Voices of Humanity

George Wolfe

September 21^st: The International Day of Peace

 by George Wolfe

In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly established September 21^st as an international day of ceasefire around the world to provide opportunity for humanitarian aid to reach civilians caught in the crossfire of war. Originally entitled “Peace One Day,” it has become known as the International Day of Peace, symbolizing the hope that someday one international day of ceasefire will lead to many more.

Periods of ceasefire are desperately needed to help nations and NGOs deal with the massive number of displaced families in the Middle East and Africa that total well over 60 million individuals. These civilian war victims consist mostly of women and children that have fled from war-torn countries since the United States launched its war in Afghanistan in 2001 and its pre-emptive invasion of Iraq in 2003. Given the rise of ISIS, it should be clear to us now that things have gotten worse, not better.

This year, citizens of Muncie can join the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship from 5 to 6 PM to commemorate this multinational ceasefire day by walking the labyrinth at the Lutheran Church of the Cross, 4401 N. Wheeling Avenue.

My interest in walking a labyrinth as a meditative practice was revived last July when I had the opportunity to teach and perform at the New Harmony Music Festival and School that is held in New Harmony, Indiana. Christopher Layer, a graduate of the Ball State University School of Music who now resides in New York City, organizes this annual festival.

The town of Harmony was established by the Harmony Society in 1814. In 1825 an industrialist named Robert Owen purchased the town after the original settlers, known as “Harmonists,” decided to move back to Pennsylvania. Owen renamed the town “New Harmony,” hoping to create a utopian community.

Like the later experiment in Massachusetts in the 1840’s known as Brook Farm, New Harmony as a utopian experiment was an economic failure. Perhaps that is why the word “utopia,” which is of Greek origin, literally means “no place.”

Historical figures, such as philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich and Christian contemplative and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, have also contributed to the unique history of New Harmony. In addition to its 19th Century historic architecture, the town’s landscape features the unique “Roofless Church” and a large granite labyrinth.

A Labyrinth at first looks like a maze, but it is different than a maze in that it has a single path that winds around geometrically, leading ultimately to a center. Walking slowly through a labyrinth is a form of meditation. The systematized meandering path is a metaphor for the life journey. The path always begins by moving directly toward the center of the labyrinth. But before one reaches the center, the path is redirected many times over.

As the path continues, you eventually you do arrive at the center space, but are left wondering how it all worked out. I like to think of it as a mini-pilgrimage and a practice that facilitates mindfulness and prayerful reflection.

Labyrinths actually date back to ancient Greece. Yet they are often associated with Christianity, probably because the most famous labyrinth is in Chartres Cathedral in France. However, walking a labyrinth is not inherently a Christian exercise.  People from any faith or philosophical tradition can benefit from the practice. There is certainly no reason one’s personal pilgrimage cannot be inspired by humanism as well as by a religious tradition.

What a labyrinth walk does is place us in a reflective state of awareness where we become receptive to hearing the “voice of wisdom” that is within. The end result is greater insight and a sense of inner harmony which is the real goal of the journey.

Muncie is fortunate to have its own outdoor labyrinth at the Lutheran Church of the Cross. Please join the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship there on September 21^st from 5 to 6 PM. If you stop by, you may see me on its stone path, continuing my personal inward journey that has no end.

George Wolfe is Professor Emeritus and former director of the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He also chairs the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship, is a trained mediator, and the author of The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future Without War.

IMMIGRATION: GOOD FOR AMERICA,

George Wolfe

GOOD FOR OUR PLANET 
by
George Wolfe

Two years ago, the Ball State University School of Music Multicultural Committee sponsored a concert by “Sol Jalisciense,” a well-known Mariachi band based in Indianapolis. As chair of the Multicultural Committee, I was responsible for arranging this performance by these accomplished musicians from Mexico. Their performance in Sursa Hall was outstanding and the 400 strong student audience gave them a much-deserved standing ovation.

