Here's a list of some upcoming eco-spiritual activities that may interest you. Check back, as we'll update this post during Fall 2026 and beyond as we get additional information. Don't be intimidated by the scope of this list; choose to participate in just what calls to you. Hyperlinks are underlined and link to additional resources. September September 1, 2026 - Sarah K. Loose, Director, Disaster & Climate Resilience, Oregon Synod, ELCA's Sacred Organizing Coalition, invites congregations, key leaders, and friends from across Oregon to come together for a Zoom call: What the Fires Reveal: A Call for People of Faith & Courageous Love. Register here for the Zoom link. September 8, 2026 - The Center for Process Studies is presenting a Foundations of Ecological Civilization course: Envisioning Worldviews, Cultivating Values, and Transforming Systems for a Flourishing World with Wm. Andrew Schwartz. "This course explores the philosophical foundations, historical roots, and practical possibilities of ecological civilization, drawing on process-relational thought to imagine—and help build—a more just, regenerative, and flourishing world." Register here. September 9, 2026, at 4 p.m. PT - Steve MacIntosh hosts a monthly meeting on Zoom. Past meetings are found on the Developmental Philosophy YouTube Channel supported by the Institute for Developmental Philosophy nonprofit organization. Steve will give an introductory talk on his new book: Truth Emerging: A Developmental Philosophy of Purpose and Progress, which will be published on September 30th. Steve will also be giving a talk on the more advanced philosophical aspects on October 14th. Here is the Zoom link. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88627736779?pwd=Tm03cG1vaSs2ZGtPRkIvNGk0TnA3Zz09 September 9, 2026 - The Center from Action and Contemplation is presenting What Do Women Do with Christianity? This will be a 90-minute online event to "consider how women navigate religious institutions that often marginalize their voices," guided by Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Christine Valters Paintner, and Bishop Baskerville Burrows. More information and registration here. September 11–21, 2026 marks an 11-day opportunity for humanity to prove that Peace Is Possible, led by Jon Ramer and Chief Phil Lane, Jr. This is a team mission. More information here. September 14, 2026 - WISR is presenting Process Metaphysics with Jacob Given PhD - an immersive two-week survey course with four recorded lectures and two discussion groups. This will consider the history and development of process philosophy, beginning against the backdrop of ancient Greek metaphysics, medieval theology, and the modern conception of nature as a machine. Givens will examine the thought of F.W.J. Schelling, A.N. Whitehead, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Register here September 16, 2026 - World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture (WISR) is offering a webinar, Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress, with pastoral theologian Heidi Ann Russell. "Equal parts theological and practical, this conversation is for pastors, chaplains, spiritual directors, lay leaders, caregivers, and anyone asking what flourishing can mean on the other side of harm." More information and registration here. September 16-20, 2026 - The Guild for Spiritual Guidance presents the Imagine Symposium. This transformative retreat brings together theologians, artists, scientists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers to explore the intersections of faith, nature, ecology, cosmology, science, and imagination. It invites you to pause together—to listen more deeply to the Earth, wisdom traditions, science, poetry, and one another. The Livestream includes keynotes and select workshops, plus event recordings available about two weeks after the event. Online access is $700. Register here. September 16, 2026 - Creation Spirituality Communities is presenting a live 5-week class: Christogenesis 2026 with Penny Andrews. "Explore the powers of the Universe as spiritual guides in this six-week journey bridging science and spirituality through teaching, creative reflection, and emergent dialogue. Register here. September 19, 2026, at 9 a.m. PT - The Practice of Presence will host a Monthly Community Call on Zoom. At this monthly gathering, Jim Heaney (author of Choosing Presence), Jim Taylor (pastor and weaver), and Brian Mueller (presence guide) will share stories and helpful information about their practice of presence. They will invite questions and reflections from all those attending. Find the Zoom link here. September 20, 2026, 8:30 am - 5:30 p.m. ET - The Fetzer Institute Environment Collaborative is hosting a full-day gathering at the beginning of Climate Week NYC, the world's largest annual climate event. To register with complimentary admission, please visit fetzer.org/climate-week. Either in-person or virtually, we hope you'll join Fetzer at Reawakening Humanity's Connection with Earth: Encounters to co-create a future with greater love, courage, and action. This is an invitation to honor our sacred inner and outer relationships and boldly address the climate crisis through spiritual and Indigenous worldviews. September 23, 2026, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST- The American Teilhard Association is presenting Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson, speaking on God of Creation, God of Process: A Jewish Perspective. Register here. September 25, 2026, from 6-7:30 p.m. PST - SOCAN's Monthly Meeting at the Medford, OR Public Library. The speaker will be Terry Fairbanks, Executive Director of SOFRC, who has many years of forestry and silviculture experience with the USFS and BLM. She will be speaking on the topic: Managing Our Forests for a Future with Climate Change. September 27, 2026 - September 29, 2026 - Faith in Place is having its annual Environment & Spirituality Summit. Bill McKibben will be giving the keynote as this year’s Summit explores the theme Grounded Resistance, with four sessions focused on how we engage the world from a place of deep grounding, collective support, and sustained resistance. Register here. September 28-29, 2026 - Faith in Place will host its Annual 2026 Environment & Spirituality Summit, featuring Bill McKibben as the keynote speaker. All sessions will be available online, with in-person watch parties for the keynote session. We will provide details on how to join via Zoom or in person at a Watch Party closer to the event. Register here. October October 6-27, 2026, from 10 a.m. to noon PT - Earth Literacies is presenting a webinar, A Non-violent Vision for our Violent World, with Diarmuid O’Murchu on four Tuesdays. O'Murchu also explains the concept of Eco-Spirituality in the video series Integrating our Faith in the 21st Century. Among O'Murchu's books are: Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics (2024) Ecological Spirituality (2024) Doing Theology in an Evolutionary Way (2021) Evolutionary Faith: Rediscovering God in Our Great Story (2011) Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding (2011) Ancestral Grace: Meeting God in Our Human Story (2011) October 13, 1016, from 6-8 pm - SOCAN is having a Candidates Forum at the Medford Public Library, 205 South Central, Medford. October 14, 2026, at 4 p.m. PDT - Steve McIntosh will be giving his second talk on his new book: Truth Emerging: A Developmental Philosophy of Purpose and Progress. Unlike last month's introductory talk, this talk will be more advanced and focus on the deeper philosophical aspects of Truth Emerging. Steve will consider the key philosophical innovations that can empower Developmental Philosophy to serve as a lever for social progress. These insights reveal more clearly than ever how noosphere evolution works and, in turn, how we can advance civilization's development. Here is the Zoom link for next week’s meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88627736779?pwd=Tm03cG1vaSs2ZGtPRkIvNGk0TnA3Zz09 October 15, 2026, from 1-3:30 PDT - WISR is presenting Thomas Jay Oord and Jacob Given, who will discuss common objections to Process Theology and why they are embracing an Open and Relational worldview in their talk, Is Love Indestructible?. Register here. October 16, 2026, at 10 a.m. PDT - Evelyn Tucker, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, will chair: Planetary Perspectives Panel This exciting conversation will feature trailblazers in the field of religion, ecology, and conservation working in diverse regions around the world. Their first speaker is Dekila Chungyalpa, Founder and Director of The Loka Initiative, and the second speaker is Chantal Elkin, Head of the Beliefs and Values Programme at the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). Register to attend in person at Yale Divinity School, or watch the livestream online, anywhere. Details at linktr.ee/yaleforum. October 17, 2026, at 9 a.m. PDT - HeartMath Institute is offering a free online broadcast: ORIGIN Global. "Join a worldwide gathering celebrating our shared humanity through music, inspiring conversations, and the science of coherence. HeartMath's Nachum Plonka, PhD, will share insights from the Global Consciousness Project 2.0. More information and registration here. October 17-18, 2026 - Garrison Institute is having a 2-day virtual conference: Artificial Intelligence and Our Spiritual Imagination. "This is a chance to slow down amid the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and explore what this technological moment is asking of us as human beings. Through keynotes, dialogues, contemplative practices, panels, workshops, and community conversations, participants will examine how AI is reshaping consciousness, creativity, identity, belonging, leadership, and our understanding of what it means to be human. Featuring Dr. Angel Acosta, Dr. Bayo Akomolafe, Minna Salami, Thomas Hübl, Dr. Sará King, Delphine Diallo, Tim Leberecht, and other special guests. Register here. October 20-21, 2026 - The Institute for the Future (IFTF) is presenting its Ten-Year Forecast, in person at its Palo Alto headquarters. They will share the forecasts ahead of the event, and instead of presentations to sit through, they will immerse participants in experiences, exercises, and conversations so they don't just learn about these futures; they will feel them, test them, and discover what they might demand of us. October 21, 2026, from 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM PDT - A New Republic of the Heart is presenting: Resilience in Three Directions: Within, Between, and Beyond. "Together, we’ll reflect on what resilience looks like for each of us in a time of rapid technological change, widening divides, and increasing global upheaval. We’ll explore where resilience lives within, between, and beyond us. Through open discussion, guided reflection, and small group sharing, we’ll uncover personal and collective strengths that can help us stay grounded and connected." Register here. October 22-24, 2026 - Humanity's Team presents its 17TH Annual Global Oneness Summit: Evidence of Oneness. "For three days, scientists, researchers, spiritual teachers, and wisdom keepers from around the world explore what science, ancient wisdom, and human experience are revealing. For centuries, wisdom traditions have spoken of life's interconnected nature. Today, research in consciousness, biology, healing, heart coherence, and human potential is opening new ways of exploring that possibility." Register for the free online event here. October 23, 2026, at 10 a.m. PDT - HeartMath’s Deborah Rozman, PhD, and Howard Martin join host Melissa Minnich for “The Evidence of Oneness Through the Heart.” More information and registration here. October 25, 2026, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM ET - American Teilhard Association Board Member Andrew Del Rossi will give a lecture, "Integrating Our Inner Worlds: Discovering the Sacred Synergy of Spirit and Psyche." The event also celebrates the launch of Del Rossi's new book, Sacred Synergy. Learn more and register (either to attend in person at Chestnut Hill College or via Zoom) at this link: https://bit.ly/ATA10252026 October 28, 2026 - The Center for Process Thought is presenting Process Thought and Science. This six-session course taught by Josh Hogins and Matt Segall introduces students to Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, emphasizing its application to modern science and cosmology. It explores the applications of process thought to physics, biology, and neuroscience, as well as its potential for integrating natural science and the humanities. Learn more & sign up: here. October 30, 2026- November 1, 2026 - Creation Spirituality Communities is having a gathering: Defiant Love: Nurturing Resilient Community in St. Louis, Missouri. "More than a conference, this participatory weekend invites us into ritual, learning, creativity, ecological consciousness, embodied spiritual activism, grief, gratitude, and communal imagination as we cultivate resilient communities capable of faithful, loving dissent in difficult times." More information here. November November 3, 2026, at 4 p.m. PST - Rev. Cameron Trimble and Rev. Matthew Fox are teaming up to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics - 24 Sessions of Spiritual Awakening. This is an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, and Meister Eckhart. and more. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties crumble, institutions no longer provide easy answers, and people long for a deeper experience of the Sacred. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. Recordings included · Mid-month contemplative practices. Register for the first session for free HERE. November 3-24, 2026, at 10 a.m. PT - Programs in Earth Literacies presents:: Living on the Energy Level with writer, journalist, and Teilhardian scholar, Christine M. Tracy. "This four-week course will explore embodiment practices and strategies to experience and internalize the power of Teilhard de Chardin's knowing and guide you on designing a personal map for living." Register here. November 6-8, 2026 - The Scientific and Medical Network with the Institute of Noetic Sciences is presenting Exploring The Extended Nature of Reality Online 2026: Exploring the Extended Nature of Reality. Tickets here. November 9–11, 2026 - The World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture (WISR)will celebrate Love, Conflict, and an Unfolding Universe. As conflict and division intensify, WISR offers a transformative vision of the forces shaping our world. Love, often misunderstood, is revealed in Teilhard’s evolutionary framework as the cosmos's fundamental energy, drawing all life toward greater complexity and consciousness. More information and registration here. December 11-12, 2026 - Faith and Science is presenting a landmark hybrid online and in-person conference: Convergences of Science and Faith, taking place in Rome, at the historic Palazzo Cardinal Cesi, steps from St. Peter’s Square. Register here. May 19–22, 2027 - A Future of Meaning Conference is being co-organized by three nonprofit organizations: The Institute for Developmental Philosophy, The Center for Process Studies, and the World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture. The event will take place in Savannah, GA, focusing on The Philosophical Renewal of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. This unique gathering brings together leading voices in philosophy, theology, and culture for four days of presentations, dialogue, fellowship, contemplation, and music. Confirmed speakers include Iain McGilchrist, Ilia Delio, John Haught, Stephen Blackwood, Steve McIntosh, Andrew M. Davis, Robert Nicastro, and more—with Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Sarah Coakley, and David Bentley Hart joining live virtually. Register here.. This website aggregates and curates information from many third-party sources and does not necessarily endorse all aspects of others' work. Still, we find their viewpoint provocative and interesting enough to encourage readers to engage with it and form their understanding and actions, as they deem appropriate.

