@mikebell
Active 2 years, 3 months ago-
Mike Bell wrote a new post, An Earth Spirituality-Four Stories 9 years, 8 months ago
How do you use the New Cosmology, a blend of theology and science, to help people with very little background in theology and science deal with climate change in their communities? That is the challenge this talk […]
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Mike Bell wrote a new post, Thomas Berry-An Earth Spirituality Out on the Edge 9 years, 10 months ago
Thomas Berry was a cultural historian, a monk and a Roman Catholic Priest. Though he was a member of the church he lived on the edge of the institution. His unique talents out on the edge enabled him to look back […]
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Mike Bell wrote a new post, Living Enterprise as the Foundation of a Genera tive Economy 10 years, 2 months ago
Peter Drucker, the management guru, once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” He was referring to how new business strategies run headlong into long-established and powerful corporate cultures. The sam […]
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Mike Bell wrote a new post, Spirituality as Common Sense 10 years, 3 months ago
Spirituality as Common Sense
In this website there has been an ongoing background discussion about the relationship or non-relationship between science, religion, spirituality, mind and consciousness. It gets […]
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Mike Bell posted a new activity comment 10 years, 4 months ago
Hi Rich,
Thanks for your response.I agree with your comments about the difficulty with stories. Part of the problem is that our culture sees stories as unreal: either made-up fairy tales for children or imaginary stories on television–soap operas, detective stories or tales of derring-do facing walking zombies.
I’ve had some e…[Read more]
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Mike Bell wrote a new post, BIG HISTORY, SCIENCE AND MYTH: A RESPONSE TO LISA SIDERIS 10 years, 4 months ago
In an interesting article posted on this website, Lisa Sideris has challenged the need for Big History and the New Cosmology. She see these concepts as not only as unnecessary but as even harmful. This article […]
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Hi Mike –
Also thought Ms. Sideris’s article quite interesting but also recognize that trying to address the evolution of human cultures and all of the side affects we have on the planet is very difficult to accomplish in relatively short articles. This debate of how humans need to evolve based on a story is obviously quite old – we have been telling stories for an awfully long time – and unfortunately the relative truth of any story (what I have come to call the Fog of Truth) is always questionable which also must include the human tendency to find stories that fit our own current understanding of truth, correct or incorrect, in order to confirm our current beliefs. I can’t quote directly the source but I have a vague recall that within Thomas Berry’s works he stated that what we need is new language. I believe that but the real challenge is how to present these stories to any given audience based on their level of understanding of what can be claimed as the truth. Telling stories to children, or rational adults with open minds, or religious fundamentalist audiences all require extremely different approaches. The difficult with science is that it represents an evolving story and we need to be careful how we present any explanation of reality to be sure that we clarify what is based on evidence as opposed to conjecture (new theories). What is most important which Deep Time Journey is trying to achieve is that this is an ongoing dialog within an evolving understanding. Human change is an inexorably slow process. And then we have to hope we survive as a species fast enough to minimize major suffering!!
Thanks for you comments – Rich
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Hi Rich,
Thanks for your response.I agree with your comments about the difficulty with stories. Part of the problem is that our culture sees stories as unreal: either made-up fairy tales for children or imaginary stories on television–soap operas, detective stories or tales of derring-do facing walking zombies.
I’ve had some experience working with indigenous people who have a very different concept of story.
There is a story about a First Nation (tribe) in Northern British Columbia that wanted to begin working on its land claim. The band council and some elders were meeting with federal civil servants who came to their community from Ottawa to begin the negotiation process. At one point in the discussions a federal civil servant, working through a translator, noted that the land in question belonged to the federal government in Ottawa. This shocked the elders whose ancestors had inhabited the land for centuries. One of them got up, looked across the table at the federal civil servants and said, “If this is your land where are your stories?”
On numerous occasions Thomas Berry noted the need for a different language to explain the new realities. He also noted the need for a very different concept of story—one akin to the indigenous concept that could be the essence of an Ecozoic culture—a new story that would provide a new context to help us see a radically changing world in a different way and give it meaning. It is a monumental challenge and requires a major shift in consciousness. This is the point I was trying to make in my previous comments about Lisa Sideris’ article.
