Greetings, WesleyNexus Colleagues:
In Praise of Praise
Two weeks ago I was in Denver attending the annual meeting of the American
Academy of Religion, when the mass shooting happened at the Club Q in
Colorado Springs. There was nothing that those of us at AAR could do about it,
but the grief among us was palpable. Of course, it was one among several mass
shootings during this past month in our nation, and before December ends,
undoubtedly there will be others during the holiday season. We ask ourselves
how can this string of events be happening? And, What can be done about it?
With our nation polarized on so many issues, there is no clear answer. But
surely those of us in the Christian community might take some responsibility for
crafting a path out of this morass? Meanwhile, we grieve for the victims and their
families. But to what effect?
Perhaps we might focus on the other side of the coin. Rabbi Abraham Joshua
Heschel instructs us that “Praise precedes faith.” To practice our faith—any faith
tradition—we need to bring the experience of praise to the table. That is what this
great religious teacher is telling us. We talk frequently about how we are called to
do both our inner work and our outer work. We get pretty good at the outer work.
The inner work surely includes praise, for praise is born of an encounter with the
beauty of the world. Poet Rainer Maria Rilke links the Via Positiva to the Via
Transformativa, linking our mystical calling to our prophetic calling, when he says:
We “do justice only where we praise.” Praise is the noise that joy makes. Praise is
intrinsic to the Via Positiva. Justice and Joy go together. We need the joy and
praise to sustain us in difficult times when we struggle against big forces in order to
heal, do compassion and make justice happen. But joy is also the goal of justice to
render the Via Positiva more possible for more peoples and beings. Praise is a kind
of culmination of equality—it invites more people into the opportunity to participate
in the “festival” (Thomas Merton’s word) that life is meant to be—not for a privileged
few but for all. As Meister Eckhart says, “what happens to another, whether it be a
joy or a sorrow, happens to me”. Celebration is an integral part of the holiday
season, and also integral to compassion. With this in mind, let us choose to dwell in
Rabbi Heschel’s invitations to praise.
Maynard Moore
On a more practical front, please don’t forget to include WesleyNexus in your end-of-the-year
philanthropy. Since we were incorporated and approved in 2009 by the IRS as an educational
and religious institutions, we have always finished the year in the black. But that depends on
our participants and supporters like you. We make ourselves available to any groups and
congregations that want to explore the benefits of engaging in the science and religion
dialogue. Several years ago we successfully launched the Discovery and Faith project,
focused on developing curriculum materials for use in churches working with young people.
Now we are spinning off that project as an independent charitable organization under the
leadership of Board member Jennifer Secki Shields. Other programs and projects depend
upon your support. Please send your donation to Richard Barr, Secretary-Treasurer, 24500
Fossen Road, Damascus, MD 20872. All gifts will be acknowledged. Many thanks.
Contents:
IRAS Webinar: “Nothing at the Cosmic Beginning?” with Dr Paul Carr
IRAS Webinar Series
The science of hope: More than wishful thinking By Maya Shrikant
Video: The Science and Power of Hope with Chan Hellman (TEDxOklahomaCity)
Embracing paradox and contradiction by Ameer Shaheed
THIS TINY 2D WORMHOLE COULD FINALLY SOLVE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN PHYSICS
Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder: ‘There are quite a few areas where physics blurs into religion’ with Killian Fox
Live the Questions by Rainer Maria Rilke
Blessings,
Maynard Moore, Rick Barr and the rest of the WesleyNexus team
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Discovery and Faith
https :// www.discoveryandfaith.org/
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December Webinar
“Nothing at the Cosmic Beginning?” with Dr Paul Carr
On December 7, 2022 5:00 Eastern, 4:00 Central
Using Einstein’s new general relativity theory, priest George Lemaitre was the first to propose that the universe expanded from a hot big bang. Although not taken seriously at first, his hot big bang theory was accepted after radio astronomers discovered the cool, fossil, remnant radiation that had expanded from the hot big bang. MIT Professor Alan Guth has solved problems that emerged from Lemaitre’s original proposal and has predicted some properties of the universe that have been observed. When Alan Guth was recently asked what was there at “the beginning,” he replied, “the laws of physics existed before any universe.” This is reminiscent of John 1:1, “In the beginning was the word,” or logos in the original Greek. Logos is a logical structure, cosmic blueprint, or equivalently the laws of physics.
This contrasts with atheist Professor Laurence Krauss, author of the best-selling book “A Universe from Nothing.” Over two million people have viewed the YouTube video that Krauss presented at Richard Dawkins’ atheist symposium. We live on an island of knowledge in a sea of mystery. As our knowledge island expands, the shoreline with mystery grows.
