The Great Story

[Ranec]

There was a good article in the latest UU World about Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd.

http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/thewonderofevolution2679.shtml

They are a couple that travels around the country (living out of their van, vehemently denying that they have any home address) talking about "The Great Story." Michael and Connie visited our UU congregation not long ago and they gave a wonderful and compelling presentation.

If I can over-simplify what they were saying, they spoke of a need to create a new story about our place in the cosmos that is consistent with modern scientific thought. The universe is place that is full of wonder, and accepting that it is billions of years old only adds to its wonder.

I always thought one of the reasons that people have had an adverse reaction to scientific theories of creation is that they remove people (Earthlings) from the center. We just happen to appear on some remote end of an obscure galaxy. However, if we consider ourselves the center of something that is living and always creating -- we are "the evolving edge" as Barbara Marx Hubbard likes to say. Every atom is the center, and the immensity of the universe inspires awe in me instead of making me feel small.

Here are a couple of links

http://www.thegreatstory.org/what_is.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Story

I find these ideas fascinating.

[greyl]

1. They sound like an awesome counter-culture couple.

The greatstory.org link has a lot of "ways of looking at things" that I hope more people in our culture will eventually become aware of. (rather damn sooner than later) I have a few minor quibbles, but the good stuff well outweighs them. It sounds like they may have read some Daniel Quinn along the way.

On the evolving edge tip: Yes, as long as we don't believe that our culture is on the evolving edge of humanity. ("our culture" means the one that keeps food under lock and key) As mentioned at thegreatstory.org, humans don't represent the end of evolution. Contrary to what our culture murmurs to us constantly, humans aren't the antagonist in the final chapter of the story of creation. We can all do an experiment to illustrate how prevalent that myth is by asking a few people to relate the story of creation beginning at the moment the universe was born devoid of any religious dogma or mythology - totally scientific, iow. Nearly invariably, their story will end with "then humans appeared". Unwarranted arrogance there, eh?

Humans have a responsibility to the evolving community of life because we are the first species on earth capable of complex abstract thinking, social organization, and of course technological invention. Our responsibility is to not be the last.

[Ranec]

2. My belief is that it is all an edge.

Like living on the surface of a soap bubble, every point is the center from which everything expands. At the same time every point is moving away from every other point.

Atoms and stars are engines of creativity just as people are. I'm not entirely comfortable saying that this is our purpose, but I that is as close as I can come to such a thing. We are what we create, and we are responsible for the world we leave behind. We are only more responible for that world because we have more power than an ant. If we create love, peace, art and enlightenment then that is good. I am grateful to those that came before me and produced the world as it is. If we create hatred and pollution then we will serve as a cautionary tales to our descendants.

Yet maybe this is thinking too small (or more accurately only at one resolution level). The galaxy creates stars and stars create the atoms that create life. The creation is going on right now, so how can I join in?

[greyl]

3. Yes, how to join in indeed. :)

That is the question.
The first answer that comes to mind is to be expressive on the dynamic testbed of ideas.

"The galaxy creates stars and stars create the atoms that create life. The creation is going on right now, so how can I join in?"

I almost want to say that we don't need to do any particular thing to join in. We are already living humans, aren't we? Saturn is just doing what Saturn does. Saturn has no responsibility because Saturn can't make a choice.

"The creation is going on right now, so how can I join in?"

What are you most capable of creating?