PART II: Classic Quotations COMPILED by CONNIE BARLOW

PART II: Classic Quotations COMPILED BY CONNIE BARLOW

PRE 1950 live; a sense of wonder over the magnitude 1970’s and duration of the biotic enterprise.” “Does organized existence, and per- — ALDO LEOPOLD, 1949 “‘Look,’he said, waving a hand toward haps all material existence, consist of one A Sand County Almanac the street,‘every culture in the world has Proteus principle of life capable of grad- a built-in clock, but in what other culture ual circumstance-suited modifications and than ours has time been discovered to aggregations, without bound under the contain novelty? In what other culture solvent or motion-giving principle,heat or 1950’s & 1960’s would leaves, these yellow falling leaves, light? There is more beauty and unity of be said to be emergent and not eternal?’ design in this continual balancing of life “Is evolution a theory, a system, or a ‘Evolutionary time,’ I added, ‘the time of to circumstance, and greater conformity hypothesis? It is much more: it is a gener- the world-eaters—ourselves.’” to those dispositions of nature which are al condition to which all theories, all LOREN EISELEY, 1970 manifest to us, than in total destruction hypotheses, all systems must bow and The Invisible Pyramid and new creation.” which they must satisfy henceforward if — PATRICK MATTHEW, 1831 they are to be thinkable and true. Naval Timber and Arboriculture Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow.” “There is a grandeur in this view of — PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, life, with its several powers, having been 1955/59 originally breathed into a few forms or The Phenomenon of Man into one; and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed “As a result of a thousand million years law of gravity, from so simple a beginning of evolution, the universe is becoming endless forms most beautiful and most conscious of itself, able to understand wonderful have been, and are being, something of its past history and its pos- evolved.” sible future. This cosmic self-awareness is — CHARLES DARWIN, 1859 being realized in one tiny fragment of the The Origin of Species,first edition universe — in a few of us human beings. Perhaps it has been realized elsewhere “Educationalists in general agree that too, through the evolution of conscious imagination is important, but they would living creatures on the planets of other have it cultivated as separate from intelli- stars. But on this our planet, it has never gence, just as they would separate the lat- happened before.” ter from the activity of the hand.They are — JULIAN HUXLEY, 1957 the vivisectionists of the human personal- New Bottles for New Wine ity. In the school they want children to learn dry facts of reality, while their imag- “For the first time in four billion years a ination is cultivated by fairy tales, con- living creature had contemplated himself cerned with a world that is certainly full and heard with a sudden, unaccountable of marvels, but not the world around loneliness, the whisper of the wind in the “In the beginning there was light; them in which they live. On the other night reeds. Perhaps he knew,there in the then a dark cloud appeared, and made hand,by offering the child the story of the grass by the chill waters,that he had before the sun and earth. The earth grew universe, we give him something a thou- him an immense journey. Perhaps that warmer; its body exhaled moisture and sand times more infinite and mysterious same foreboding still troubles the hearts of gases; water collected on the surface; to reconstruct with his imagination, a the those who walk out of a crowded soon the first molecules struggled across drama no fable can reveal.” room and stare with relief into the abyss of the threshold of life. Some survived; oth- — MARIA MONTESSORI, 1948 space so long as there is a star to be seen ers perished; and the law of Darwin To Educate the Human Potential. twinkling across those miles of emptiness.” began its work.The pressures of the envi- — LOREN EISELEY, 1957 ronment acted ceaselessly, and the forms “It is a century now since Darwin gave The Immense Journey of life changed and became more com- us the first glimpse of the origin of species. plex. Until today, when humans stand on We know now what was unknown to all “The universe is an evolving product the earth.Intelligent,self-aware,we alone the preceding caravan of generations: that of an evolutionary process. It is not an among all creatures on earth have the [people] are only fellow voyagers with accident; it is an enterprise.” curiosity to ask: How did I come into other creatures in the odyssey of evolu- — THEODOSIUS DOBZHANSKY, 1966 being? What forces created me? And,guid- tion. This new knowledge should have Zygon 1 (4) ed by our scientific knowledge, we come given us, by this time, a sense of kinship- to the realization that we were created with fellow creatures; a wish to live and let out of all that came before us. In a fifteen- Spring 1998 1 Our Heritage billion-year drama, the Universe has the story provides the proper setting for things. We shall gain a wider, integrated evolved from its fiery formless begin- the teachings of all traditions, showing the knowledge of stars and galaxies, plants nings into a complex tapestry