Thomas Berry – The Great StoryMar 18, 2008Positive News Issue 55
‘The Great Story is the story of the changing story. Whenever a new discovery is made in the sciences, this creation story changes. Change is to be welcomed — not feared.’A brilliant and moving new 50 minute documentary DVD on the life and work of a most respected and eminent elder, Thomas Berry, is available to buy from GreenSpirit Books. “This is a powerful film about one of the most important thinkers of our time,” says Matthew Fox, renowned theologian, priest, author and exponent of ‘Creation Spirituality’.‘The Great Story’, also known as the ‘Epic of Evolution’, is humanity’s story of creation. It is the 14 billion year long science-based sacred tale of our cosmic genesis, from the birth of the galaxies and the origin of Earth’s life, to the development of consciousness and the onset of human technology. Using wonderful images and music, the film begins with the natural world and all its beauty, as the narrative yarn of creation unwinds.
Thomas’s life work is to wake us up to this special and sacred story. “We’re mad,” he says, “for the way we are despoiling our home, our planet, its beauty and its living systems. What can be more cosmically significant than the fact that we humans are presiding over the greatest extinction spasm of the past 65 million years? We are the ones who are responsible.”
Thomas urges us all to try and change our ways. In poetic language, he leads us into the ecstasy of union with the divine beauty of creation. At the very heart of the film is Thomas’s experience of the universe as a cosmic liturgy. His insight says: “The universe is not a collection of objects but a sacred communion of subjects.” His values are rooted in this sacredness, which includes the entire natural world – the mountains, rivers, animals, birds, fish and vegetation. Thomas believes that these living organisms are not there for our use but for a union of being, which is necessary for us to become who we are. Thomas Berry’s venerable voice needs concentration at times but it is worth the effort in order to really appreciate the supreme significance of this film.
‘Thomas Berry - The Great Story’ on DVD is available from GreenSpirit Books Tel: +44 (0)1380 726224Website: www.greenspirit.org.uk/booksThomas BerryPhoto: © The Gaia Foundation
And the spirit of John Lennon lives on in his son - Julian who is accomplishing some wonderful things. Julian is a wonderful metaphor for all of us old baby boomers and children of the 60s and the evolution of our children and our children's children. It's all so wonderful.
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