by Celia Wren
from Commonweal Magazine

Painted stars splay across the ceiling of an old Greek church. A flower blooms in slow motion. Tree roots twine serenely round the rocks of an ancient ruin. The images in the nonfiction film Journey of the Universe are luminously beautiful—and so well meshed that their flow feels almost effortless. But a great deal of effort has gone into this hour-long work, which aims to knit modern scientific knowledge and religious and humanistic perspectives into a seamless, eye-opening chronicle of cosmic and earthly evolution.

Indeed, the genesis of Journey—airing on PBS stations beginning December 3 (check local listings)—stretches back more than three decades, to the publication in 1978 of an article titled “The New Story,” by Thomas Berry, the influential thinker who taught at Fordham University and directed the Riverdale Center of Religious Research. “The New Story” argued that humans were positioned between important narratives—namely, the scientific narrative about the unfolding of the universe and the creation stories offered by religious traditions. Might a new narrative be possible—one that integrates these worldviews?

Mary Evelyn Tucker and Brian Thomas Swimme, scholars who worked closely with Berry (he died in 2009), have responded to the challenge. The two have coauthored both the film Journey of the Universe and the companion book, published by Yale University Press. Tucker, who codirects the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, has also done yeoman’s work on Journey’s educational DVD, hosting twenty half-hour conversations with scientists, educators, and environmentalists, including Sr. Marya Grathwohl, OSF, of Earth Hope in Wyoming, and Sr. Paula Gonzalez, SC, of EarthConnection in Cincinnati.

It’s the affable Swimme—professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies—who hosts the film, speaking with enthusiasm about matters like the Big Bang (he prefers the term “The Great Flaring Forth”); the arrangement of the solar system (he illustrates it with vegetables, using a cabbage for the sun); the significance of plate tectonics; the advent of life on earth; the nature of photosynthesis; and the development of art and language among humans. The film even addresses the phenomenon of compassion, suggesting that it is a natural, if rather marvelous, part of human evolution—perhaps an extension of the maternal instinct (a shot of a koala and her baby helps illustrate this theory).

Click here to read the full article.

From The Huffington Post

Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, would make the perfect dad. Imagine having to tell the world’s most famous “simple Buddhist monk” that you wrecked the family car. Material items are not important, but you must examine the causes and conditions that gave rise to this accident. Or that you spent all the money in your checking account before the end of the month — again. You will not find happiness through external means. You must look inside to identify the things that lead to happiness. Or that you are devastated by the breakup of your love relationship.Everything is impermanent. This suffering too will pass.

His gentle and often playful manner, his engaging smile and twinkling eyes, his quick wit and simple yet profound remarks inspire a sense of reassurance, acceptance, and peacefulness that the world has come to attribute to this one person, this man.

But what if the next Dalai Lama is a woman? Would she, or even could she, offer the world the same grounding wisdom? Inspire compassion within people of all cultures? Properly navigate Tibet’s troublesome relationship with the Chinese government?

Click here to read the entire article.

From The Huffington Post

…

Twenty-two years ago I founded an organization called PANIM, whose goal was to inspire young Jews to a lifetime of leadership, activism and service based on the teachings of the biblical prophets. Tens of thousands of young people have been touched by our programs and have gone on to engage in acts — sometimes small and sometimes grandiose — to make a difference in their communities, their country and the world.

In 2005 PANIM launched J-Serve as the Jewish manifestation of Youth Service America’s Global Day of Youth Service. For the past couple of years, over 10,000 Jewish teens joined millions of other youth around the world in working in food pantries, nursing homes, inner-city schools, homeless shelters, green projects and more.

Admittedly, the Jewish sampling with which I am most familiar is just the tip of the growing iceberg of community service. Yet for those who question all the fervor surrounding the growth of youth service, let me offer a small testimony. Service, properly implemented, plants the seeds for a lifetime of civic engagement.

Studies like Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone give evidence of the progressive deterioration of America’s civic fabric. And for those who think it doesn’t matter, I believe that the growing coarseness and partisanship of the public debate in this country is a direct result of the fact that fewer and fewer Americans have a sense that their well-being is linked to the well-being of other Americans who might not share their race, class or political ideology.

Community service is not a panacea to the breakdown of America’s sense of common purpose, but it may be the best response we have to the problem. We have seen alumni of our programs go on to organize divestment campaigns in local jurisdictions in an attempt to halt the genocide in Darfur; create opportunities for middle-school girls in at-risk communities to engage in after-school arts programs; coach the children of immigrants to take college entrance exams and help them gain entry into colleges that they believed were beyond their reach; and raise money through benefit concerts to help homeless families.

And PANIM is only one small organization advancing a social responsibility agenda in the Jewish community. Hillel is sending thousands of college students to serve communities on alternative spring break. Many more service opportunities for young adults in developing countries are being created by the American Jewish World Service. AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps places college graduates in cities where for a year they work with organizations seeking to combat poverty.

Nor is this phenomenon restricted to the Jewish community. Churches across America send delegations of young people to help with the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans. Habitat for Humanity has mobilized thousands of people to build homes all over America and their work has been infused with the teachings of the Gospels. The Interfaith Youth Core is an international project based in Chicago founded by Eboo Patel, a Muslim with a vision for a world in which faith can be a force for social good. Auburn Seminary in New York has a groundbreaking program called Face to Face, which brings together young people of many faiths from conflict-ridden areas around the world (e.g., the Middle East, Ireland, the Balkans, etc.) in order to learn the art of dialogue and coexistence.

Central to the work of all these groups are three core principals that come from the Bible.

• Lovingkindness: The Hebrew word, chesed, is also tranlated as “compassion.” The concept is at the core of Leviticus 19:18: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now known as the Golden Rule, this principle has been rendered in a dozen different variations in varying religious traditions of the world.
• Care for the stranger: This rule is the most often repeated commandment in the Bible, appearing 36 times. It reminds us that a society can be judged by how well they care for those in their midst who are different from the majority culture.
• You shall not stand idly by: Leviticus 19:16 prohibits a person of conscience to turn away from the suffering of another human being. Essentially, we are enjoined to intervene to stop any form of persecution or violence being exercised against another person. When the act is conducted against an entire people (e.g., genocide) the requirement is all the greater.

Click here to read the entire article.