CHANGE THE STORY, CHANGE THE WORLD

NEW STORY GROUP

FRIENDS MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE

WHAT IS THE NEW STORY?

RESPONSES FROM MEMBERS OF THE NEW STORY GROUP

THE NEW STORY

Is being smart together.

THE NEW STORY

Deals with issues on everyone’s mind.

THE NEW STORY

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Uncovers violence in the context of our traditions.

THE NEW STORY

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Keeps us feeling newer, not older.

Barbara Marx Hubbard

THE NEW STORY

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Aims for higher consciousness and greater self awareness.

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THE NEW STORY

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Shows us what gets in the way.

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THE NEW STORY

Is transformational.

CHANGE THE STORY

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WHERE DO WE LOOK FOR INSPIRATION?

THERE ARE MANY SOURCES.

THE HEART OF THE STORY COMES FROM

For some time now the principal interest of my life is no longer Fossil [Hu]man, but the [Hu]man of tomorrow; or, more exactly, ‘the God of tomorrow,’ since I am convinced that the great event of our time is a kind of change in the face of God.

Teilhard, a French Jesuit theologian, mystic, and, paleontologist who wrote prodigiously about his vision of evolution of the human species and the teachings of the church. His work was not accepted and could not be published until after his death.

Letter August 30, 1950.

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It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories. The old story, the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it, is no longer effective. We have not learned the new story.

“The New Story,” in The Dream of the Earth (1988, 2018)

Thomas Berry  called himself a Geologian not a theologian to emphasize the importance of the earth in the spiritual life of the human. He integrated the traditions from the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples in his ecocentric focus.

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The true significance of the discovery of the quantum field is the new understanding it provides concerning the reality of the nonvisible.

Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story by Brian Swimme (Rev. Ed. p.105.)

Brian Thomas Swimme was transformed by beauty. He found meaning and purpose in the unfathomable beauty of the cosmos and its 13.6 billion years of evolution. His vision is readily accessible in the book and film “The Journey of the Universe” written with Mary Evelyn Tucker, another student of Berry’s.

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SOURCES OF THE NEW STORY

• In order to reconcile science and religion, each must accept new underlying assumptions.
• To the above three, we add many other voices.
• There are wisdom figures in all religions across the ages.
• Here are a few contemporary prophets.

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One of the ways that your project, your personal healing, or your social invention can change the world is through story. But even if no one ever learns of it, even if it is invisible to every human on Earth, it will have no less of an effect.

The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible by Charles Eisenstein.. 

Charles Eisenstein is a visionary who asks, so how exactly does this more beautiful world that our hearts desire look socially, economically, and politically? A much needed update to the vision in the Book of Revelations.

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Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom and clarity of perception by Robin Wall Kimmerer 

Robin Kimmerer shows how easily science and spirituality weave together in the indigenous tradition. But science must be willing to ask different questions.

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QUAKER SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

THERE ARE MANY HERE, TOO ...

Christianity, which inherited dualistic tendencies from part of both the Jewish and the Hellenistic world, does counter them with the belief that Jesus, at least, was at once fully human and fully divine, but the full significance of this insight is often obscured…

Awakening Universe, Emerging Personhood: The Power of Contemplation in an Evolving Universe by Mary Coelho (p. 218)

Mary Conrow Coelho, a life-long Quaker, holds an MA in biology, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary, and PhD in historical theology from Fordham University. You know her for her beautiful watercolors.

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AWAKENING UNIVERSE, EMERGING PERSONHOOD

The Power of Contemplation in an Evolving Universe

By Mary Conrow Coelho

(2002)

Finally, I suggest that the Society of Friends has a great intellectual task ahead of it, in the translation of its religious and ethical experiences and insights into a conscious understanding of the way in which the kind of love we treasure and covet can be produced, defended, and extended.

The Evolutionary Potential of Quakerism by Kenneth E. Boulding, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #136 (1964)

Kenneth Boulding  (1910-1993) was an economist, educator, peace activist, and interdisciplinary philosopher. He was married to Elise M. Boulding. 

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And yet, some Thing that moves among the stars,�And holds the cosmos in a web of law,�Moves too in me: a hunger, a quick thaw�Of soul that liquifies the ancient bars,�As I, a member of creation, sing�The burning oneness binding everything.

There is a Spirit: The Nayler Sonnets by Kenneth Boulding (1945)

Boulding also wrote sonnets.

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I saw, also, that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. In that also I saw the infinite love of God, and I had great openings."�

 Journal of George Fox, Chapter 1 by George Fox (1624-1691)

And many other examples from our own renegade wisdom figure.

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And we, also, had many openings and leadings among us.��Leadings have a home in a creative universe.��Especially, if you have a leading to

CHANGE THE WORLD

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WHO ARE WE?

• In 2004 Mary Coelho came to Friends Meeting at Cambridge and started the New Story Study Group
• Some of the original members are still active in the group.
• Mary Coelho, coordinator
• David Damm-Luhr
• Arthur Klipfel
• Gwen Noyes
• Severyn Bruyn (deceased)

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WHO ARE WE?

