  • “A New Jurisprudence”. Foreword to Cormac Cullinan, Wild Law. Claremont: Siberlink 2002.Second edition 2004.
  • “The New Story.” In Teilhard Studies, No. 1. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books, 1978; also in The Dream of the Earth. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988, 2006; in Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment. A Global Anthology. Ed. Richard C. Foltz, Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2002.
  • “On the Historical Mission of Our Times.” In Macroshift: Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable World. By Ervin Laszlo. Official Report of the Club of Budapest. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2001.
  • “Our Future on Earth: Where Do We Go From Here?” Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology. Ed. Anne Lonergan and Caroline Richard. Mystic Court, CT: Twenty-third Publications, 1987. Pages 103-106.
  • “Perspectives on Creativity: Openness to a Free Future.” In Whither Creativity, Freedom, Suffering. Proceedings of the Theology Institute of Villanova University. Villanova Press, 1981. Pages 1-14.
  • The Piracy of America: Profiteering in the Public Domain. Ed. Judith Scherff. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Clarity Press, 1998. Pages 1-3.
  • “The Problem of Moral Evil and Guilt in Early Buddhism.” In Moral Evil Under Challenge. Ed. Johannes B. Metz. Herder and Herder, 1970. Pages 126-133. Also published in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French and German.
  • Religion, Life, and Art in Hinayana Buddhism. Santosh N. Desai. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Asia Research Service. May16,1983.
  • Re-inhabiting the Earth: Biblical Perspectives and Eco-Spiritual Reflections. By Mary Lou Van Rossum. Introduction by Thomas Berry. Triumph Publishers, 1994.
  • “The Role of Religions in the 21st Century.” In The Community of Religions: Voices and Images From the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Pages 182-188. Eds. Wayne Teasdale and George Cairns. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1996.
  • Soulcraft: Crossing Into Mysteries of Nature and Psyche. By Bill Plotkin. Foreword by Thomas Berry. New World Library. September 2003.
  • “The Spirit of the Earth.” Liberating Life: Contemporary Approaches to Ecological Theology. Ed. William Birch, William Eakin, and Jay B. McDaniel. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990. Pages 151-158.
  • “The Spiritual Forms of the Oriental Civilizations.” In Approaches to Oriental Civilizations. Ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. Pages 5-33.
  • “The Story and the Dream: The Next Stage in the Evolutionary Epic.” In James Miller, ed. The Epic of Evolution: Dialogue between Science and Religion. Pearson/ Prentice-Hall, 2004. Pages 209-217.
  • The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game. By Paul Shepard, George Sessions, and others. Introduction by Thomas Berry. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1995.
  • A Theology of the Earth: The Contributions of Thomas Berry and Bernard Lonergan by Anne Marie Dalton. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1999. Number 10 of Religions and Beliefs Series. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Pages v-viii.
  • “Thomas Berry.” Listening to the Land. Conversations About Nature, Culture, and Eros. Ed. Derrick Jensen. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books,1995. Pages 35-43.
  • To Honor the Earth: Reflections on Living in Harmony With Nature. Dorothy Maclean and Kathleen Thormod Carr. Foreword by Thomas Berry. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1991. Pages vii-ix.
  • Transformation Learning: Education Vista for the 21st Century. Edmund O’Sullivan. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Foreword by Thomas Berry. Pages xi-xv.
  • “Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe.” In Evening Thoughts. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2006.
  • “The Universe, the University, and the Ecozoic Age.” Doors of Understanding: Conversations in Global Spirituality in Honor of Ewert Cousins. Ed. Steven Chase. Quincy, Illinois: Franciscan Press, 1997. Pages 79-96.
  • “The Universe Story; Its Religious Significance.” In The Greening of America: God, Environment and the Good Life. Eds. John E, Carroll and Paul Brockelman. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1997. Pages 208-218.
  • “The Viable Human.” Deep Ecology for the Twenty-first Century. Ed. George Sessions. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1995. Pages 8-18.
  • The Voice of the Infinite in the Small: Revisioning the Insect-Human Connection. Introduction by Thomas Berry. Ed. Joanne Elizabeth Lauck and Brian Crissey. Mill Spring, NC: Blue Water Publishers, 1998. Pages xix-xxii.
  • What Does It Mean To Be Human? Respect for Life Reaffirmed by Responses From Around the World. Ed. Frederick Franck. Circumstantial Productions, Publishing in Cooperation with the UNESCO Institute for Education, 1998. Pages 50-56.