September 11–21, 2026, marks an 11-day opportunity for humanity to prove that Peace Is Possible. This initiative is led by Jon Ramer and Chief Phil Lane, Jr. It’s a team mission, and everyone is invited to participate. Join the Movement "Eleven Days to Prove Peace Is Possible" is an ambitious global co-opetition. It aims to connect affected communities with peacebuilders, humanitarian organizations, diplomats, Indigenous leaders, and civil society networks. Together, we can stop the violence and promote peace. To get involved, complete the Team Mission Declaration at https://compassiongames.org/TeamMission. This declaration is how your team joins the effort. Name your team, share your capabilities, and declare a focused mission to fulfill between September 11 and 21, 2026. Sign the Call to Conscious Evolution. Tell us how you will demonstrate that PEACE IS POSSIBLE during these Eleven Days! The Importance of Unity The Eleven Days coincide with the 11 Days of Global Unity annual campaign by We, The World.. This is a time for collective action and shared purpose. The focus culminates in the United Nations' International Day of Peace on September 21, 2026. The theme for this year is "Invest in Peace - For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day." This theme invites us all to contribute to peace in our own ways. Take Action for Peace Everyone can take small steps for peace every day. Here are a few suggestions: Give your time to help someone in need. Lend your voice to drive positive change. Host a Peace Circle. This is an intergenerational, youth-led conversation on solutions. Use your platform to promote a cause or share a story of peace and hope. Show us how you're building the architecture of peace and justice using #InvestInPeace. Join the UN's Peace Begins with Me movement. Share inspiring stories of hope using the hashtag #PeaceBegins. Explore Global Issues Here’s a list of the United Nations' key issues and campaigns: Global Issues Observances Sustainable Development Goals Our Common Agenda The Summit of the Future Pact for the Future Climate Action Peace and Security Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) Global Crisis Response Group Call to Action for Human Rights Global Alliance for Human Rights Disability Inclusion Strategy Fight Racism Hate Speech LGBTIQ+ People Safety of Journalists Rule of Law Action to Counter Terrorism Victims of Terrorism Children and Armed Conflict Violence Against Children (SRSG) Sexual Violence in Conflict Refugees and Migrants Action Agenda on Internal Displacement Spotlight Initiative Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda The Holocaust The Question of Palestine The Transatlantic Slave Trade Decolonization Messengers of Peace Roadmap for Digital Cooperation Digital Financing Task Force Data Strategy Information Integrity Countering Disinformation UN80 Initiative Spotlight series Choose Your Issue and Make an Impact A Just Society A Healthy Planet A Better Economy Building a Sustainable Future The Evolutionary Partners Network is an initiative of the Source of Synergy Foundation. It currently has 70 members. This network aims to co-create and synergize a global community dedicated to accelerating the evolution of consciousness for the benefit of all life. The vision for AI for Peace is to create a future where AI benefits peace, security, and sustainable development. Diverse voices will influence the creation of AI and related technologies. Branka Panic and Paige Arthur are authors of the 2024 book AI for Peace (AI for Everything). This book explores the intersection of technology and peacebuilding. Together, we can make a difference. Let’s embrace this opportunity to promote peace, sustainability, and community action. Every effort counts!

