My daughter leapt into the world

After nine months of uterine back flips

(and back pain)

Writing graffiti

on the walls of her womb

Head-first-diving into life

like a supernova.

*

My daughter dove into existence

on a day when all over the world

people were dying before they lived

not paying attention to their wide, wondrous world.

She cried out to them

(I heard her)

Wake up! I am here!

*

My daughter brought forth her world on a day like any other:

the wide, soft earth cried out beneath the suffering of her children

who–some of them–took their blink-of-an-eye existence & danced upon suffering

singing Calliopean songs of rebirth.

Even on the day her father tearfully called his mother

sitting by his brother’s deathbed.

We needed some good news, she said.

*

My daughter brought forth an entire universe

from her speck-of-dust soul–

We had waited so long for her:

Since the day I saw her mother,

on that porch,

drinking homemade wine

So many years ago

*

Since the day when I watched my own little brother

(my daughter will do better than I did)

come home from the hospital

Since the days when the ancestors wandered over seas and mountains

to lose themselves

and to find

Each other.

*

Still longer, we have waited:

Since the days when the entire universe was written

in a single book

–the original speck-of-dust–

& danced its dance, sang its song

& wrote its new poem: stars pressed across the sky

(is this what you painted on the walls of your womb?)

*

& now, you are here:

Like the rest, you will get only a blink of an eye

(I cannot lie)

but we’ve waited for you so long

to sing your Calliopean song.

We needed some good news:

& you are it.

September 18, 2013

From the website of a student of Brian Swimme’s; https://theodorerichards.com/http:/theodorerichards/the-day-my-daughter-was-born-part-ii-a-gestational-epic

A book by George Monbiot

Published by Allen Lane, May 2013

The book introduces a radical new type of ‘hands-off’ nature conservation called Rewilding, and takes the reader on George’s own journey to re-connect with the natural world.

Discussing his fiercely positive vision for a grand-scale restoration of Earth’s ecosystems, George will advocate for the need to let nature take control of its own regeneration, drawing on breakthroughs in ecological science, Gaia theory and a wealth of his own research, to supports his arguments. Recognising that we as humans are embedded within our ecosystems, he will also demonstrate how rewilding can offer humanity a new and positive form of environmentalism at a time when we desperately need one, proving that a hopeful future for our planet, and ourselves, is possible. George Monbiot is a journalist, environmentalist and author well known for his environmental and political activism. He has written a number of bestselling books of which ‘Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the ­Frontiers of Rewilding‘ is his latest. George is also the founder of The Land is Ours– a peaceful campaign for the public right of access to the countryside in the UK.

*****

Press Reviews

Philip Hoare in The Sunday Telegraph:
“The book justifies its subtitle with rhapsodic descriptions of forays into the natural world. Whether kayaking off the British coast or walking the Kenyan bush, Monbiot – who studied zoology at Oxford – focuses our minds on what we have lost, and what we stand to gain. … as a passionate polemic, it could not be more rigorously researched, more elegantly delivered, or more timely. We need such big thinking for our own sakes and those of our children. Bring on the wolves and whales, I say, and, in the words of Maurice Sendak, let the wild rumpus start.”

For years the antinuclear movement has been saying to the general
public: pay attention to this information because this bad thing is
going to happen. And now, the really bad thing has happened. What have
we to say to the world now?

I think the current situation calls for a kind of tragic heroism, of the
sort expressed by Winston Churchill when it looked like Britain was
losing World War II. He gave a famous speech in which he said that the
British would never surrender. They would fight in the fields, they
would fight in the hedges, they would fight on the river banks, they
would fight to the last man, but they would never surrender.

Applied to the radioactive poisoning of the Pacific Ocean, I think our
attitude needs to be something like, “save as many species as you can,
you are not going to save them all. Protect as many people as you can,
you are not going to be able to protect them all, but never stop.”

In my mind I hear myself rewriting Churchill speech for the
post-Fukushima era. “We will never stop caring about life, no matter how
bad things get. We will never stop believing in life, no matter how much
of life is destroyed. We will never stop reaching out to care for other
people, and protect them as much as we can, even if we glow in the dark
from radiation, and keel over from leukemia. We will never give up.”