Recently I can across a comment of someone speaking about climate change—a civilization problem that is changing everything as we have known it. He noted, “We are not living in an era of change. We are living in a change of Era.” We have passed from the Holocene Era to the Anthropocene Era. We need a new story for a new era.
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 5 months ago
Folks,
In recent discussions about whether or not the universe is living, several of us have focused on the problem with the word “living.” It explains life on Earth but just doesn’t work very well for explaining “life” in the universe. In the course of discussion we have been seeking some kind of common ground. One suggestion has been to f…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Professional Development in Deep Time Education in the forum my forum new one 10 years, 5 months ago
Jennifer,
The word “love” sometimes evokes the idea that you cannot love a ‘thing”– and of course Earth is not a thing but many people think of it as a “thing out there” . The word “reverence”, though it sometimes suggest “religion” is a bit more general and all-embracing (for me at least) and literally means “awe and wonder”. I think…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Professional Development in Deep Time Education in the forum my forum new one 10 years, 5 months ago
Jennifer,
Thomas Berry, in his Foreward to Ann Marie Dalton’s book A Theology For the Earth, noted that he was not a theologian and “my intent has been simply to present and to leave to the reader to respond out of whatever background the reader might have. This transformation from his ideas to our situations was what he meant by a fun…[Read more] -
Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Folks, “Considering all of these arguments, here is my conclusion at this time which is the best “common ground” that I can muster. We must allow science the categories of “living organism” and “non-living matter” for them to do their work. However there is also room for the “big philosophical view” of an interconnected universe where livi…[Read more]
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Mike Bell wrote a new post, Laudato Si and Vatican III 10 years, 6 months ago
Laudato Si and Vatican III Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si is a significant step forward in addressing the climate change issue, showing its impacts especially upon the poor and in furthering the r […]
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Mike Bell wrote a new post, Laudato Si and Vatican III 10 years, 6 months ago
Laudato Si and Vatican III Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si is a significant step forward in addressing the climate change issue, showing its impacts especially upon the poor and in furthering the relationship […]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Folks, I’m having trouble keeping up with this conversation but here are some thoughts. At first glance Jon’s distinction between methodological reductionism (MR) and philosophical reductionism (PR) would seem to be helpful. It may be that some are using reductionism to deny a holistic approach to science. He may be right. I don’t kn…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Folks, I’m having trouble keeping up with this conversation but here are some thoughts. At first glance Jon’s distinction between methodological reductionism (MR) and philosophical reductionism (PR) would seem to be helpful. It may be that some are using reductionism to deny a holistic approach to science. He may be right. I don’t know anyt…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Folks, I’m having trouble keeping up with this conversation but here are some thoughts. At first glance Jon’s distinction between methodological reductionism (MR) and philosophical reductionism (PR) would seem to be helpful. It may be that some are using reductionism to deny a holistic approach to science. He may be right. I don’t know anythin…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Folks,There is no doubt that this discussion—Is the Universe a Living System?—has been quite stimulating. We are indebted to Duane Elgin for starting it. People have been hanging in and expressing their opinions for some seven months. There are those of us who strongly believe that the universe is living and there are those of us who believe jus…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Michael Michael I’m not sure what you meant by this statement “Thomas Berry was quite careful, Duane, to only use language that could be embraced by the vast majority of mainstream scientists. You, by contrast, consistently take the opposite approach.” Could you give us some specific examples of how Duane’s language is problematic? On a relate…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Michael I’m not sure what you meant by this statement “Thomas Berry was quite careful, Duane, to only use language that could be embraced by the vast majority of mainstream scientists. You, by contrast, consistently take the opposite approach.” Could you give us some specific examples of how Duane’s language is problematic? On a related matter…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Michael I’m not sure what you meant by this statement “Thomas Berry was quite careful, Duane, to only use language that could be embraced by the vast majority of mainstream scientists. You, by contrast, consistently take the opposite approach.” Could you give us some specific examples of how Duane’s language is problematic? On a related matter…[Read more]
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Mike Bell replied to the topic Is the universe a "living system"? in the forum Deeptime Network Forum 10 years, 6 months ago
Michael I’m not sure what you meant by this statement “Thomas Berry was quite careful, Duane, to only use language that could be embraced by the vast majority of mainstream scientists. You, by contrast, consistently take the opposite approach.” Could you give us some specific examples of how Duane’s language is problematic? On a related matter…[Read more]
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