• Since then we have grown into an interfaith group.
• Our distribution list has about 90 emails.
• We have continued to meet monthly.
• We have yearly weekend retreats to discern our goals and plan workshops.
• Cornelia Parkes is now the convener.
• Our members seek to change the world in many ways.

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CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH ART

Pinewoods Morning: The Inner Light by Marion Foster

CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH PERFORMANCE ART

The Red Rebel Brigade of the Extinction Rebellion on the Bourne Bridge, September 5, 2020, with Gwen Noyes

CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH MUSIC

Emergent Universe Oratorio by Sam Guarnaccia (2017)

CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH DANCE

A Celebration of Rumi at FMC 2018-19

Mary Kay Klein and CMM

CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH CLIMATE ACTION

Elders for Climate Action

Grady McGonagill, founder of the Massachusetts Chapter

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CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH PUBLICATION

• Quakers and the New Story by Philip Clayton, Mary Coelho, and the New Story Group (2007)
• Recovering Sacred Presence in a Disenchanted World by Mary Coelho (2015)
• Quakers and the New Story: Healing Ourselves and the Earth by the New Story Group (2014, revised 2017)
• Les quakers et la nouvelle histoire: nous soigner ainsi que la terre Translated by Gregoire Maury (2019)

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CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH

• Workshops at
• Friends General Conference
• New England Yearly Meeting
• Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries
• Friends Meeting at Cambridge
• Radio interviews
• Interactive Cosmic Walk
• First Day School Curriculum
• Ministry

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CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH

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Actions done in love change the world and ourselves

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CHANGE THE WORLD BY CHANGING OURSELVES

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• How do we open ourselves to love?
• Meditation
• Awareness practices
• Quaker Meeting for Worship
• Connecting
• Stillness

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• It’s hard, but joyful, work
• It means paying attention to promptings of the spirit.
• My experience is that it can sometimes take years between an opening and a full understanding of it.
• Vocabulary is a stumbling block.

CHANGE THE WORLD BY CHANGING OURSELVES

• Means peering into that ocean of darkness and death.
• Means knowing the Old Story, the Story of Separation,
• And how it manifests itself in the world and in ourselves.

CHANGE THE WORLD BY CHANGING OURSELVES

The basic delusional system has altered little since the ascendancy of the Domination System some five thousand years ago…�These assumptions have continually reasserted themselves.

Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination, 1992

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Some Delusional Assumptions

• The need to control society and prevent chaos requires some to dominate others.
• Those who dominate may use other people as a means to achieve their goals.
• Violence is redemptive.
• Etc. for 16 altogether.

Liberation from the Delusional System

• If this sounds a lot like the work on White Privilege, patriarchy, homophobia, climate change denial, etc.
• It is.
• In fact, if you are working on any of these concerns, you are doing the work of the New Story.
• If you are working to change the world, you are doing the work of the New Story.

Reasons for cheerfully continuing

• If the delusional system has been around for thousands of years, what hope is there that it will go away?
• The human species is still evolving.
• The future of the human is to be more Christ-like (Teilhard’s vision)
• The Light within is called by many names (George Fox)
• Jesus was both fully human and fully divine (Mary Coelho)

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Reasons for cheerfully continuing

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• And you are, too!
• The same spirit lives in
• Animals,
• Plants,
• Rocks
• Water
• Atoms
• “The burning oneness binding everything”� (Kenneth Boulding)

Reasons for cheerfully continuing

• Evolution of the human species has a direction.

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• We are moving toward planetary awareness and away from tribalism

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• We are moving toward greater conscious self-awareness

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• We are moving toward greater empathy and connection

We are not alone in this journey

• Look around. Everywhere there are signs of liberation.
• The New Story group is part of that network of mycelial threads connecting underground.
• The New Story group is a node connected to hubs such as
• Findhorn New Story Hub in Scotland.
• Deeptime Network with Jennifer Morgan
• Forum on Religion and Ecology with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grimm at Yale University
• American Teilhard Association
• Center for Ecozoic Studies

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We are not alone

• Look around, the planet is waiting for us to join it in this adventure
• Feel that the earth loves you in return. (Robin Kimmerer)
• The new story has been unfolding for 13.6 billion years and will continue to unfold.

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In Conclusion

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Where are we now?

I feel what’s emerging is a conversation about what it’s like at these edges when trying to live the new story of interbeing.  Whether we’re in a “movement” (e.g., BLM), co-housing, an ecovillage, non-hierarchical organizations (e.g. FMC), grassroots political action groups (e.g., Elders Climate Action), we all seem to be exploring these edges.  

Email from David Damm-Luhr, August 2020

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“Through awareness of these edges - where we’re struggling on a personal level - we collectively create the preconditions for effecting systemic change.

• How do we deal with power dynamics?  
• How do we manage our pensions or retirement investments on which we’re financially dependent?
• How do we live our values without a lot of support in the culture?”�

LEARNING THE NEW STORY,�LIVING THE NEW STORY

Our work is not dependent on the outcome in November.

THANK YOU!

fmcquaker.org/outreach/new-story/

The New Story: Our gift to you!