There is a new religious consciousness of who we are on the planet, and to value life itself, in all its forms, not just human life. Scientists are linking up with religious thinkers in planning the future of the planet because they must.
That was the message of scientist Brian Swimme and world religions scholar Mary
Evelyn Tucker, disciples of Thomas Berry, who spoke both singly and as a duo
at the conference.
Swimme asked: what is the most toxic element today? It is our limited understanding
of who we are. The culture of the West tells us we are consumers, an identity
that is laughably inadequate. “The universe labored for 13.7 billion years
so I can shop.”
To maintain our identity as consumers, we plunder the earth to make products
and dispose of them to make room for more. Swimme said, “The amount of
toxic waste that is assigned to each American is one ton per week” —
not what we put out at the curb but what manufacturers create when making the
products that we use. We need to understand that we are “full participants
in the mystery of the earth where every component is sacred.” We aren’t
just Americans or Catholics: we’re citizens of the universe. Teilhard
said: “The human is fundamentally cosmological.” Swimme insists,
“We are making decisions that will affect the planet for a million years.
The future is vibrating in anticipation of our actions today.”
“We are moving toward a unified kinship of all life,” said Tucker.
We are part of a massive phase shift. Someone asked: then why do humans so tenaciously
resist change? Tucker said, “It takes a long time to recognize that a
structure that was once viable is now the worst thing we could imagine for survival.”
For example, “be fruitful and multiply.” At the present rate of
growth — from two billion to six billion people in the 50 years since
World War II — we endanger all life on the planet. Think also of institutional
structures that once worked well that are no longer viable. “Religious
fundamentalism, whether Catholic or Islamic, is a manifestation of the inability
to make change,” she said.
One of the greatest signs of hope, Tucker said, is The Earth Charter, which
arose from the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 after worldwide consultations, and lays
out principles for buildng a just, sustainable and peaceful global society.
Tucker served on the charter's drafting committee, 1997-2000. Learn more at
www.earthcharter.org, where the charter appears in 31 languages.
Pinkerton on globalization
NETWORK lobbyist Sr. Catherine Pinkerton struck similar chords in her workshop
on globalization. “Earth is not a resource that we use, it is part of
who we are, our nurturing mother,” she said. Now that technology
enables us to commune with others anywhere in the world in minutes, we are being
called to a new awareness of our social mission.
Part of that mission is to recognize how we are contributing to the chaos.
What has caused the division in our country, the terrorist attacks, the isolation
from other nations, the war in Iraq? Before we can boast about our superior
position in the world, we have to examine our history. We must look at
what globalization is doing to us in placing us in the center of the world,
living above everyone else.
Pinkerton sees our era as a “moment of grace” not unlike the super
novas or the discovery of fire. She sees Call To Action as one of the leaders
in the mobilization of global consciousness.
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