Translations of Thomas Berry’s Work

  • Education in a Multi-Cultural World. Tr. into Arabic for Al-Mu-allim Al-Arabi, monthly review of the Syrian Ministry of Education. September 1958. It “appealed to Arabic readers.”
  • The Spiritual Forms of Oriental Civilizations in Approaches to Oriental Civilizations, ed. William T.deBary. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. Pages 5-33. Into Italian for Vita Morcastro, 1977.
  • Moral Evil Under Challenge: The Problem of Moral Evil and Guilt in Early Buddhism. Ed. Johannes B. Metz. Herder and Herder, 1970. Pages 126-133. Also published in Concilium: Theology in the Age of Renewal 6.6 (June 1970). Also published in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, and German as below:
  • El problema del mal moral y de la Culpa en el budismo primativo
  • Il problema del male morale e della colpa nel buddismo primativo
  • Het probleem van het morele kwaad en de schuld in het vroege boeddesme
  • Le probleme du mal moral et de la culpabilité dans le bouddisme primatif
  • Dans Problem der moralischen entscheidung (der sittlich Boesen uso der Schuld in frülen Buddhisme)
  • O sonho da terra. Traduzâo Ephraim Ferrereira Alves. Sierra Club Books 1990. Also Petrapolis: Vozes 1991. (Portuguese translation of The Dream of the Earth.)
  • Le rêve de la terre. In Initiation Nombre deux (Janvier 1990):40-48. Membre de l’Association des revue Scientifique et Culturelles. Ed. Léonard Appel, 92 Montagne de Saint-Job, 1180 Bruxelles.
  • Reconciliación con la Tierra: La Nueva Teología Ecológica. Derechos reservados para todos los países del habla hispana. Tr. Elena Olivos. Thomas Berry, C.P., en diálogo con Thomas Clarke, S.J. Twenty-third Publications: Mystic, CN. 1991. Eds. Stephen Dunn, O.P. y Anne Lonergan. Santiago, Chile: Cuatros Vientas, 1997.
  • La Sabiduria de la Cruz y su relaçion con la Sabiduria del universo. Tr. Susana Cinto, C.P. In Stairos Teologica de la Cruz. Año 1991. Primer semestre. No. 25. Pages 5-14.
  • El misero della croce valla pacificazione tru le etnie, le culture. ed el creation. Terzo Congresso Internazionale “La Sapienza della croce.” 1994. Third centenary of the death of St. Paul of the Cross 1694-1994.
  • The New Creation Story. German tr. Geseko von Lüpke. September 10, 1997. Eds. Hans-Sauer Stiftung/Monika Sauer. Deisonhofen D-8241. 1997.
  • Women Religious as the Voice of the Earth: The Collected Thoughts of Thomas Berry. The Council of General Superiors of Women’s Religious Orders. Rome, Italy. 1997. In 6 languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian?).
  • An Ecologically Sensitive Spirituality. Italian translation by Stefano Pansarasa et al. For AAM Terra Nuova “the most popular and reliable in the field of ecological practice, deep ecology. and bioregionalism. They accepted to publish it.” Notice in Gaia newsletter comunicazione ecologista. Documenti N. 4, 1997.
  • Die Autobiographie des Universum (The Dream of the Earth). Tr. Konrad von Dietzfelbinger. Ausgabe Eugen Diederichs Verlag. München 1999.
  • Die neue Schöpfungsgeschichte von Thomas Berry. In Kooperation mit der Evolution: das kreative zusammel0rspiel von Mensch und Kosmos. Herausgegeben von Minka Sauer-Sachtleben. Redaktion Geseko von Lüpke. Ein Projekt der Hans-Sauer-Stiftung. Eugen Diedrichs Verlag, München, 1999. [Pages 158-178]
  • Chinese translation of What Does It Mean To Be Human? [Eds. Frederick Franck and Others, St. Martin’s Press, 2000]. Thomas Berry’s contribution, translated by Prudence Lin, appears on pages 153-158. June 2001.
  • Wir brauchen eine neue Schöpfungsgeschichte. In Gespräch mirdem kosmologen Thomas Berry. In Geseko von Lüpke’s Politik des Herzens. Arun verlag. 2003. Pages 45-53
  • The Great Work Chinese translation by Wang Zhi-he. 2006
  • In progress. Into Spanish. The Great Work and The Riverdale Papers. Oscar Carvajol. 1-253 Clark Avenue, Kichner, Ontario, Canada NeC 1Y1. 519-895-8466. carvajaladames@hotmail.com.

