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What Members Are Doing And Saying . . .

Teacher, Facebook Maestro

Andrea Lulka
Montessori Teacher
Facebook Group Founder, Montessori Teachers

“Sharing stories of the universe gives children a crucially important gift — a context for their presence and helps them connect to their purpose and sense of belonging. In Montessori Cosmic Education, deeptime learning and surging curiosity are born through exploring interrelationship and interdependence, just what the DTN is all about!”

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Andrea Lulka has spent her whole life in and around Montessori, in an environment that fostered systemic vision, awe and gratitude. She is a certified 3-6 teacher holding an MEd. in Montessori Integrative Learning, now working towards 12-18 certification. Andrea also has experience in various capacities with every age group from Toddler through to Middle School as well as with parent education and school administration.

Scientist, Religious Naturalist

Ursula Goodenough
Professor of Biology, Washington University
St. Louis, MO (US) 

“Scientific inquiry has provisioned us with a mind-boggling new core narrative — the epic of evolution, the epic of creation, the universe story, big history, everybody’s story — where humans and human cultures are understood to be emergent from and, hence, a part of nature.”

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Ursula W. Goodenough is a Professor of Biology Emerita, Washington University in St. Louis where she conducted research on eukaryotic algae. She authored the best-selling book The Sacred Depths of Nature, and has presented the paradigm of Religious Naturalism and the Epic of Evolution in numerous venues around the world. She contributed to the NPR blog, 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. She currently serves as president of the Religious Naturalist Association.

“Religious Naturalist Association” to: http://religious-naturalist-association.org/

Thomas Berry Scholar

Mary Evelyn Tucker, PhD
Co-author and Co-producer, Journey of the Universe Yale University New Haven, CT (US)

“How will we cultivate the energy and values we need to go forward in these challenging times? A big picture view of the Earth and a deep time view of our history and future can bring us alive to serve something larger than ourselves. The Earth Charter, which situates our stunning Earth Story inside the story of a vast evolving universe, can guide us in how to integrate ecology, justice and peace.”

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Mary Evelyn Tucker is co-author with Brian Thomas Swimme of Journey of the Universe and the executive producer of the film with John Grim. She speaks on the significance of the story of the universe for the environmental and social challenges of our times. She teachers at Yale where she directs the Forum on Religion and Ecology. She has published Ecology and Religion, Worldly Wonder, and edited Thomas Berry’s books including Great Work, Evening Thoughts, Sacred Universe and Selected Writings.

Anti-bias Teacher Educator

Britt Hawthorne
Founding Member
Montessori for Social Justice
Houston, TX (US)

“We’re going deeper into Cosmic Education and making the link to social justice. Social justice, as we see it, is how Cosmic Education looks in practice. Montessori for Social Justice is a network of educators, parents and community members committed to: offering Montessori for a diverse population of students; increasing the number of Montessori teachers of color; and increasing cultural competencies so that Montessori is culturally responsive to all students.
http://montessoriforsocialjustice.org/about/our-mission/

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Britt Hawthorne is an anti-bias anti-racist teacher-educator and an Elementary Montessori Guide committed to equity, accessibility and peace education. She founded the Learner’s Schoolhouse in Houston for families whom race, gender, and culture are central to their identity and being. Her commitment to the child is careful observation, deep reflection, a meticulous environment for independence and the continued growth of humanity.

Professor, “Our Social Nature”

Lowell Gustafson, PhD
President, International Big History Association
Political Science Professor
Villanova University

“The grand narrative of the cosmos shows how everything is interconnected and brings all learning to life. My students are deeply engaged in a course I teach called “Our Social Nature” that shows how the grand narrative is a story of increasing complexity of relationships from the Big Bang to now. Innovation is all about creating new more complex relationships. What does this suggest about how we think about the future? Everything!”

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Lowell Gustafsonhas an MA and PhD in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. He as taught in the Political Science Department at Villanova since 1992.

