Cavemen, Copernicus, Christ and Me

Transcription

1 Slide 1 Cavemen, Copernicus, Christ and Me Mary-Ann Casanova rsj Executive Director Rahamim Ecology Centre Slide 2 This workshop will explore several previous paradigm leaps and consider aspects of a new paradigm. What might we be invited to as leaders, educators and as people of faith? 1

2 Slide 3 What is a paradigm shift? A significant leap in the ways in which one interprets their surroundings and understandings A revolution in perception and thinking which results in attitudinal change and behaviours A paradigm is a model or an example. Like cosmology, paradigms shape one s behavior, thought patterns, vocabulary and much more. From time to time significant events and world happenings jolt the sense of reality and change occurs. Paradigm shifts are related to one s view of the word. A paradigm shift is revolutionary and contagious. It is accepting the invitation to encounter new horizons. 2

3 Each paradigm shift enables the best of the former to be taken forward. The spiral moves outwards and upwards. Embracing and building the story. That which no longer fits or belongs is transcended. New content New capabilities New models 3

4 Slide 4 This is the paradigm and worldview captured in the Hebrew Scriptures. Earth separates the underworld from heavens above. A dome covers the earth The sun rules the day and the moon the night Holes in the dome allow the rains to reach the earth. The underworld is a dark and sinister place. God is outside the snow dome of earthly happenings. God communicates displeasure through natural calamities, disease and postulants. God s delight is communicated in good fortune. Angels are God s messengers. The objective is to escape this world to our true homeland in heaven. There we can be with God. The once fashionable catechism posed the question, where is God? and everyone in the know replied, God is everywhere. The paradigm did not support this. 4

5 Slide 5 From Old Testament Times Notions of separation and opposites Dualism In general vocabulary, liturgy and prayers Snow dome earth is infused with opposites which are often in conflict with each other. There is no room for fifty shades of grey ; its holy of evil; male or female gentile of jew servant or free. Heaven is up; hell is down. Vesitages remain strongly in liturgy think of the words so often used in funeral services, throughout the Easter season Facebook gives us two ways of expressing opinions like or friend or unfriend The legal system demands either yes or no answers no multiple choice! 5

6 Slide 6 Hierarchical God Angels Demons Humankind Animals Plants Minerals and rocks The hierarchical paradigm categories things in an order of human construction. The inanimate is at the base. Plants and animals are lesser beings than humankind. Humankind has, by virtue of their position to utilize and make decisions on behalf of that which is beneath them Subcategories can be made within the broader categories: Women and children Asylum seekers Those of particular race, sexual preference, postcode 6

7 Slide 7 Separation and Hierarchy What do we want to take with us from these paradigms? What should we leave behind? 7

8 Slide 8 Anthropocentric -Human centred Placing the human as the centre is known as anthropocentrism. All matter exists for the service and pleasure of humanity as the shocking animation illustrates. Slide 9 8

9 Slide 10 Animation clip - Man Slide 13 An alternative according to Lunig Same sex marriage will obviously lead to people marrying animals. Then people will fall in love with mountains, forests and rivers, and want to marry them. It will also lead to group marriages where three of more individual will want to marry each other. This will lead to persons wanting to marry entire landscapes and entire ecosystems including vast herds of buffalo and wilderbeast.. Soon people will demand the right to marry THINGS such as rocks or trees or caves. which will lead to the ultimate disaster: humans falling in love with the earth and wanting to live in peace with it til death they do part. 9

10 Slide 14 Anthropcentric We have crossed the threshold of a new horizon. The anthropocentric paradigm is no longer valid. What can we take from it as we build new models of education? What do we want to take with us from these paradigms? What should we leave behind [transcend]? 10

11 Paradigm Shift Copernicus and Galileo View before View after Slide 15 The Earth is the centre of the universe; the sun orbits the earth Beginning of the understanding of the earth as part of the solar system The new ideas ushered in by Copernicus and Galileo, among others, caused a stir in Church and society. A rift opened up between science and religion. The theology of the day was not keeping pace with new thoughts and breakthroughs which could be supported by mathematics and observations. Slide 16 Changed perspective of the Earth and the universe 11

12 The notion that the earth was the centre came into clear question. Earth was to take its place in a change understanding. The sun became the centre. Old understandings were left behind. Slide 17 Heliocentric Dynamic, dancing universe Rhythms and patterns merge with the unexpected Interdependence Attraction Relationship identity We now know that in place of the mathematically predicable solar system, galaxy and universe, we live in the midst of fields of energy. Surprising thing occur. Gravity and magnetism are powerful forces. Matter is shaped and reshaped, enlarged and swallowed. Attractions happen! Nothing is singular the smallest part influences and is influenced by the other. Each has a role to play and this role is not static. 12