Posted in bibliography, Thomas Berry | Leave a comment

Why We Struggle

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Allysyn Kiplinger

This reprinted from Huffington Post

www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-michael-dowd/tedx-talk-why-we-struggle_b_1605802.html

by Rev. Michael Dowd, the religious naturalist, evidential mystic, big history evangelist, and author of ‘Thank God for Evolution’

Faith traditions offer conflicting beliefs about our inner nature and challenges. Fortunately, a knowledge-based view is emerging that offers fresh and realistic hope for improving the quality of our lives and relationships.

Ignorance of our inherited drives has been one of the greatest causes of suffering throughout human history — individually and collectively.

Every religion offers mythic beliefs about our inner workings. But until recently, we had no measurable knowledge about how our minds and emotions actually work — what drives us, and why.

Now we know, through a wide range of evidence, that the powerful biological instincts we inherited are ‘mismatched’ for the supercharged environments we have created. Honoring this now indisputable fact can help us channel our deepest drives in ways that serve, rather than sabotage, our joy in life and the quality of our relationships and legacy. As well, we can appreciate how this inspiring, science-based perspective REALizes, or naturalizes, ancient mythic insights.

I delivered the following TEDx talk in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in May 2012. Beneath the video player is a brief description of some of the main points I covered.

www.youtube.com/watch (20:27)

Most of us, including evangelicals, know that our trials and temptations, our inner struggles, our troubling habits of thought and behavior, our personal and relational challenges, are not literally the result of our great-great-great-great… grandmother eating an apple.

Within each of us are instincts molded by millions of years of evolution to have us think and behave in ways that certainly benefitted our ancestors. Indeed, all of us alive today owe our existence to those very same instincts. But what have they done for us lately? To be blunt, they’ve made many of us fat, some addicted, and most of us in denial about how we are impacting the planet.

Our instincts can hardly be faulted. We are surrounded by ‘supernormal allurements’: processed foods, feel-good drugs and alcohol, Internet porn, and media sources that are no longer tethered to reality. Our ancestors faced none of these challenges.

Our ways of getting news, interacting with friends, and dealing with enemies have been altered beyond recognition by modern technologies. Our opportunities for indulging romantic or sexual urges, or wasting time and distracting ourselves, would be unrecognizable even to our great-grandparents.

The cultural contexts have changed enormously — but our brains and bodies have not. We still have the same fears and desires as our ancestors, but now those instincts are out of sync with life conditions.

Compounding the problem is that we’ve all inherited exquisite skills for self-deception. The human brain not only distorts perception and memory; it then uses its extraordinary powers to rationalize or justify the distortion. In essence, our brain regularly tricks us — and then masterfully hides the evidence!

Consider: Prior to microscopes, it wasn’t just difficult to understand infection; it was impossible. Prior to telescopes, it was impossible to understand the Universe. The same is true of our inner world. Without an evolutionary grasp of why our instincts and emotions are the way they are, it isn’t just difficult to wisely choose and live our priorities in this fast-paced, modern world. It’s effectively impossible.

Our long history of living in primitive conditions and in small tribal groups did not give us instincts or equip us to deal with the supernormal allurements surrounding us today.