Educator, Jesuit Priest

Robert Athickal, SJ
Founder, Tarumitra
Patna, Bihar, India

“At Tarumitra, we are concerned about the future of our planet and believe that having a deep time perspective is central for creating a way forward. Tarumitra is a students’ initiative started in 1988. With a membership of over quarter million members and a network of over 2500 schools and colleges, Tarumitra promotes an understanding of an evolving universe to a large audience from the secondary level to senior citizens.”

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Inspired by Teilhard de Chardin lifetime effort to reconcile Christianity and evolution, Dr. Robert Athickal SJ, a Jesuit priest, facilitates understanding of the universe for students and teachers. He connects with many other pilgrims who are inspired by this vision for creating the future. Tarumitra (www.tarumitra.org) has Special Consultative status at the United Nations and organizes Universe Story sessions for teenagers through senior citizens.

Geographer, Systems Theory

James MacAllister
EnvEvo Newsletter
Amherst, MA (US)

“In my work with Lynn Margulis — miocrobiologist and co-author of the Gaia Hypothesis — I learned that Earth takes care of us and we must save ourselves from our own hubris. Most evolutionary milestones predate humans by millions, and even billions, of years. It is the microcosmos, which is 99.9% of life, that has controlled the Earth system (Gaia) for over 3200 million years. Humans needs to see their place inside of the larger system.”

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As a career change, MacAllister began working for the late visionary evolutionist, Lynn Margulis.  He has a Master’s of Science degree in geography and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.  He is an archivist for  the Lynn Margulis Archive at ScholarWorks , W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts-Amherst and webmaster for the Environmental Evolution website(www.environmentalevolution.org), a clearinghouse for information on Gaia and Systems Theory.  It also offers online courses in Environmental Evolution – the Origin and Effect of Life on Earth” designed and taught by Dr. Bruce Scofield.

Teacher Trainer, Principal

Betsy Coe, PhD
Director/Houston Montessori Center
Houston, TX (US)

“To inspire teachers and students alike, and to provide the best, most compelling foundation, I believe that education should start with, and relate all learning to, the big picture. This is what a deep time perspective is all about and it’s what Cosmic Education, as Maria Montessori envisioned it in the 1940s, is all about. Peace education, and all learning, is integral to Cosmic Education because it sees everything inside the whole, which is the big picture.”

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Dr. Betsy Coe is director of Houston Montessori Center, celebrating its 45th year as a Montessori teacher education center which gives an American Montessori Society credential for teachers working with children/adolescents ages birth to 18 years and heads of school. Dr. Coe is also principal of School of the Woods Middle and High school, a Montessori school in Houston for ages 2 ½ to 18 years celebrating its 56th anniversary as a Montessori school.

Intercultural Communication

Di Shearer, PhD
Spiritual Director, Retired Educator
Strathalbyn, South Australia

“From a far flung ‘corner’ of South Australia, I have a great sense of the whole and wholeness of our world through my interactions with the DTJN community. I engaged in Professional Development meetings via Zoom, little knowing how much they would challenge and inspire me, how much I would value the enormous bank of resources available through this website.”

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Di Shearer has been a teacher and teacher trainer in Australia and in the jungles of Borneo where she worked with indigenous groups. Later she specialized in Intercultural Communication and the Psychology of Learning. She has a Master of Arts (Theology – Spirituality and Pastoral Ministry) and a Doctor of Ministry where she encountered the work of Teilhard de Chardin, and immersed herself in a deep time cosmological perspective of Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme and others. Her PhD dissertation is on the subject of “Intercultural Personhood.”

Sister of St. Joseph, Activist

Toni Nash, CSJ
Cofounder of Sisters of Earth
Sausalito, CA (US)

“The role of religious and spiritual leaders today is to be carriers of the message that the universe is primary, and that aligning with the universe is crucial for the next stage in the evolution of the humans and the Earth.”