Presentation Background: Paul H. Carr, BS, MS, MIT; Ph.D. Brandeis, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Life Fellow, led the AF Research Laboratory Branch that developed the low-cost Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters used in cell phones and radar. The Templeton Foundation awarded him grants for the science and religion courses he taught in the philosophy department at U Mass Lowell. This inspired his book Beauty in Science and Spirit (2006). He championed the 2017 IRAS Climate Change conference and received the 2018 IRAS Academic Fellow Award. He has published over 90 papers in scientific journals including Zygon and has 10 patents. His web page: www.MirrorOfNature.org
Respondent: Christopher J. Corbally, S.J., Ph.D. is a Jesuit priest and astronomer with the Vatican Observatory Research Group, for which he has served as Vice Director, and liaison to its headquarters at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. He is an Adjunct Associate Astronomer at the Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, and ministers to a wide variety of Catholics, including Native Americans in Tucson, Arizona. He was the president of IRAS from 1999 to 2002, and is the Co-Founder of The Human Sentience Project, LLC.
The IRAS webinar is FREE, but registration is required:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4cCvjxSQT22dWnYrKEOiIg
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The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS)
IRAS is an international society of learners and thinkers, natural and social scientists, philosophers, theologians and people from many other backgrounds and professions. IRAS cultivates a community of informed and respectful inquiry and dialogue at the intersections of science with religion, spirituality and philosophy in service of global, societal and personal well-being.
IRAS Webinar Series
For 65 years, The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has held summer Conferences on Star Island, off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone our 2020 Star Island conference until the summer of 2021. In order to continue to engage with IRAS themes and the IRAS community, with Star Island’s generous support, we launched a live webinar series: Science, Religion, & Society.
https://www.iras.org/webinar-series.html
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The science of hope: More than wishful thinking By Maya Shrikant
In psychology, hope is a cognitive practice that involves the intentional act of setting goals and working toward them with purpose.
“Hopeful people are able to set goals, identify ways to reach their goals and feel as though they can do the work to achieve those goals,” says Crystal Bryce, associate director of research in the Hope Center and clinical assistant professor in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics.
https://research.asu.edu/science-hope-more-wishful-thinking
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Video: The Science and Power of Hope with Chan Hellman (TEDxOklahomaCity)
“A lot of people want to change their lives, but they are not quite sure how. They think of hope as a magic wish, or an ideal that is out of reach. In this talk, Dr. Chan Hellman shares there is both science and power in hope to help people create the change they want in life.
Chan M. Hellman is a professor of social work at the University of Oklahoma and Director of The Hope Research Center. He has written more than 150 scientific publications and has presented at numerous national and international conferences worldwide. Chan’s research is focused on hope as a psychological strength helping children and adults overcome trauma and adversity. Chan is the co-author of the award-winning book “Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life” with his co-author Casey Gwinn published by Morgan James.”
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Embracing paradox and contradiction by Ameer Shaheed
What is the value of embracing paradox and contradiction? Do the arts enhance our
capacities to embrace the paradoxes inherent in seemingly contradictory phenomena? In
what ways do discernment of the paradoxical nature of things and capacities to maneuver
within paradoxical situations help us address complex global challenges?
Paradox can be defined in several ways. Definitions include: “a statement contrary to
common belief….a statement self-contradictory in fact, and hence necessarily false, and
finally …a statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd, although it may be
true in fact” (Ackermann, 1991). The last part of this definition is particularly important to
note: paradoxes do not imply falsehoods – indeed they can be highly revelatory.
This memo explores one of nine distinctive characteristics of ethical engagement through the
arts. It is part of the research informing the report entitled: Invite | Affirm | Evoke | Unleash:
How artistic and cultural processes transform complex challenges.”
This research was proposed by the Community Arts Network (affiliated with the Porticus
Foundation) and carried out and written by IMPACT: Imagining Together Platform for Arts,
Culture, and Conflict Transformation, in partnership with Brandeis University and ReCAST, Inc.
This brief memo was written by Ameer Shaheed, and partly informed by a chart compiled by
Dr. Dagmar Reichert, an expert in the field of art in conflict mediation and managing director
of ArtasFoundation for peace. The chart can be found attached to this document.
https://www.brandeis.edu/ethics/peacebuilding-arts/current-projects/impact/pdfs/q7-paradox.pdf,
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THIS TINY 2D WORMHOLE COULD FINALLY SOLVE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN PHYSICS
A GROUP OF physicists just built a tiny model of a wormhole on a quantum computer and sent a qubit — a quantum unit of information — through it. It’s a tiny step, but it could be the first step toward not only teleportation, but resolving the differences between the two fundamental sets of laws that govern our universe. The physicists published their results in the journal Nature.
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Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder: ‘There are quite a few areas where physics blurs into religion’ with Killian Fox
To answer life’s biggest questions, says the German theoretical physicist and YouTuber, we need to abandon unscientific ideas such as the multiverse.
Sabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist who writes books and runs a YouTube channel (with 618,000 subscribers at time of writing) called Science Without the Gobbledygook. Born in Frankfurt, she studied mathematics at the Goethe Universität and went on to focus on particle physics – her PhD explored the possibility that the Large Hadron Collider would produce microscopic black holes. She is now a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, where she leads a group studying quantum gravity. Her second book, Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions, came out in August.
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Live the Questions by Rainer Maria Rilke
I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
From: Letter to a Young Poet – selection from Letter Four
Translation by Stephen Mitchell