Categoria: Idiomas

How does God emerge in the evolutionary Process?

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

The new cosmology, derived from the sciences of the universe, the Earth, and life, is set in the broad scope of evolution. This evolution is not lineal. It includes stops and starts, and experiences set backs, mass destructions, and rebirths. But, if we look back, the process shows a direction: forward and up.

We are aware that some well-known scientists refuse to accept directionality in the universe. It simply would make no sense. Others, such as the well-known British physicist, Freeman Dyson – to name only one– says: «The more I examine the universe and study the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe, somehow, had to have known that we were on the way».

Looking back at the process of evolution, that has been going on for 13.7 billion years, we cannot deny that there was an upward path: energy became matter, matter became filled with information, the destructive chaos turned generative, what was simple became complex, from a complex object sprang life, and from life, consciousness emerged. There is a purpose that cannot be denied. In effect, if things in their minuscule details had not occurred as they did, we would not be here talking about them.

As the well-known mathematician and physicist, Stephen Hawking, wrote in his 2005 book, A Very Brief History of Time: «The whole universe seems to have been finely tuned to allow for the development of life. For example, if the electric charge of the electron had been a little different, the equilibrium in the stars between the electromagnetic and gravitational forces would have been altered and, they either would have been incapable of turning hydrogen into helium, or they would have exploded». Either way, life could not have existed.

How does God emerge in the cosmogenic process? The idea of God arises when we posit this question: what was there before the big bang? What gave the initial impulse? Nothingness? But nothing comes from nothing. If despite that, beings appeared, it is a sign that Someone or Something called them into existence and maintains them in being.

What we can reasonably say is: before the big bang the Unknowable existed and the Mystery was present. About the Mystery and the Unknowable, by definition, we literally can say nothing. By their nature, they are before the word, the energy, before matter, space and time.

Well then, the Mystery and the Unknowable are precisely the names that religions, including Christianity, use to denote what we call God. In front of God silence is better than words. Nevertheless, God can be perceived by reverent reason and felt by the heart as a Presence that fills the Universe and generates in us the feelings of greatness, majesty, respect and veneration.

Sitting between heaven and Earth, when we see the night filled with stars, we are breathless and become filled with reverence. The questions naturally come: Who made all this? Who hides behind the Milky Way? As the great rabbi from New York City, Abraham Heschel, said: «We can say anything, or doubt everything in our air-conditioned offices or between the four white walls of the classrooms. But we cannot be silent when we are faced with the complexity of nature and drenched with its beauty. It is impossible to underestimate the morning dawn, to be indifferent when a flower blooms, or not to be amazed when we see a newborn child». Almost spontaneously we say: it was God who set it all in motion. God is the originating Source and the Abysm that nourishes everything.

There is another important question: what does God want to express with creation? Answering this is the concern not only of the religious consciousness, but of science itself. Let us use as an illustration what Stephen Hawking also said in his well-known book, Brief history of time, 1992: «If we were to find the answer to why we and the universe exist, we would have the definitive triumph of human reason; because then we would have reached the knowledge of the mind of God». Scientists are still searching for the hidden design of God.

From a religious perspective we can succinctly say: It would seem that the meaning of the universe and of our own conscious existence resides in the fact of being the mirror in which God sees the Divine. God creates the universe as an overflowing of the divine plenitude of being, of goodness and intelligence. There is creation, so that others may participate in the divine superabundance. The human being with consciousness is created in order to be able to hear the messages the universe wants to communicate to us, so that the human being may capture the histories of the beings of creation, of the heavens, the seas, the animals, and the human process itself, linking everything to the original Source, whence it all comes.

The universe is still being born. The tendency is to finish being born and to show the hidden potentialities. For that, expansion also means revelation. When all has been realized, then the design of the Creator will be completely revealed.

Liberation and the new Cosmology

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

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.

Clare of Assisi: the Courage of a passionate Women

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Some 800 years ago, during the night of March 19, 1221, the day after Palm Sunday, Clare of Assisi, all dressed up, ran away from home to join the group of Francis of Assisi in the little chapel of La Porciuncula, that still stands today. Las Clarisas all over the world, and the entire Franciscan family, celebrate this date in commemoration of the founding of the Order of Saint Clare, which has spread worldwide.

Clare, together with Francis –we must never separate them, because they promised each other, out of a pure love, that they «would never again be separated», according to the beautiful legend of the time – are among the most luminous figures of Christendom. It is good to remember this during the month of March, which is dedicated to women. Because of Clare, there are millions of Clares and Mary Clares in the world. She, from the noble Assisi Favarone family, and he, son of a wealthy and influential merchant of fabrics, the Bernardone.

