The Gaia Community College » Thomas Berry

Science of the Heart

Biophile — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:17:59 +0000

Researchers are increasingly becoming aware that the heart is vastly more than a pump, that it is in fact full of neurons and generates a powerful electromagnetic field. I often think of the quote “Be the change you want to see in the world” from Gandhi when I think of human-earth relations, because what we forge within our hearts becomes the basis for how we interact with the world. Along those lines I offer this one minute short from the folks at the Institute of Noetic Sciences about heart science.

This is a beautiful example of just how powerfully our hearts influence our interactions with everything. One of my favorite Thomas Berry quotes also comes to mind ~ “Peace with each other through peace with the earth”, meaning that unless we are able to perceive, appreciate, and inhabit a place of peace within ourselves towards the earth that our chances of establishing peaceful relations within human communities are pretty slim. Of course it all starts within…

Always love,
Eric

The Charter for Compassion

Biophile — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:09:31 +0000

Originally envisioned by Karen Armstrong as her wish for winning the 2008 TED prize, The Charter for Compassion is a gorgeous example of “a cooperative effort to restore not only compassionate thinking but, more importantly, compassionate action to the center of religious, moral and political life”. (quote from their website) I fell in love with the initiative as it seems that any energy that nurtures such purposeful expression of higher ideals is worthy of note.

If there is any one activity purposefully engaged in that has the power to help heal and transform our world into the one envisioned when Thomas Berry spoke about mutually enhancing relationships, compassion must be it.

Peace to you and yours,
Eric

Gratitude to Thomas Berry

Biophile — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:17:24 +0000

“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”.

There are numerous biographies, eulogies, memorials, and further testaments regarding the profound vision that Berry has left us with online, and if the reader is unfamiliar with his work then I most whole heartedly recommend it. There are great overviews of his life from The New York Times and The LA Times, along with eulogies found on his own website, www.thomasberry.org. My favorite tribute however comes from poet Drew Dellinger, and I can’t recommend it, or Dellinger himself, enough.

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.

Peace,
Ericuni