In a presentation to Steve MacIntosh's Developmental Philosophy group on March 12, 2026, Robert Nicastro presented Becoming More By Becoming One: Hyperphysics, Creative Union, and the Differentiated Self. He explored Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's philosophical and theological framework. He focused on Teilhard's principle that "union differentiates." This principle responds to a deep fear in modern collective thought: the belief that convergence destroys individuality. Nicastro argued that Teilhard's hyperphysics offers a metaphysical revolution. It moves from a static "metaphysics of being" to a dynamic "metaphysics of union," grounded in both empirical observation and spiritual reasoning. The central wager is that genuine union — creative rather than compressive — does not dissolve the self but amplifies, centers, and makes it more irreplaceably itself. This framework is urgently relevant to our current planetary moment of technological, ecological, and civilizational convergence. The Central Fear Teilhard Addresses The core anxiety Teilhard addresses is that union equates to dissolution. Many fear that being gathered into a larger whole means losing genuine selfhood. This fear manifests across various domains: Political Life: There is anxiety around collectivism erasing individual freedom in the name of the common good. Developmental Philosophy: There is a worry that higher states of consciousness require abandoning personal identity. Spiritual Traditions: The mystic's dilemma arises: "If I am finally absorbed into the all, what and who is left to be absorbed?" Meister Eckhart's famous prayer — "I rid God to rid me of this God" — expresses the overwhelming nature of divine life, where personal selfhood becomes indistinguishable from it. There is ongoing debate about whether Eckhart truly believed that union individuated. Integral theory generates a persistent tension between the vertical pull toward greater unity and the insistence that individual lines of development remain irreducible. Teilhard wrote from the trenches of World War I, witnessing firsthand why the 20th century gave many reasons to be suspicious of collective destiny. Totalitarian movements offered a grotesque caricature of convergence, achieving the collective by dissolving the particular in the name of science. Teilhard's response was not retreat but an insistence, on empirical and philosophical grounds, that this fear rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the universe actually works. Hyperphysics: Teilhard's Metaphysical Framework Hyperphysics is Teilhard's term for a sustained engagement against conformity masquerading as unity. He attempted to name something he observed in the history of science and cosmological evolution that he "could not unsee." The entire enterprise is about seeing more deeply into the heart of matter. The more science penetrates to its deepest levels, the more it encounters immateriality that cannot be accounted for by matter alone. At the quantum level, the scientific method begins to break down and can no longer approximate truth as it does at higher levels of reality. This points to a wholeness that is "just as much metaphysical as it is physical." Two Crises Teilhard Responded To Teilhard addressed two significant crises: Modern science's extraordinary success at analyzing reality by decomposition — breaking complex wholes into parts — has produced a profound contradiction. The things we care about most (consciousness, meaning, love, value, purpose, interiority) slip from the grasp of reductive explanation. The assumption that what is most real is the smallest, oldest, simplest — something drawing us from the past rather than the future. Teilhard called this "the original sin of the scientific imagination," not against God, but against the fullness of the phenomenon of life. Teilhard's foundational claim is that every entity in the universe, from atomic particles to the reflective human person, has both a within and a without. The without: what science measures — mass, charge, velocity, spatial extension. The within: consciousness in its broadest sense, interiority, spontaneity, and capacity for self-organization. Consciousness is not treated as an accident of biological complexity but as a dimension of the cosmos present in increasingly concentrated form throughout the entire history of evolution. The Law of Complexity-Consciousness As material systems become more complex, intricate, centered, and internally unified, there is a corresponding increase in interiority, consciousness, and what Teilhard called "centricity." This is not metaphorical; it is grounded in empirical observation of a pattern running from the atom to the cell, to the organism, to the noosphere. Contemporary complexity research corroborates this: across brains, ecosystems, and immune systems, the most unified systems are simultaneously the most differentiated ones. Emergence and differentiation do not trade off but amplify and deepen each other. The brain exemplifies this: its dazzling ability to unify its various functions is not achieved by homogenizing its regions but by deepening the specificity of those regions within its holistic structure. Key formulation: "The more richly interdependent a system is, the more distinct and unrepeatable each one of its elements becomes." Corroborating Scientific Examples Neural Integration: Unified conscious experience arises from high differentiation. Ecological Complexity: Richest ecosystems have the greatest biodiversity and interdependence. Developmental Biology: Organs become most specialized precisely when most integrated into the organism. Social Emergence: The most generative communities produce the most differentiated contributors (evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson and his pro-social group are advancing this research). From Metaphysics of Being to Metaphysics of Union The dominant Western metaphysical tradition is built on the metaphysics of being (essai). To understand something is to grasp its unchanging static form or essence. This tradition privileges permanence over change, identity over relationship, and the finished entity over the entity-becoming. This generates a picture of selfhood with impermeable boundaries that leaves no room for the relationships that precede, give rise to, and advance the self. Teilhard's critique extended to theology: a God of pure act (Thomas Aquinas's gift to Catholicism) cannot have any real relation to the world's becoming. It is not a paradox holding meaning but a contradiction that cannot compel or attract, failing to provide a spirituality "big enough to believe in." Teilhard's move is from a metaphysics of being (static substance) to a metaphysics of union — the most fundamental and dynamic category in his system, connoting dynamic relation on every level, all the way to God. Core claim: Existence is not a property entities have in isolation, but an event that happens between them. What is becoming is inseparable from what it is being united with. Comparison with Alfred North Whitehead: Whitehead held that the metaphysical principle of life was *creativity*; Teilhard held it was union and love — arguably interchangeable, but with real nuances. The overlap is important for this metaphysics to take hold. Through union, all becomes more, not less — more centered, more differentiated, more themselves, more irreplaceable. Teilhard's own words capture this beautifully: "True union does not destroy or absorb that which it unites, but brings the elements into a higher synthesis… They become more themselves, not less, precisely through becoming one." Acquisitive vs. Agapic Consciousness (Beatrice Bruteau) Nicastro drew on Beatrice Bruteau, an integral thinker and Catholic contemplative philosopher who deeply engaged with Teilhard. She provided the phenomenological or experiential dimension of Teilhard's metaphysical framework — what it feels like from the inside to be an entity becoming more through becoming one. Acquisitive Consciousness / The Acquisitive Self Most people, most of the time, experience themselves as nouns — fixed substances defined by properties, boundaries, and possessions. In this mode, the self is already complete before it relates; relations are secondary rather than essential. Genuine relation becomes threatening: to give oneself away feels like diminishment. Even love in this mode becomes possession — holding the beloved to get something back, or to entrap or manipulate rather than wanting what is best for the person loved. This produces not union but aggregation or compression — clustering with others who reinforce self-manipulating aims rather than flowering existing identity. This is the "featureless gray mass" Teilhard associated with the totalitarian impulse he witnessed as a stretcher-bearer. Agapic Consciousness / The Agapic Self The experience of oneself is not as a noun but as a verb: "I am this act of loving forth." There is more in the self than meets the eye — a powerful capacity so strong it cannot help but be given away. This is paralleled in education: to truly know something, you teach it. By modifying your method to be most universally received, even more is received within that giving. Scripturally resonant is the phrase: "If you want to save your life, lose it." Bruteau writes: "The very identity of the agapic being is **the act of self-giving**. This is not a loss of self. It is the discovery of what the self most fundamentally is." Bruteau provides an explicitly phenomenological way of seeing Teilhard's metaphysics — describing the interior experience of the self that has begun in the cosmic process but is now lived, deepened, and actualized through us. Union Differentiates: The Principle in Detail Teilhard's claim is not the trivial point that relationships bring out different personality elements. It is a much stronger metaphysical claim: the very being of a centered entity is enhanced, deepened, and individuated by genuine union with another and with the larger cosmic process. Two Kinds of Union Teilhard distinguishes between two kinds of union: Union of the Aggregate: Elements clustered together in external relation without internal transformation produce uniformity and conformity, not differentiation. This is the danger coloring politics, nations, and churches. Creative Union: This synthesizes elements through interpenetration — each becomes more fully itself through that synthesis. The resulting unity is genuinely new, and as a result of that newness, each part is more fully itself for having entered the synthesis. Key recurrence in Teilhard's writings is the intensity language: "Far from tending to be confused together, the reflective centers intensify their ego the more they concentrate together… They become progressively more super-centered as they come closer to one another in their convergence on Omega. This, I insist, is a fact of experience." This is not the language of dissolution; it is the language of emergence: the self is amplified, clarified, and more irreplaceably itself through union. Genuine union calls forth specificity: without the lure toward genuine relation, genuine differentiation is not produced. It is only produced by being held with others in the web of mutual interdependence deep enough that each node contributes specifically to the larger process of becoming. Omega: The Personal Center of Centers Omega is the personal center of centers drawing all centers toward itself. It gives the entire cosmic process, including the human person, direction and energy. Teilhard uses the metaphor of the magnetism of love (drawn from Scripture and the Christian tradition) to identify this pull. It is a lure, an invitation, not a coercion or force. Love here is not sentimental or saccharine; it is the agapic act in which the self is more fully what it is in every moment the more it gives itself away, drawn through its attraction to Omega to become more itself. Evolution is therefore not a blind ascent through increasing complexity but a directed process of convergence toward Omega. Omega is the condition of possibility for the whole process; it must already be "more" to draw what is toward it. Omega has a transcendent dimension that is within the process, interdependent with it, but not separate from it. Omega Cannot Be Undifferentiated Fusion Omega cannot be undifferentiated fusion: maximum consciousness means holding infinite, irreplaceable specificity. Omega must be super-personal, not a force or abstract principle, but an inexhaustible agapic center. Omega and the Destiny of the Person Proximity to Omega does not dissolve the self; it is the discovery of what the self is in its depth. The person is not a stage to be surpassed on the way to the impersonal; personhood is an integral dimension of the telos. The move is from the personal to the transpersonal (not subpersonal or impersonal). The ego and the self are part and parcel of the whole, and the whole is necessary for the self to develop. Teilhard uses the language of the hyperpersonal: more being as a result of this infinite potential. Personhood is always carried beyond itself by the magnetism of love, drawing it into the future to become more than what it is at present. Resonance with Whitehead's Formulation Whitehead's formulation resonates: "The many become one and are increased by one." An infinite, transcendent, unrepeatable dimension exists within the process and is actualized at each stage, provided the lesson of union differentiates is learned. Christogenesis and the Theological Dimension Teilhard does not hide the fact that Omega has a name: the convergence of consciousness toward this supremely personal center is identified as Christ, or Christogenesis — the becoming of God and world, matter and spirit, in and through the cosmos. This is not presented as a confessional argument. Teilhard insisted the philosophical structure of hyperphysics stands independent of any particular religious commitment, though it is rooted in and goes beyond Christianity. The Christological claim — that there is a union of matter and spirit personally identified in Jesus of Nazareth — philosophically illuminates what the entire cosmological process reveals. Omega/Christ is not a principle above the personal but the infinite ground of distinctiveness and identity that gives personhood a voice in the first place. Teilhard writes: "It is not therefore simply the contact of two beings that love achieves, but the union that it creates between them of **a third reality **which exceeds and completes them both." The move from the personal to the transpersonal is not a movement away from the particular; it is the condition under which the particular becomes most fully itself: its transcendent, infinite, irrepeatable self. The Noosphere and the Planetary Convergence Crisis Teilhard wrote about the noosphere — the sphere of human thought and interconnection enveloping the Earth — as the current leading edge of the evolutionary process. He saw with prophetic clarity that humanity's convergence into a single planetary membrane was not merely a political or technological fact but a cosmological one: the universe's axis of complexity-consciousness entering a new and critical stage. This convergence has intensified dramatically since Teilhard's death in 1955, and we now live inside it: Global communication networks Artificial intelligence / AGI Ecological crisis / planetary consciousness The diagnostic question at the center of Teilhard's life's work is urgently our question: Will the convergence of our age be **creative **or merely **compressive**? Will it produce** richer differentiation** of human personhood or risk **flattening it out **completely? Compressive convergence is tied to acquisitive knowing and acquisitive fear — clustering that reinforces self-manipulation rather than flowering identity. Creative convergence is driven by agapic knowing and agapic love — each center becoming more itself as the whole deepens. The antidote to false convergence is not a refusal of convergence but a more demanding, more discerning cultivation of what genuine union actually looks like, requires, and produces. This requires elements that are distinct enough, centered enough, and incomparable enough to be genuinely united rather than merely aggregated or compressed into conformity. Institutions and communities cannot amplify human personhood if they operate from a metaphysics that treats unity and individuality as fundamentally opposed. Failure of solidarity is a failure of individuation. The fullest possible act of individuation is always the deepest, most intentional solidarity. This is cited as a principal reason for the chaos, disdain, and disunity within the church and the world today. Concluding Synthesis Teilhard's integrated framework resolves the opening tension: you grow more fully yourself by growing into solidarity with others — not despite solidarity but because of it, as its deepest and most profound consequence. The universe's own logic — creative union written into the fabric of what we are to become — is Teilhard's wager and the basis of his hope. Hyperphysics is Teilhard's attempt to provide a framework large enough and proportional enough to what we are actually living through: a planetary convergence with deep aspirations for evolution but also facing great danger. Closing words from Teilhard: "Nothing holds together except by its whole, and the whole is not known except through its elements. Our duty, yours and mine, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. The path to becoming fully oneself is the path of deeper communion with the whole." ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Reawakening humanity's connection with Earth requires transitioning from a culture of extraction and dominance to one of reciprocal stewardship and deep belonging. In an increasingly urbanized world, modern life has fostered what environmental writers call "nature deficit disorder," separating individuals from the natural rhythms that sustain physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Healing this fracture is not merely about visiting scenic landscapes; it is about fundamentally restructuring the relationship with the environment to recognize that human health is entirely interdependent with the living Earth. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Global cultural traditions and contemporary movements suggest several pathways to revive this essential bond: Indigenous Wisdom & Keystone Consciousness Many ancient and surviving traditions view the Earth as a living entity—such as the Andean devotion to Pachamama (Earth Mother) or the Māori concept of Papatūānuku. As the Kogi people of Colombia highlight, true connection means moving away from a "parasitic" existence to become a "keystone species." This means actively using human intelligence to increase biodiversity and regenerate ecosystems, rather than just taking from them. [1, 2, 3] The Concept of "Inscendence" Coined by eco-theologian Thomas Berry, "inscendence" calls on humanity to look past intellectual or technological transcendence. Instead, it urges a descent into instinctive, pre-rational connections with the biological self. It emphasizes that humanity does not just live on the planet, but is an organic extension of the planet. [1, 2] Practical Everyday Reconnection Re-establishing a bond with nature can happen directly outside one's door through simple, mindful practices: Attentive Stillness: Sitting quietly in a local green space and learning to listen through intuition and sensory awareness. Ecological Belonging: Engaging in hands-on activities like gardening, mindful walking, or birdwatching, which directly reduce stress and build a sense of environmental stewardship. Active Conscience: Shifting everyday behaviors to favor sustainability, environmental justice, and community-based conservation. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] Note: This post is partially generated by Google's AI search of "Reawakening Humanity's Connection with Earth."

Louis Savary's third video session on Harnessing the Energies of Love - The Next Big Step for Humanity focused on Teilhard de Chardin's principle that love is energy and that union differentiates — meaning that when people form true relationships or teams, both the group and its individual members develop new capacities that would never emerge in isolation. The session drew on chemistry, sports, music, and classroom research to illustrate how unions generate emergent properties and drive human evolution forward. Core Concepts Love as energy: Teilhard defines love not as a quality to attain, but as the fundamental cosmic force — first expressed as attraction at the Big Bang, continuing through atomic, molecular, and human bonding. Evolutionary formula: Attraction → Connection → Complexity → Consciousness — the law guiding evolution from the geosphere through the noosphere toward the cardosphere (a layer of love energy). Axiom of union: "Love draws people together and unites them. And in uniting them, it differentiates them." Union differentiates (two processes): The team as a new being develops emergent properties belonging only to the group. Individual members discover latent abilities that would not surface without the team context. Emergent Properties Explained A true union produces abilities that none of its individual members possess alone — called emergent properties. Chemical example: Sodium (corrosive) + Chlorine (poisonous gas) = NaCl (table salt), which can season food, preserve it, and treat wounds — none of which either element can do alone. Human examples: Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Apple, and Google each originated from two-person partnerships whose combined energy produced outcomes neither founder could achieve solo. Broadway musicals, jazz combos, and NASA mission control are cited as team entities whose core output only exists through collective interaction. The Third Self & The Realm of Between Every true relationship creates a "third self" — a distinct entity with its own identity, purpose, and emergent capacities beyond those of either partner. Relationships have a life cycle (birth, strength, weakness, death) and benefit from shared purpose, quality time, and even a name to anchor their identity. Martin Buber's concept of "The Between" identifies where love energy actually operates — in the interaction space, not within either individual. Buber's I-Thou vs. I-It distinction marks the boundary between true relationship (person-to-person) and mere transaction (person-to-object). Classroom Research: Union Differentiates in Action Professor Christopher Bache observed that students working in small bonded teams of 3–4 displayed abilities never shown when working individually. Teams developed collective consciousness — shared thinking where good ideas were rapidly recognized and implemented with minimal conflict. Savar identified Bache's phenomenon as Teilhard's "union differentiates," coined nearly 100 years earlier. Individual emergent properties observed in music/dance camp participants included: self-discipline, overcoming shyness, improvisation, team-building skills, and lasting self-confidence. Implications for Evolution & Human Purpose Unions counteract entropy: while physical energy depletes, psychic/love energy in relationships generates new forms of energy (medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, new technologies). Teilhard's evolutionary law is a law of nature — like gravity — describing how love energy operates and how to maximize it. For Teilhard as priest: God uses relationships as the primary pathway to fullness of life.* "Thy will be done on earth" is fulfilled through evolving how we love. Practical takeaway: The best way to develop your own talents is to enter relationships and teams with a shared purpose — the union becomes the driver of individual identity and growth. The next big step for humanity is to realize an evolutionary worldview and participate in the development of the noosphere toward the cardisphere (a layer of love energy)! Join the team. This is a collective action. In my March 28, 2025 post, I noted that Programs in Earth Literacies offers on-demand videos of Savary's four-part series Harnessing the Energies of Love. The Next Big Step for Humanity (originally recorded Jan 17 - Feb 7, 2024). Only $60 Canadian. Note: Zoom's AI generated a useful summary and transcript of Savary's lecture that I used and edited to prepare this post. I have named my ChatGPT "Theo", who also helps answer my questions. Footnote: The Aramaic/Syriac word for “salvation” is ܦܘܪܩܢܐ, whose basic sense is to release, free, deliver, rescue, or redeem into the "wholeness of life." So its original semantic field is broader and more concrete than the way modern Christians sometimes hear the English word salvation — not merely “going to heaven after death.” In other words, salvation originally carries the sense of deliverance into freedom, healing, restoration, and wholeness under God - what Teilhard was pointing to as a noospheric, evolutionary process toward Omega.

