Thursday, August 28, 2014

Have we become co-creators with God of the universe?

In Chapter Twelve of The Green Boat, her last chapter, Mary Pipher discusses hope as an ingredient in a life well lived.

"I have learned that reviving the planet and reviving ourselves are not opposed, but rather deeply congruent behaviors. Fixing inner and outer space are the same process. We can't heal ourselves without healing our environments, and we can't be mentally healthy when the green boat is sinking and we are pretending that trauma isn't happening. As the Great Acceleration occurs, unless we are part of the Great Turning, we will drown in global storms." p. 214

Pipher writes a little further:

"We are tumbling though time like shells on  a breaking wave. On what shore will we land, we don't know. We cannot go backward in time; we can only go forward." p. 215

"I try  not to be too caught up in my fluctuating emotions and I especially don't predict the future. I know it will not be like the past. To quote John Gorka, 'Our old future is gone.'" p. 215

For sure, life will continue to evolve. That we know. As conscious beings we are at a point in our evolutionary trajectory where we humans have the power to influence this evolutionary process not only on planet earth but in our solar system and a little bit beyond with the probes we have sent into deep space beyond our solar system.

And what meaning can we make of this evolutionary phenomenon where we humans can collaborate with God, the Life Force, to influence not only our own destiny but the destiny of other living things? The sixth principle of Unitarian Universalism is that we covenant to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. Nice sentiment, but perhaps too pedestrian. We need to enlarge our vision to include at least the solar system, and probably the universe as long as we advocate with humility and not with hubris. And it is not just a world community that we should be seeking peace, liberty, and justice for but the evolutionary future of our planet and solar system. As Pipher quotes John Gorka, "Our old future is gone."

As the Great Acceleration is teaching us during the Great Turning humans have become aware that they are co-creators with God as they influence their own evolution. This can inspire great hope, but also requires tremendous responsibilities and it is easy to despair whether we will be able to overcome our greed, our egotistical power trips, our denial to join with the creative force in not only respecting, but protecting and advocating for the health of the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.

It is a great time in history to be a Unitarian Universalist because our faith provides us with the tools to move with hope into the future and to take on the tasks that God is calling us to assume. We can either despair as we consider our possible future or we can choose hope. This hope is not blind or false hope, but based on UUs seven principles, it is hope based on positive, constructive values which will guide us to a satisfying and fulfilling future life for ourselves and the diverse life forms on our planet.

3 comments:

  1. Very well said! I don't think I have ever read or heard anything quite like this in regards to Unitarian Universalism being a value base for evolution as we co-create the universe with God. It is an awesome vision. God bless you and the work you do here. Have a great day.

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  2. Dave:

    Annie Dillard wrote in her book, For The Time Being, "When Krishna's mother looked inside his mouth, she saw in this throat the night sky filled with all the stars in the cosmos."

    What do you think of that?

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    Replies
    1. Dear Ralph:

      I think it's great. We are all made of star dust so I have been told by people like Dr. John Polkinghorne who was a top astro-physicist at Cambridge and then became an Anglican Priest.

      I also think Ralph that if we, you and I could become enlightened, a person could see the same view in our mouths as well. What do you think of that?

      More to the point of the essay above it seems that the universe as we humans have come to know it is on an evolutionary track of developing increasing complexity and the time will come when we will all become like Krishna when humanity achieves the At-One-Ment.

      All the best,

      David Markham

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