A Week of Journeys

As Week 1 draws to a close, I'm trying to process the conversation this week - both the dialogue at APYA events and the greater dialogue that swept the Institution.

This past week, we found ourselves looking outward to the universe, backward to the Big Bang, forward to the (potential) extinction of our species, and inward, to us, to our role in this mass of interconnected matter.

We watched this film, "Journey of the Universe," and we talked with it's producers, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, who told us the film was "an invitation to think of ourselves as part of this vast, evolving universe." And wow, did we respond to them.

They asked us if we learned about the universe in school as random, with little meaning, or if we learned about it as alive and interconnected and creative. The responses were mixed. Some people already grasped this, they were ready for the next step, for discerning solutions. Others felt their education had been less than satisfactory, that teachers were not presenting science in a way that encourages student curiosity and creativity.

But despite our varying backgrounds and beliefs, we all agreed that we are a creative and unified species, and our compassion was evident. We opened this dialogue where I couldn't help but feel powerful, as though the fact that those around me shared my passion gave me extra energy to be active.

As lecturer Natalie Batalha said this week:

When scientists realized the very materials of our bodies are the materials of stars, compassion grew.

If some of you are interested, here's the link to the Earth Charter. As people who are concerned expand in number and connect and tap into this compassion, we have a better chance at achieving the initiatives set forth in this document.

http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html