"The day will come when, after harnessing space, winds, the tide, and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in history of the world, man will have discovered fire." ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Vernadsky coined the term Noosphere in the 1920s, long before computer technology and the internet. His writings were published after his death in 1955. Scholars are still mining the depth of his scientific thought - interpreting and expanding it appropriately to the human evolution we are experiencing today. In a four-part video presentation, Harnessing the Energies of Love, Louis Savary said Teilhard predicted, but never named, a new layer beyond the noosphere: a layer of love. Identifying and naming this new sphere is essential to harnessing the energies of love. Savary suggests the name Cardisphere. Teilhard also discovered that the most fundamental force at work in the universe was Attraction, specifically, Attraction leading to Connection (or union in French). This fundamental force has never stopped functioning. He also noticed that new Connections are attracted to other Connections, generating a new level of growth in Complexity. As this growing Complexity became neurological, it emerged as Consciousness. Teilhard formulated a series of principles of evolution that Savary has called axioms of love. He explains them in his video series. These correspond to his 2017 book Teilhard de Chardin On Love: Evolving Human Relationships. Core Concepts of the Book Love as Energy: Savary presents love not just as an emotion, but as a real, physical, and spiritual cosmic energy that drives the universe forward. The Omega Point: Teilhard viewed all creation as evolving toward a final point of union with God, called the Omega Point, powered by the attractive force of love. Practical Spirituality: Each chapter pairs Teilhard's theoretical insights with everyday exercises to help readers practice this evolutionary love. Levels of Human Relationships Explored Friendship: How friends act as spiritual companions who help lift each other toward higher consciousness. Marriage and Couples: Viewing romantic partnership as a sacred space for mutual transformation and shared purpose. Parenting: Seeing child-rearing as nurturing a new wave of human potential and consciousness. Teams and Communities: Extending personal care into larger groups to build a unified global community (the Noosphere). Beyond that, Savary proposes the eventual realization of the Cardisphere. Louis M. Savary, PhD, STD, holds a doctorate in mathematical statistics applied to the behavioral sciences and a second in theology and spirituality. For twenty years, he served as senior trainer and writer for Educational Systems for the Future. He was a Jesuit for thirty years and has studied, taught, and written about Teilhard for the past forty years. He is a board member of the American Teilhard Association. Among his many other books are: Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man Explained (2020) Teilhard de Chardin on Morality (2019) The New Spiritual Exercises: In the Spirit of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (2012) Teilhard De Chardin - The Divine Milieu Explained: A Spirituality for the 21st Century (2007) Note: My AI companion, ChatGPT, helped crystallize the book's core concepts.

In a previous post, I mentioned that the Institute for the Future (IFTF) is using the “Four Cultures of AI” as a foresight framework for imagining how communities and institutions might organize themselves around AI, not simply as four levels of technological sophistication. The framework appears in IFTF's emerging Ten-Year Forecast 2036 work, and IFTF has also developed four corresponding university scenarios. (LinkedIn) The Four Cultures of AI Culture Basic attitude toward AI What humans emphasize Institutional example AI-Free Keep AI out Human capabilities, authenticity, independent thinking AI-Proof University AI-Augmented Use AI as a partner/tool Human + AI collaboration AI-Augmented University AI-Adjacent Reconsider what humans uniquely contribute Human purpose, meaning, embodied skills AI-Adjacent University AI-Directed Let AI organize and optimize major processes Personalized outcomes and adaptation AI-Directed University 1. AI-Free — “Protect the human” The AI-Free culture deliberately establishes boundaries around AI. The goal isn't necessarily to deny that AI is powerful. Rather, it asks: What human capacities become endangered if machines do too much of the work? In education, IFTF describes the corresponding AI-Proof University as one that protects the integrity of human learning. That means preserving activities such as critical thinking, discussion, creativity, and human-to-human learning even when AI could perform them more efficiently. (LinkedIn) Underlying value: Human authenticity. The danger of this culture is that it can become defensive, protecting yesterday's definition of human capability rather than discovering new ones. 2. AI-Augmented — “Humans + AI” Here, AI is deliberately incorporated into human activity as a tool, collaborator, tutor, assistant, or amplifier. The central assumption is: Humans remain responsible for the goals; AI expands what humans can accomplish. IFTF's corresponding AI-Augmented University teaches students to work with AI throughout their lives—to learn how to question it, collaborate with it, and use it effectively. (LinkedIn) This is probably the most familiar model today: physicians using AI for diagnosis support, writers using it for research, programmers using coding assistants, students using AI tutors, etc. Underlying value: Human agency enhanced by technology. Its weakness is that it can leave the deeper question untouched: If AI can augment almost everything humans do, what should humans actually choose to do? That question leads to the third culture. 3. AI-Adjacent — “What are humans for?” This is the most philosophically interesting of the four. Rather than asking, “How can AI make humans more productive?”, the AI-Adjacent culture asks: “What is uniquely valuable about being human when AI can perform an enormous range of cognitive tasks?” IFTF describes its AI-Adjacent University explicitly around this question: “What are humans for in this new era?”(LinkedIn) That could shift education away from simply producing knowledge workers toward developing things AI cannot—or should not—replace: embodied experience, relationships, community, moral judgment, meaning, craftsmanship, care, imagination, leadership, and purpose. This is an important distinction: AI-Augmented: How can AI make humans better at what they do? AI-Adjacent: What should humans do precisely because AI can do so much? Underlying value: Human meaning and purpose. 4. AI-Directed — “Let AI design the system” This is the most radical model. Rather than humans deciding everything and using AI as an assistant, AI becomes an active organizer of human systems. IFTF's AI-Directed University imagines AI creating a unique learning and credentialing pathway for every individual, adapting education to that person's abilities, needs, interests, and trajectory. (LinkedIn) The shift is therefore from: human-designed system → AI-assisted system → AI-designed/adaptive system The potential benefit is enormous personalization. Instead of forcing everyone through the same curriculum, career ladder, or institutional structure, AI could continuously construct a pathway around each individual. But it raises perhaps the most important governance question: Who decides what the AI should optimize for? If AI determines what someone should learn, what career they should pursue, what information they should receive, or what constitutes success, then the issue isn't merely technological efficiency. It becomes a question of agency, values, power, and human freedom. The deeper insight: these aren't really four technologies I think this is where IFTF's framework becomes particularly useful. The four cultures can be understood as four answers to the question: Where should we draw the boundary between human agency and artificial intelligence? Visually AI-FREE Human ←──────────── AIKeep AI outside AI-AUGMENTED Human ←── AI ──→ HumanAI works with us AI-ADJACENT Human ↔ AIRedefine what humans contribute AI-DIRECTED AI ─────────→ HumanAI increasingly organizes the system This also explains why IFTF calls them “cultures.” Different schools, companies, communities, and societies could adopt different assumptions about what AI is for and what humans are for. IFTF explicitly asks which culture a community, school, or company will choose—and what happens to people caught between them. (‏LinkedIn) Because of my interest in the Noosphere, integral thinking, evolution, and the changing meaning of human consciousness, I am focused on the distinction between AI-Augmented and AI-Adjacent. AI-Augmented essentially says: “AI makes the existing human better.” AI-Adjacent asks the much bigger evolutionary question: “If intelligence is increasingly distributed between biological and artificial systems, what does humanity become?” That moves the discussion from AI as a tool to AI as part of a transformation in the human condition, which is much closer to the questions raised by Teilhard de Chardin, the Noosphere, integral theory, and whether intelligence might increasingly become a property of interconnected systems rather than isolated individuals. And AI-Directed takes that evolutionary question one step further: What happens when the emerging intelligence of the larger system begins directing the development of its individual components? That is where the framework becomes much more than an education model; it becomes a useful way of thinking about four possible futures of human–machine civilization. Note: This post was AI-generated through ChatGPT. I have reviewed it and agree with its analysis as edited.