inhabited true magnitude of their central truths.” and animals, air, land, and sea. In particu- by beings able to contemplate their long — “THOMAS” IN BRIAN SWIMME, 1984 lar, we shall learn how living organisms cosmic history.” The Universe Is a Green Dragon evolved the expertise to invade the land, — ROBERT JASTROW, 1977 generate language, create culture, devise Until the Sun Dies “We cannot produce ourselves and science, explore space, and even study must value the system that has. But the themselves. In short, we are now striving “The evolutionary epic is probably the systemic source cannot reflectively evalu- to frame a heritage—a cosmic heritage— best myth we will ever have.” ate what it has produced; only we can. In a sweeping structure of understanding — EDWARD O. WILSON, 1978 humans, an evolutionary ecosystem based on events of the past, an intellectu- On Human Nature becomes conscious of itself.” al road map identified and embraced by — HOLMES ROLSTON III, 1986 humans of the present, indeed a virtual “A new creation story has evolved in Philosophy Gone Wild blueprint for survival if adopted by our the secular scientific community, the descendants of the future.” equivalent in modern times to the cre- “Can the materialistic evolutionary — ERIC CHAISSON, 1987 ation stories of antiquity. This creation epic—in its mythic dimension—restore a The Life Era story differs from the traditional Eurasian sense of at-homeness and human signifi- creation stories much more than these cance? The purpose of myth is not just to “A principal characteristic of human differ from each other. It seems destined provide a so-called objective understand- life is that it develops into biography. In to become the universal story taught to ing of ourselves and the world we live in; that sense, humans do not want their val- every child who receives formal educa- it is also to provide a sense of personal ues in nature, any more than they want tion in the modern form anywhere in the meaning and worth, moral direction, other goods in life, to come seriatum, like world. . . By means of this story the new morale in periods of life crises, and moti- beads on a string—intrinsic goods with- paradigm of the human is established. vation and power to overcome the worst out meaningful interconnection. Humans With its support we can awaken in the in us and realize the best. Can scientific want a storied residence in nature where morning and know where we are.We can materialism—as myth—do this?” the passage of time integrates past, pre- answer the questions of our children. We — KARL PETERS, 1986 sent, and future in a meaningful career.… can interpret suffering, integrate knowl- Zygon 21 (3) The evolutionary epic … is now consum- edge,guide education. We can have a con- mated in environmental ethics.” text in which life can function in a mean- — HOLMES ROLSTON III, 1988 ingful way.” Environmental Ethics — THOMAS BERRY, 1978 Teilhard Studies (1) “We have a new story of the universe. Our own presence to the universe depends on our human identity with the entire cosmic process. In its human 1980’s expression the universe and the entire range of earthly and heavenly phenomena “We are the local embodiment of a celebrate themselves and the ultimate Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have mystery of their existence in a special begun to contemplate our origins: exaltation. . . Science has given us a new starstuff pondering the stars; organized revelatory experience. It is now giving us assemblages of ten billion billion billion a new intimacy with the Earth.” atoms considering the evolution of atoms; — THOMAS BERRY, 1988 tracing the long journey by which,here at The Dream of the Earth least, consciousness arose.” — CARL SAGAN, 1980 “I am convinced that the story of the Cosmos universe that has come out of three cen- turies of modern scientific work will be “The creation story unfurling within recognized as a supreme human achieve- the scientific enterprise provides the fun- ment, the scientific enterprise’s central damental context, the fundamental arena gift to humanity. . . For the first time in of meaning,for all the peoples of the Earth. human existence, we have a cosmic story For the first time in human history,we can “Why do we strive to build such a that is not tied to one cultural tradition,or agree on the basic story of the galaxies,the grand synthesis? Well, if we can under- to a political ideology, but instead gathers stars, the planets, minerals, life forms, and stand the essence of cosmic evolution, every human group into its meanings. . . human cultures. This story does not dimin- then perhaps we can better appreciate We are in the midst of a revelatory expe- ish the spiritual traditions of the classical who we are, where we came from, and rience of the universe that must be com- or tribal periods of human history. Rather, how we fit into the cosmic scheme of pared in its magnitude with those of the

