Some time ago, the U.S. Museum of Natural History conducted a survey among biologists, asking if they believed that we are in the middle of a mass extinction. 70% replied that yes, we are. The renown cosmologist Brian Swimme, who, with Thomas Berry, authored one of the most brilliant narratives on the history of the universe, The Universe Story, 1992, was asked what could we do, and he replied: «for some time now the universe has been doing its part to stop the disaster; but we must do our part. And we will do it through the awakening of a new cosmological consciousness, that is, if we adjust our behavior to the logic of the universe. But we are not yet doing enough.»
What does this reply mean? It points towards a new consciousness that assumes collective responsibility for the protection of our common house and caring for our civilization. To adjust our behavior to the logic of the universe means to answer the calls that arise from what is called the «cosmogenic principle». It is this principle that structures the expansion and generation of the universe, with all its inert and living beings. It manifests itself through three characteristics: difference/complexity, subjectivity/internalizing, and interdependency/communion.
In simpler terms: the more the universe expands, the more complex it becomes; when it becomes more complex, it acquires more internalizing and subjectivity, (each being has its own way of relating and of making its history). And the more internalizing and subjectivity the universe acquires, the more all beings enter into communion with each other, and reinforce their interdependency in the context of their belonging to a great Whole. Berry and Swimme comment: «if there had been no complexity (differentiation), the universe would have perished as a homogenous mass; if there had been no subjectivity, the universe would have become an inert and dead expanse; if there had been no communion, the universe would have been transformed into a number of isolated events.»
We, the liberation theologians, over 40 years of reflection, have tried to explore the economic, social, anthropologic and spiritual dimensions of liberation, as an answer to specific forms of oppression. In the context of the generalized ecologic crisis we are seeking to incorporate this cosmologic vision. This has forced us to break away from the conventional paradigm in which we organized our thinking, which is still linked to a mechanical and static cosmology. The new cosmology sees the universe differently, as an incommensurable process of evolution/expansion/creation that involves all that happens within it, including consciousness and society.
In cosmologic principle terminology, personal liberation means to free oneself from limitations, so as to experience a communion with all beings and with the universe, a phenomenon the Buddhists call «illumination» (satori), and the experience of no-duality that Saint Francis lived, in the sense of an open brotherhood and sisterhood with all beings. In social terms, liberation in light of the cosmogenic principle is the creation of a society without oppression, where diversities are valued and expanded (diversities of gender, cultures and spiritual ways). This means leaving behind the culture of the official thinking of the only approved politics, economy, and theology. This is the principal means of oppression and homogenization.
Liberation also requires a deepening of internalization. Internalization is no longer satisfied by the mere consumption of material goods; it asks for values linked to creativity, to the arts, meditation and the communion with Mother Earth and the universe. Liberation results from the forces of the «relational matrix», especially with those who suffer injustices and are excluded. This matrix makes us feel like members of the community of life, and sons and daughters of Mother Earth, who through us feels, loves, cares and is concerned for the common future.
Finally, liberation in a cosmologic perspective demands a new awareness of universal interdependency and responsibility. We are called upon to reinvent our species, as we have done in the past, during the different crises humanity has experienced. It is urgent now because we do not have much time and we must face up to challenges of the present crisis of the Earth.
Como Deus ve os ETs!
“personal liberation means to free oneself from limitations, so as to experience a communion with all beings and with the universe, a phenomenon the Buddhists call «illumination» (satori), and the experience of no-duality that Saint Francis lived, in the sense of an open brotherhood and sisterhood with all beings.”
i.e. radical surrender
Joseph Campbell noted:
the great symbol remains, that remarkable view of earthrise. Earthrise is like all symbols… The kingdom of God is within us. Easter and Passover, particularly, remind us that we have to let go in order to enter it.
i.e.Radical Surrender
Immediately after the crucifixion, a radical coming into alignment of Radical obedience to radical surrender occurred. This was Christ spirit, life spirit
But the crowds of people who believed
had one soul and one mind
and none of them was saying that the wealth
which he possessed was his own,
but they had all things common.
Acts 4:32
i.e. radical surrender.
This is the beginning of a radical new Christian economy of seeing things in their purest simplest form, that was quickly curtailed and co opted, and ended. The “fina”l development of that “end” and its consequences is what we are now living through.
The realisation that property was not to be hoarded personally but to be used colllectively because it was a gift to all from the all is radically underlined in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who seek to retain the old hoarding character who refuse to radically surrender.
What are they obedient to?, the conventional old wisdom that you had to act in your own self interest. In this sense they were dead to the genuine sense of expansiveness that required a stepping out of and beyond the old characteristics of radical obedience to self interest.
This is why in the story they die, they die to show that they are dead to the new living body of expansiveness. Their deaths show that their hoarding characteristics are antithetical to the living spirit of the loving, sharing spirit of god which is so radically filling the earth anew in that time
This is what emerged that first Easter. It is from this viewpoint that Christ’s you cannot serve god and money has to be understood. It is absolute.
If we are to restore the vitality of the earth it will because we will have realised to see things in their simplicity. That the workers in the field need food and shelter to go about their task of restoring harmony and the original Christian understanding of the new economy will have prevailed. We will have reconnected with the original spirit of radical surrender.
Radical obedience to the power structures of this world will merely curtail this.
“personal liberation means to free oneself from limitations, so as to experience a communion with all beings and with the universe, a phenomenon the Buddhists call «illumination» (satori), and the experience of no-duality that Saint Francis lived, in the sense of an open brotherhood and sisterhood with all beings.”
i.e. radical surrender
Joseph Campbell noted:
the great symbol remains, that remarkable view of earthrise. Earthrise is like all symbols… The kingdom of God is within us. Easter and Passover, particularly, remind us that we have to let go in order to enter it.
i.e.Radical Surrender
Immediately after the crucifixion, a radical coming into alignment of Radical obedience to radical surrender occurred. This was Christ spirit, life spirit
But the crowds of people who believed
had one soul and one mind
and none of them was saying that the wealth
which he possessed was his own,
but they had all things common.
Acts 4:32
i.e. radical surrender.
This is the beginning of a radical new Christian economy of seeing things in their purest and simplest form. This practice was quickly curtailed and co opted, it ended. The ‘final’ development of that “end” and its consequences is what we are now living through.
The realisation that property was not to be hoarded personally but to be used collectively because it was a gift to all from the all is radically underlined in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who seek to retain the old hoarding character and who refuse to radically surrender. This is why the are counter posed to the practice of radical surrender and sharing and are the first to oppose its developments.
What are they obedient to?, the conventional old wisdom that you had to act in your own self interest. In this sense they were dead to the genuine sense of expansiveness that required a stepping out of and beyond the old characteristics of radical obedience to self interest.
This is why in the story they die, they die to show that they are dead to the new living body of expansiveness. Their deaths show that their hoarding characteristics are antithetical to the living spirit of the loving, sharing spirit of god which is so radically filling the earth anew in that time
This is what emerged that first Easter. It is from this viewpoint that Christ’s you cannot serve God and money has to be understood. It is absolute.
If we are to restore the vitality of the earth it will because we will have realised to see things in their simplicity. That the workers in the field need food and shelter to go about their task of restoring harmony and the original Christian understanding of the new economy will have prevailed. We will have reconnected with the original spirit of radical surrender.
Radical obedience to the existing power structures of this world will merely curtail this and we become like Ananias and Sapphira alive to their deadness and will all die in the process