Tom Atlee: The Evolutionary Edge

2006-07-20

Richard Moore

Original source URL:
http://www.co-intelligence.org/newsletter/July-Aug-06.html

Evolutionary Edge
Voices of an Emerging Movement for Conscious Evolution
July-August 2006

To subscribe, send an email "subscribe to EE" to <•••@••.•••>. It's 
free. Invite your friends to subscribe.

Contents
* A New Newsletter for Conscious Evolutionaries
* Lead Article on "Being Evolution"
* Poetry
* Fascinating Cosmic and Evolutionary Facts
* Evolutionary Topics in the Mainstream News
* Conscious Evolution News
* News from Our Favorite Evolutionary Evangelists
* Evolutionary Ritual
* Evolutionary Process Arts
* Evolutionary Quotes
* Reader Participation Question
* Book Reviews
* Brief, Powerful Written Testimonials Requested
* Questions of Scale (and a touch of humor)
* A New Evolutionary Group
* Evolutionary Events Calendar


NEW NEWSLETTER FOR CONSCIOUS EVOLUTIONARIES
What is Evolutionary Edge?

Evolutionary Edge is a bimonthly newsletter for those of us inspired by sacred, 
meaningful understandings of the evolutionary story of the universe. This story 
calls many of us to seek a more conscious role in evolution. What should we do 
with this understanding? How do we sustain our insight? How do we bring the 
evolutionary worldview into our daily lives and the world? We can use this 
newsletter to share news, insights, activities, and resources. It can become an 
evolutionary leading edge where we gather to inspire, inform, and delight each 
other, and thereby become more aware of ourselves as the healing, 
transformational movement we are. (For more, read here...) -- Tom Atlee

return to contents


LEAD ARTICLE
Learning to BE Evolution
by Tom Atlee

If we attend to how evolution works, and what it means, we will be better able 
to play consciously creative roles in it, healing our world and its crises and 
co-creating a different kind of civilization -- more sustainable, enjoyable, 
just and wise -- than has ever existed on Earth. This article explores what it 
might mean to actually become conscious evolution, and what lessons we might 
learn from evolutionary dynamics and natural systems to guide us in this 
unprecedented adventure.

return to contents


POETRY
Hieroglyphic Stairway
by Drew Dellinger

it¹s 3:23 in the morning
and I¹m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won¹t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unraveling?
            read the rest of this poem here

return to contents


FASCINATING COSMIC AND EVOLUTIONARY FACTS
How special are earthlings?

We Earthly inhabitants are part of the quirky creativity of the Universe. The 
more we get to know about ourselves and our cosmic situation, the more oddly 
special -- even unlikely -- we seem to be. This link offers four examples of how
we are special beings living at a special time, place and scale, adapted from 
Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams' new book THE VIEW FROM THE CENTER OF THE
UNIVERSE (reviewed below).

An Extraordinary Evolutionary Fact: "Earth is Gonna Have Cats!²

There is something about a mammalian carnivore with retractable claws, a 
foreshortened face, and other catlike features that seems destined to present 
itself on Earth.  Consider this: the cat form evolved in 3 separate lineages.  
First, the Nimravid cats (40 million years ago, vanishing 23 million years ago);
then the Marsupial cats of South America (vanishing 3 million years ago); and 
finally the cats of today, Family Felidae (evolving 17 milliion years ago).  
Learn about other examples of convergent evolution here.

return to contents


EVOLUTIONARY TOPICS IN THE MAINSTREAM NEWS
  €  Global Warming fuels speedy evolution
  €  Crows have human-like intelligence
  €  Online Virtual World Is Part Fantasy, Part Civics Experiment

return to contents


CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION NEWS
Graduate Programs on Conscious Evolution

The Graduate Institute has two accredited academic programs on Conscious 
Evolution, one centered on the work of systems philosopher Ervin Laszlo and the 
other on the approach of evolutionary enlightenment guru Andrew Cohen and 
integral philosopher Ken Wilber. The latter is a collaboration with What is 
Enlightenment? magazine. Both 2-year programs include social evolution while 
focusing on the dynamics and evolution of consciousness. They involve a wide 
variety of topics, sources, seminars, artistic presentations, web discussions, 
shared cohort activities, lectures, and discussions.

³Creating the Future: Evolutionary Enlightenment in Action²

This new 12-minute video introduces Cohen's work on collective evolution of 
consciousness through experience of the Authentic Self and pushing the limits of
consciousness. You'll hear him and his students describe their experiences and 
explore the meaning of those experiences. A fascinating adventure on the 
evolutionary edge... (And Cohen's What Is Enlightenment? magazine's website got 
a prestigious Webbie award.)

"Moving the Edge: Conscious participation in the further unfoldment of The Great
Story - a practitioners perspective"

by Finn Voldtofte

What happens when we engage in conversations and inquiry in which we 
deliberately let go of our personal egos and stories and instead focus on 
sensing into the impersonal field ²in the middle,² opening ourselves to a 
greater wisdom waiting to emerge among us? An ONGOING inquiry into the role of 
collective intelligence has come into existence, has been seen, and is being 
kept alive.

Four Evolutionary Salons in fourteen months!

In May 2005, 35 evolutionary scientists, spiritual leaders, and social thinkers 
came together to explore "evolutionary directionality and the future of 
humanity" -- and emerged with a vision of a "movement for the conscious 
evolution of increasingly conscious social systems."  Open evolutionary salons 
in January 2006 (85 people) and May 2006 (57 people) nurtured that vision by 
bringing together people from widely diverse fields for free-wheeling 
exploration of the full spectrum of evolutionary topics under the themes of 
"collective intelligence" and "listening into the future", respectively.  Both 
salons generated dozens of new partnerships, projects, and inquiries within an 
intense cauldron of heartful conversation, unsettling disturbances, and deep, 
profound community.  Then in June 2006, 39 transformational philanthropists, 
evolutionary experts, and social visionaries gathered around the theme 
"philanthropy, love, and evolution" -- discovering a deeper understanding of 
philanthropy as loving service in an age of unprecedented challenges, creative 
risk-taking, and distributed networks supported by continually evolving 
technologies and relationships.  All four evolutionary salons opened up new 
pathways and partnerships for evolutionary work.  We'll talk about plans for 
future salons in upcoming issues of Evolutionary Edge.  Click here to see bios 
and pictures of salon participants, reports, etc.

return to contents


NEWS FROM OUR FAVORITE EVOLUTIONARY EVANGELISTS
The Great Story: Report of 4 Years on the Road
by Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd

In this richly illustrated log of their third and fourth years of life on the 
road as ³North America's evolutionary evangelists," Connie and Michael summarize
their major accomplishments: speaking in 250 different venues in 33 U.S. states;
initiating 4 ³evolutionary salons²; producing 4 new DVD sets of their 
presentations; developing several new program titles; creating 2 new websites; 
establishing a web page for accessing children's evolutionary curricula; 
garnering a quarter million hits per month on "The Great Story" website; and 
more.

Stories of Awakening
by Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd

In their 4 years on the road sharing meaningful and sacred ways of relating to 
14 billion years of evolutionary creativity, Connie and Michael have fostered 
evolutionary "awakenings" and other aha! experiences among many who attend their
talks and workshops.  Connie has recently posted 32 inspiring anecdotes on their
website, pertaining to "Great Story Beads", "We Are Stardust", "Learning the 
Universe Story" and "Evolutionary Parables".

return to contents


EVOLUTIONARY RITUAL
³The River of Life²: An Outdoor Evolutionary Walk & Celebration
by Connie Barlow

A playful and wonder-filled evolutionary walk for KIDS and ADULTS can now be 
easily conducted by downloading the directions and dramatic scripts.  Using 40 
stations, the ritual can be completed in a single 2-hour walk or segmented over 
the course of several days.  (Based on the 2004 book by Richard Dawkins, 
Ancestor¹s Tale.)

return to contents


EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS ARTS

From Chaos to Coherence: The Emergence of Inspired Organizations and Enlightened
Communities

by Peggy Holman

Many of us are aware that hopes, visions, and clear intentions have 
transformational power. We may not be as comfortable with the idea that fears, 
conflicts and crises also carry potent seeds of evolutionary change. Diverse 
groups that use both their dreams and their dissonance well experience emergence
-- the appearance of something new -- something that no one started with -- that
powerfully integrates the dynamic tensions in the room. This most often happens 
in open, powerful conversations about questions that matter. Guided by what is 
meaningful to us individually, and open to all the voices present, we soon learn
that what is most deeply personal is also universal. Out of that comes the 
inspiring evolutionary dynamic known as "group magic." This paper, excerpted 
from Peggy's upcoming new edition of THE CHANGE HANDBOOK, describes this dynamic
in detail and includes a very clarifying chart about how the process unfolds.