2 EPIC OF EVOLUTION QUARTERLY Our Heritage great religious revelations. And we need sented in narrative; scientific in its data, whose faith decisions we try to emulate. only wander about telling this new story mythic in its form.” Such stories are, of course, to be cher- to ignite a transformation of humanity.” — BRIAN SWIMME AND ished. They link us with our heritage,they — BRIAN SWIMME, 1988 THOMAS BERRY, 1992 speak deep psychological truths, and they in David Ray Griffin, ed., The Universe Story are sacred to those who orient their lives The Reenchantment of Science within the eminence of God. But, in addi- tion, a new naturalism would strive to “There is science now to construct articulate metaphors from nature, the story of the journey we have made on metaphors that have a universality,a glob- this Earth, the story that connects us with al meaning that transcends particular cul- all beings. Right now we need to remem- tures and faith traditions.” ber that story—to harvest it and taste it. — URSULA GOODENOUGH, 1994 For we are in a hard time. And it is the Zygon 29 (4) knowledge of the bigger story that is going to carry us through.” “How important it is that we learn the — JOANNA MACY, 1988 Sacred Story of our Evolutionary Thinking Like a Mountain Universe, just as we have learned our cul- tural/religious stories. Each day we will “We call upon the power which sus- begin to do what humans do best: Be tains the planets in their orbits,that wheels amazed! Be filled with reverence! our Milky Way in its 200-million-year spiral, Contemplate! Fall in Love! Be entranced to imbue our personalities and our rela- by the wonder of the Universe, the tionships with harmony, endurance, and uniqueness of each being, the beauty of joy. Fill us with a sense of immense time so creation, its new revelation each day, and that our brief, flickering lives may truly the Divine Presence with all!” reflect the work of vast ages past and also — MARY SOUTHARD, 1994 the millions of years of evolution whose Spiritearth 4 (4) potential lies in our trembling hands.” — JOHN SEED, 1988 “‘Tell me a story.’ How often as children Thinking Like a Mountain “The new naturalism does a superior did we ask this of those who cared for us? job of telling everybody’s story. It is more How exciting it has been in recent years to “We lack a cultural mythology that durable than metaphysical perspectives discover that the First Book is not a collec- might function as a matrix of shared mean- precisely because it rejects claims to final- tion of disconnected scientific facts about ings. Without such a mythology, we lack ity, inviting upon itself scrutiny and falsifi- a universe that serves merely as a backdrop the resources to achieve collective coher- cation. And it gives us what is to date the for our lives. Rather, it is a Story of a ence and personal wholeness. And under most reliable and satisfying account of Universe that from within itself has unfold- these conditions, that is, the conditions of where we came from, what our nature is, ed stars and galaxies, mountains and amythia, there is little chance that and how we should live. What is new oceans, plants and animals, you and me. Western culture will survive very far into about the new naturalism is that the story The whole cosmos is on a collective jour- the 21st century. . . When artfully present- has become more complete and coherent ney,and our individual journeys are part of ed, when fitted with its implications for as scientists have recognized that the orga- that. It is a Story of the Universe that car- hope and its call to service, the metaphor nization of matter, the organization of life, ries the meaning of what it means to be of evolution can restore Western culture to and the organization of consciousness are human, telling us where we are, where we its bearings in nature and history.” continuous phases of development within come from, who we are, and what is — LOYAL RUE, 1989 a singular evolutionary event. The new expected of us. At our peril we ignore it. Amythia naturalism may not be everybody’s story As a guide into our future we must read it.” in the absolute and final sense, but it is far — JOHN SURETTE, 1995 and away the closest anybody has come.” Spiritearth 5 (4) — LOYAL RUE, 1994 1990 – 1995 By the Grace of Guile “As language-using organisms, we par- ticipate in the evolution of the universe “To behold the Grand Canyon without “Religions have always been in the most fruitfully through interpretation. thoughts of its ancient condors, sloths, business of meme generation, offering We come to grips with the world by and goats is to be half blind.” narratives that orient and inform the drawing pictures, telling stories, convers- — PAUL MARTIN, 1992 course of existence. Such stories have tra- ing. These are our special contribution to Wild Earth,Winter ditionally described the dilemmas experi- existence. It is our immense good fortune enced and the moral and spiritual deci- and grave responsibility to sing the songs “Only now can we see with clarity sions reached by particular persons— of the cosmos.” that we live not so much in a cosmos as in Moses, Muhammad, The Buddha, Jesus— — EDWIN DOBB, 1995 a cosmogenesis, a cosmogenesis best pre- persons with whom we identify and Harper’s February Spring 1998 3 Our Heritage

