In his great little big book “Evening Thoughts” (2006, Sierra Club Books) Thomas Berry exposes “six transcendences” which have put humankind and Earth-life in epochal crisis. He convincingly documents how we have come to the end of the Cenozoic period by our mindless (?) exploitation of life forms “in such a scale that it could only be equaled by the extinction at the end of the Mesozoic period some 65 million years ago” [pg 27]
Berry says this has happened because of the way humankind formulates ideas, packages the ideas in words, and passes them on as fixed formulae, sacred and unchanged from generation to generation. Father Berry enumerates “six transcendences” that are not only doing us in but are also doing in the webs of life in which we originate and depend.
Words, like ideas, are two-edged swords. They can help us cut through the confusion of ignorance and they can let us cut and paste reality (relationships, DNA) in such ways that natural continuity is subverted and trashed. Our “smarts” are at the same time doing and undoing reality. This is really the lesson of the Original Sin Story; only now humankind has “successfully” trashed the global Garden of Eden.
What are “transcendences” and how are we doing ourselves in by setting them up as untouchable idols? Transcendences are ideas (in word forms) that are handed down as fixed beliefs (absolute truths) from generation to generation. In short, they are mental constructs (entes rationis), conclusions of experience/belief (abstractions) that are made “fixations” (religious absolutes), collectively controlling our thinking and our behavior.
What are Tom Berry’s “transcendences”?
1. Belief that there is “a transcendent, personal, monotheistic creative deity”;2. Insistence on the “spiritual nature of the human” apart from other life;
3. The primacy of human “belief in redemption”, of not belonging to this world;
4. The “transcendence of mind” that disconnects spirituality from materiality;
5. The cumulative dominance of humankind over nature in “our transcendent technology”; and
6. That humankind self-disconnects from reality in its “transcendent historical destiny”.
These six cultural fixations can be wrapped up in a single package and identified as the contemporary human predicament. Tom Berry’s transcendences entwine to form a single, “memetic” package of culture that makes humankind successful and self-destructive. And that “single-package transcendence” is the dominion culture of patriarchy (theology) that sets its mind in the conviction (fixation) of its own institutional inerrancy — the imperial culture of dominion over nature — a hierarchy of corporate arrogance (religious, political and educational) and of control by institutional dominion (fear, guilt and violence).
Pride! Before the Fall. We have fallen, big time. It’s time to confess our ignorance and arrogance by which we have defeated ourselves and nature. It’s time to undo the “transcendences” of cultural fixation and discover “humility” (humus, earth-origin) and the “reality” of total relational dependency in nature.
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 8
Intuitional faith, in touch with evolutionary wisdom, is being assaulted. Legal structures that enable corporate exploitation of natural systems (patenting interventions of nature) accelerate the wiping out of global diversity. Pharmaceutical and petrochemical dominance in controlling seed germ plasma of primary food crops, corporate insensitivity to the biological sensitivities of interdependent organisms at all levels of the diverse ecological chain of symbiotic dependency, (e.g., dependency of bee-larvae on non-toxic pollen!), threaten to introduce (by genetic modifications) irreparable breakages in the genetic chains of life, with unknowable consequences.
The "great satan" among us is the idolatrous fixation of corporate capitalism on the god of profiteering at the expense of nature and our selves. It is the "original sin" of exploiting the "vital tree in the middle of the Garden". We are creating the fires that consume us and destroy the "tree" of vitality.
Faith is fundamentally the transformational consciousness of evolutionary intuition, a natural sensitivity that has everything to do with "religion". If our religions are not rightly informed and grounded in cosmic intuition, they easily serve corporate prostitution-idolatry. Only when we get nature right might we also get religion/civility/business right.
Contrary to cultural/religious fixation, nature necessarily evolves and so does humankind and faith consciousness. There is NOW a critical need for global changes in thinking and acting. Loyal Rue is prescient in his awareness of religions as being not only unhelpful, but of being part of the problem. It's shocking to modern religionists to be told that "RELIGION IS Not About God", Loyal Rue, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
I see, what to me, are errors in Mr. Berry's reasoning, despite an overall useful approach to our intransigence as a species. I can sum them up to some degree by pointing out two important considerations.
First, that something is included on such a list, does not mean that it is in any significant way responsible for the overall problem. One or more of the listed "trancendencies" might themselves not be troublesome of there own accord, but rather be "activated", or "associated" with the effects of the others. Essentially part of what is being corrupted, not a part of the corrupting forces.
Second, several of these "trancendencies" may simply be truths. We also have a transcendent belief that we need food and shelter, and if properly framed, it could be argued that without such a "physical well-being urge", many of our social/cultural problems would be eased greatly, a la bees. But of course we don't put it on such a list as this, because it is simply true. We cannot assume that human beliefs are false, because we can see how they create strife. Some things are believed, and true, AND cause strife.