After the concert I said to the students, “this is one example of why immigration is good for America.” Today, because of globalization, educational exchange, freedom and economic opportunity, we are attracting to our shores people from many countries who are now sharing their cultural riches. In addition, immigrants are providing a labor force that is needed to perform many of the construction, agrarian, health care, entertainment, travel and food services jobs that undergird our expanding economy. With millions of baby boomers retiring (and I’m one of them), immigrants are vital to filling future gaps in the U.S. labor workforce.

Children and families from Central America are now crossing our southern border in huge numbers seeking refuge from poverty, unemployment, and violence from powerful drug cartels.  The reasons for this social and economic dilemma are complex and include political corruption and the fact that the primary market for Central American drug traffickers to sell their contraband is right here in the United States.

According to the website Frontline, the United States is the largest marketplace for illegal drugs. It is estimated that American drug users, both casual users and hardcore addicts, spend roughly $60 billion dollars a year to support their habits.

The U.S. must accept part of the responsibility for creating this refugee/immigration crisis because Americans buy the illegal drugs that help support the violent drug traffickers.

The answer to the crisis is not to send children directly back to impoverished and violent communities, but to assist those who have, out of desperation, made it to our country. Mayor Bill Gluba of Davenport, Iowa is spearheading a “Caring Cities Campaign” to help provide a haven for the children caught in this crisis while immigration judges review their cases. Communities throughout the United States should consider Mayor Gluba’s plan and become a “caring city.”

For those children who qualify, we should provide educational opportunities so we can capitalize on their talents and labor potential.  Those who develop skills or have skills to offer should be placed on the path to citizenship.

Immigration is not only good for our country. It is also good for our planet.

Researches on population shifts and demographics have noted that the world’s population is concentrated in specific geographical areas. This uneven distribution creates great stress on our planet. Developed nations, along with the United States, should adopt immigration policies that encourage a more balanced distribution of population. This will help ease pressure on regions of the globe where there is an urgent need for environmental restoration.

With the exception of Native Americans, we are all either immigrants or descendents of immigrants. Those who find refuge within our borders appreciate that the United States stands for equality, diversity and opportunity. Building walls and border fences sends the wrong message and runs counter to America as a light to the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

George Wolfe is Professor Emeritus and also serves Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He is also a trained mediator and the author of The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future Without War.

George Wolfe

FAITH AND REASON NEED NOT BE IN CONFLICT
by
George Wolfe

When I was in grade school, my father was not a regular churchgoer. Yet I remember him watching a weekly television show featuring the popular Roman Catholic clergyman Fulton J. Sheen. In his sermons, Bishop Sheen often spoke about the concepts of faith and reason.

The perceived conflict between science and religion often boils down to a misunderstanding of the relationship between faith and reason. Many of my empirically minded friends view faith as blind acceptance. They see faith as ignoring evidence provided by science.

Ironically, Hindu and Christian scriptures contain passages warning against blind faith, describing many of the spiritual leaders of their day as the “blind leading the blind.”

There is however, a form of faith that is “evidence-sensitive,” which can help us reconcile the perceived conflict between religion and science, faith and reason.

The term faith is more correctly understood as “trust.” We have faith in ideas, in people and relationships that we trust. And trust can only be gained through experience and by questioning and thinking deeply.

This kind of Faith often begins with intuition and insight and deals with circumstances that are as yet unseen. The Canadian physician and stress researcher Hans Selye, who was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize, is also remembered for his book From Dream to Discovery: On Being a Scientist. In Chapter 2, he defines intuition as: “the unconscious intelligence that leads to knowledge without reasoning or inferring. . . . It is the flash needed to connect conscious thought with imagination.”

Selye goes on to include examples of how many solutions to problems sought in the laboratory have been triggered by subjective insight. One intriguing example recounted by Selye is Otto Loewi’s famous experiment that revealed how nerve impulses are chemically transmitted. The design for Loewi’s experiment came to him in a dream.