At 16, she wanted to meet the already famous Francis, who was in his 30s. Bona, her intimate friend, said under oath in the canonization papers, that between 1210 and 1212 Clare «went many times to talk secretly with Francis, secretly, so as to not be seen by her relatives and to avoid scandals.» From those two years of meetings was born a great fascination for each other. As one of her best researchers, Swiss Anton Rotzetter, comments in his book, Clare of Assisi, the First Franciscan Woman, (Clara de Asís: la primera mujer franciscana, Vozes, 1994): «Eros in its most proper and profound sense was born in them, because without Eros nothing of value exists, not science, nor art, nor religion. Eros is the fascination that propels a human being towards another, and liberates them from the prison of the self.» (p. 63). That Eros caused them to love and care for each other, but in a spiritual transfiguration that kept them from closing in on themselves. Francis affectionately called her, «my Little Plant.»

Together, Clare and Francis cultivated three passions throughout their lives: a passion for the poor Jesus, a passion for the poor, and a passion for one another. In that order. They planned Clare’s flight to join the group that wanted to live the Gospel, purely and simply.

In its creativity, daring, and beauty, that scene rivals the best love scenes of great novels or films. How could such a wealthy and beautiful young woman run away from home, to join a group very much like today’s «hippies»? Because this is how we can portray Francis’ initial movement. It was a group of wealthy young people given to parties and serenades, who resolved to undertake the option of total divestment and rigorous poverty, following the example of Jesus, the poor. They did not want to give charity to the poor, but to live with the poor and be as the poor. And they did it with a great jovial spirit, without criticizing the opulent Church of the popes.

That night of March 19th, Clare, secretly, ran away from home and reached La Porciuncula. Under flickering lights, Francis and his companions festively received her. And as a sign of her incorporation to the group, Francis cut her blond hair. Then, Clare put on the clothes of the poor, lacking color, more a sack than a dress. After the joy and many prayers she was accompanied to the Benedictine convent, 4 kilometers from Assisi. Sixteen days later, Ines, her youngest sister, also ran away and joined Clare. The Favarone family even attempted to take their daughters back violently; Clare held tight from the mantel of the altar, showed her shaved head and kept them from taking her away. She demonstrated the same boldness when Pope Innocence III did not want to approve the vow of absolute poverty. She fought so hard that the Pope finally consented. This is how the Order of the Clares was born.

Her body, intact after 800 years, shows once again that love is stronger than death.

Maximization versus Optimization

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

There is an underlying ethic behind the producer/consumer culture, which is now in crisis due to the ecological state of planet Earth, whose limits we have exceeded by 30%. It now takes one and a half years to replenish what we extract in a year from the superabundant goods and services that the Earth had until recently. And it does not appear that the consumerist fury is slowing. To the contrary, the current system, trying to save itself, encourages ever greater consumption, that simultaneously requires ever greater production, which ends up stressing even more all the ecosystems and the planet as a whole.

The ethic presiding over this form of living is that of maximization of everything we do: maximizing the building of factories, of highways, of cars, fuel, computers, mobile telephones, maximizing entertainment programs, novels, courses, recycling, intellectual and scientific production. Production cannot stop, if it did, consumption and employment would collapse. In the end, it always is more of the same, with no awareness of nature’s limits of endurance.

Imitating Nietzsche we ask: how much maximization can the physical and spiritual human stomach tolerate? A point of saturation is reached, the direct effect of which is an existential vacuum. It can be seen that human happiness lies not in maximizing, in fattening bank accounts, or in the smount of goods in the basket of consumer goods. The fact is that the human being hungers for other things: for communication, solidarity, love, and transcendency, among others. These hungers, by their nature, are insatiable, because they can grow and diversify indefinitely. The secret of happiness is hidden in them. But in the words of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, quoting Saint Augustine: «we have had to build tortuous paths through which we have been forced to walk with a multitude of hardships and sufferings imposed on the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve».

Logically, we need certain amount of food to maintain life. But excessive, maximized, food causes obesity and disease. The rich countries have maximized the means of life and material infrastructure in such a way that they have destroyed their forests, (Europe only has now 0.1% of her original forests). They have destroyed their ecosystems and a great part of their bio-diversity, in addition to creating perverse inequalities between rich and poor.

We must seek a different ethic, the ethic of optimization. That ethic is founded on a systemic understanding of nature and of life. All living systems try to optimize the relationships that sustain life. Such a system seeks a dynamic equilibrium, making good use of all the ingredients of nature, without producing residues, optimizing quality and including all. In the human sphere, this optimization presupposes a sense of self-limitation, and the search for the just measure. A sober and decent material base makes it possible to develop some materials that are spiritual goods, such as solidarity with the more vulnerable, compassion, a love that undoes the mechanisms of aggression, overcomes prejudices and does not allow differences to be treated as inequalities.

Perhaps the present crisis of material capital, which is always limited, will teach us to start living from the human and spiritual capital, always unlimited and open to new expressions. It will enable us to have spiritual experiences, celebrating the mystery of existence, and gratitude for our place in the gathering of beings. With this we can maximize our latent potential, that which guards the secret of the much sought after plenitude.