The Dream of the Earth by Thomas Berry

 

The Dream of the Earth by Thomas Berry

“…the universe, by definition, is a single gorgeous celebratory event.” (Berry, “Returning to Our Native Place,” in The Dream of the Earth, 5).

“Our relationship with the earth involves something more than pragmatic use, academic understanding, or aesthetic appreciation. A truly human intimacy with the earth and with the entire natural world is needed. Our children should be properly introduced to the world in which they live.” (Thomas Berry, “Human Presence,” in The Dream of the Earth, 13).

Our challenge is to create a new language, even a new sense of what it is to be human. It is to transcend not only national limitations, but even our species isolation, to enter into the larger community of living species. This brings about a completely new sense of reality and value.” (Thomas Berry, “The Ecological Age,” in The Dream of the Earth, 42).

“The universe is the primary revelation of the divine, the primary scripture, the primary locus of divine-human communication.”

“Here we might observe that the basic mood of the future might well be one of confidence in the continuing revelation that takes place in and through the earth. If the dynamics of the universe from the beginning shaped the course of the heavens, lighted the sun, and formed the earth, if this same dynamism brought forth the continents and seas and atmosphere, if it awakened life in the primordial cell and then brought into being the unnumbered variety of living beings, and finally brought us into being and guided us safely through the turbulent centuries, there is reason to believe that this same guiding process is precisely what has awakened in us our present understanding of ourselves and our relation to this stupendous process. Sensitized to such guidance from the very structure and functioning of the universe, we can have confidence in the future that awaits the human venture.” (Thomas Berry, “The New Story,” in The Dream of the Earth, 137).

“The most difficult transition to make is from an anthropocentric to a biocentric norm of progress. If there is to be any true progress, then the entire life community must progress. Any progress of the human at the expense of the larger life community must ultimately lead to a diminishment of human life itself.” (Thomas Berry, “Bioregions: The Context for Reinhabiting the Earth,” in The Dream of the Earth, 165).

“We might summarize our present human situation by the simple statement: that in the 20th century, the glory of the human has become the desolation of the Earth and now the desolation of the Earth is becoming the destiny of the human."

"From here on, the primary judgment of all human institutions, professions, programs and activities will be determined by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a mutually-enhancing human/Earth relationship.”

“We must say of the universe that it is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. ”

We must, however, reflect on what is happening. It is an urgent matter, especially for those of us who still live in a meaningful, even a numinous, earth community. We have not spoken. Nor even have we seen clearly what is happening. The issue goes far beyond economics, or commerce, or poetics, or an evening of pleasantries as we look out over a scenic view. Something is happening beyond all this. We are losing splendid and intimate modes of divine presence. We are, perhaps, losing ourselves.

What primordial source could with no model for guidance shape such a fantastic world as that in which we live: shape of the orchid, the coloring of the fish in the sea, the winds, the rain, the variety of sounds that flow over the earth, the croaking of the bullfrogs, the sounds of crickets, the pure joy of the the pre-dawn singing of the mockingbird. Experience of such a resplendent world activated the creative imaginations of Mozart in the Magic Flute, Dante in his divine comedy, and gave to Shakespeare that range of sensitivity, understanding, and emotion that bound expression in this place.  All of these are derived from the visionary power that is experienced most profoundly when we are immersed in the depths of our own being and of the cosmic order itself in the dream world that unfolds within us in our sleep. (chapter 6? 70% of the way thru the book)

The human condition could be overcome by our entrepreneurial skills.  Nuclear energy would give us limitless power.  Through genetic engineering we could turn chickens into ever more effective egg laying machines, cows into milk making machines, steers into meat making contrivances, all according to human preference, not according to the inner spontaneities of these living beings as determined by their genetic coding, a coding shaped by some billions of years of experiment and natural selection.  Ever-heightened consumption was seen as the way to human fulfillment.  Every earthly being was reduced from its status as a sacred reality to that of being a natural resource, available for human use, for whatever trivial purposes humans might invent. (chapter 6, 79% done)

“It's not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you can make it a better place. Discovering your unique gift to bring to your community is your greatest opportunity and challenge. The offering of that gift — your true self — is the most you can do to love and serve the world. And it is all the world needs.”

― Thomas Berry, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche