The Spirit matters

Catholic New Times, June 20, 2004 by Cristina Vanin

Last fall, an invitation was issued by Edmund O'Sullivan, Director of the Transformative Learning Centre at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto, to attend a gathering with the theme, "Spirit Matters: Wisdom Traditions and the 'Great Work,' " in May, 2004.

The transformative leaning centre was created in 1993 by OISE faculty who wanted to transform contemporary education and society by bringing together different disciplines, practices, knowledges and strategies in a spirit of strong community and collaboration.

The conference was an opportunity to explore the role of the spirit and its importance in such a process of transformation. The organizers said, "We are in need of a spirituality today whose scope and magnitude will open us up to the wonder and joy of the universe. We are in need of an "integral spirituality," which has embedded within it a biocentric vision--one that keeps us vitally connected to the natural world and to the unfolding of the universe."

It was also a gathering to celebrate those persons who have inspired TLC's work; one of the honoured persons was Thomas Berry, whom Ed O'Sullivan refers to as a "revered elder." For many persons who have been profoundly influenced in their personal and professional lives by Berry, it was especially poignant to attend a conference that spoke of his notion of the 'Great Work' as central to its very process. There were "abiding questions," that asked each participant to think about their own part in the Great Work, what supports and what hinders our part, and what wisdom traditions help us.

The conference offered "dialogue circles," groups that met with the intention of "coming into alignment with the spirit of the Great Work and bring about the conditions for transformative learning."

The 'Great Work' is Thomas Berry's phrase for "moving modern industrial civilization from its present devastating influence on the earth to a more benign mode of presence."

The unfolding of the universe has had many such moments--moments of grace that require us to rethink who we are and what our role is as human beings. But this particular modern moment is different.

For the first time in its history, human beings are affecting this planet's geological structure and its biological functioning to such a degree that many of the most elaborate expressions of life and grandeur and beauty that the planet has known are now threatened in their survival. We are on the brink of eliminating all that has evolved during the last 65 million years of the earth's history.

Despair would be an understandable response to such severe devastation. But, for Thomas Berry, catastrophic moments are also creative. His response to this present cosmological, historical and religious moment of grace is full of hope, open to examining all the possibilities that lie before us. He is most hopeful that humans are experiencing " a change of consciousness. "The distorted dream of an industrial technological paradise is being replaced by the more viable dream of a mutually enhancing human presence within an ever-renewing organic-based Earth community," he says.

It is this new dream that will drive us to seek more viable ways to exist as integral members of the community of life.

This new dream and a sense of hope permeated all aspects of the May conference; panels, rituals, group discussions, music, theatre and art. We were encouraged to expand our horizons and include the wisdom of other traditions and cultures than our own. We were invited to celebrate the diversity of the people gathered and of the planet itself. We were challenged to discover the particular way in which each of us can participate in this work because no one is exempt from responsibility. As Berry says,

"The Great Work before us ... is not a role we have chosen. It is a role given to us. We are chosen by some power beyond ourselves for this historical task. We are, as it were, thrown into existence with a challenge and a role that is beyond personal choice. The nobility of our lives, however, depends on the manner in which we come to understand and fulfill our assigned role."

Cristina Vanin teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ont.