21st Century Spirituality

03Jul 2019 by Swadmin2023

Evolution, SO What?

Two brothers set out with excitement on a camping trip.  One brother was an academic and the other a farmer.  They went to a beautiful, remote location and set up camp.  Exhausted they quickly went to sleep.  During the night the academic brother woke up his brother.  He exclaimed how excited he was looking at the stars.  He spoke with great eloquence from a philosophical perspective that this view made him reflect on the insignificance of this planet and our lives in such a vast universe while from a religious perspective he thought about how marvelous the creator of such wonders must be.  After talking for a while he smiled at his brother and said, “I have shared so much of what I see when I look at the stars.  What do you see?”  His brother smiled back and said, “I see that someone has stolen our tent.”

Two brothers looked at the same scene and yet because of their backgrounds and interests saw very different realities. I assume that we are all like these brothers. As individuals and as groups, each of us look out at the world and create our own description of what we see. That description makes all the difference in the world for it is a key part of the story we use to give meaning and understanding to our lives and the world we live in.
Science with its theories on evolution and quantum physics is radically challenging the way I see the universe and my place in it. As I look at science’s story about the stars it feels as though our traditional tent has been stolen. The tent is the story we use to give meaning to our lives. In that context it is not surprising that so many people still deny the reality of evolution and its impact on their world view. In these blogs I want to explore with you how modern science’s view of the formation of the universe and life calls us to revise the story that describes the meaning and purpose we give to our lives and world. A major question becomes how well does my story correspond to what “really” is. My assumption is that the lens of evolution affects the ways we see ourselves and in our place in the universe, even to the extent of saying with Teilhard de Chardin that “the nature of being human itself is undergoing substantial change.” Any significant change in our view of the meaning and purpose of life causes us to review key areas of our lives including religion and spirituality, psychology, ethics and education. In future blogs I would like to talk more about how my own view of the Divine, the meaning of our lives, and my ethical principles have changed.

Here are some of my questions:

  • Are you willing to revise my story as you learn more?
  • Are we as a culture willing to ask how any revision affects key areas of our lives like our religion/spirituality, psychology, and ethics
  • Are you willing to share with us how an evolutionary cosmology affects you?
  • Will you join me?    YES ____     NO _____