"We are not adrift; we are in the midst of a transformation whose trajectory bends, even imperceptibly, toward Omega. And that is cause not for fear, but for hope...." ~ WISR Important Note: I am a supporter of WISR, but they are not affiliated with this Integral Worldview website. Here's a list of some upcoming eco-spiritual activities that may interest you. Check back, as this post will be updated during August 2026 and beyond as we get additional information. A new calendar listing will come out in late August. Don't be intimidated by the scope of this list; choose to participate in just what calls to you. August 4, 2026, at 1 p.m. PDT- The Deep Transformation Network is having an Introduction to the Ecocivilization Coalition webinar. Find out about the Ecocivilization Coalition: its vision and strategies—and how you can engage. Jeremy Lent and DTN formed the Ecocivilization Coalition as a worldwide alliance of changemakers coming together to act as a focused transformation catalyst. Our aim is to foster an alternative cohering narrative and act as connective tissue to help catalyze the movement for change—to find the most skillful ways to cohere, serve, and amplify groups already actively engaged, and to try to bring the movement itself to a new level of effectiveness and empowerment. Click here for the Zoom Link. August 4, 2026, from 4 - 5:30 p.m. PDT - The World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture (WISR) is presenting a webinar with Pete Enns: Scripture, Mystery, and Embracing Uncertainty. This webinar will look into a fresh exploration of Scripture as a guide, not to certainty, but a pathway to a different kind of knowing where faith can flourish amid ambiguity and change. Rather than seeing uncertainty as a spiritual failure, we will explore how it can become a doorway to deeper trust, greater openness, and a richer experience of the sacred presence that permeates all things. $30. Register here. August 15, 2026 - One Spirit Learning Alliance invites prospective students, friends, and members of their wider community to a two-part public lecture series exploring two enduring questions of spiritual life: How do we discern a call? and What do we do when the spiritual path leads us through darkness rather than clarity? More information and registration here. August 21, 2026, 1 p.m. PT - Join longtime Creation Spirituality enthusiasts and facilitators Penny Andrews and Mark Steiner on third Fridays of the month 2026 in The Work That Reconnects for a series of monthly check-ins. "These 60-75 minute online programs will offer opportunities for reconnection and reflection utilizing Joanna Macy’s 4-part Spiral: Grounding in Gratitude; Honoring Our Pain for The World; Seeing with New Eyes; and Going Forth - which correspond beautifully with the four paths of Creation Spirituality." Register here. August 25, 2026, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. PDT - SOCAN is having its monthly meeting at the Medford Public Library, 205 South Central, Medford, OR, with Nora Apter, Oregon Director of Climate Solutionsspeaking on How Should Oregon Address the Climate Crisis? Please use this Zoom registration link if you cannot attend in person: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/VEBE8ADxTumdAEs6KKrDWg August 26, 2026 - ProSocial World is offering the ProSocial Action Lab, a 10-week cohort-based program for existing groups of 3-10 people. This program focuses on working better together—practically addressing real challenges with expert coaching and a global community of peers. The cost is $3,500. More information and registration can be found here. ProSocial World is also offering Inner Transformation: An Introduction to Interspirituality, "a self-paced course that creates space for that inner work. It moves through three themes — Interconnectedness, Inner Transformation, and Social Engagement. The course weaves together short videos, reflection, poetry, and simple daily practices as it draws on Dr. Wayne Teasdale's work on universal spirituality - the idea that the world's spiritual traditions, for all their differences, share something essential about what it means to grow as a human being." Use the Use code TRANSFORM100 at checkout. $75. Register here. September 16, 2026 - World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture (WISR), is offering a webinar, Human Flourishing in a World of Trauma and Stress with pastoral theologian Heidi Ann Russell. "Equal parts theological and practical, this conversation is for pastors, chaplains, spiritual directors, lay leaders, caregivers, and anyone asking what flourishing can mean on the other side of harm." More information and registration here. September 16-20, 2026 - The Guild for Spiritual Guidance presents the Imagine Symposium. This transformative retreat brings together theologians, artists, scientists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers to explore the intersections of faith, nature, ecology, cosmology, science, and imagination. It is an invitation to pause together—to listen more deeply to the Earth, wisdom traditions, science, poetry, and one another. Livestream includes keynotes and select workshops, plus event recordings available about two weeks after the event. The cost for online access is $700. Register here. September 23, 2026, from 3:30 p,m, to 5:00 p.m. PST- The American Teilhard Association is presenting Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson speaking on God of Creation, God of Process: A Jewish Perspective. Register here. September 25, 2026, from 6-7:30 p.m. PST - SOCAN's Monthly Meeting at the Medford, OR Public Library. Topic TBD. September 28-29, 2026 - Faith in Place will host its Annual 2026 Environment & Spirituality Summit, featuring Bill McKibben as the keynote speaker. All sessions will be available online, with in-person watch parties for the keynote session. We will provide details on how to join via Zoom or in person at a Watch Party closer to the event. Register here. October 6-27, 2026, from 10 a.m. to noon PT - Earth Literacies is presenting a webinar, A Non-violent Vision for our Violent World, with Diarmuid O’Murchu on four Tuesdays. November 9–11, 2026 - The World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture will celebrate its Love, Conflict, and an Unfolding Universe. As conflict and division intensify, WISRC offers a transformative vision of the forces shaping our world. Love, often misunderstood, is revealed in Teilhard’s evolutionary framework as the fundamental energy of the cosmos, drawing all life toward greater complexity and consciousness. More information and registration can be found here. December 11-12, 2026 - Faith and Science is presenting a landmark hybrid online and in-person conference: Convergences of Science and Faith, taking place in Rome, at the historic Palazzo Cardinal Cesi, steps from St Peter’s Square. Register here. May 19–22, 2027 - A Future of Meaning Conference is being co-organized by three nonprofit organizations: The Institute for Developmental Philosophy, The Center for Process Studies, and the World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture. This event will take place in Savannah, GA, focusing on The Philosophical Renewal of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. This unique gathering brings together leading voices in philosophy, theology, and culture for four days of presentations, dialogue, fellowship, contemplation, and music. Confirmed speakers include Iain McGilchrist, Ilia Delio, John Haught, Stephen Blackwood, Steve McIntosh, Andrew M. Davis, Robert Nicastro, and more—with Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Sarah Coakley, and David Bentley Hart joining live virtually. Register here.. This website aggregates and curates information from many third-party sources and does not necessarily endorse all aspects of others' work. Still, we find their viewpoint provocative and interesting enough to encourage the reader to engage with and come to their understanding and actions, as they deem appropriate.

The future is wide open. Today, as never before, we need a multiplicity of visions, dreams, and prophecies. We need sanctuaries for social imagination.” ~ Alvin Toffler, Future Shock October 20-21, 2026 - The Institute for the Future (IFTF) is presenting its Ten-Year Forecast, in-person at its Palo Alto headquarters. They will share the forecasts ahead of the event, and instead of presentations to sit through, they will immerse participants in experiences, exercises, and conversations so they don't just learn about these futures, they will feel them, test them, and discover what they might demand of us. Step inside IFTF"s ten forecasts for the year 2036: The Future of Trust and Knowledge Three of the ten forecasts examine what it means to know, to learn, and to trust in a decade when AI is embedded in almost every act of judgment. Together they ask: Discernment. When seeing-is-believing collapses, what becomes the new heuristic for trust — and who is trained to teach it? The Future of Scientific Knowledge. If generative systems can produce plausible findings and fake citations on demand, how do researchers rebuild knowledge that holds up? Four Cultures of AI. AI-Free, AI-Augmented, AI-Adjacent, AI-Directed: Which culture will your community, your school, your company choose — and what happens to people left between the? The Migration of Power and Capital Four forecasts trace where authority, capital, and risk are migrating as the post–Cold War consensus comes apart: The Muddle Powers. What replaces that consensus when energy, not ideology, sets the table — and which middle powers learn to play both sides? China Is Everywhere. Where does Chinese capital, technology, and culture reshape daily life in places that were never expected to be downstream of Beijing? After Financialization. After financialization has eaten everything, what happens to the real economy of goods and services? End of the Insurance Bargain. As the old insurance bargain breaks under climate, health, and economic risk, what new forms of mutual aid, public risk-pooling, and resilience-building infrastructure rise to take its place? The Changing Texture of Everyday Life The remaining three forecasts describe the texture of everyday life in 2036 — what it feels like to wake up, work, and connect inside the new conditions: Loneliness and Aloneness. If aloneness becomes the single biggest social force of the next decade, what new forms of community, care, and belonging could thrive in 2036 — and how do we make sure they reach everyone? Life in Extreme Heat. A world where 1.5 °C is the floor, not the ceiling: what do cities, infrastructure, labor, and routine look like inside the heat? From Large Language Models to Large World Models. Once AI moves beyond language to model the physical world, what new things can it plan, predict, and decide about — and what should it not? IFTF's mission is "to help organizations, communities, partners, and leaders become future-ready, so they can sense change and are prepared to face systemic shocks, pursue unexpected opportunities, adapt quickly, and build resiliency to face the future." Find out more at their website or Facebook page. Our friend, Rachel Hatch, COO of IFTF, told us about their newest Community Intelligence Lab prototypes at the Every Child Thrives Festival at the opening of the Obama Center in Chicago. Sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and running June 23–25, 2026, the festival invited children, families, and communities to imagine and shape the next decade. The IFTF Community Intelligence Lab is an interactive, prototyping initiative by the Institute for the Future (IFTF) designed to democratize strategic foresight and put future-thinking tools directly into the hands of local communities. [1] The lab deploys immersive, public-facing prototypes to help families, children, and civic organizations experience and actively co-create possibilities for the year 2036. [1, 2] Core Tools and Experiential Prototypes The lab utilizes AI-driven and experiential interactive stations to help individuals "speedrun" future possibilities and look past short-term thinking: [1, 2, 3, 4] AI Scenario Explorer: A digital tool built from IFTF's custom foresight map ("Lighting Up the Future for Children"), allowing users to pick a 2036 dilemma, play it forward, and unpack the community-level consequences. [1, 2] 2036 Future Selfie Booth: An experiential installation where users place themselves inside simulated future environments and walk away with a photographic artifact of their "future self" in 2036. [1] Community AI Prototyping: A foundational effort to build public AI spaces that align technology infrastructure with civic safety, universal access, and economic equity. [1] Alignment with the 2036 Ten-Year Forecast The lab’s work serves as a participatory testing ground for the broader IFTF Ten-Year Forecast 2036 research. Led by IFTF Research Director Jane McGonigal, this research guides communities through ten systemic shifts expected over the next decade—such as the booming "loneliness business," climate reorganization around extreme heat, and navigating alternative trust systems for scientific knowledge. [1, 2, 3, 4] By bringing these heavy strategic concepts into public spaces like the Every Child Thrives Festival at the Obama Center, the Community Intelligence Lab transforms elite research into actionable community power.[1, 2, 3]

The Human Energy Project is a "team of scholars, scientists, philosophers, educators, and professionals represent top international universities and think tanks at the forefront of new research into the future of human collective consciousness." I became aware of the Human Energy Project in 2023 through filmmaker Alan Honick, who is producing the documentary film Evolving Allignment: A Major Transition for Humanity and AI. On November 19, 2025, the Human Energy Project convened a Global Salon to consider Alignment for a Major Evolutionary Transition: The Future of Humanity & AI. "The San Francisco Salon gathered leading thinkers to explore a central question of our era: How do we align humanity, technology, and the planet as we enter a major evolutionary transition? The evening wove together evolutionary science, cooperation theory, cognition, and AI through perspectives from: Terrance Deacon (UC Berkeley) -Terry Deacon is a renowned neuroanthropologist and professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. As a leading voice on the evolution of mind, his work explores how meaning, language, and consciousness emerge from living systems. His acclaimed books, The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain and Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter, bridge evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and complex systems to illuminate the origins of thought and life itself. As a founding member of human energy's advisory board, Terry contributes to human energy's inquiry into emergence in the neosphere, helping shape how we understand the evolution of mind in an age of intelligent machines. In a separate YouTube video, Terry discusses the Computational Metaphor. Athena Aktipis (Cooperative Futures Institute) - Athena Acropus is executive director of the Cooperative Futures Institute, a new initiative applying cooperation science to humanity's most pressing challenges, including human AI interaction. She's also the current president of the International Society for Evolution, Ecology, and Cancer. As a cooperation theorist and biologist, she explores how cooperative dynamics shape systems across scales, from the cellular level where cancer emerges to human societies. Octopus also directs the interdisciplinary cooperation initiative and is a professor of psychology at Arizona State University, as well as author of The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer (2020) and A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: A Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving Our Wild Times (2024). Her work reveals how understanding cooperation across domains can guide humanity towards a more aligned, sustainable, and expansion-focused technological future. Peter Fenton (Benchmark Capital) - "Peter Fenton is a leading venture capitalist shaping the future of technology with vision and long-term impact. As a junior partner at Benchmark Capital, he has spent over two decades supporting transformative companies including Twitter, Yelp, and New Relic. Venton brings a rare combination of strategic insight and humanistic perspective, emphasizing innovation and technology ecosystems that align with enduring human values. He has a long-standing interest in evolutionary theory and philosophy in general and joins the salon with curiosity about technology's cultural and ethical dimensions and how leadership plays a role in guiding AI towards shared progress." Nichol Bradford (Human + Tech Week) - "Nicole Bradford is a pioneer in human potential in AI, dedicated to advancing technologies that enhance well-being and human flourishing. She leads human plus tech week as the chief curator and co-founded transformative tech the world's largest ecosystem of funders founders and investors building tech for human thriving with experience spanning Disney interactive and the naria collective venture fund Nicole Bridges behavioral science leadership and innovation to ensure technology amplifies humanity's highest cap capacities her work charts pathways for humanity and AI to co-evolve towards greater wisdom wisdom and collective resilience." "The panel reframed “alignment” as a human-to-human challenge supported by AI—emphasizing that real progress depends on strengthening cooperation, shared identity, and psychological maturity. They highlighted lessons from major evolutionary transitions: large-scale alignment succeeds when systems reward prosocial behavior, suppress fragmentation, and build reliable channels of communication and meaning. Speakers pointed to both the opportunities and risks ahead. AI can amplify cooperation and deepen collective intelligence, but only if designed as cooperative infrastructure rather than extractive technology." "Our greatest resources—symbolic communication, adaptability, relational intelligence—must be mobilized to overcome institutional lag, misaligned incentives, and attention-driven business models." As part of Human Energy’s Global Salon Series, this gathering contributed to a growing movement to: Advance integrative worldviews Evolve the noosphere Shape a future of coherence and shared flourishing Find out more about the Human Energy Project: Website: https://www.humanenergy.io/ Instagram: / humanenergyio LinkedIn: / dashboard Facebook: / humanenergyio