Especially for the young, trying to master one’s animal urges (physical or social) without first learning why they evolved, and without appreciating the purposes they once served, is like trying to figure out why your car is running poorly when you’ve never been taught what’s going on under the hood.

As Edward O. Wilson has written, “We exist in a bizarre combination of Stone Age emotions, medieval beliefs, and god-like technology.”

We cannot, of course, change our instincts — but we can change how we relate to them, how we manage them. Thanks to the evolutionary sciences, we now can understand our instincts and finally face our challenges with a measure of lightness and compassion and with practical tools that actually work.

The process begins with distinguishing fault from responsibility. We can thereby free ourselves of the burden of guilt, shame, and self-condemnation from choices we’ve made in the past, while stepping up to the responsibility of making amends for our wake and fashioning a better future.

When we honor our inherited drives (which is nearly impossible when referring to them as “inner demons,” or our “shadow” or “ego”) we can feel our heart expanding in gratitude, generosity, and compassion for self and others — and our inner state will not only match but strengthen the ways in which we already are serving our community and the world.
* * *

NOTE: My 27-year-old son, Shane (an athletic trainer and life coach), and I are in the process of creating an online support structure for men who want to explore this subject more deeply, individually or collectively, titled, “Men Evolving Men.” If you’d like to be notified when this is available, email me at Michael@TheGreatStory.org

Also see:

Posted in Michael Dowd, Reinventing the Human, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

EcozoicTimes.com Now Available in 34 Languages Via Translation Services (Button)

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Allysyn Kiplinger

Oh my! Web Wizard of the Most High Dennis Rivers just installed a button that will translate our site into 34 languages. There are between 3,000 and 10,000 human languages in the world today. The number is often estimated at about 6,800.

The transformation to the Ecozoic Era is a global phenomenon. It affects all humans, all species, all continents, all waters, all gases, all lands. How can the translation continue, past human language, to be experienced by the Earth community in toto? This is our Great Work.

The “translate” button is below the moon phases on the right side of the page.

I would be very glad to have feedback from you native readers of other languages as to how true the translation is into your language. Do the often-nuanced Ecozoic ideas permeate through the translation?

Posted in Allysyn Kiplinger, Earth Community, Great Work, Language | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Lynn Margulis, Biologist and Co-creator of Gaia Theory dies – 1938-2011

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Allysyn Kiplinger

I am sad to hear this news. I send deep condolences to Lynn’s family. I was lucky enough to be on a course she taught at Schumacher College in the summer of 2004. She knew very well the portion of the Universe Story relating to the microcosmos. Thank you, Lynn, for bringing that to us all, for being a visionary voice for the role bacteria play in Life and Gaia.

from the New York Times

www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/science/lynn-margulis-trailblazing-theorist-on-evolution-dies-at-73.html

Lynn Margulis, Evolution Theorist, Dies at 73
By BRUCE WEBER
Published: November 24, 2011

Lynn Margulis, a biologist whose work on the origin of cells helped transform the study of evolution, died on Tuesday at her home in Amherst, Mass. She was 73.

Paul Hosefos/The New York Times

Lynn Margulis, wearing her National Medal of Science Award.

 

She died five days after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke, said Dorion Sagan, a son she had with her first husband, the cosmologist Carl Sagan.

Dr. Margulis, who had the title of distinguished university professor of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, since 1988, drew upon earlier, ridiculed ideas when she first promulgated her theory, in the late 1960s, that cells with nuclei, which are known as eukaryotes and include all the cells in the human body, evolved as a result of symbiotic relationships among bacteria.

The hypothesis was a direct challenge to the prevailing neo-Darwinist belief that the primary evolutionary mechanism was random mutation.

Rather, Dr. Margulis argued that a more important mechanism was symbiosis; that is, evolution is a function of organisms that are mutually beneficial growing together to become one and reproducing. The theory undermined significant precepts of the study of evolution, underscoring the idea that evolution began at the level of micro-organisms long before it would be visible at the level of species.

“She talked a lot about the importance of micro-organisms,” said her daughter, Jennifer Margulis. “She called herself a spokesperson for the microcosm.”