return to contents


EVOLUTIONARY QUOTES
Hopeful beacons at Evolutionary Salon 3

This was a very inspiring session that I feel a deep resonance with in terms of 
how it impacts all the work we are doing. What are the images pulling us forward
as strange attractors, as hopeful beacons, as inspiration in the midst of a 
social ecosystem in transition - old forms dying, new ones being born.

-- Sheri Madrone, ES3 participant
The Very Edge of the Possible

I am endlessly compelled by the notion that higher stages or levels of 
development do not preexist, that is, they are not ³given² but are literally 
created by brave individuals who actually venture into new, uncharted territory,
laying down ³grooves² that others follow, which eventually become actual new 
structures or stages. The fact that the future, even at the most subtle 
metaphysical levels, literally does not yet exist challenges our most 
fundamental spiritual/religious notions in every possible way, but if we're 
ready for it, it can be the source of enormous inspiration and promise. I think 
potentially what's the most thrilling for the postmodern self is the discovery 
that we are literally creating the future, which means we are not separate from 
the creative principle or God-impulse itself‹God is evolving as we evolve. And 
this moment itself, assuming that one is leaning into it with all of one's 
being, reaching for the future, is potentially the very edge of the possible.

-- Andrew Cohen
Moving the Edge at the center of our lives?

I decided to keep the focusing statement of Moving the Edge in the center of my 
attention as I co-initiate new projects and live my life:

       "An adventurous inquiry
        into the role
        of collective intelligence
        in moving the edge of evolution..."

What if convening teams, and other members of every evolutionary initiative, in 
every sphere of social (or business) life, could rightfully describe the essence
of what they do/are as that?

-- George Por
Now that we have powerful telescopes...

Only now can we see with clarity that we live not so much in a cosmos [a place] 
as in a cosmogenesis [a process], a cosmogenesis best presented in narrative -- 
scientific in its data, mythic in its form.

 -- Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, THE UNIVERSE STORY
Courageous surrender into "The Great Work"

My portion of the great work, like that of any other person, creates its own 
synergy. My job is to be vigilant to the fact that the world creates neither 
coincidence nor accident ‹ only opportunity. I need only have the courage to ask
for what I need and the valor to accept it once it appears.

-- Ed Collins

return to contents


READER PARTICIPATION QUESTION

What do we need to know, realize, feel, be and/or do to turn crises -- personal 
and collective -- especially societal and environmental crises -- into 
evolutionary opportunities?

Hard times are most likely coming that will impact us on many levels. Extreme 
weather, rising oceans, dysfunctional social institutions, economic disruptions,
heated political battles, technologies gone awry... the coming decades will be 
challenging, indeed.

As students of evolution, we know that challenges -- even catastrophes -- often 
stimulate dramatic evolutionary leaps. As aspiring "conscious evolutionary 
agents" who want to preserve ecosystems and species (including our own) and to 
assist the evolution of humanity and society wherever possible -- we need to use
this fact wisely. It is a powerful fact -- one that can help us make all the 
difference in the world -- IF WE KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

Send your thoughts and references on this subject to Evolutionary Edge editor 
Tom Atlee at <•••@••.•••>. We will share reader responses online and in 
upcoming newsletters.

return to contents


BOOK REVIEWS

The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era - A 
Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos

     by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry

Introduced to an evolutionary worldview by Michael Dowd, I asked him where to 
start to learn more. He didn¹t hesitate: Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry's 1992 
book THE UNIVERSE STORY was the book to read. Within the first few pages, I was 
hooked. I ³got² the role cosmology plays in providing a context for how we, as 
humans, live our lives. The poetic and inspired language of the book drew me in,
infusing the story of evolution with new and sacred meaning. I highly recommend 
Jane Blewett's review as a great introduction to this fabulous story. -- Peggy 
Holman

The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in
the Cosmos

     by Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams (just published!)