Several years ago, I read Evolutionaries: Unlocking the Spiritual and Cultural Potential of Science's Greatest Idea (2012) by Carter Phipps. In 2020, Phipps co-authored with John MacKay and Steve McIntosh Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business. Phipps is also the co-founder, with McIntosh, of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. From 2020 to 2025, Phipps hosted the podcast Thinking Ahead, with 49 episodes exploring the ways that the world is changing and developing across a vast array of domains - from business and politics to science and technology to consciousness and spirituality. In the May 29, 2024 episode, Phipps discusses The Beauty of Evolutionary Thinking with cognitive neuroscientist, science journalist, and author Bobby Azarian. Azarian's 2022 book The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity explored the evolution of the universe and life, purpose, complexity, and consciousness. Bobby Azarian now publishes the Road to Omega Substack, where he describes The Unifying Theory of Reality (UTOR) - "a mathematical variational framework for matter, mind, and cosmos." This UTOR white paper is compressed into a Substack post behind the paywall. From quantum mechanics to consciousness to cosmology, Azarian posits "one framework, one variational principle, and testable predictions." The UTOR white paper builds on Azarian's January 1, 2026 Awakening Game post. Earlier, Azarian introduced the first installment of "The Reality Game - a Meta-Game that contains all other games. It’s real life, viewed through the lens of cosmic evolution: a universe waking up through a dialectical battle between order and chaos, life and entropy, knowledge and ignorance." "I’m always interested in visions of evolution that open up new pathways for people to appreciate the magnificent journey of the cosmos... chaos is a symptom of transition to higher order, not its opposite." ~ Bobby Azarian Bobby Azarian, Ph.D., is a cognitive neuroscientist affiliated with George Mason University and a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Psychology Today's Mind in the Machine, The Atlantic, The New York Times, BBC Future, Scientific American, Slate, The Huffington Post, Quartz, and others. His research has been published in journals such as Cognition & Emotion and Human Brain Mapping. Follow him on Twitter @bobbyazarian and visit his website at www.bobbyazarian.com.

"Museums provide the first draft of art history. They decide which artists get to share wall space with masters like Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Picasso." ~ Zachary Small New York Times Reporter New York is the global epicenter of the art market. It is estimated that New York accounts for up to 90% of the value of sales in the US, making it the global epicenter of the art market. The US was the largest art market in the world in 2019, with a market share of 44%. There are more than 760 galleries in New York City alone, according to a 2020 analysis. An April 25, 2025, New York Times article by Zachary Small and Julia Halperin noted that museums that have the responsibility to curate who to feature have in recent years increasingly turned for logistical and, at times, financial support for their shows to major commercial art galleries, an elite slice of the art world which account for a sizable chunk of the $57.5 billion art market. Thus, the gallery system is the vehicle for art history in the making. Read their full story with this link. Hyperallergic reports that the annual Artlogic Gallery Report is now out, and "its findings capture a portrait of an art world and gallery sector at a pivotal crossroads. One that’s simultaneously embracing innovation and grappling with intensifying challenges." Here are the four key insights: Hybrid Is the New Normal Running a Gallery Is Tougher Than Ever Keep Your Collectors Close One Size Doesn’t Fit All Want the full picture? Download the 2025 Artlogic Gallery Report to explore all the insights, data, and recommendations shaping the future of galleries. Interact with Digital Art Augmentation: Google Arts and Culture Bonjour Vincent, at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is a lifelike doppelgänger of the Dutch artist who chats with visitors, offering insights into his own life and death (replete with machine-learning flubs). National Gallery Imaginirium Google Virtual Tour of the National Gallery, London Explore Leading Art Periodicals: Artforum Art in America Hyperallergic’s journalism offers trustworthy perspectives on everything from art history to contemporary art. It spotlights artist-led social movements, uncovers overlooked stories, and provides global coverage without the elitism often found in art journalism. It is not beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Its journalism is funded by readers, ensuring integrity and independence in its coverage. ArtAsia Pacific Visit one of America's leading museums in person or online: Whitney Museum of American Art Museum of Modern Art New York Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Frick Collection Morgan Library & Museum Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Baltimore Museum of Art Dallas Museum of Art Museum of Fine Arts Houston Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco National Gallery of Art National Museum of Women in the Arts Glenstone J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles County Museum of Art Crocker Art Museum Schneider Museum of Art Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University Oakland Museum of California Laguna Art Museum International Art The Louvre Musée d’Orsay Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris The National Gallery, London Art Gallery of New South Wales 100 Of The World’s Top Art Galleries The Purpose of Art Suzi Gablik's 1995 book The Reenchantment of Art asks: How might we restore to our culture its sense of aliveness, possibility, and magic? "We live in a culture... a particular way of life for which we have been programmed lacking in any cosmic, or transperson dimension, but its underlying principles of manic production and consumption, maximum energy flow, pointless waste, and greed are now threatening the entire ecosystem in which we live." Thirty years ago Gablik wrote: "My sense is that what we will be seeing over the next few decades is art that is essentially social and purposeful, art that rejects the myths of neutrality and autonomy....forms evoking the feeling of belonging to a larger whole rather than expressing the isolated, alienated self... a new connective, participatory aesthetics.. a value-based art that is able to transcend the modernist opposition between the aesthetic and the social." Fine Art Wikipedia says that "In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as pottery or most metalwork) or is generally of limited artistic quality to appeal to the masses. The decline of the concept of "fine art" is dated by George Kubler and others to around 1880. When it "fell out of fashion." Art Education A fine arts degree, such as a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), is an undergraduate program focused on professional education in visual and performing arts, emphasizing practical studio work over traditional lecture-based courses. Students typically specialize in areas like acting, music, painting, or graphic design, preparing them for careers in creative fields. Patrick Collier notes that "very few artists achieve any sort of financial independence by making art... and approximately five percent of art students continue to make are five years out of school."

Extreme event attribution (EEA) is a scientific field that analyzes whether and to what extent human-caused climate change influenced an individual extreme weather event, such as a specific heat wave or hurricane. A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Attribution of Extreme Weather and Climate Events and Their Impacts 2026 states that "decades of data and research indicate that human-caused climate change is altering the frequency, intensity, and other characteristics of classes of extreme weather and climate events, such as hurricanes, record-breaking heat waves, and extreme rainfall events." "Confidence in EEA varies considerably by event type, with the highest confidence in relation to temperature extremes and lowest confidence for severe convective storms. The position of each type of event on the graph above reflects the assessment by the report’s authoring committee of the current level of understanding of the effect of climate change on the event type (x-axis) and the current scientific confidence in capabilities for the attribution of specific events within the event type (y-axis). This figure is updated from the NASEM 2016 report. The bubble size for each event type is proportional to the number of EEA studies conducted." The New York Times notes that "the report doesn’t make recommendations on how attribution science should be used in policy and the law, though it notes that attribution findings could be relevant in several types of legal cases. A June 26, 2026, NYT article Oil Industry Lawyers Fight a $50 Billion Climate Case in Oregon reported on a $50 billion lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for a heat wave in Portland, Oregon, five years ago. Multnomah County cited an attribution study that concluded that a record-shattering 2021 summer heat wave in the Pacific Northwest would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. The Times states that "the case is one of nearly 40 lawsuits that have been filed by state and local governments across the country arguing that the fossil fuel industry should be held accountable for its role in accelerating climate change." The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is a private, non-profit institution that operates under a 1863 congressional charter. They provide "independent, trustworthy advice and facilitate solutions to complex challenges by mobilizing expertise, practice, and knowledge in science, engineering, and medicine." They envision a nation and world that rely on scientific evidence to make decisions that benefit humanity." At the core of their work is an "unwavering commitment to objectivity, scientific rigor, and truth."

The internet, global communications, and travel have expanded our worldview from local, regional, and national to a new global perspective. As a result, life is becoming increasingly stressful for billions of humans due to increased daily awareness of wars, human suffering, inequalities, injustices, economic pressures, cultural polarity, misinformation, distrust, fear of rapid change, and existential risks, including global warming, degradation of the environment, extinction of species, and the possiblity of nuclear war. But a growing body of compelling scientific evidence demonstrates a link between mental and emotional attitudes, physiological health, long-term well-being, and the possibility of uniting millions of people globally in heart-focused care and intention. HeartMath Institute's free e-book, Science of the Heart, is an overview of the research in human performance - resilience, stress, and emotions. It also postulates that as increasing numbers of people add coherent energy to the global field, it helps strengthen and stabilize mutually beneficial feedback loops between human beings and Earth’s magnetic fields." "Science of the Heart concludes with the perspective that being responsible for and increasing our personal coherence not only improves personal health and happiness, but also feeds into and influences a global field environment." HeartMath suggests that "the terms intuitive heart and spiritual heart refer to our energetic heart, which they believe is coupled with a deeper part of ourselves. Many refer to this as their higher self or higher capacities, or what physicist David Bohm described as “our implicate order and undivided wholeness.” Coherence is the quality of being orderly, consistent, and intelligible - leading to clarity of thought, speech, and emotional composure. "Social coherence relates to pairs, family units, groups, or larger organizations in which a network of relationships exists among individuals who share common interests and objectives. Social coherence is reflected as a stable, harmonious alignment of relationships that enables the efficient flow and utilization of energy and communication required for optimal collective cohesion and action. There are, of course, cycles and variations in the quality of family, team, or group coherence, similar to variations in an individual’s coherence level. Coherence requires that group members are attuned and emotionally aligned and that the group’s energy is globally organized and regulated by the group as a whole." "Global coherence does not mean everyone or all parts of a system are doing the same thing simultaneously. In complex globally coherent systems, such as human beings, there is a vast amount of activity at every level of magnification or scale... It can appear at one level of scale that a given system is operating autonomously, yet it is perfectly coordinated within the whole." In 2008, HeartMath Institute launched the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), which explores humanity's interconnectedness with the earth’s magnetic fields. It is a science-based, co-creative initiative that aims to unite millions of people globally in heart-focused care and intention. The following GCI hypotheses guide the ongoing collaborative research: Human and animal health, cognitive functions, emotions, and behavior are affected by planetary magnetic and energetic fields. The Earth’s magnetic fields carry biologically relevant information that connects all living systems. Each individual affects the global information field. Large numbers of people creating heart-centered states of care, love, and compassion will generate a more coherent field environment that can benefit others and help offset the current planetary-wide discord and incoherence. "Every individual contributes to the global field environment, and each person’s attitudes, intentions, and emotional experiences count. This is empowering for many individuals who often feel overwhelmed by the current negative predictions and conflicts on the planet. It helps them realize that their actions and intentions can make a difference and that by increasing their own coherence, they can become coherence builders and help accelerate the shift many now perceive as underway. "Countries adopting a more coherent planetary view will lead them to address social and economic oppression, warfare, cultural intolerance, crime, and disregard for the environment in more meaningful and successful ways." ~ HearthMath The Global Consciousness Project 2.0 collaborates with scientists and engineers worldwide to study the interconnections between human consciousness and the physical world. GCP2 was developed and maintained by the donor-funded HeartMath Institute, founded in 1991. GCP2 builds upon the original Global Consciousness Project (GCP 1), created in 1997 by Dr. Roger Nelson and a group of volunteers. They sought to detect, quantify, and study human consciousness on a deeper level. "We're on a mission to understand the nature of our collective consciousness, its impact on our everyday life, and the ways we can use to create a better world." "What if everything we've been taught about money and economics is just a story? What if we look, instead, to what is alive, relational, and waiting beautifully for us to remember? July 18, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. PDT - Participate in the Global Coherence Pulse: Living Economics & the Edge of Evolution with Scarlett Max. "This Saturday, we're exploring what happens when we stop managing finances (while being effectively imprisoned by their structure), and we instead begin living into the embodied presence of All Abundance." We get to ask questions like: What abundance wants to flow through me now? How does it feel to receive, unfettered, with and on behalf of the All that Is? How do truths like this get to be alive in my day-to-day life? "This is Living Economics, a powerful shift in how we relate to ourselves, to value, to exchange, to AI, to each other. We are standing at the Edge of Evolution, the generation that is laying the foundations for what will be woven for millennia. Let's explore together what it is like to be active participants in tending fields of coherence for regeneratively thriving futures. " #GlobalCoherencePulse #evolution#coherence #abundance #presence #livingeconomics #ThrivingFuture