13 Copernicus and Galileo Slide 19 small part of God s gigantic sneeze. As another cartoonist suggests, Turn your back upon the Earth, drift off in a bubble. Lose yourself in the great unkown; just like the floating Hubble. Think of space as Grandpa s hanky and put yourself at ease to know you are a Slide 18 It is unthinkable that students today would be taught that Earth is the centre of our planetary system and that the sun orbits Earth. We have made this paradigm shift and it is reflected in the education system and society generally. How did/does this paradigm influence Lifestyle? Educational models and methods? Relationships? What is the invitation to us as leaders, educators and people of faith? How did that happen? The Catholic Church wasn t happy at first? What encouragement can we take for other issues other new horizons? 13

14 Slide 20 Charles Darwin Before: Humankind is the summit of creation and superior to all other things. Slide 21 Post: foundational knowledge of evolutionary theory. Paradigm shift: humans are genetically related to other life forms and no longer the pinnacle of creation. All life is interconnected 14

15 Slide 22 Darwin was not alone in his observations and hypothesizing. Those who have unpacked the contents of what some geologists refer to as God s diaries have revealed an extraordinary story of life, death and new life. The fossil record, geological banding, ice cores filled with ice a million years old, meteorites from space, bones in caves, seeds and insects in amber, sabre toothed tigers in tar pits have confirmed that the tree of life is not a myth. There is a tree and humans are on it. Humans are not at top of the tree. Evolution has resulted in there being many end points. Humans share the end of a branch with palm trees, dragonflies, sea sponges, lungfish among others. 15

16 Slide 23 Humans have DNA in common with other living organisms. 35% with daffodils 50% with bananas >95% with chimpanzees 16

17 Slide 24 The artwork is called The Choir of Creation Lines and circles dance together in the hierarchy of nature. For chains for example are key to every eco-system. A chain is hierarchical, yet it is also made up of interloped circles! The balance of nature means that there is an appreciation for each, at every level. That you can t be where you are without the other being where they are! The energies of interconnectivity however extend beyond the community of human beings. We are not alone on this planet. A wonderful encounter is recorded both in the Zohar and in an ancient Hebrew mystical text called the, the Chapter of Song. The Chapter of Song is a stunning tract which knows to tell that every creature on the planet has its own unique song. Moreover, it cites a sacred text from the Torah as the source of every creature s song. The implication is radical and beautiful. The Torah, which includes all twenty-four sacred 17

18 books of the Hebrew Bible, does not address humans alone. Both speak to and express in some mystical way all of creation. Dr. Marc Gafni Kin Anthropocentric and Relatedness -Human centred What is the invitation to us as Leaders? Educators? People of faith? What song does your school sing? 18

19 Slide 25 Clip of Earthrise. Slide 26 Apollo Voyages Pre: Earth considered as separate nations Post: Earth perceived as whole, borderless, fragile and beautiful Shift: We have seen ourselves from the outside 19

20 Slide 27 When we see ourselves in this bigger perspective, from the cosmic point of view, call it the E.T. point of view, call it the God point of view a shift takes place in your perception and you start to think quiet differently Edgar Mitchell [Apollo Astronaut] When we see ourselves in this bigger perspective, from the cosmic point of view, call it the E.T. point of view, call it the God point of view-a shift takes place in your perception and you start to think quite differently. Edgar Mitchell [Apollo Astronaut] Slide 28 What is the giant leap for humankind that is beckoning? Perspective 20

21 Slide 29 New horizons of Universal Consciousness wonder and of New cosmology and worldview knowledge are connects all in the universe reported in the media. Elements shared The stuff of sciencefiction finds its way ~13.6 billion year story credibility into everyday liferobots can vacuum one s house, glasses become Google glasses, a voice tells us where to turn and how fast to drive Technology has gifted us with more than gadgets. It has made our planet one; It has enabled us to see so far back in time that we can watch stars form and die. We can trace the origins objects to the elements forged in the nuclear reactors of the heavens. Human intellect has constructed and reconstructed the timeline in order to answer the question of where did we come from? There is a credible story for the 13.6 billion years. 21

22 Slide 30 Our worldview can no longer be a view of the world: it must expand to embrace the universe. Universal Consciousness Complexity Diversity and other Paradox Emergence Chaos and creativity To engage with immensity in all the complexity and diversity imaginable by the human mind as well as that which is yet to grasped by it. To grow comfortable in the understanding that there are many more than fifty shades of grey in the universe. That paradox and chaos are the norm and the birthplace for even greater wonder and creativity. Imagine the make-up of the Dubbo zoo If the debris from our sun s parent star hadn t clumped together If plants and creatures had shunned the invitation to come ashore If the temperature on Earth had remained stable If the clumsy tectonic plates had remained firmly in place Imagine looking out and never seeing stars glistening in the night sky. 22

23 Slide 31 Universal Consciousness The everywhere The new story I doubt that our rich and blessed being does not to entertain such images. Our senses, our intellect, our knowledge base shout at us that this is not our reality. Everywhere becomes the paradigm. What I experience and know applies across the universe Patterns of life, death and rebirth are universal literally God is outside snow dome earth just as much as God is inside snow dome earth because no part of the universe is apart from the other Q. Where is God? Catechism question from decades gone A God is everywhere! 23

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25 Slide 32 How are you encountering this new horizon? Slide