The folks from the Pachamama Alliance are offering these low cost symposiums to help further along the transition from exploitative culture to a nourishing and truly sustainable one. This is a wondrously beautiful example of tell a different story, bring about a different reality. And I adore the fact that they are ensuring it is accessible to everyone. If you can find one anywhere near you, I would whole heartedly recommend attending. Their stated goal is bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on Planet Earth, and I can’t think of anything more worthwhile.
At it’s heart are four questions ~ Where are we? How did we get here? What’s possible for the future? And Where do we go from here? Affirming our connectedness throughout, and stimulating active community are just some of the results from this event.
Joanna Macy says “The Symposium is designed to accelerate the Great Turning to a just and sustainable world. It awakens us and reconnects us with our place in the web of life . . . I’m very impressed with the approach and the quality of the program.” And that alone makes me want to go…
“Thomas Berry flipped wigs everywhere he went, because Thomas has a way of making you feel the immensity, the magnificence, and the mystery of the cosmos. He baptizes you into the presence of the galaxies, and transmits the sacredness and unity of the universe. Berry makes you feel your cosmic identity, and your connection to the earth and the universe as an unfolding process.” ~ Drew Dellinger
I will never forget the moment that Thomas Berry’s core message clicked as I was reading his “Dream of the Earth”. It was the first time in my entire life that I genuinely experienced a synergy. Everything clicked. Everything connected. Everything all of a sudden made sense, and had a living, vibrant, connective context within which to make sense as it continually unfolded. Needless to say he left quite an impression on me, and I experience a depth of gratitude towards him that is usually reserved for parents or an intimate. Having passed away earlier this year at the wondrous age of 94, Thomas Berry has left us a legacy that has the power to help transform our world. Or to use one of his most beloved phrases, to help usher in an era of “mutually enhancing human earth relations”.
If our lives are measured by the extent that we have left the world a better place then when we found it, we would need to dig out the tape used for M.L.King, Gandhi and company, the one usually reserved for prophets and saints. The pages of this blog were originally inspired by Thomas’ message to learn and tell the Universe Story in order to firmly establish a meaningful context within which to lead our lives, and it is my fullest intention of continuing The Great Work of our times by highlighting as many efforts to inspire and nurture balanced human earth relations as possible.
Thank you father Thomas. The world is indeed a much better place for your having been. I will close this post with a clip of Thomas sharing a most powerful perspective in his own words.
Finding our meaningful place in the universe can make such a profound difference in our lives, and doing so playfully makes it even more magnificent. I have been wanting to post this Neil DeGrasse video for a while now as his passion and enthusiasm for sharing his discoveries are infectious, and he makes a great case for the value of understanding the significance of The Universe Story. But to make things even better, a fellow named John Boswell has created a project called The Symphony of Science where he takes clips from interviews such as the DeGrasse one and then skillfully puts them to music. In my mind, when pertinent information can be shared in such an entertaining and uplifting manner is when we start to experience grace.
I hope you enjoy these clips as much as I have.
Peace.
Eric
The natural world is the larger sacred community to which we belong. To be alienated from the community is to become destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community is to diminish our own existence. ~ Thomas Berry
Music for the Great Awakening ~ The new album from Biophile is now available for your conscious evolutionary stimulation. Please click on the CD cover below.
“Thomas Berry flipped wigs everywhere he went, because Thomas has a way of making you feel the immensity, the magnificence, and the mystery of the cosmos. He baptizes you into the presence of the galaxies, and transmits the sacredness and unity of the universe. Berry makes you feel your cosmic identity, and your connection to the earth and the universe as an unfolding process.” ~ Drew Dellinger