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Sr. Toni Nash, C.S.J. Ph.D., is the cofounder of Sisters of Earth, and has given workshops and retreats for the past 30 years in Earth Spirituality focusing on the beauty and challenge of living in harmony with the Universe. She holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her work is inspired by Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, and Brian Swimme. Her dissertation, titled “Cosmological Commitment in a Time of Planetary Crisis: Values for a Vibrant Earth” is in the resources section of the DTNetwork.

Climate Change Activist

Mike Bell
Comox Valley Climate Change Network,
Comox, British Columbia, Canada

“DTJN is a tremendous community for connecting with local communities around the world inspired by Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Maria Montessori & others orienting to a Cosmic Story & interdependence. The CVCCN is dedicated to preserving the beauty of this valley, its ecosystems and its species, putting into action a view of the universe as interdependent and evolving.”

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Mike Bell lived in the monastery with Thomas Berry andwas deeply influenced by him. Later in life Dr. Berry became his mentor. Mr. Bell lived in the Canadian Arctic for most of his professional life working with Inuit and Dene (Indian) communities where he learned from the elders who instructed him to “Learn from the land.” The coming together of Berry’s thinking and the Elders’ teachings changed his life and sent him on a totally unexplored intellectual and spiritual path.

Environmental & Social Change

Jane Riddiford & Rod Sugden
Global Generation
London, United Kingdom

“We’re teaching this overarching and emerging narrative to schools and organizations as a catalyst for positive environmental and social change. We’re excited to see how the work will evolve and expand in collaboration with practitioners from all other the world. ”

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Jane Riddiford co-founded Global Generation and Rod Sugden facilitates on the education programs. Global Generation is an educational charity, that works together with local children and young people, businesses, residents and families to create healthy, integrated and environmentally responsible communities. Ecology, education and enterprise are at the heart of everything we do, and we have developed a wide range of educational programs, all of which reflect our core value of: I, We and the Planet.

Artist, Filmmaker

Imogene Drummond
Painter, 
filmmaker, an artist/educator, a futurist

“A deep time perspective contributes to the transformational process of the Earth community.  My artwork is all about that. ”

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Painter, filmmaker, an artist/educator, a futurist, the author of articles on cultural transformation, a world traveler, and a former psychotherapist. My experience, talent, and vision converge in Divine Sparks. My paintings have been exhibited and collected internationally. My short films have been selected for international, animation, and children’s film festivals.

Amazing Duo: Composer/Producer

Sam and Paula Guarnaccia
Emergent Universe Oratorio
Burlington, VT (US)

“This Network is an inspiring, interactive, and indispensable tool for sharing the vision of a living world with a “mutually enhancing” and “viable human future.” (T.Berry). The Emergent Universe Oratorio Project (www.samguarnaccia.com) has been greatly enhanced as we strive to act within ‘the continuous becoming, beauty, and balance of our ever-emerging Universe’ (SG). ‘Think of yourself as an evolutionary force’ (PG).”

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Ursula W. Goodenough is a Professor of Biology Emerita, Washington University in St. Louis where she conducted research on eukaryotic algae. She authored the best-selling book The Sacred Depths of Nature, and has presented the paradigm of Religious Naturalism and the Epic of Evolution in numerous venues around the world. She contributed to the NPR blog, 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. She currently serves as president of the Religious Naturalist Association.

“Religious Naturalist Association” to: http://religious-naturalist-association.org/

Working for Global Peace

Nobuo Tsujimura
President, Asian Big History Association
Yokohama, Japan

“A cosmic narrative enables us to live the present moment in a better — more lively and creative — way, for it enables us to concentrate on the present moment without being caught only by it. In other words, to see that the present moment has possibilities to change in various and unknown directions helps us walk in a new kind of creativity with hope and deep truth of the universe.”

