Meditations on the relationship of Man to Nature

1.  Humanity is the thinking incarnation of nature.

What's so special about humans?  Well, perhaps we are the means (or, more likely, one of the means) by which the universe understands and interprets itself.

 2.     Works of art, like rocks and rocs and flowers, are part of nature.

"The magnificent works of art are at the same time magnificent works of nature produced by humans in accordance with true and natural laws."  (J.W. Goethe)

"Goethe does not recognize any essential difference between products or nature and artistic products;  both are the same... Humans are only the vessels which receive what "general nature" wants to express."  (Anton von Webern)

 3.     Nature, like works of art, craft and industry, is an artifact.

"The universe (from the mythical Big Bang via the emergence of hydrogen & helium, galaxies, fixed stars, planetary systems, viruses, bacteria, fleas, dogs, right up to the Glorious Arrival of Western Man) is an artifact constructed by generations of scientist/artisans from a partly yielding, partly resisting material of unknown properties."  (Paul Feyerabend)

A PRODUCTIVE & EXAMINED LIFE

In September, 2001, just before the World Trade Center attacks, I flew back to my home town of Cincinnati to attend my 40^th high school reunion.  It turned out to be a rather momentous occasion, in that I got reacquainted  with former classmate John Peter Schultes-leading to his eventually moving to Florida and becoming Office Manager of this church-and also my husband.

Four years later, Peter and I traveled to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania to attend my fortieth college reunion.   I enjoyed revisiting the campus, reconnecting with friends and introducing Peter to the university Gothic architecture, which it now turns out could have stood in very nicely for Hogwarts, of Harry Potter fame.

In terms of lasting changes in my life, the college reunion couldn't hold a candle to the high school one, but I did come away from it with something of value-namely the phrase I used as the title of these remarks.  Somewhere in the course of that reunion weekend, it was said that the mission of the college had been, and still was, to prepare its students for a "productive and examined life."  Somehow that phrase seemed to express my notion of what a good life should be, and it stuck in my mind.

Last spring, when we church members were invited to participate in workshops aimed at developing a mission statement, that phrase came back to mind, and it occurred to me that it could sum up a considerable portion of what church life means to me.  At least a large part of the mission of this church, I think, should be to support its members and friends in our pursuits of "productive and examined" lives.  Since then, I've given some further thought to what that means to me, and I'd like to share some of that thinking with you-all.

We humans like to believe that we are something special in this universe.  Our first meditation this morning touched on one claim to such fame we humans may have.  Perhaps we can think of ourselves as at least one of the possible means which the universe has evolved to perceive and be aware of itself.

Understanding the universe, understanding "reality" has a fascinating history in human thought through the centuries.  Philosophers and scientists have thought and experimented and theorized endlessly in this quest.  Remarkable technological achievements seem to imply that we have come far toward such an understanding.  But , on the other hand, the Virginia Woolf story we heard this morning suggests that there may be additional layers of reality of which we are blissfully unaware!

Our second meditation emphasized the extent to which we are a part of nature-not separate outside observers and agents, but deeply embedded within nature.  Thus, we can, perhaps, pride ourselves as one of the means by which beauty, as well as understanding, may arise in the universe.

Our place being within nature is important, because it points out a serious limitation to our ability to say what reality "really is."  Our knowledge is necessarily limited by the sensory apparatus we have evolved.  We have extended our abilities to be able to detect, for example, ultraviolet rays and the distant moons of planets not visible to the naked eye. But ultimately all our scientific knowledge is simply a story we tell ourselves to attempt to make sense of what we perceive.  And that is the lesson of our third morning meditation.  All our science is a human endeavor and all our understanding is from a human point of view.  How can we ever know what pervasive biases that simple fact may create?

As one small counter-example, consider the story of evolution (as told by Steven Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene) from a different point of view-that of an organic, self-replicating molecule floating in earth's primordial sea, competing for resources to make more and more copies of itself, like a growing crystal:

          "Replicators began not merely to exist, but to construct for themselves containers, vehicles for their continued existence.  The replicators that survived were the ones that built survival machines to live in.  The first survival machines probably consisted of nothing more than a protective coat.  But making a living got steadily harder as new rivals arose with better and more effective survival machines.  Survival machines got bigger and more elaborate, and the process was cumulative and progressive."  (Think:  "arms race.")