When I first encountered the idea of an integral worldview, it felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s a way of seeing the world that goes beyond the usual black-and-white thinking. Instead, it invites us to embrace complexity, connection, and multiple perspectives. For those of us who care deeply about the environment and our community, this approach offers a powerful framework to understand and act on the challenges we face. An integral worldview is not just a theory; it’s a practical guide for living and working together in harmony with nature and each other. In this post, I’ll share what I’ve learned about integral worldview principles, how they shape our understanding of sustainability, and why they matter for the Rogue Valley and beyond. Understanding Integral Worldview Principles Integral worldview principles are about seeing the world as a whole, interconnected system. They encourage us to consider multiple dimensions of reality—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—and how these layers interact. This holistic perspective helps us avoid narrow thinking and opens the door to more creative and inclusive solutions. Here are some key principles that define an integral worldview: Holism: Everything is connected. Nature, people, and society form an interdependent web. Developmental stages: Individuals and societies evolve through stages of awareness and complexity. Multiple perspectives: Truth is multifaceted. Different viewpoints can all hold value. Integration: The goal is to bring together diverse elements into a coherent whole. By applying these principles, we can better understand environmental issues as not just isolated problems but as part of a larger system involving culture, economy, and personal values. Eye-level view of a lush forest with sunlight filtering through the trees How Integral Worldview Principles Shape Sustainability Sustainability is often talked about in terms of resources and conservation. While these are important, an integral worldview pushes us to think deeper. It asks us to consider how our beliefs, behaviors, and social structures contribute to environmental health or harm. For example, when we look at climate change through an integral lens, we don’t just focus on carbon emissions. We also examine: How cultural values influence consumption patterns. The role of education in shaping environmental awareness. Emotional connections to nature that motivate action. Economic systems that either support or undermine sustainability. This broader view helps us design solutions that are more effective and lasting. It encourages collaboration across disciplines and communities, recognizing that no single approach can solve complex problems alone. If you’re curious about what an integral worldview is, this link offers a clear explanation that complements what I’m sharing here. Practical Ways to Embrace an Integral Worldview Adopting an integral worldview might sound abstract, but it’s very doable in everyday life. Here are some practical steps I’ve found helpful: Expand your perspective: When faced with an issue, try to see it from multiple angles—scientific, emotional, cultural, and spiritual. Practice empathy: Listen deeply to others, especially those with different experiences or beliefs. Reflect on your values: Consider how your personal choices impact the environment and community. Engage in community: Join local groups or initiatives that promote sustainability and inclusivity. Stay curious: Keep learning about different worldviews and how they relate to environmental challenges. By integrating these habits, you can contribute to a more connected and resilient community. Close-up view of hands planting a young tree in soil The Impact of an Integral Worldview on Community Action One of the most inspiring aspects of an integral worldview is its potential to unite people around shared goals. In the Rogue Valley, where natural beauty and environmental awareness are strong, this approach can foster meaningful collaboration. When we recognize the interconnectedness of our social and ecological systems, we become more motivated to act collectively. This might look like: Community-led restoration projects. Educational workshops that blend science with local culture. Policies that balance economic development with environmental protection. Support networks that nurture emotional resilience in the face of climate anxiety. The integral worldview encourages us to see these efforts not as separate tasks but as parts of a larger movement toward sustainability and well-being. Moving Forward with Integral Worldview Principles Embracing an integral worldview is a journey, not a destination. It invites us to keep growing, questioning, and connecting. For those of us committed to addressing the global climate crisis, it offers a hopeful path forward—one that honors complexity and values every voice. If you’re ready to explore this perspective further, consider how you can bring integral principles into your daily life and community work. Whether it’s through mindful consumption, supporting local environmental initiatives, or simply opening your mind to new ideas, every step counts. Together, we can build a future where people and planet thrive in harmony. The essence of an integral worldview lies in this shared vision and the actions it inspires. Thank you for joining me on this exploration of integral worldview principles. I hope it sparks new insights and encourages you to engage with the world in a more connected and meaningful way.

Here's a list of some upcoming eco-spiritual activities that may interest you. Check back, as this post will be updated during July 2026 as we get additional information. A new calendar listing will come out in late July. Don't be intimidated by the scope of this list; choose to participate in just what calls to you. Monthly Gatherings July 16, 2026, at 4 p.m. PDT - Faith in Democracy is having its Monthly Call with Rev. Jennifer Butler, Founder and Executive Director at Faith in Democracy. They'll talk about what you need to know to best prep for the 2026 elections! Register here. July 21, 2026, at 5 p.m. PDT - GreenFaith is inviting you to join a special gathering as we prepare for Covenant for Our Future's Week of Action (August 23–30, 2026). "The climate crisis is a moral crisis, and people of faith have an essential role to play in building a future rooted in justice, compassion, and care for Creation." Register here. June 30, 2026 - The global Order of the Sacred Earth movement meets on Zoom on the last Tuesday of each month. Join Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Mariko Middleton as we come together to listen, share, and support one another within this growing movement. Join the Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478. Special Webinars July 9, 2026, at 4 p.m. PDT - The Intergenerational Eco-Justice and Spirituality Network is hosting a webinar series for the Jubilee Year, marking the 800th Anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi. The four-part series explores how Franciscan eco-spirituality can meet this moment with clarity, courage, and hope. This is a partnership involving the Franciscan Federation, Catholic Climate Covenant, the Franciscan Action Network, and the Interfaith Public Health Network. The first webinar was on The Long Story of Creation and the Work of Ecological Healing: Stories of extraction, community, and kinship from the Permian Basin to the Arctic, featuring Sr. Joan Brown, OSF. The next presentation on July 9th will be with Sr. Ilia Delio. Webinar: Brother, Sister, Robot – Being Franciscan in an Age of AI. Register here. July 23 through August 27, 2026, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. PDT - Charles Burack’s six-week live class, Your Ten Sacred Powers: Cultivating Your Inner Tree of Life. Explore the ten sacred powers of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, including wisdom, lovingkindness, strength, empathy, beauty, and embodied presence. $150 Register here. International Conferences July 17–20, 2026 - The International Process Network and the Center for Process Studies will host the 14th International Whitehead Conference in Zhuhai, China, at Beijing Normal–Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU) and online. The theme is: Process Philosophy in a Time of Polycrisis: Science, Meaning, and Civilization. This global gathering of scholars, educators, and practitioners marks a pivotal moment to engage Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy in dialogue with the pressing challenges and transformative opportunities of the 21st century. Learn more here.. AI and Ethics July 30, 2026, at 4 p.m. PDT - The World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture (WISR) presents a webinar panel discussion featuring Ilia Delio, Gregory Stock, Georg Theiner, Robert Geraci, and Jacob Given: Pope Leo’s Magnifica humanitas: Who has the last word on AI? The panel will discuss Pope Leo’s recent encyclical, which calls for constraints and ethical norms for the use and development of AI. This is a vital conversation about how we navigate our human future in an AI world. Register here.. Collaborative Learning August 26, 2026 - ProSocial World is offering the ProSocial Action Lab, a 10-week cohort-based program for existing groups of 3-10 people. This program focuses on working better together—practically addressing real challenges with expert coaching and a global community of peers. The cost is $3,500. More information and registration can be found here.. Transformative Retreats September 16-20, 2026 - The Guild for Spiritual Guidance presents the Imagine Symposium. This transformative retreat brings together theologians, artists, scientists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers to explore the intersections of faith, nature, ecology, cosmology, science, and imagination. It is an invitation to pause together—to listen more deeply to the Earth, wisdom traditions, science, poetry, and one another. Themes & Focus Ecological and spiritual consciousness Dialogue between cosmology and science Indigenous wisdom and land-based spirituality Imagination as a tool for building new worlds Livestream includes keynotes and select workshops, plus event recordings available about two weeks after the event. The cost for online access is $700. Register here. Annual Summits September 28-29, 2026 - Faith in Place will host its Annual 2026 Environment & Spirituality Summit, featuring Bill McKibben as the keynote speaker. All sessions will be available online, with in-person watch parties for the keynote session. We will provide details on how to join via Zoom or in-person at a Watch Party closer to the event. Register here. Conference on Love and Conflict November 9–11, 2026 - The World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture will celebrate its Love, Conflict, and an Unfolding Universe. As conflict and division intensify, WISRC offers a transformative vision of the forces shaping our world. Love, often misunderstood, is revealed in Teilhard’s evolutionary framework as the fundamental energy of the cosmos, drawing all life toward greater complexity and consciousness. More information and registration can be found here.. Future of Meaning Conference May 19–22, 2027 - A Future of Meaning Conference is being co-organized by three nonprofit organizations: The Institute for Developmental Philosophy, The Center for Process Studies, and the World Institute for Science, Religion and Culture. This event will take place in Savannah, GA, focusing on The Philosophical Renewal of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. This unique gathering brings together leading voices in philosophy, theology, and culture for four days of presentations, dialogue, fellowship, contemplation, and music. Confirmed speakers include Iain McGilchrist, Ilia Delio, John Haught, Stephen Blackwood, Steve McIntosh, Andrew M. Davis, Robert Nicastro, and more—with Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Sarah Coakley, and David Bentley Hart joining live virtually. Register here.. This website aggregates and curates information from many third-party sources and does not necessarily endorse all aspects of others' work. Still, we find their viewpoint provocative and interesting enough to encourage the reader to engage with and come to their understanding and actions, as they deem appropriate.

