Donate Today!
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!”
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.”
“Religious Naturalist Association” to: http://religious-naturalist-association.org/
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.”
“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/
“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!”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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.
“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.”
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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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. ”
“A deep time perspective contributes to the transformational process of the Earth community. My artwork is all about that. ”
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).”
“Religious Naturalist Association” to: http://religious-naturalist-association.org/
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.”
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.