After reading this section of Selye’s book, it occurred to me that Albert Einstein’s ideas about gravity could not initially have come from observation. Einstein explained gravity as the warping of space caused by the mass of an object. Warped space cannot be seen, nor is it an idea that seems “rational.” Only years later would his insight be verified by measuring how a star’s light was bent as it passed near the sun during a solar eclipse.

In the spring of 2011, I spoke on a panel at the International Conference of World Affairs in Boulder, Colorado. The topic for discussion was “Defining Faith.” As a panelist, I explained the relationship between faith and reason using the metaphor of marriage.

When a couple decides to make a life-long commitment, that decision, either consciously or unconsciously, is based on both faith (trust) and reason. No matter how well you know the person you are about to marry, you cannot know them well enough to predict with certainty, what they will be like 10 or 20 years hence. To make that kind of a long-term commitment requires faith, but such faith is not devoid of reason.

One must apply reason to assess the integrity and sincerity of one’s potential spouse. That assessment is an evaluation based on our experience with that person and knowing them on a deep level. One then takes what is called in religious circles a “leap of faith.” We leap into a realm of future, and to some degree unknown, possibilities. It is a process I call informed surrendering.

The decision to marry someone, like Selye’s examples in his book, shows there need not be conflict between faith and reason. Reason requires intellect; faith requires insight. A life of faith is a life of informed surrendering, a blending of predictability with uncertainty and trust.

All significant, long-term decisions must incorporate both faith and reason in order to make judgments that are meaningful and well informed. Applied together, faith and reason compliment each other and result in a viewpoint that is informed, illuminating and wise.

George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He also chairs the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship and is the author of the soon to be published book Meditations on Mystery: Science, Paradox and Contemplative Spirituality.

Earth Day Should be Everyday
by
George Wolfe

George Wolfe

The April celebration of Earth Day in the United States inevitably calls attention to the damage we humans continue to inflict on our planetary home. Disastrous oil spills such as occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in the spring and summer of 2010, and the recent report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, should arouse in everyone a great sense of urgency.

In a world that is losing its rain forests, where our polluted oceans are losing the ability to sustain fish populations, and where glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates, it is vital that we reverse the environmental degradation humanity has caused over the past 150 years.

It is even more troubling to learn of the number of species being threatened with extinction. The majority of biologists now are saying that the earth is undergoing the greatest mass extinction since the time of the dinosaurs.

In the mid-1990s, Harvard naturalist Edward O. Wilson began estimating that thirty thousand species a year were becoming extinct. This is between one hundred and one thousand times greater than what is considered by biologists to be the “background extinction rate.” Researchers estimate that if the current rate continues, half the land animals will be extinct by 2100. The cause is no longer natural disasters, but human activity in the form of pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, depletion of water resources, and the introduction of invasive species.

In the broader sense, the environmental degradation that leads to the extinction of species is a violation of the principle of nonviolence. Exhibiting reverence for life must include respect for the survival of nonhuman life forms as well. It has become a moral imperative for our own survival that we maintain the interdependent web of life of which we are a part and on which we must depend.

Our present-day knowledge of the universe has led many scientists to insist that the earth is little more than an insignificant speck of dust in a vast and ever-expanding cosmos. Yet at the same time, photographs of the earth from space taken by the lunar astronauts, our increasing knowledge of the solar system, and our search for extra-solar planets, reveals to us how rare our planet is as a harbor of intelligent life, at least within the immediate vicinity of our galaxy.

The fascination I had as a youngster with space travel and space colonization, dreams of migrating to other worlds fed by Issac Asimov and movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey” have vanished. It has become clear that the earth is all we have. Our civilization is here to stay for a long, long time. And while the earth may be insignificant relative to the immense universe, we are privileged to live on a planet of such rare beauty.