The most obvious of these potential "true trancendencies" is the "monotheistic God". It is not rational to conclude such a God does not exist, simply because the idea that one does creates problems. Gods don't work that way.
If such a God does in fact exist, nothing anyone might decide will change that one bit. And that existence would in turn unzip most of Mr. Berry's other implied "false trancendencies". In a very real sense, this is little more than a personal statement about what Mr. Berry himself believes to be true. Such a list, with differing particulars, could be constructed to suit any number of belief structures.
The way of looking at our demise is useful, but it is hasty in the extreme to consider that list as more than an example of how to use it. As it's presented, it amounts to little more than a series of logical statements:
IF there is no "GOD" ... then there is no "special" spiritual nature to human beings ... then there is no "redemption" ... then there is no "transcendental mind ... etc.
IF on the other hand . . .
It all rests on that first premise, and that ain't up to us. A God may not be seeking what we would like to imagine as paradise. That concept of paradise might itself be a "transcendency".
Abstractions of mental constructs, built on prior presumptive abstracts that are misinformed and culturally advanced over centuries, become tangled webs of deception that are almost impossible to untangle. This is the conundrum today, especially for the "Children of Abraham" and their religious/political culture.
In a strange way, I feel Mr. Berry, from what you've revealed here, does not go nearly far enough in "attacking" the promulgation and adherence to "transcendencies". For I agree with your statement about "presumptive abstracts", and it seems to me that by focusing on his own list of "trancendencies" he dilutes this message. Regardless of what becomes "accepted truth" in a society, turning it into an unquestioned mantra seems itself to be at the root of mankind's lingering childishness.
What made Mr. Berry's sequence a bit disconcerting to me personally, and led me to speak up, is that the God of those Abrahamic Books relentlessly "attacks" this very tendency to turn truth into mantra. The whole story can literally be seen as a series of admonitions, complete with illustrative examples, of the inevitable damage done by this sort of "shorthand wisdom".
Indeed, I am convinced that the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is this very pitfall, put in terms which are only slightly metaphorical. In fact, the Hebrew term translated 'tree' here, denotes simply a thing that is firm, from which things can be supported. If my view is accurate, that God said basically; "There is one thing that will mess you up sure, don't do it. Don't go taking what your mind conceives of, as hard and fast truth. I didn't give you such a power, question everything."
Of course that is just me, and not Christianity, or Abrahamic tradition speaking, but still, it permits me to see Mr. Berry's basic message as truly concordant with the very God's he would have us believe is the primal source for the erroneous behaviour he points out. Essentially, it could be the ultimate instance of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
John, I don't know how the lesson of "original sin" could be stated more succinctly, clearly and appropriately to the times than you have stated it. THANK YOU!!!
Giving Tom Berry credit, he did go much further than enumerate his "transcendences" at the beginning of his book. I'll get back with more on that later, hopefully.
There is one "transcendency" which bears much consideration, I think, in pondering that directive given "in the garden". It has to do with what is meant, or indicated, by the phrase; "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". The words 'good' and 'evil' here, in Hebrew, do not refer to our modern connotations of them, as in; "goodness" and "badness". They refer to the broadest sense of those opposites, as in 'positive' or 'beneficial', verses 'negative' or 'harmful'. They are not "moralistic" in nature. That idea is a "transcendency".
There is a basic quality, or capability, which man possesses, far in excess of any other creature. We have the ability to "test" an action in advance, through the use of imagination. That is clearly what our imagination is for, God or no God. We can "play out" a potential action in our mind, and therein get a grasp of whether that action will lead to "good" results, or "evil" results. We are not limited to past results of past actions, but have the ability to generate an imaginary world, within which we can "project" and anticipate the consequences of actions which are related or similar to ones we have seen the results of. This is the human "thing". Our special "trick", which enables all the other aspects of intelligence to converge on a decision or invention.
When we do this thing, there is a "branching" sequence of thoughts and images generated. Numerous potential pathways which might play out in reality, which we estimate and intuit as probabilities, likelihoods if you will. A very sensible way to describe this realm of capability is; "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil". We often use the phrases "train of thought" or "line of reasoning" to speak of a single branch of the "tree" we can nurture within, as we look for potential solutions to problems or threats we encounter.
Hence, the warning given in the garden, when taken quite literally, appears to be more of a "functional" one, than a "moralistic" one. But, as we can "intuit", a crippling blow to the delicate functioning of imagination, will undoubtedly lead to a degeneration of our moral perspective. We may remain wistfully desirous of doing "good" by our actions, but have stripped ourselves of the essential integrity of the "systems" we have for understanding how to make that happen. In terms of Mr. berry's "transcendencies", we become too inflexible to to approach right action.
To "eat the fruit" of that tree, means to take what we imagine back in as if it were coming from objective "reality". As if what the tree bears is fact.
Thomas Berry's EVENING THOUGHTS is electrifying from beginning to end — scary but also hopeful; scary because it exposes the dead-end tendencies of today's human culture, and hopeful because it illumines what cultures need to do to stay alive. The book is published by the Sierra Club Books and masterfully edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker.