“What we have is a story of the uni- accomplish this only if we decide to com- “A mere scratch to an evolutionist verse we can see and imagine, set within mit ourselves to it, ordering our lives and reveals the life-blood of a storyteller, a an ultimate mystery, a myth like all the building our futures in the terms it pre- poet,a philosopher,and maybe even a the- preceding ones of whatever culture or scribes. Acceptance of this vision can help ologian.Whether we now uphold a narra- religion. Except that this one is woven by women and men in our world—not only tive of Biblical creation or the more rea- all humankind from far wider strands of those who think of themselves as religious soned narrative of evolution, we will find experience and imagination, fed by elec- in some more or less traditional sense but existence within such narrative frame- tronic circuitries and seen through elec- also modern/postmodern women and works that structurate lived experience. tronic eyes, shepherded by a common sci- men of other quite different persua- Within those narratives, which tell them- entific method. It is our ultimate person- sions—to gain some sense of identity, selves through us,lies the meaning of life.” al history,tracing our individual existence some sense of who we humans are and — VASSILIKI BETTY SMOCOVITIS, 1996 beyond our families, beyond our species, what we ought to be doing with our lives.” Unifying Biology beyond life, beyond the earliest galaxies, — GORDON KAUFMAN, 1996 and finally beyond the primordial fireball IRAS Epic of Evolution Conference; “We can begin to speak of the evolu- to the time when there was no time, the published in Zygon 32 (2) tionary value of lineages as an end in place where there was no space, and itself,because the evolutionary epic is our there was only mystery.” “The Epic of Evolution is a story of the creation story. We can begin to speak of — ERIC CARLSON, 1995 story.It is compelling,it is gripping,it is mov- the diversity value of species as an end in in Clifford Matthews, ed., ing, and it has potentially unitive power. The itself,because for us biodiversity is today’s Cosmic Beginnings and Human Ends new synthesis is an understanding that tradi- glorious manifestation of our sacred story tional religions are necessary but not suffi- and the only way to ensure that the story cient to move to a macrophase of wisdom… will continue.” There is power in this new story to evoke — CONNIE BARLOW, 1996 awe through a deeper understanding of Wild Earth (fall) process.There is power in this story to elicit identification through profound resonance with pattern—to nurture a deep feeling that matter matters. And there is power in this 1997 story to catalyze action through greater awareness of the processes of change.” “We are entering an age of synthesis — MARY EVELYN TUCKER, 1996 such as occurs only once every few gen- IRAS Epic of Evolution Conference erations. The years ahead will surely be exciting and productive times in the “The power of this story,what makes it world of science, largely because the sce- appear,at least at first,to offer a naturalistic nario of cosmic evolution will give us an ground for self transcendence, is its pure opportunity to systematically inquire into magnificence, the wonder of our improba- the nature of our existence. As we bility and the embeddedness of that approach the end of the millennium, such improbability way back at the beginning in a coherent story of our origins—a power- the inconceivable instant of the Big Bang.” ful and true myth—can act as an effective — TED LAURENSON, 1996 intellectual vehicle to invite all our citi- IRAS Newsletter 25 (1) zens to become participants, not just spectators,in the building of a whole new “Even if the discovery of the birth- legacy.” place of the universe is the greatest of the — ERIC CHAISSON, 1997 twentieth century or of all time, it is editorial in Science 275: 735 meaningless until it comes alive within 1996 us. The discovery itself was not the result “The world is almost mind-numbingly of an accidental or automatic action, but dynamic. Out of the Big Bang, the stars; “This frame of orientation or vision of came through the sustained effort of mil- out of the stardust, the Earth; out of the reality—this more amplified conception lions of humans. So too with its meaning. Earth, single-celled living creatures; out of of the biohistorical epic of evolution, in It is easy for anyone to become momen- evolutionary life and death of these crea- which the evolutionary unfolding is taken tarily fascinated or titillated with the wild tures, human beings with consciousness to be grounded in serendipitous creativi- data of the new story of the universe, but and freedom that concentrates the self- ty—is not in any way forced upon us: it it is another thing altogether to absorb transcendence of matter itself. Human can be appropriated only by means of our this over time into the center of one’s beings are the universe become con- own personal and collective decisions, being. Facts by themselves are not scious of itself.We are the cantors of the our own acts of faith. It has sufficient enough; what is needed is embodiment.” universe.” richness and specification to provide sig- — BRIAN SWIMME, 1996 — ELIZABETH JOHNSON, 1997 nificant orientation for our time,but it can The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos EarthLight (25)

4 EPIC OF EVOLUTION QUARTERLY Our Heritage