Reversing the trend toward environmental exploitation and degradation demands that individuals, communities, and nations commit themselves to the sustainability paradigm. We all must do our part to support the research and development of solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cell, geothermal, and fusion nuclear technologies to power our civilization. Let’s help launch a green energy revolution with the same intensity that fueled the high-tech revolution that began during the latter half of the twentieth century.

Earth Day should be everyday!

George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He is also a trained mediator and the author of The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future Without War.

Appreciating the Language of Paradox and Mystery
by
George Wolfe

George Wolfe

In an online video, physicist Richard Feynman refers to ancient creation myths as “theories.” This is a common misconception held by many atheists, and also by many believers. A theory grows out of a reasoned assessment of observed events and generates a hypothesis that hopefully can one day be tested. Myths and legends are forms of story telling. They are meant to awaken us to paradox and mystery and be a catalyst for philosophical discussion.

Ancient creation stories found in religious scripture are not theories. Rather, they are a genre of literature — myths that harbor symbolic meaning. They were written by poets, not scientists. They are intended to inspire people to think deeply about the origins of the cosmos, human existence, and the relationship humans are to have with each other and the natural world.

This view is supported by the fact that there are actually two creation stories in the book of Genesis that appear to contradict each other. The first story is in Genesis, Chapter 1, while the second is in Chapter 2. In Chapter 1, Adam, the prototypical man, is created last. In Chapter 2, he is created first, after which he gives names to all things that are created (Gen.: 2:20). The subject of relationship is explored between Adam and his mate, Eve, and between the first couple and their creator.

These two ancient myths were undoubtedly meant to inspire discussion between Rabbis and their disciples, resulting in dialogs that led to the Jewish commentaries known as the Talmud. Perhaps these contradictory tales were used to generate dialog on the enduring question: “To what extent can creation exist without human consciousness, without us being here to experience it, name it and give it reality?”

That ancient creation stories should be viewed as allegorical works of literature rather than theories is complicated by the fact that the literary style of ancient writers often merged myth and history.

Homer’s Illiad, for example, set the Trojan War around such characters as Achilles, whose mother had dipped him in the river Styx. This made him invulnerable as a warrior except for his heel, which his mother held on to while immersing him in the river.  The name Achilles refers to the “grief of the people,” an appropriate image that relates to the tragedy of war. And by including Achilles, Homer’s dramatization of history also alludes to a myth that warns us of a significant truth; that is, no matter how powerful and influential we may become, there is always a weakness somewhere that makes us vulnerable and has the potential to bring about our downfall.

Jewish writers who wrote much of the Bible were exceptionally good at integrating myth and history and did so in such a convincing manner that for many people, it is difficult to determine where history leaves off and myth begins.

For example, in the book of Exodus, when Moses questions whether his people would believe him, God commands him to cast the rod he was carrying onto the ground, whereupon it turns into a serpent, only to become a rod again when Moses picks it up (Exodus 4:1-5). Myth or History? An allegorical interpretation suggests this mythological embellishment testifies to the conquering power of God’s wisdom over evil, the serpent intended as a symbol for temptation and deception as it was so used in the Garden of Eden myth.

Ancient literary masters created religiously inspired histories and brought forth a language infused with poetic beauty and the richness of symbolism. It is a language that is purposefully ambiguous so as to allow for multiple interpretations. This is not the language of science. Rather, it is the language of scripture, the language of psalms, the language of paradox, and the language of a literary style that weaves together myth and history. As explained by Father Richard Rohr in his book The Naked Now, an important purpose of religion is to “give us that eye for paradox and mystery.”

George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He also chairs the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship and is the author of the soon to be published book Meditations on Mystery: Science, Paradox and Contemplative Spirituality.

OUR UNIVERSE IS VERY MUCH ALIVE by George Wolfe

George Wolfe

Since the early 16^th century, advancements in science have resulted in major paradigm shifts in our understanding of the universe. The shift from the geocentric view of the solar system to the heliocentric model, from special creation to evolution, from steady state theory to the expanding universe, and from Newtonian physics to general relativity and quantum mechanics, are but a few examples.