At the beginning, Berry presents the abstractions ("transcendences") that are pushing humankind and Earth-life toward irreversible wasting. But there is a lot more to the book. The body of the book is an overview of human belonging to Earth Community ("The Great Story"), human denial and self-undoing in the course of history. The book ends with three APPENDICES, the last of which accounts Berry's life accomplishments and his professional credentials.
The first APPENDIX calls for needed factual bases for human self-understanding of place in the global Earth Community; the second APPENDIX offers a code of ethics for informing global jurisprudence, by which inter-social justice and sustainability might obtain.
My purpose here is to give a sense of the First and Second APPENDICES. Caveat: I do not set myself up as an expert on Thomas Berry; much less do I represent "the orthodox" interpretation of Thomas Berry. I believe in his general thesis, its urgency, and I have confidence in his expertise.
In response to an essay I wrote and sent to him "Service to Religion in the Third Millennium", August 5, 1992, he wrote back to me: "Please excuse this brief response. I wish I could elaborate more fully. You have indeed set forth the fundamental vision needed for effective entry into the future. The quotes you use from my book I fully approve. I do hope that your vision will become effective on a broad scale throughout society." (August 9, 1992) [q.v., Sylvester L. Steffen, RELIGION & CIVILITY, pp 277-286, www.authorhouse.com] I have no reason to think that he has changed his mind toward me.
THE ABSTRACT I PRESENT HERE IS TOO CONDENSED TO GIVE AN ADEQUATE APPRECIATION OF BERRY'S BOOK. MY PREJUDICE MAY QUALIFY BERRY'S WORDING. READ THE BOOK YOURSELF. IT MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ.
Thomas Berry is an ecosocial visionary and pioneer. He has a strong sense that global cultures need to implement a new paradigm if they would reverse their downslide toward ecosocial ruin. He specifies the need for new understandings and ethical principles by which to interrelate within an interdependent ecosocial system. He has put forth "Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe" and "Ten Principles for Jurisprudence Revision". I will conflate the content of these in the two paragraphs that follow.
PRINCIPLES FOR UNDERSTANDING: (1) The unfolding of the universe is a developing story with a past, a present and a future. For the first time, The Story can be, and needs to be (!), told "with scientific precision through empirical observation" (2) The universe and life is "an interacting and genetically related community of beings bound together in an inseparable relationship in space and time" (3) At all levels of reality, the universe tends toward "differentiation, spontaneous self-organization and bonding". (4) It has constructive and destructive aspects that are "consistently creative" (5) Within the solar system, Earth operates by self-emergent life-systems that "integrate their [individual] functioning with [the] larger [interdependent] complex". (6) The human community "is genetically coded toward further cultural coding" and invents "remarkable diversity in the various regions of the Earth". (7) "The major shaping forces of human societies" occurred in the Neolithic period (some 12,000 years ago) and continue to characterize communities in various "intellectual, artistic and emotional developments". (8) Some five thousand years ago, "specialized social functioning" centered in the "eastern Mediterranian, in the Indus Valley…and in the North China Yellow River Valley". (9) Processes of empirical observation, begun in the early-sixteenth century Europe, have led up to extraordinary achievements of integrated understandings of the cosmic-Earth-life continuum. (10) Scientific achievement has enabled "the violent plundering of Earth" and the permanent and profound alteration of biological systems and geological structures. Global human domination has broken free from bio-system balance and is internally tilting large-system balance toward irrecoverable imbalance. (11) A new sense of "ecocentrism" is beginning to replace "dominant anthropocentrism". Some programs seek the integration of "human technologies with the technologies of the natural world. A sense of larger interspecies social order is being developed". (12) The "emerging Earth community" lacks a "mystique that will provide the high exaltation appropriate" for inspiring a sustainable will, which "can be found in celebrating…the seasonal sequence" and "the irreversible transformational sequences" of the Earth's evolutionary unfolding.
PRINCIPLES FOR JURISPRUDENCE REVISION: (1) Sustainable existence requires rights of self-social-expression. (2) "The universe is self-referent in its being, and self-normative in its activities". (3) The universe is a community of subjects, each with its own rights. (4) All subjects of communal Earth-life derive individual rights by reason of common origins and codependencies. (5) Universal and common rights are: "the right to be, the right to habitat or a place to be, and the right to fulfill [individual] role in the ever-renewing processes of the Earth community". (6) "rights are role-specific" (7) "Human rights do not cancel out the rights (natural) of other modes of being." Property ownership rights are relational to modes of being proper to and within the property. (8) Species depend on individuals in species-relationship; species rights apply to species individuals. (9) Intrinsic relationships bind all species, all property, so that broadly rights-claims pertain across the entire network of the biological continuum. (10) All humans have rights of access to the natural world, so that, individuals and groups have no right to exploit in a manner that deprives humanity of necessary access.