“The Epic of Evolution is the biggest means we would be celebrating the “I like to speak of this moment in our of all pictures, the narrative context for story of the changing story, too.” evolutionary history and its challenges all our thinking about who we are, — TYLER VOLK, 1997 in terms of weaving. We are, all of us, where we have come from, and how we in Green Space, Green Time weavers. The weaver constructs the should live. It is the ultimate account of warp, anchoring it to the loom, and how things are, and it is therefore the “Evolution is Darwin’s great gift to then, by working the weft in and essential foundation for discourse about theology.” through the warp, creates patterns and which things matter…. The more we — JOHN HAUGHT, 1997 the entire tapestry.The Epic of learn about the Epic of Evolution, the AAAS Epic of Evolution Conference Evolution, in the form that scientists pre- more we are motivated to repay the gen- sent it in their research papers, is the erosity of the past by seeding hope for warp on which all present and future the future.” meaning for our lives must be woven. — LOYAL RUE, 1997 There is no single correct way in which EarthLight (26) the weaving will take shape, no single authorized manner in which the Epic “My encouragement to those who must appear in our worldviews. All of want to live this new story is to find a way the various weavers of meaning will find of bringing it into your everyday life. Feel a commonality in the warp and in the the magic of holding a child, comforting cultural crisis that faces us all, and each someone in pain by hearing their story,or will learn from how others negotiate tasting the sensuous wonder of a fresh their visions within the loom’s con- garden tomato. Find out what energizes straints and possibilities.This is what we you and share it.” are here for,we humans who are the cul- — KURT LAUREN DE BOER, 1997 tural religious animals of evolution on editorial, EarthLight (26) our planet. We are here to weave the spiritualities that are life-giving for our “Tell me a creation story more won- phase of the Epic of Evolution and for drous than the miracle of a living cell the next generation.” forged from the residue of an exploding — PHILIP HEFNER, 1997 star! Tell me a story of transformation AAAS Epic of Evolution Conference more magical than that of a fish hauling out onto land and becoming amphibian, “A rationally compelling environmen- or a reptile taking to the sky and becom- tal ethics is dependent on religion. ing bird, or a bear slipping back into the Ironically, the only way to resolve sea and becoming whale! If this science- “We know more about the universe conundrums regarding science, religion, based culture, of all cultures, cannot find than any people ever knew.We have more and morality is to stand environmental meaning and cause for celebration in its command over the functioning of the ethics on sacred ground. Only when we very own cosmic creation story, then we Earth than any people ever had.Yet we are perceive that the value of the living nat- are sorely impoverished indeed.” less intimate with the universe than peo- ural world is grounded in something — CONNIE BARLOW, 1997 ples of prior times. This can be seen in greater than ourselves, in something Green Space, Green Time the work of scientists who write with other than our human ability to value it, great insight into the earlier phases of the will our rational capacities be satisfied “If we have within us a biological universe and then remark that the more fully that life on earth matters. . . Even need to internalize a rather permanent we know about the universe, the less though I consider a religious worldview story of what the world is about, then meaning it seems to have...Now that this essential for a compelling environmental not having a story, or being confronted awareness of the epic dimension of the ethics—however—most days I am agnos- with the changing story of science, evolutionary process begins to be seri- tic. Yet I also have deep, affective experi- could trigger a personal crisis. What if, ously considered, a new world of under- ences of the value of people, of our earth- however, our story becomes the story of standing appears on the horizon. My first ly home, of our miraculous kindred rela- how stories change? Even if we can’t thought is that we not try to write theol- tions. These experiences are meaningless ground ourselves in an immortal story ogy at this moment.My thought is that we in the absence of the sacred, and yet they anymore, the immortality can be had in celebrate the glory of the universe that is are as convincing as what I know scientif- the story of how we make stories, of there before us.We need have no doubts ically. In the final analysis we must how we find stories through science. of the appropriateness of our celebration choose—either to believe in a fascinating This means that rather than just cele- of the sacred in this epic narrative. Here but meaningless universe—or in one con- brating the new cosmology, the new we join the great wisdom traditions of the gruent with our own experiences of the geophysiology,there would be instances past. In the Epic of Evolution, science value of people and place. Choosing is dif- of celebrating, say, this week’s top story becomes a wisdom.” ficult. Yet, I am compelled by my own in Nature and the story of how that new — THOMAS BERRY, 1997 affective life, my aesthetic preferences, by story came to be. Keeping current AAAS Epic of Evolution Conference a few moments in