All of these new paradigms have one thing in common: the reality they present is increasingly counterintuitive to our everyday experience. My previous article “The Universe: Great Thought or Great Machine” (posted on March 8, 2014)) elicited several emails. One reader said that I needed “a dose of empiricism.” Empirically minded people find it hard to accept the idea that consciousness plays a role in quantum mechanics. Why? Because the subject-object duality we experience on this material level of the space-time continuum in which we exist seems like a self-evident truth. On the quantum level, however, this subject-object duality breaks down because the act of observing influences the outcome of the experiment.

Jerry Coyne, a professor of biology at the University of Chicago, responded to my article saying that the wave-particle collapse in quantum mechanics can occur with a non-conscious observer. But as another reader correctly pointed out, “If the recording of the event is erased without being examined, that the waveform doesn’t collapse.” Thus, interaction that includes a conscious observer is necessary for the wave-particle collapse to occur. Strange? Yes, but even stranger is the phenomenon of particle non-locality and entanglement (two particles instantaneously exchanging information over a great distance and behaving as one), which Albert Einstein called “spooky.”

Coyne further states that consciousness is the result of complex biological processes, but this is only true for the consciousness of individual organisms. The “observer” interaction required for the collapse of waves into particles underlies the entire material universe.  Biological evolution makes it possible for complex organisms to evolve so that the underlying consciousness can express and eventuallyl know itself.

Nobel prize winning physicist Neils Bohr, in describing the structure of the atom, said “Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.” Stanford University physicist Leonard Susskind, in his book The Black Hole War, agrees, when he writes, “It seems that the solid three-dimensional world is an illusion of a sort.” He further states that, “Our naïve ideas about space, time, and information are wholly inadequate to understand most of nature.”

These statements sound absurd in the context of our everyday experience. But from the perspective of the underlying quantum field, which is comprised of wave patterns interfering with one another as one would find on a holographic negative, it’s simply the way it is. It is also confirmed by our knowledge that material objects, contrary to our senses telling us they are dense and solid, are comprised mostly of empty space.

Perhaps scientifically minded people shy away from the idea that consciousness plays a role in quantum mechanics out of the fear this universal consciousness may be interpreted as God. But if we do interpret it as God, it is certainly not God as described in the Bible. It is more akin to what in East Indian philosophy is called the “silent witness,” which is experienced as infinite awareness during meditation when mental activity subsides.

Transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau referred to it as “That everlasting something to which we are all allied.” If you don’t understand how this could be, join the club. Even the renowned physicist Richard Feynman, said, “no one [and he includes himself] understands quantum physics.” What we can say, however, is that on the quantum level, the universe is aware and very much alive.

George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He also chairs the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship and is the author of the soon to be published book Meditations on Mystery: Science, Paradox and Contemplative Spirituality.

THE UNIVERSE: GREAT THOUGHT OR GREAT MACHINE?
by George Wolfe

Today we hear a lot about inflation, mostly in the context of economics. But inflation has also found its way into modern cosmology.

According to the Big Bang theory, in the beginning all the matter in the universe was packed into a very small volume of infinite mass and density. Astrophysicists refer to the universe just before the Big Bang as a “singularity.” This is a null-dimensional state of infinite gravity. Even time and space were compressed within this singularity.

When we see the Big Bang depicted on television or on a movie screen, we see a huge explosion of matter and light that fills up the empty dark screen. But this animation is actually a misrepresentation of the primordial event. For in the beginning, there was no space to be filled. Nor was there initially any light breaking forth, because for the first 300,000 years, scientists theorize that the universe was dark.

Scientists are now describing the “Big Bang” as an expansion or unfolding of time and space, more like a balloon that is being inflated.