From: nonukes.org/
 

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:

• Our physical instincts: Our reptilian brain’s cravings for safety, sustenance, and sex
• Our social instincts: Our old mammalian brain’s drives for bonding, status, and play
• Our interpretive instincts: Our neocortex’s quest for knowing, meaning, & morality
• Doing the harder thing: Our prefrontal cortex’s zeal for wholeness & contribution
• Evolutionize Your Life: Free hour-long online teleseminar

Wow! This website is fantastic! Chock full of resources, easy to navigate, clear as a bell. With a fantastic bibliography!

The collective work of Drs. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, this site is their work, vision, and passion in a nutshell.

emergingearthcommunity.org/

April 12, 2011
Recipients Shine at the 2011 Prize Ceremony

By Goldman Staff

2011 PRIZE WINNERS

RAOUL DE TOIT, Zimbabwe – lead conservation initiates that protected the black rhino populations

DIMITRY LISITSYN, Russia – Fought to protect endangered ecosystems from petroleum development projects

URSULA SLADEK, Germany – Created her country’s first cooperatively-owned renewable power company

PRIGI ARISANDI , Indonesia – Stopped industrial pollution from flowing into a river that provides water to three million people

HILTON KELLEY, USA – Fought for communities living in the shadow of polluting industries on the Texas Gulf Coast

FRANCIS PINEDA, El Salvador – Led a citizen’s movement that stopped a gold mine from destroying water resources

What a night!

Environmental supporters from around the world gathered at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House last night to celebrate the 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients.

The evening started with a moving tribute to the Prize’s late founder, Richard Goldman, who passed away in November 2010. We dedicated the event to his memory. Following an introduction by master of ceremonies, Peter Coyote, John Goldman gave a keynote talk focused on the dismantling of environmental regulations by Congress and the changing economic landscape that is forcing business leaders to embrace sustainability and environmental protection. Then, one by one, we presented to six incredible Prize recipients.

Visit www.goldmanprize.org/blog/recipients-shine-2011-prize-ceremony for postings of video and photos.

This intelligent, spiritual, philosophical, upbeat, VERY INSPIRATIONAL music video and MANIFESTO came to me yesterday via Paul Hoffman.

My body chemistry changed – in a good WAY – when I saw it. I had to stand up straighter, breath more deeply the sacred breath of life, remember how rare and precious it is to be human. And remember that something bigger is coming through us that we might not understand but that we must trust in and ride, like a wave.

WaySeerManifesto.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPR3GlpQQJA

Earth created the human creature and endowed it with certain capacities, like language acquisition and creation, problem-solving for survival, bonding with friends and family, as well as its physiology.  For the last 12,000 to 50,000 years, maybe longer, we have been the same physical species. A baby born in one time frame who was transferred by a magical time machine to any other, including our present day, would grow-up as a native, as would we if we were transferred to another time. There would be no difference in capacity or appearance.

Yet, there have been thousands of variations within our human family over time: thousands of cultures and sub-cultures, thousands of languages, thousands of meaning-systems, thousands of interpretations of reality, thousands of ways to survive and thrive within the Earth community. This variety of ways to survive and thrive is what I understand Thomas Berry to mean when he refers to "ways of being human" or "modes of being human".

Because we are born physiologically immature (having to do with the relationship between baby's cranium & brain, mom's pelvis, and our bipedal nature) – I heard someone call it being "born half-cooked" – we are completed by the family and culture into which we are born. Each historical era, each culture, each family, often each generation, invents itself. We humans are self-inventing creatures, to a great extent.

Because we invent ourselves, we also REinvent ourselves. Within the limits given by evolution, we can be whatever we want to be as a species, live wherever we want to live.

By conscious and unconscious action our current "way of being human" is causing irreparable harm to and diminishment of the Earth community, ourselves and the very things, systems, and beings upon which we rely for our survival and thriving as a species.

Thus we must "reinvent the human" by drawing upon our evolutionary capacities to create new cultures, sub-cultures, languages, meaning-systems, interpretations of reality, and ways of surviving and thriving.

It is to this Great Work, the reinvention of the human family, that the section "Reinventing the Human" (and the whole site, really) is dedicated.