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Barbara Stahura
Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
SOM: How do day and night language fit into evolution?
MD: The reason many people have found science uninspiring is because it’s not been brought into the realm of interpretation in a way that touches, moves, and inspires them to greater integrity, love, or compassion. And yet it most certainly can do that. That’s why Connie, my wife, and I do what we do. We’ve found that this sacred, meaningful interpretation of the whole history of the universe does indeed help us live lives of greater joy, purpose, and passion for life. Understanding for example, how my brain evolved has made it infinitely easier to live in integrity and enjoy the fruit of doing so on a daily basis. I don’t fall to the things I used to fall to. I’m not even tempted by the things I used to be tempted by. And that’s largely as a result of coming to understand my brain’s creation story and the evolutionary path that led to this moment.
The brain evolved in a very natural, additive sort of way. We all have an un chosen nature or inherited proclivities. That is, we all have aspects of ourselves we don’t like or find challenging, or others around us find challenging. And it’s because these are part of our instincts, which evolved in a very different world than we now live in. Having an understanding of this allows us to have compassion for ourselves and others. It helps us also have the tools and the self-knowledge for how to be in impeccable integrity, and enjoying the heavenly peace that passes all understanding, on a daily basis, as a result.
One of the analogies I often use in my programs is the analogy of Russian nesting dolls: subatomic particles within atoms within molecules within cells within organisms within planets and so on, all the way up and all the way down. Being “in integrity” or “in Christ” is being wholly aligned with the smaller and larger creative wholes of our existence. It’s being in right relationship at all nested levels.
SOM: What is the most important thing you want all people to know about evolution?
MD: That it matters what we think about evolution. In fact, possibly nothing matters more, both individually and socially. Personally, I want everyone to know that a sacred evolutionary world view can transform their life and relationships, quickly and durably. Collectively, I want humanity to realize that if we don’t become conscious of the process of evolution and adjust our institutions and practices accordingly, we may not be part of the body of life much longer.
There are three main reasons why I “thank God for evolution.” The first is that a holy, deep-time perspective builds bridges. It bridges head and heart, faith and reason, science and religion, and different religious traditions. It helps people understand why religions are different, so we can stop fighting and killing each other over our differences. And it also helps bridge family members. You can have humanists and evangelicals and New Thought family members who can find enough common ground to have some real deep, meaningful conversations.
The second reason I thank God for evolution is that a sacred view of the cosmic history provides real guidance. As individuals, it helps us to know how to have lives that really work and that are vibrant and alive and thriving, with happy and fulfilled relationships. It helps us know how to heal relationships that have gone sour. But it also guides us as a species. It helps us understand how life evolved and became more and more complex and cooperative at increasingly larger, wider scales. When we see the entire history of the universe in Scripture, we can learn from that and move into a just, healthy, sustainable life-giving future from a place of hope and possibility, rather than fear or overwhelm.
And the third reason I thank God for evolution is that it restores hope, real hope, realistic hope. Not otherworldly, supernatural hope, but a grounded, this-world hope that allows people to perceive the challenges in their life and the challenges we are dealing with as a species with a whole new attitude. And it can empower all of us to be of service to our world and to the future with renewed vigor.
One thing I wish people would realize that an evolutionary world view could offer them, as I discuss in the “Evolutionary Spirituality” sections of my book: it really does transform lives and relationships in ways that I’ve never seen anything else do—and I’m familiar with a lot of different modalities of transformation. And it is the only thing that is going to give us clear guidance as a species so we can move into a just, healthy, sustainable and life-giving future for planet Earth and as many other species as possible.
MD: The reason many people have found science uninspiring is because it’s not been brought into the realm of interpretation in a way that touches, moves, and inspires them to greater integrity, love, or compassion. And yet it most certainly can do that. That’s why Connie, my wife, and I do what we do. We’ve found that this sacred, meaningful interpretation of the whole history of the universe does indeed help us live lives of greater joy, purpose, and passion for life. Understanding for example, how my brain evolved has made it infinitely easier to live in integrity and enjoy the fruit of doing so on a daily basis. I don’t fall to the things I used to fall to. I’m not even tempted by the things I used to be tempted by. And that’s largely as a result of coming to understand my brain’s creation story and the evolutionary path that led to this moment.
The brain evolved in a very natural, additive sort of way. We all have an un chosen nature or inherited proclivities. That is, we all have aspects of ourselves we don’t like or find challenging, or others around us find challenging. And it’s because these are part of our instincts, which evolved in a very different world than we now live in. Having an understanding of this allows us to have compassion for ourselves and others. It helps us also have the tools and the self-knowledge for how to be in impeccable integrity, and enjoying the heavenly peace that passes all understanding, on a daily basis, as a result.
One of the analogies I often use in my programs is the analogy of Russian nesting dolls: subatomic particles within atoms within molecules within cells within organisms within planets and so on, all the way up and all the way down. Being “in integrity” or “in Christ” is being wholly aligned with the smaller and larger creative wholes of our existence. It’s being in right relationship at all nested levels.
SOM: What is the most important thing you want all people to know about evolution?
MD: That it matters what we think about evolution. In fact, possibly nothing matters more, both individually and socially. Personally, I want everyone to know that a sacred evolutionary world view can transform their life and relationships, quickly and durably. Collectively, I want humanity to realize that if we don’t become conscious of the process of evolution and adjust our institutions and practices accordingly, we may not be part of the body of life much longer.
There are three main reasons why I “thank God for evolution.” The first is that a holy, deep-time perspective builds bridges. It bridges head and heart, faith and reason, science and religion, and different religious traditions. It helps people understand why religions are different, so we can stop fighting and killing each other over our differences. And it also helps bridge family members. You can have humanists and evangelicals and New Thought family members who can find enough common ground to have some real deep, meaningful conversations.
The second reason I thank God for evolution is that a sacred view of the cosmic history provides real guidance. As individuals, it helps us to know how to have lives that really work and that are vibrant and alive and thriving, with happy and fulfilled relationships. It helps us know how to heal relationships that have gone sour. But it also guides us as a species. It helps us understand how life evolved and became more and more complex and cooperative at increasingly larger, wider scales. When we see the entire history of the universe in Scripture, we can learn from that and move into a just, healthy, sustainable life-giving future from a place of hope and possibility, rather than fear or overwhelm.
And the third reason I thank God for evolution is that it restores hope, real hope, realistic hope. Not otherworldly, supernatural hope, but a grounded, this-world hope that allows people to perceive the challenges in their life and the challenges we are dealing with as a species with a whole new attitude. And it can empower all of us to be of service to our world and to the future with renewed vigor.
One thing I wish people would realize that an evolutionary world view could offer them, as I discuss in the “Evolutionary Spirituality” sections of my book: it really does transform lives and relationships in ways that I’ve never seen anything else do—and I’m familiar with a lot of different modalities of transformation. And it is the only thing that is going to give us clear guidance as a species so we can move into a just, healthy, sustainable and life-giving future for planet Earth and as many other species as possible.
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