thomas’ SACRED UNIVERSE

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want to connect with mother ?

. . . not better than by one of my favorite people, thomas berry

forwarded recently by genesis farm for restoring paradise
the article appeared originally in 2003, just before berry left us

it all gets closer & closer, especially here in ugliest of new times
take your time. do let it bring you back to the real

” I have been having coffee with Confucius, for heaven’s sake. This person is as giant a thinker as Confucius -and I’ve been having coffee with him !” Speaking at a conference in Berkeley, California in November 2002, cosmologist Brian Swimme recalls his astonishment after first meeting in 1982 with the person who has emerged as one of the leading thinkers of the world, and who became his primary mentor and co-worker: Thomas Berry. The description seems apt . . .  ( finish intro in pdf )

( click on title for pdf – pick your best reading size on title page )

MYSTIQUE OF THE EARTH

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your mind will answer most questions

if you learn to relax and wait for the answer

~ william s. burroughs

sierra club daily ray of hope for march 4, 2013
photo @ dead horse point, utah by ralph earlandson

( we ) need to return to a primary understanding of earth as that more profound dimension of our own existence, beyond ( any ) pragmatic use; as source whence we are born, nourishment while we live, our healing in times of distress, the way to our final destiny.

thomas berry,  THE  SACRED UNIVERSE: Earth, Spirituality, Religion in the 21st Century, columbia university press, 2009, kindle ipad loc 1983/2110

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transition culture’s top ten films

Terrific narrated filmed reviews of where we’re coming from, where we need to be going. check each out in order on TRANSITION CULTURE’S UK SITE: 6 abbrev trailers, 2 5-6 min trailers, a 35-min animated film, and yet one more fine BBC documentary on living with Mother ( 50-min ).

but first, promised word on-topic from favorite commentator THOMAS BERRY

The story of the Western world is the story of how the peoples whose culture took shape through the religious inspiration of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the humanism of the Greek world, the political-legal genius of the Romans, and a brilliant medieval period became so entranced with a secular, scientific, industrial civilization serving limited human needs that it was willing to devastate the entire planet for the immediate benefits received ( by the few ). Their assault upon the Earth has been so violent in modern times, both to its geological structures and its living species, that we ( now ) face a tremendous crisis . . . This new situation is so inherent in cultural structures that it seems to be the inevitable consequence of ( those very ) religious, political, educational, ethical, and economic establishments of Western peoples. ( ipad kindle loc 1686/2110 of thomas berry’s THE SACRED UNIVERSE: EARTH, SPIRITUALITY, AND RELIGION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY )

here’s rob hopkins’ own review of his transition network’s chosen top ten films.

click on embedded trailers & films directly @ TRANSITION CULTURE’S SITE

here is my own favorite, their #2 selection, naturalist filmmaker / farmer rebecca hosking’s deeply honest, probe into her own farm of the future.

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come home, earthlings!

SACRED UNIVERSE shows the way like none other i’ve read

one must-read

this is hard

yes of course, she moves me
beautiful shots of mother -the colors,
textures, sweep who can ignore

then those places loosely heard tell
someone now describing in moving detail
places where ma most hurts -those melting poles

there’s been undeniable science
pointing to horrendous overstepping
facts hard-&-fast, the evidence ever mounting

so much of all of that
to blog about here
to take in, digest

even breakthrough guides
like brave go-it-aloner james lovelock
father of holy cow, she’s alive!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

and then there’s thomas berry
1st thought: my god!
how come so long to hear this prophet?

talk about she moves me!
does mother ever move him!
words rung clear as chiming matins

THE SACRED UNIVERSE to be sure, but
not just religion any more
not even earth by herself

let’s start with alienation
ok, one hellofa way to start
but clearly the one we chose

here in the west straight from day one
say, so-called enlightenment day. and on those heels
industrial revolution: enslavement days

thence our god, our land
even our constitution, our very one-another
look around to see -what’s left??

but berry doesn’t leave us there
takes us back to places deep-known
a great looking back w/o going back!

no way i can summarize this work for you
so here on out, in blog posts to come
rattling-pillar quotes -as they have my own

meantime please, if you haven’t already, and
if still hobbling on this trek with me
do pick up thomas berry and see for yourself

insights original, work that glows
sure to change your life on earth
can’t now imagine other way to get going . . . !

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The future must be felt as already present. Humans cannot long sustain ecstatic bliss that is the culmination of all great cultural traditions. If this is not granted in the immediacy of the present in its legitimate reality then we will seek illusory fulfillment in whatever ways are available to us. We must live in paradise not tomorrow but today.

. . . The primordial symbolism and the spiritual disciplines of the ancient traditions were not ephemeral productions of passing human fancy. They are tough and enduring realities capable of carrying the weight of the centuries and the larger hopes and destinies of humankind. They are more real and more needed today than ever before if human life is to have the serenity and vigor required to move the peoples and civilizations of the world into deeper integration with earth processes.
( loc 575-579/2110 on my ipad kindle )

What is needed is a new pattern of rapport with the planet. Here we come to the critical transformation needed in the emotional, aesthetic, spiritual, and religious orders of life. Only a change that profound in human consciousness can remedy the deep cultural pathology manifest in such destructive behavior.

. . . The poets and artists can help restore this sense of rapport with the natural world. It is this renewed energy of reciprocity with nature in all its complexity and remarkable beauty that can help provide the psychic and spiritual energies necessary for the work ahead.
( loc 634-637/2110 )