nature that are beyond Spring 1998 5 Our Heritage words, to affirm that it all matters. I am not “The true evolutionary epic, retold as serves as the ultimate meaning and the sure of much, but I am sure of this.” poetry, is as intrinsically ennobling as any ultimate value. The continuation of life — BRON TAYLOR, 1997 religious epic.” reaches around, grabs its own tail, and Worldviews 1 — EDWARD O. WILSON, 1998 forms a sacred circle that requires no fur- Consilience ther justification, no superordinate mean- “As reconstructive postmodernism has ing of meaning,no purpose other than the matured, the project of reconstructing a continuation continue until the sun col- postmodern worldview, after the collapse lapses or the final meteor collides. I con- of the modern one, has become the pro- fess a credo of continuation. And in so ject of reconstructing a postmodern grand doing, I confess as well a credo of human narrative.A narrative is, and is unapologet- continuation. We may be the only ques- ically so, a mere story. A narrative makes tioners in the universe,the only ones who no claim to be the unvarnished truth, have come to understand the astonishing makes no claim on certainty; it is a self- dynamics of cosmic evolution. If we are confessed representation, and nothing not, if there are others who Know, it is more. A narrative may be characterized as unlikely that we will ever encounter one ‘grand’ when it tells a comprehensive another. We are also,whether we like it or story,a story that, when most comprehen- not, the dominant species and the stew- sive, includes everything. Theologian ards of this planet. If we can revere how Thomas Berry and physicist Brian things are, and can find a way to express Swimme have collaborated to compose gratitude for our existence, then we The Universe Story.They have been joined should be able to figure out, with a great by astronomer Eric Chaisson, compara- deal of hard work and goodwill, how to tivist Mary Evelyn Tucker, philosopher share the Earth with one another and Loyal Rue, theologian Gordon Kaufman, with other creatures, how to restore and among others, to compose an epic of cos- preserve its elegance and grace, and how mic evolution as a grand narrative on the to commit ourselves to love and joy and order of, and addressing the same prob- laughter and hope.” lematics as, Genesis, the Theogony, the — URSULA GOODENOUGH, 1998 Enuma Elish, the Hawaiian Kumulipo, and The Sacred Depths of Nature similar traditional origin myths.” “We are the life that knows how it — BAIRD CALLICOTT, 1997 came to be, that can contemplate its “The epic of evolution is the sprawling Amer. Academy of Religion Conference future. We are the universe become con- interdisciplinary narrative of evolutionary scious of itself. For four billion years life events that brought our universe from its never even bothered to ask, and then— ultimate origin to its present state of just 40 thousand years ago—life finally astonishing diversity and organization. In 1998 popped the question. But it was only yes- the course of these epic events matter terday that we grasped the answer: we— was distilled out of radiant energy, segre- “How to interpret the Epic of all life—have evolved and will continue to gated into galaxies, collapsed into stars, Evolution is neither obvious nor simple. do so. Wakened suddenly from our four- fused into atoms, swirled into planets, It requires romantic vision and philosoph- billion-year slumber, our millennial stir- spliced into molecules, captured into ical rigor. It requires appropriate meta- rings, we find ourselves in the midst of an cells, mutated into species, compromised physical concepts and inspiring artistic explosion. At the precise moment we into ecosystems, provoked into thought, forms. The Epic of Evolution requires an have awakened, have come to know, we and cajoled into cultures. All of this (and interpretive community that seeks to inte- appear to be either life’s fool, accelerating much more) is what matter has done as grate knowledge and wisdom from across toward the brick wall of planetary finite- systems upon systems of organization the disciplinary boundaries of our com- ness, life’s clever revolutionary headed have emerged over fifteen billion years of partmentalized modern university and toward the stars, or a sadder but wiser creative natural history.” our fragmented postmodern society. The species yearning for Eden. As we struggle — LOYAL RUE solution is evolution. Adapt! . . . Many of to come fully awake, we are not yet sure Everybody’s Story (forthcoming,) the frameworks best able to interpret the which it is—the fool, Captain Kirk, or a Epic of Evolution are already present in new Adam and Eve—but we suspect our Compiler’s Note: Thanks to Bruce the world’s spiritual traditions. Successful self-assessment could, in itself, make a Bochte, George Fisher, and Michael adaptation is built upon creative replica- decisive difference.” Rampino for suggestions incorporated tion. We need ancient wisdom upon — R. GENET, C. DAVIDSON, A. VAUGHN into this list. which to build this new world.” Zygon (in press) — WILLIAM GRASSIE, 1998 Science and Spirit 9 (1) “For me, the existence of all this com- plexity and awareness and intent and beauty, and my ability to apprehend it,

6 EPIC OF EVOLUTION QUARTERLY