The manuscript in which Dr. Margulis first presented her findings was rejected by 15 journals before being published in 1967 by the Journal of Theoretical Biology. An expanded version, with additional evidence to support the theory — which was known as the serial endosymbiotic theory — became her first book, “Origin of Eukaryotic Cells.”

A revised version, “Symbiosis in Cell Evolution,” followed in 1981, and though it challenged the presumptions of many prominent scientists, it has since become accepted evolutionary doctrine.

“Evolutionists have been preoccupied with the history of animal life in the last 500 million years,” Dr. Margulis wrote in 1995. “But we now know that life itself evolved much earlier than that. The fossil record begins nearly 4,000 million years ago! Until the 1960s, scientists ignored fossil evidence for the evolution of life, because it was uninterpretable.

“I work in evolutionary biology, but with cells and micro-organisms. Richard Dawkins, John Maynard Smith, George Williams, Richard Lewontin, Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould all come out of the zoological tradition, which suggests to me that, in the words of our colleague Simon Robson, they deal with a data set some three billion years out of date.”

Lynn Petra Alexander was born on March 5, 1938, in Chicago, where she grew up in a tough neighborhood on the South Side. Her father was a lawyer and a businessman. Precocious, she graduated at 18 from the University of Chicago, where she met Dr. Sagan as they passed each other on a stairway.

She earned a master’s degree in genetics and zoology from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the faculty at Massachusetts, she taught for 22 years at Boston University.

Dr. Margulis was also known, somewhat controversially, as a collaborator with and supporter of James E. Lovelock, whose Gaia theory states that Earth itself — its atmosphere, the geology and the organisms that inhabit it — is a self-regulating system, maintaining the conditions that allow its perpetuation. In other words, it is something of a living organism in and of itself.

Dr. Margulis’s marriage to Dr. Sagan ended in divorce, as did a marriage to Thomas N. Margulis, a chemist. Dr. Sagan died in 1996.

In addition to her daughter and her son Dorion, a science writer with whom she sometimes collaborated, she is survived by two other sons, Jeremy Sagan and Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma; three sisters, Joan Glashow, Sharon Kleitman and Diane Alexander; two half-brothers, Robert and Mark Alexander; a half-sister, Sara Alexander; and nine grandchildren.

“More than 99.99 percent of the species that have ever existed have become extinct,” Dr. Margulis and Dorion Sagan wrote in “Microcosmos,” a 1986 book that traced, in readable language, the history of evolution over four billion years, “but the planetary patina, with its army of cells, has continued for more than three billion years. And the basis of the patina, past, present and future, is the microcosm — trillions of communicating, evolving microbes.”

Posted in Evolution, Gaia Theory, Lynn Margulis, Microcosmos, Natural World, Science, Universe Story | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Barry University Publishes Inaugural Issue of Earth Jurisprudence & Environmental Justice Journal

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Allysyn Kiplinger

For immediate release – September 21, 2011 Contact: Traci Timmons

Phone (786) 271-3113

t.traci@ymail.com

Barry University Publishes Inaugural Issue of Earth Jurisprudence & Environmental Justice Journal

Student-edited journal is first of its kind with a commitment to an Earth-based approach as a means of protecting the environment & eliminating environmental injustices

Orlando, FL – Barry University School of Law created the Earth Jurisprudence and Environmental Justice Journal (EJEJJ) to focus on two unique areas of environmental law that have broad implications on the American legal system.

The inaugural issue is a tribute to Thomas Berry and focuses on the topic of Earth Jurisprudence, an emerging legal theory that calls on humanity to abandon its current anthropocentric (human-centered) view of the environment in favor of an ecocentric, or Earth-centered system of law and governance. Thomas Berry, widely recognized as a visionary who called for an Earth-Centered Jurisprudence, recognized that Earth functions as a self-organizing and regulating entity and emphasized the need for a more harmonious human role as a vital member of the larger Earth Community. Berry envisioned a new era, an Ecozoic era, where humans can no longer rely on the healing powers of the Earth to correct past abuses, but must accept responsibility for restoring the Earth to a truly sustainable balance.