This inflationary model raises the following questions. Is the space-time continuum we experience merely a mental conception we construct to help us have some understanding of our universe? Or should space-time be thought of as something that is created, existing on the skin of the balloon and having its own ontological existence? If it is a mental conception, then space-time cannot exist independent of mind. Its reality requires a mind to conceive it. On the other hand, if it is something that is created and expanding by virtue of the initial inflation of the universe, then we are left with a perplexing koan-like riddle asked by theologian John Denker. In his book The Quantum God, Denker asks, if the universe is expanding like a balloon in which time and space only exist in the skin of the balloon, “what is the balloon [i.e. space and time] expanding into?”

Experiments in quantum physics demonstrate that a wave behaves like a particle only when an interaction is being observed or recorded. Electrons and photons, for example, behave as if they know they are being watched.

Both modern astrophysics and quantum mechanics force us to admit that everything, including mind and matter, is interrelated and interdependent. One cannot exist without the other. We cannot get outside our awareness, our consciousness. The universe is expanding into the collective universal mind of which we are a part and microcosm. The words of astronomer Carl Sagan come to mind, when he said in the opening episode of his television series Cosmos, “we are a way the cosmos can know itself.”

Without the presence and interaction with something that observes or records their interaction, waves on the quantum level would not collapse to become particles. Without consciousness, ideas could not form, take shape and become reality, and the primordial null-dimensional singularity, as incomprehensible and abstract as that concept is, would not have been conceivable.

Astronomer Sir James Hopwood Jeans, who did pioneering work in both astrophysics and quantum mechanics, said it best: “The universe seems to be nearer to a great thought than a great machine.”

George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He also chairs the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship, is a trained mediator, and the author of The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future Without War.

OUR DIVERSITY IS IN EVERY CELL
by George Wolfe

This year, as a way of preparing for our national holiday commemorating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I decided to listen to the entire “I have a dream” speech that he delivered on the Washington Mall 50 years ago. Among the many points Dr. King made in that memorable speech are two that deserve special emphasis.

The first point is Dr. King’s insistence that the Black Community meet physical force with “soul force.” This phrase “soul force” Dr. King borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi, which Gandhi referred to as “satyagraha.” Gandhi used this term to characterize the power of a collective moral conscience that is awakened when people have the courage to use nonviolent resistance when standing against injustice. King’s legacy of nonviolent resistance is why we celebrate his birthday. We spend a week honoring Dr. King rather than those in the civil rights struggle who advocated or resorted to violence.

The second point is Dr. King’s call for unity. In the 1960’s, the words Martin Luther King used to describe the divisions in American society were “black and white,” “ Protestant and Catholic,” “Jew and gentile.” He reminded us of the tenets of our Declaration of Independence, that all people “are created equal” and have an inalienable right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” He noted that the fulfillment of these tenets depend on the freedom of all Americans, regardless of a person’s religion, national origin or the color of their skin.

We live in a society today where thankfully these dualistic labels no longer adequately represent American culture.  Our diversity is becoming increasingly rich, and more and more, people see the value in a multicultural society. Latino, Asian, Native American, African and European peoples are all contributing to the cultural milieu the United States has become. But this diversity is not only around us. It is also within us.

Over the past decade, it has become somewhat popular for people to have their DNA analyzed. In my own family, it was my brother who decided to undergo this analysis. What we discovered is that our family heritage cannot be described so simplistically as German and Scotch-Irish as by brother and I were raised to believe. We are also Jewish, Italian, French, Sub-Saharan African, even Neanderthal. Indeed, all of us, and moreover, all of humanity, came out of Africa.

If we go back far enough, we find we are all related, we are all cousins, and the diversity we celebrate during this Unity Week is not only an external social and cultural diversity. The diversity we celebrate is also within us. It is in each and every cell.

So in this age of science, we can expand Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for unity to embrace a diversity that is much broader and inherent to our humanity than perhaps even Dr. King ever dreamed.

George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He also chairs the Muncie Interfaith Fellowship which is a corporation circle in the United Religions Initiative. Wolfe is an ordained interfaith minister, a trained mediator, and the author of The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future Without War.