Finally, the Universe Story goes mainstream: This book -- The View from the 
Center of the Universe -- was picked by NPR's "All Things Considered" as one of 
ten summer reading selections for 2006.  Highly recommended, as well, for folks 
already steeped in the works of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme.  Brian Swimme 
expanded my sense of family from Earth out to the stars.  Primack and Abrams 
have expanded my circle of care once again: now even dark matter feels friendly!
Primack¹s world-class physics legacy, combined with Abrams¹s insistence that 
metaphor and symbol are central to human understanding, have yielded a book that
is destined to propel this worldview shift into popular culture. -- Connie 
Barlow

return to contents


BRIEF, POWERFUL WRITTEN TESTIMONIALS REQUESTED
....for Michael Dowd¹s new book, Thank God for Evolution!

Michael is in the process of writing a book for general audiences (available in 
March 2007) that will include a dozen or so personal stories of how people from 
different religious and non-religious backgrounds (including atheists) have come
into a sacred, meaningful (religious) understanding and experience of evolution.
If you have a fascinating or moving personal story to tell, or if you know 
someone else who does, please email Michael at •••@••.••• by August 1,
2006.  Suggested flow:

€  FIRST, briefly tell what your life / thinking / feeling / spirituality / 
beliefs / relationships / career / energy level / sense of purpose (or whatever)
used to be like.

€  THEN tell what happened ‹ what catalyzed or triggered your evolutionary 
epiphany or awakening and whether it was dramatic or gradual.

€  And FINALLY, tell what your life is like now ‹ i.e., how the epic of 
evolution or Great Story has made a difference or enriched your life / thinking 
/ feeling / spirituality / beliefs / relationships / career / energy level / 
sense of purpose, or whatever.

Please be as concise as possible without sacrificing juicy details.  What 
Michael is especially looking for are heart-touching and inspiring testimonials 
in the range of two paragraphs up to 1000 words at most.  Don¹t worry about how 
well written your paragraphs are.  If your story is a good one -- that is, if it
will touch or encourage others -- Michael and his editor at Council Oak 
Books/Page Mill Press will work with you in order to polish your story  to 
perfection.  And who knows, maybe Oprah will ask you to join Michael on her show
when his book becomes a best seller. :-)  But don¹t let that scare you!  You can
always say, ³No thanks.² ;-)

return to contents


QUESTIONS OF SCALE (and a touch of humor)
Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams' "Cosmic Uroboros"

The Uroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its 
own tail and forming a circle. It has been used to represent many things over 
the ages, but it most generally symbolizes ideas of cyclicality and primordial 
unity.  In THE VIEW FROM THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, it represents the size 
scales of physical reality ranging from the smallest sub-quantum phenomena to 
the vast superstructures of the universe. The largest scales (at the head) and 
smallest scales (at the tail) co-exist (symbolized by the serpent eating its 
tail). We earthlings live in a tiny range of scale half-way through this great 
cosmic yardstick. Primack and Abrams write, "When we come to understand that we 
are central to the universe, 'we' can mean humanity, all intelligent life, the 
Galaxy, even luminous matter. 'I'm human' can mean 'I stand here on the Cosmic 
Uroboros, mid-way between the largest and the smallest things in the universe. I
can trace my lineage back 14 billion years through generations of stars.' ... 
The Cosmic Uroboros is a bridge between the spiritual and the physical. The 
Cosmic Uroboros gives not only meaning but a context to those exotic size-scales
of the universe that no one ever had a connection with before. Amazingly, in 
this interpretation the difference between spiritual and physical becomes ‹ in 
an approximate way ‹ quantifiable with powers of ten. Things larger than about 
10 to the 12th cm, or smaller than about 10 to the -12th cm, can only be known 
through science and only experienced spiritually. This includes most of the 
universe."

Comparative planetary and stellar sizes

How big are we here on Earth when compared to other planets, the sun, and some 
of the other stars around us? I just received a graphic email about this very 
subject...

Cosmological Humor and Song!!!

