Evolutionary Consciousness & Last Call for Symposium 2014

What comes to your mind when you hear the words ‘evolution’ and ‘consciousness’? According to the Merriam -Webster dictionary, evolution means “a process of slow change and development” while consciousness is “a person's mind and thoughts or knowledge that is shared by a group of people”.

Evolutionary consciousness simply means becoming aware of and embracing the reality that the cosmos, our world, and we human beings are engulfed in constant change.  And, it is suggested, that we are called to do our own part to move things forward, just as Jesus did.

Different times use different terms to express the same reality.  However, there is a thread that runs from the beginnings of the Sisters’ founding in 1650 at LePuy in France to our present living in 2014. The founding community was guided by Jean Pierre Medaille, http://www.csj-to.ca/jean-pierre-medaille-sj , a Jesuit of great spiritual depth. He counseled the early members to strive constantly for “the More” – being more and becoming more in their personal and relational lives with one another and among the people with whom they worked. This was and is an on-going developmental day-by-day process. This was and is evolutionary consciousness in action!

The Sisters of St. Joseph hold oneness with others and all of created reality to be the heart of evolutionary striving as the future calls us forward to “the More”.  Becoming more inclusive and enlarging our heart calls for self-emptying and letting go of fear, limitation and narrow interests just as God or Spirit did and continues to do in entering into the created world.

Medaille's concept of "the More", from 1650, seems to have similarities with the vision of Teilhard de Chardin, http://www.teilharddechardin.org/index.php/biography, another Jesuit. Teilhard , as scientist and priest-visionary in the 20^th century, had the realization that “we are moving” and that “Love” is the heart and direction of cosmic, cultural and personal evolution calling us forward.  We are “on the way” led by a Great Love.

As S. Margo Ritchie has said, “The movement of evolutionary consciousness calls for deepened personal responsibility for moving beyond the places of impasse in our shared life on the planet.”  Please check out Margo’s blog at /blog/2014/5/28/nothing-elitist-about-it.html

To learn more please join us at the Summer Symposium 2014, ‘Becoming Agents of Evolutionary Change’.  For details go to https://www.etouches.com/ehome/79110. Carter Phipps’ public keynote address at 7 pm Friday night will be held at the Kenny Auditorium, Kings’ College, London.

Mary Vandersteen, CSJ and Ann Steadman, Associate

Worldviews Matter

Have you ever wondered why there is such political deadlock between Republicans and Democrats in the United States today or such great disconnect between the Western and Developing Worlds? 

The short one word answer is “worldviews”. In his book Evolutionaries, Carter Phipps says that a “worldview” is:

• a conglomeration of conclusions about the world
• an invisible scaffolding in our consciousness
• the way the world looks from a particular level of consciousness
• a core conviction or set of convictions about the nature of what is real, true, and important. 

Our worldview, heavily influenced by our culture, determines the very way we make meaning.

Just as individuals evolve in consciousness, so too does human culture. Spiral Dynamics, a powerful theory by Clare Graves and Don Beck, calls the major cultural worldviews developed over the course of human evolution “Value memes”.  There are currently 8 stages or “value systems” which have been identified and given both names and colours. Here’s a quick overview of the four largest ones operating in today’s world (adapted from  http://dedroidify.blogspot.ca/2008/04/spiral-dynamics.html) :

RED - TRIBAL. Think: Terrible twos, Gangs, Tribal Warlords. 

BLUE -TRADITIONAL. Think: Boy Scouts, Fundamentalist anything. Rules are paramount.

ORANGE - MODERN. Think: Wall Street, Academia, Science, Individual ambition.

GREEN – POST-MODERN. Think: Environmentalism, Pluralism, All are equal, Non-violence.

Although each of these worldviews is very different, the one thing they have in common is the inability to see the validity of the other perspectives.  For instance: GREEN looks at ORANGE and says, “You greedy capitalists! You’re totally destroying our planet!” ORANGE looks at GREEN it says, “You tree-hugging, New Age hippies! Get a job and contribute to the economy!?” BLUE looks at everyone and says, “You’re all going to hell because you don’t believe in [insert favorite God here]!” RED looks at everyone and says, "I don’t like you so I’m blowing you up!”

To solve the complex and challenging crises facing our world today we need to consciously evolve as individuals and as a culture to a “second-tier” or “integral” level of consciousness. Here, for the first time, we can hold multiple perspectives.

What would that look like?

Well, we would be able to see the truth in the need to take care of our environment AND the need for a powerful economy AND the need for rules and regulations AND the need to take aggressive action when the situation demands it. This will be VERY powerful and VERY needed and you can be a part of it. See Ken Wilber’s comments @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0NhASbzFxo

Carter Phipps and Sue Wilson, csj will be addressing this very issue at our Summer Symposium: Becoming Agents of Evolutionary Change (follow the link to view the Symposium brochure).  Please join us!

Ann Steadman, Associate