The Journal’s other area of focus, Environmental Justice, is the meaningful involvement and fair treatment of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income in regards to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Environmental justice seeks to redress inequitable distributions of environmental burdens relating to pollution, industrial facility locations, landfills, and hazardous waste disposal sites. The Journal is helping to host an Environmental Justice Summit to be held on the Barry University School of Law campus on October 21, 2011, and anticipates showcasing materials from the Summit in Volume II of the Journal, to be released in spring 2012.

According to Dean Leticia Diaz, the Journal capitalizes on two of Barry Law School’s environmental law strengths, its partnership with the Center for Earth Jurisprudence and its Earth Advocacy Clinic, which litigates on behalf of environmentally repressed communities.

“I am proud of our Journal members and their faculty advisor, Professor Pat Tolan, for helping to bring these unique strengths to national attention,” said Dean Diaz. “Consistent with the Barry Mission, the Journal seeks to challenge law students to embrace personal, ethical, spiritual, ecological and social responsibilities in an atmosphere of academic freedom.”

Advancing the Earth Community is consistent with the Catholic Dominican tradition of reverencing life in all its forms. Center for Earth Jurisprudence Director and Dominican Sister Patricia Siemen commended the Journal for bringing greater recognition to the emerging field.

“This Journal is a significant contribution to the advancement of Earth Jurisprudence. Its publication is very timely as the Rights of Nature movement gains international momentum as evidenced by the third annual international Earth Jurisprudence Conference occurring at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, September 16-18, 2011, “ said Siemen. “ We are proud of Barry law students in advancing the research and publication in the critical fields of Earth Jurisprudence and Environmental Justice. “

Out of respect for the environment, the Journal is being published electronically instead of in print. The Journal can be found online at https://lawpublications.barry.edu/.

If interested in submitting an article for consideration or for questions regarding the journal, please contact the Journal’s Lead Article’s Editor, Michael Spoliansky, at Michael.Spoliansky@mymail.barry.edu<mailto:Michael.Spoliansky@mymail.barry.edu>.

About Barry School of Law

Established in 1999, the Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Orlando offers a quality legal education in a caring, diverse environment. A Catholic-oriented institution, Barry Law School challenges students to accept intellectual, personal, ethical, spiritual, and social responsibilities, and commits itself to assuring an atmosphere of religious freedom. Barry Law School is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and has a current enrollment of more than 700 students from around the world. More information is at www.barry.edu/law<< a=””> TARGET=”_blank” href=redir.asp?lid=0&newsite=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebarry%2Eedu%2Flaw>https://www.barry.edu/law<> >.

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Encyclopedia of Earth – website

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Allysyn Kiplinger

This just passed my desk! Looks great!

Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Earth, an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, expert-reviewed collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other’s work. The articles are written in non-technical language and are useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.

www.eoearth.org/

Posted in Earth Community, Science, web site | Leave a comment

Looking Back at Earth – Total Solar Eclipse from the Perspective of Space – NASA photo

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Allysyn Kiplinger


This NASA photo made me realize I’d never considered what an eclipse looks like from space. Here is a beautiful photo of Mother Earth’s experience of the eclipse. It might be hard to notice at first, but look for the shadow over the Libya-Chad area of the top part of Africa, west of the Nile  River.

The image above shows the total solar eclipse of March 29, 2006 as observed from the MSG satellite, in geostationary orbit 22,369 mi (36,000 km) above the equator.

Note that the eclipsed area, where the shadow of the full Moon reached the Earth’s surface, lies over the cloudless, east central Sahara Desert.

The region that experienced a total solar eclipse at the time this image was acquired (10:00 UTC) is located at the center of the deeply shadowed region (umbra). This region has a diameter of about 112 mi (180 km). The dark region (penumbra) just outside the deepest shadow experienced a partial solar eclipse.

Image provided by: Maximilian Reuter; Maximilian’s website
Summary Author: Maximilian Reuter; Susanne Pfeifer; Jim Foster

epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/08/total-solar-eclipse-from-the-perspective-of-space.html

Posted in Earth Community, Earth from Space, Earth Science Picture of the Day, Perspectives, Photograph | Leave a comment