Count on Monty Python to find a way to put our tiny terrestrial lives in 
perspective, with a jaunty poke at cosmic funnybones across the Galaxy ....

return to contents


A NEW EVOLUTIONARY GROUP
Unity in Marin's "Evolutionary Story In Practice" Group

This new group reports on its cosmology study activities (which you can attend) 
and their visit to a local military base that is evolving into civilian uses, 
with natural ecosystems returning -- which inspired a poem about that 
transformation...

return to contents


EVOLUTIONARY EVENTS CALENDAR

July 20 - LIVE PHONE TELECLASS WITH BARBARA MARX HUBBARD - open to all members 
of Barbara's "Evolutionary Edge" community, which also offers the audio 
lectures, message boards and online journal of this pioneer of conscious 
evolution. 9:00pm Eastern / 6:00pm Pacific. See 
<http://barbaramarxhubbard.iamplify.com> to join, or for more information.

July 29-August 5 - EMERGENCE: NATURE'S MODE OF CREATIVITY, the 53rd Annual 
Conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, with Brian Swimme,
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Stuart Kauffman and others, at Star Island, New Hampshire. 
<http://www.iras.org/conference.html>

August 18-20 - CULTURAL DYNAMICS: The Deep Human Codes That Impact the Forces of
Change, Regression, and Transformation - an introduction to Spiral Dynamics 
Integral, with Don Beck in Austin, Texas.

August 18-20 - THE POETIC COSMOS: Poetry, Spoken Word, Cosmology, and Activism 
as Spiritual Paths - a weekend workshop at Esalen Institute, Big Sur, 
California, with evolutionary poet Drew Dellinger - "The poetic imagination 
flows from the depths of the universe itself."

September - ANDREW COHEN'S EVOLUTIONARY ENLIGHTENMENT teaching schedule - Sept 
14-16 Tel Aviv, Sept 17 London, Sept 20 Amsterdam, Sept 21 Berlin.

October - MOVING THE EDGE, Denmark (see News item by Finn Voldtofte, above)

July-September - MICHAEL DOWD AND CONNIE BARLOW'S ITINERARY
      COLORADO - JULY
July 23, Unity in the Rockies, Colorado Springs CO (MD)
July 23, Spirit-Keepers Interfaith Fellowship, Boulder (CB)

July 25, First Plymouth UCC Englewood: Camp LaForet at Colorado Springs (MD)

July 26, Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, CO (MD)
July 30, First Unitarian Society of Denver CO (MD morn + eve)
      MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN, NORTH CAROLINA, MICHIGAN - AUGUST

August 2-5, Villa Maria Retreat and Conference Center, Frontenac MN (MD, CB)

August 6, Plymouth UCC, Milwaukee WI (MD morn + eve)
August 6, First Unitarian of Milwaukee WI (CB morn)
August 7, Sophia House, Milwaukee WI (MD)
August 10, Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, Highlands NC (CB)
August 13 & 14, UU Congregation of Hendersonville, NC (MD)
August 15-20, family in Michigan
August 17 & 20, UU Church of E. Liberty, Clark Lake MI (MD)
      NEW ENGLAND - AUGUST - SEPT
August 22 - Sept 5, writing retreat, Great Barrington MA (MD, CB)
August 27 & 28, First Unitarian, Worcestor (Second Parish) MA
September 2 & 5, UU Society: East in Manchester CT

September 6 - Oct 28, based out of cabin near Portland, Maine (MD, CB)

September 10, UU Church in Ellsworth, ME
September 17, First Parish UU, Portland ME
return to contents

This newsletter has no official relationship with Barbara Marx Hubbard's The 
Evolutionary Edge virtual community. We have tremendous respect for each other's
work and both feel that the term 'evolutionary edge' should be available for use
by all who feel their work arises out of and advances that edge.


Send submissions of evolutionary news, groups, quotes, websites, and other 
references and materials to editor Tom Atlee <•••@••.•••>.

And please tell us what you really like about Evolutionary Edge and how we could
improve it.
-- 

--------------------------------------------------------
Escaping the Matrix website     http://escapingthematrix.org/
cyberjournal website            http://cyberjournal.org
subscribe cyberjournal list     mailto:•••@••.•••
Posting archives                http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/
Blogs:
  cyberjournal forum            http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/
  Achieving real democracy      http://harmonization.blogspot.com/
  for readers of ETM            http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/
  Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/
  Blogger made easy             http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html