[Oe List ...] CALL FOR PAPERS

Sat Feb 2 16:28:33 EST 2008

I haven’t shared here on the work I do through the Center for Ecozoic
Studies. I would like to share about this over time as a way of reflecting
one development from the life of our order. I know that several of you have
taken an interest in ecological issues and on ecology and human culture.
Some have shared with me an interest in the work of Thomas Berry. I offer
this as a description of the work we are doing (John Cock and Lynda Cock are
also involved among others) and as an invitation. If this seems
inappropriate to you, please let me know (preferably privately) as well as
why.

CALL FOR PAPERS ON COSMOLOGY AND THE ECOZOIC SOCIETY

AND FOR OTHER MATTERS FOR THE FIRST ISSUE OF

THE ECOZOIC: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN AN ECOLOGICAL AGE

(February 2, 2007)

The Center for Ecozoic Studies will begin publication of a new, non-academic
journal called The Ecozoic: Reflections on Life in an Ecological Age.
Initially the journal (TE) will be published three times a year with the
first issue to be published in April 2008. Contributions to the first issue
may still be sent through February 28th. Contributions may be essays,
stories, art, photographs or poetry. We have no set maximum or minimum size,
but generally articles are 4-10 typewritten pages (2-4000 words) and may be
more or less. Send your contributions by email to ecozoic at mindspring.com or
by regular mail (with an electronic copy) to the address below.

Our current plan is to have a central theme for each issue of TE. The theme
for the first issue is “Cosmology and the Ecozoic Society.” The tentative
themes for the second and third issues are “Values and the Ecozoic Society”
and “Wisdom of Indigenous People.” In addition to contributions on the theme
for each issue, we invite book reviews and other contributions on ecozoic
topics, and reader comments. 

Theme of “Cosmology and the Ecozoic Society”

Pre-modern societies were grounded in an understanding of the universe. This
occurred through such things as cosmogonic myths, relating rulers to divine
powers, orientation of buildings and cities in relation to the sun and
stars, and civic and religious rituals. In modern societies, we lost “the
world,” meaning the sense of the universe as being so patterned as to
constitute a meaningful “cosmos.” Rémi Brague in The Wisdom of the World:
The Human Experience of the Universe in Western Thought observed that the
term “universe” came to mean the totality of things, whatever this may be,
whether good or bad or ordered or chaotic. 

Thomas Berry believes that one of the most important needs in the reform of
society is to institute a new cosmological grounding. In this first edition
of TE, reflection is invited on what this would mean. Contributors may want
to comment on or critique one of the following quotes of Thomas Berry found
in The Great Work:

*         The fulfillment of the Earth community is to be caught up in the
grandeur of existence itself and in admiration of those mysterious powers
whence all this has emerged (GW xi).

*	While we have more scientific knowledge of the universe than any
people ever had, it is not the type of knowledge that leads to intimate
presence within a meaningful universe. (GW 15)

*	No effective restoration of a viable mode of human presence on the
planet will take place until an intimate human rapport with the Earth
community and the entire functioning of the universe is re-established on an
extensive scale. (GW 19)

*	We might understand the universe primarily as celebration. (GW 19)

*	We might think of a viable future for the planet less as the result
of some scientific insight or as dependent on some socio-economic
arrangement, than as participation in a symphony or as a renewed presence to
the vast cosmic liturgy” (GW 20). 

*	We live now, not so much in a cosmos as in a cosmogenesis; that is,
a universe ever coming into being through an irreversible sequence of
transformation. (GW 26)

*	The universe is the primary lawgiver, the primary economic
corporation, the primary scientist, the primary technologist, the primary
healer, the primary revelation of the divine, the primary artist, the
primary teacher, and indeed the primary source, model and ultimate destiny
in all earthly affairs. (GW 81).

*	[S]ince the universe brought us into being with all our knowledge
and our artistic and cultural achievement, then the universe must be an
intellect-producing, aesthetic-producing, and intimacy-producing process.
(GW 81)

*	The primary concern of the university must be a functional
cosmology. Such a cosmology must recognize the spirit dimension of the
universe as well as its physical diminution. (GW 84).

*	The story of the emergent universe is our dominant sacred story. (GW
170).

Those who are not familiar with the general ideas developed by CES may refer
to the “Foundational Statements” of CES found at www.ecozoicstudies.org
<http://www.ecozoicstudies.org/> . Copies of prior publications of CES are
also available at this website.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Herman Greene at
ecozoic at mindspring.com.

Center for Ecozoic Studies

2516 Winningham Road

Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516

USA

Phone and Fax: 919-942-4358

_________________________

Center for Ecozoic Studies

2516 Winningham Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27516

USA

919-942-4358 (ph & fax)

www.ecozoicstudies.org

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