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Nobuo Tsujimura studies in the intellectual history of cosmic/global thoughts, perspectives, works, and worldviews in Japan and Asia. He is president of the Asian Big History Association and a board member of the International Big History Association and Institute for Global and Cosmic Peace in Yokohama as well as adviser and webmaster for J.F. Oberlin University’s Big History Project in Tokyo. His goal is to make big history as broad and as accessible as possible – to be lived and felt, to vividly make sense of the world and the cosmos, and by doing so, to vitalize our creativity to weave a new worldview together by involving people across all the genres.

Jennifer Morgan, president and founder of the Deeptime Network, is an award-winning author, storyteller, and educator inspired by the work of Teilhard de Chardin, Maria Montessori, Thomas Berry, and Brian Swimme. Her Universe Story Trilogy — Born With a Bang, From Lava to Life, and Mammals Who Morph — are used in classrooms around the world, particularly in Montessori schools as part of the Cosmic Education Curriculum, and have received the Teachers Choice Award, Nautilus Semi Finalist, highest ratings from AAAS and endorsements from Jane Goodall, Neil de Grasse Tyson, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme and others. She is Vice President of the American Teilhard Association. Her life inspiration is to foster emergence by helping to link a planetary nervous system of people immersed in this radical new understanding.

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Stephan Martin is an astronomer, educator, and author who has taught astronomy, physics, and consciousness studies at colleges, universities, and learning centers across the US for over twenty-five years. Between 2003-2008 he studied directly with Brian Swimme and others at the California Institute of Integral Studies, out of which came his first book Cosmic Conversations, in which he held dialogues with scientists, spiritual teachers, and cultural creatives on the nature of the universe and our role in it. Since then he has led workshops on the New Cosmology at seminars and retreat centers across the US and Europe and has been active in exploring multidisciplinary approaches to exploring the universe. He is currently adjunct faculty in the Consciousness and Transformative Studies graduate program at John F Kennedy University where he teaches a course on “Cosmology and Consciousness.” Steve is also a co-director of the continuing care program at the Center for Spiritual Emergence in Asheville, NC where he assists clients in living more conscious lives from an expansive perspective.

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Brian Thomas Swimme is director of the Third Story at the Human Energy Project, which seeks to disseminate the cosmology of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He is professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. A specialist in gravitational dynamics, his work for many years has been to bring the context of story to our understanding of the 13.8 billion year trajectory of the universe. Such a story, he feels, will assist in the emergence of a flourishing Earth community. He is the author of several well known and influential books and is co-author with Thomas Berry on The Universe Story and with Mary Evelyn Tucker on the award-winning book and film Journey of the Universe. His latest book is Cosmogenesis.

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Penny Andrews, D.Min, MA, has had a lifelong interest in spirituality, creativity and consciousness as paths to intuition and deeper knowing. This passion led to the study of forms of art as meditation at the University of Creation Spirituality. She is an ordained interfaith minister, and during her career as a hospital chaplain applied a variety of healing modalities in her work with patients and family caregivers of all spiritual backgrounds. A retreat leader and Earth activist, Penny been actively involved in Creation Spirituality, The Work that Reconnects, the Earth Charter and DeepTime studies. Currently, she guides a weekly Work that Reconnects meditation, offers a monthly webinar with Gail Ransom called Creation in Crisis, serves on the board of directors of Creation Spirituality Communities, is a regular speaker at a local Unitarian Universalist congregation, and provides spiritual companioning for others. She is co-creating a food forest on the drumlin in Wisconsin where she has lived for 30 years. She’s a certified Deeptime Leader with the Deeptime Network.

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Lisa Verni, LCSW, is a seasoned psychotherapist, deeptime consultant, writer, artist, and dancer who loves helping people live their authentic lives through alignment with the Universe. Stephan Martin sees her as a ‘cosmic lamplighter’ because of her particular gift of reflecting back people’s radiant energy to develop their allurements. Lisa holds degrees in Business/Marketing and Clinical Social Work from NYU, and is a Certified Deeptime Leader. In completing her Emergence Project, Lisa created an artistic and therapeutic offering called “Dancing with the Pain”. It is meant to inspire hope and understanding through the embodiment and expression of a Deeptime Perspective. It can be found at www.dancingwiththepain.org. Lisa lectures on topics such as ‘Applying A Deeptime Perspective to Psychotherapy’ and ‘On Creative Process’, and will be joining us throughout the program to share her Emergences. Please feel free to contact her directly at [email protected] for mentoring and Deeptime Conversation.