          "Was there to be any end to the gradual improvement in the techniques and artifices used by the replicators to ensure their own continuation in the world?  There would be plenty of time for improvement.  What weird engines of self-preservation would the millennia bring forth?  Four million years on, what was to be the fate of the ancient replicators?  They did not die out, for they are past masters of the survival arts.

          "But do not look for them floating loose in the sea; they gave up that cavalier freedom long ago.  Now they swarm in huge colonies, safe inside giant lumbering robots, sealed off from the outside world, communicating with it by tortuous indirect means, manipulating it by remote control.  They are in you and in me;  they created us, both body and mind;  and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence.  They have come a long way, those replicators.  Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines."  

Well, that's a somewhat different perspective on human evolution.  Imagine what the story of the universe might look like from the point of view of an electron…or a galaxy or a quark!  The point here is not to settle the many questions of truth and beauty addressed by science and philosophy, but rather to celebrate that we can think such thoughts and consider such possibilities.  I hope we here can acknowledge the value of such thinking, and perhaps agree, as the saying goes, that "the unexamined life is not worth living."

Getting back to my notion of a church mission, one of the aspects that I greatly value here is that, especially within the Unitarian-Universalist tradition, church is to me a venue where topics such as these are valued, and found relevant and open to discussion.  So church gives me a context for examination of "life, the universe and everything," when that may be difficult to find anywhere else.

But without being productive as well, we may rightly be accused of merely contemplating our navels.  Personally, I'm very lucky to be able to support myself with a job that I truly enjoy.  But even that is only a piece of the desiderata of a "useful" life.

Church also, I think, supports us in making our lives productive in many ways aside from just earning a living.  Perhaps the most important thing we do in life is to raise and nurture our children-not just those born to us, but all the children of our community and our world-because, of course, our children are our future.  That's what initially led me to this particular church-the felt need for support in raising my then two-year old daughter, and later my son as well.  I think they've turned out to be pretty fine young adults and I thank this church community for being a part of that.  I hope this church will continue to do its part to prepare our children for their futures-consider that a vote in support of a strong RE program, if you like.

It also seems important to me to feel useful in the larger world.  I really appreciate the opportunity to work through the church on what seem like important social justice issues, if only in a sort of back-room-support way.  Being part of an organization which takes a stand and tries to make things better matters a lot to me.

And that brings me to the "commercial message" portion of these remarks.  While I'm proud of the position and actions we as a church community have undertaken with regard to social justice issues, I've come to feel that we haven't yet done as much as we could in support of world peace.  Frankly, I'm frightened and horrified at the state of the world these days, and, at best, disappointed in this country's supposed efforts to make things better. 

There doesn't seem to be much one person can do-but together it seems like we could have a voice and take a stand, as we have done for the homeless, for migrant workers  and for human rights.

Here's my modest proposal for a way in which I think this congregation could take a stand-go on record, if you will.  As a member-supporter of Tampa Bay's community radio station, WMNF, I heard with interest that a recent fund drive included a request for pledges toward erecting something called a "peace pole" on the station's grounds.  That reminded me that I'd also heard of a peace pole having been installed at the Friends Meeting house in southeast St. Pete.   

To learn more I got on the Internet and Googled up the "peace pole" phrase.  As it turns out, a peace pole is an obelisk sort of object, adorned with the phrase "may peace prevail on earth," which is "planted" as a visible symbol of a stance for world peace.  A peace pole may have four or six or eight sides, with its prayerful phrase inscribed in different languages on each side-or sometimes even in two languages per side.   Peace poles can be home-made or purchased. The traditional material is cedar, but various artists have created versions in other materials.

So here's my vision.  I'd very much like to see a peace pole committee formed here at this church-perhaps it could be a joint effort of the Social Justice Committee and Building and Grounds.  I'd like to see that Committee take on the task of planning, and raising the necessary funds, and bringing a peace pole of our very own to this church, as a statement of a community commitment to the cause of world peace.   Building and Grounds has already discussed making a garden area of the grounds between Gilmore and Mirror Lake Drive, and I visualize our Peace Pole as the central feature of such a garden.

One of the points Kendyl Gibbons made in her sermon on the occasion of the UU revival service here last May, was that it seems "all religious experience and traditions and institutions are necessarily human experience and traditions and institutions.  From this perspective, all religions have their origins in the question of what it means to live well, to live a good life."  An important element of the appeal to me of the "productive and examined" phrase is that neither aspect seems to me adequate by itself to define a "good" life.  To be wholly alive, and fully human, we must be both useful and mindful.  I'm grateful that this church community supports us in both