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Gerardo López-Amaro joins us from Mexico where he engages in activist scholarship around Buen Vivir, ecopedagogies and practices of re-existence. He explores ways to highlight the experiments to co-create viable alternatives to the current system and address the global challenges of our times. He is a PhD candidate in Anthropology and Social Change by the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) of San Francisco, where he wonders about the possibilities for the emergence of the pluriverse even in dense liberal societies learning with grassroots movements. He is also part of the Steering Committee of the Ecoversities Alliance.

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Orla Hazra, PhD currently lives in Sarasota Florida after recently returning from ten years in Mumbai, India. While in India she developed a curriculum to renew the Ignatian (Jesuit) Pedagogical Paradigm, applying it at St. Xavier’s College and at Tarumitra, an ecoliteracy center in Patna. Her academic formation in recreation leadership, addiction counseling, and spiritual direction, led her into a PhD program in Religious Education, from Fordham University; her research becoming a model for educational reform considering the fourfold wisdom conversation suggested by Thomas Berry — science, religion, women and indigenous peoples. She is a founding board member of the Deeptime Network and is delighted to be witnessing the model in practice, healing our trauma of separation.

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Kacey Amrita Carmichael, MA, MEd, sees the Universe unfolding as YOU! She delights in helping you experience this directly, through embodied creative and meditative arts. To this she brings the dynamic synergy of her experience as an expressive arts psychotherapist; ordained interfaith minister, ritual leader and spiritual counselor; Certified Deeptime Leader; Waldorf educator; mindful yoga and meditation teacher; mother; cosmos lover; and lifelong mystic, writer, and dancer. Grounded in her rigorous education at Harvard and Yale as well as decades of artistic and contemplative practices in several modalities and traditions, she’s known to help people enter into deep creativity and intuitive knowing. She works with individuals and groups, creating community and together celebrating the creative ecstasy of the 14 billion year brilliant beloved unfolding we are. She has some availability for expressive arts-based deeptime/spiritual counseling, movement and writing groups, or retreat, ritual and ceremony leadership at [email protected]. In the 90’s Kacey wrote a book called Going Direct, on the writing that emerges from the practice of Authentic Movement. In decades of practicing and teaching AM, she has developed this into a Deeptime Cosmogenesis practice.

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Elena Pardo: Educator, cultural manager and promoter of intra- and intercultural education in urban and rural areas of the Cusco Region, Peru. She is director of CEPROSI and speaker at conferences, forums and events at regional, national and international levels. Promotes the Watunakuy (international seed event) that has been held for 19 years at the Raqchi Ceremonial Center, an international meeting for the exchange of collective healing and the exchange of seeds. He is a member of the Watunakuy Ayllu Network and the Ecoversities Network.

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Yona FrenchHawk is a full-blooded Cherokee Wisdom Keeper and Ceremonialist. He was born and raised on the Qualla Indian Boundary and is an enrolled member of The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the Great Smoky Mountains in Cherokee, N.C., the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Yona offers his BirdClan gift of song, storytelling, plus insights into the prophesies and ceremonies of the Eastern Cherokees. This knowledge bridges the ancient past with the deep future. We honor their voices and visions of ancestors by sharing the abundance life has to offer. Yona offers individual sessions to assist in being present in one’s current journey while connecting with ancestral healing. Yona helps to connect with one’s roots to truly live an organic green way of life and embrace the legacy of connecting cultures by understanding what fruit to bear according to our roots.For more info:http://www.yonafrenchhawk.com/

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