Covenant For Our Future is "a national, multi‑faith coalition bringing together diverse organizations, leaders, and communities committed to advancing moral policies rooted in justice, dignity, and compassion." The Covenant For Our Future campaign is "a multi-faith, multi-issue movement committed to the repeal of HR.1 and renewal of the Federal government’s commitment to a just and prosperous future for all. "We are calling for the repeal of HR. 1 (known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) and renewal of the Federal government’s commitment to justice. This is our moment to act with the conviction that a just and equitable future is possible. It is an opportunity for faith communities and leaders across the country to renew hope, reclaim agency, and reignite belief. Our call is clear. Legislators, policymakers, and candidates must repeal this immoral law and replace it with legislation reflecting our shared values: feeding the hungry, healing the sick, protecting the environment, and treating migrants with dignity. Your signature strengthens our multi-faith campaign to raise awareness, shift public understanding, erode the legitimacy of harmful policies, and shape the moral narrative for 2026 and beyond." Click here to affirm the Covenant By affirming the Covenant, faith communities unite to speak out, organize, educate, and mobilize for policies that reflect our deepest moral commitments. Jul 21, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. PDT - Activating a Multi-faith Proclamation webinar - a casual, collaborative walkthrough of our upcoming Week of Action toolkit. This isn't a formal training; it’s an invitation to connect, get inspired, and see how easy it is to put our shared covenant into motion. Register here. In this brief session, they will: Tour the Toolkit: Get a first look at the resources, graphics, and talking points designed to help you share the proclamation. Explore Ways to Participate: Discover flexible ideas for taking action, whether you have 5 minutes or 5 hours to spare. Build Collective Momentum: See how our combined efforts across faith traditions will amplify our shared message. Partners GreenFaith Kairos Center for Religion, Rights, and Social Justice Hindus for Human Rights Texas Impact - People of Faith Working for Justice Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice - UU advocacy in the nation’s capital Justice for All Jewish Earth Alliance Dayenu - A Jewish Call to Climate Action Faithful America Boston Islamic Seminary Shambhala - Making Enlightened Society Possible - Boulder, CO Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) Faith in Place The Green Church Lutherans Restoring Creation Church and Society The United Methodist Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry Sisters of Mercy Hermanas de la Misericordia Third Act Faith Franciscian Action Network

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Multitude_in_Reef.jpg Rauxilian, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons "Faced with the risk of a culture consumed by power, domination, and war, Pope Leo XIV's Magnifica Humanitas proposes the alternative possibility of a civilization of love founded on justice, dialogue, and shared responsibility." On June 11, 2026, Catholic Climate Covenant hosted a panel webinar: Magnifica Humanitas: Disarming AI, Being Fully Human, and Integral Ecology Pope Leo XIV's May 15, 2026, encyclical Magnifica Humanitas added new teaching to the Catholic Church. It invites each of us into a conversation about how to be most fully human in a world where AI is growing at an unchecked rate. The webinar considered deeper questions about our relationship with God, each other, creation, and technology. Panelists included: Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University Scott Hurd, Catholic Charities USA Dr. Nichole Flores, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia Dr. Paul Scherz, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame Catholic Climate Covenant and the Laudato Si’ Movement-North America applauded the encylical's environmental concerns saying, "Magnifica Humanitas builds on all of the Church’s Social Doctrine, and in particular, two of Pope Francis’ influential encyclicals, Laudato Si’ (2015 on the environment) and Fratelli Tutti (2020 on human flourishing in a global community)." Integral Ecology The Pope's May 15th encyclical "roots integral ecology as a core lens through which to discern God’s hope for us in the current realities we live, seeing the crises of the environment and the crises of social/human relationships as one complex and integrated crisis. The common denominator in this complexity is that humans, not machines, are made in the image and likeness of our creator God." The encyclical defines “integral human development” to mean "a process in which the growth of individuals and peoples encompasses all dimensions of existence and opens the future to subsequent generations as well.... Justice demands the recognition of the rights of society and the rights of peoples, and includes a responsibility toward future generations... Development is integral when it is not limited to the economic sphere, but promotes quality of life in its spiritual, cultural, moral and relational dimensions, while respecting our common home, the diversity of peoples and their ways of life. 84. Today, the concept of integral human development is a benchmark for the evaluation of integral ecology, which has become an indispensable dimension of the Church’s Social Doctrine. Indeed, the quality of development is measured by the ability to integrate justice toward people and the care of our common home, and to promote dignified living conditions, access to necessary goods, just social relations, care of creation, and consideration for future generations. It follows that true progress is not what increases the well-being of some by degrading ecosystems, shifting costs onto the most disadvantaged communities, or compromising the living conditions of those who will follow us. 85. Seen in this light, integral human development is the framework through which we can interpret the changes of our time, including those brought about by the digital revolution. Technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, are not neutral, for they can either foster participation and justice or exacerbate inequality, control and exclusion. For this reason, they must be evaluated by asking a crucial question: Do they truly help individuals and people to become more humane and fraternal, while respecting our common home and future generations? Integral ecology is a holistic approach to ecology, emphasizing human and social dimensions, and the interconnectedness of life on Earth. It studies the relationships between living organisms and the ecosystem in which they develop. Wikipedia says, "The use of the term 'integral ecology' probably first appeared in Hillary B. Moore's Marine Ecology in 1958. Since then, multiple authors have used the term to convey unique but overlapping concepts in the intellectual atmosphere of ecology. In the two decades leading up to the encyclical's release, the concept evolved into a formal term, largely due to the contributions of Leonardo Boff and Thomas Berry According to Ryszard F. Sadowski, "parts of Pope Francis's encyclical on integral ecology seem to have been influenced by Boff and Berry. Some similar themes include the holistic approach, the common good, and sustainability. Leonardo Boff is a Brazilian Catholic theologian, philosopher, writer, and former Catholic priest known for his active support for Latin American liberation theology Thomas Berry, (1914-2009) was an American Catholic priest, cultural historian, and scholar of the world's religions, especially Asian traditions. Later, as he studied Earth history and evolution, he called himself a "geologian". "From his academic beginnings as a historian of world cultures and religions, Berry developed into a historian of the Earth and its evolutionary processes. He was influenced by the work of the Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and he served as president of the American Teilhard Association (1975–1987). Berry took Teilhard's major ideas on evolution and expanded them into an epic story to which we belong. To that end, with the cosmologist Brian Swimme, he wrote The Universe Story (1992). The multimedia project Journey of the Universe (2011) was also inspired by this perspective. This is a film (dedicated to Berry), a book, a series of conversations on DVDs and podcasts, and online courses from Yale/Coursera."

Here's a list of some upcoming eco-spiritual activities that may interest you. Check back, as this post will be updated throughout June 2026 as we receive additional information. A new calendar listing will come out in late June. Don't be intimidated by the scope of this list; choose to participate in just what calls to you. Engaging with Eco-Spirituality Homebrewed Christianity: The Future of Religion May 29, 2026, to June 18, 2026, at 10 a.m. PST - Homebrewed Christianity presents The Future of Religion in four live sessions. Connect with fellow travelers in the class Facebook group. Share questions, resources, and "aha" moments throughout the four weeks. You can ask Ilia Delio and Tripp Fuller your questions in real time. Can't make it live? Replays are available on the Class Resource Page. More information and registration here. The Power of Love Summit June 2-8, 2026 - Wisdom for Life has organized a 7-day online event exploring love in its fullest expression beyond romance in the Power of Love Summit. You'll hear from over 40 leading voices in psychology, spirituality, trauma healing, and conscious relationships. Each speaker offers practical wisdom and deep insight into how love transforms every dimension of life. More information and registration here. Protector of God's Creation: Eco-Spirituality Today June 7-12, 2026 - Earth Literacies is presenting a 6-day online Zoom retreat called Protector of God's Creation: Eco-Spirituality Today with Diarmuid O'Murchu. This retreat will explore the shift in spirituality toward collaboration with the Holy Spirit in renewing the earth. The cost is $450. More information and registration here. ProSocial World Info Session June 10, 2026, at 3 p.m. PDT - ProSocial World is hosting a free Info Session on Zoom. This session is perfect if you’re unsure whether any of their courses are right for you and your group. You can ask questions and talk with their team. Register here. The InterSpiritual Mandala Course June 16, 2026, to August 4, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. PDT - Spiritual Paths Institute is offering live Zoom sessions for 8 weeks: The InterSpiritual Mandala Course. This unique process deepens our meditation practice and spiritual path. By working with the 12 Spiritual Styles and life’s essential spiritual questions, we begin to discover practices, perspectives, and insights that resonate most deeply with who we are. The cost is $77. More information and registration here. Regenerative Futures Lab III June 18, 2026, at 7 a.m. PDT - The Presencing Institute is hosting Regenerative Futures Lab III: A Festival of Prototypes: Transforming Local and Global Systems. This session will showcase prototypes from around the world aimed at systems change. Whether you want to present your prototype or explore others, you’re invited to join in this celebration of emerging possibilities. Intergalactic Conference on Resistance Studies June 18-21, 2026 - The University of Massachusetts, Amherst is hosting an Intergalactic Conference on Resistance Studies. The conference will feature: Live-streamed sessions with interactive Q&A for remote participants Online sessions scheduled for different global time zones Virtual networking spaces for ongoing collaboration Support and encouragement for in-person regional gatherings connected to the main conference The Resistance Studies Network website offers various resources. Fierce Compassion: The Power of the Sacred Feminine June 20, 2026, from 7-10 a.m. PST - Margaret J. Wheatley is offering Fierce Compassion: The Power of the Sacred Feminine live on Zoom, with the recording provided. Plus, on July 20th & August 20th, you’ll receive a reflection practice with a brief video teaching. Tuition is $108. More information and registration here. Cosmos, Chaos, and the Complexities of Consciousness June 22, 2026, at 4 p.m. PDT - The Center for Christogenesis hosts Ilia Delio and Cynthia Bourgeault for a live webinar: Cosmos, Chaos, and the Complexities of Consciousness. Together, they will explore the spiritual story unfolding inside our global unraveling: politics, war, the rise of AI, racism, colonialism, immigration, and climate collapse. Most importantly, they will discuss the fragmented consciousness beneath it all. This will be a hope-filled evening about what it means to live awake, whole, and engaged in a world crying out for transformation. Register here. Positive Feedback Loop June 30, 2026, from rom 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. PDT -The next SOCAN Public General meeting at the Medford Public Library will feature Flavia Franco from Southern Oregon Food Solutions. Flavia will share how she is using a positive feedback loop to make her intersection grow bigger, both personally and as a community, as she focuses on the issues of food waste prevention, reduction, and community compost. In order to make progress - especially towards resilience - connections and relationships are key. A positive feedback loop can be used to build momentum in climate action, either by being the center driver of the loop activity or by being a part of the loop itself. 14th International Whitehead Conference July 17–20, 2026 - The International Process Network and the Center for Process Studies will host the 14th International Whitehead Conference in Zhuhai, China, at Beijing Normal–Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU) and online. The theme of the conference is: Process Philosophy in a Time of Polycrisis: Science, Meaning, and Civilization. This global gathering of scholars, educators, and practitioners marks a pivotal moment to engage Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy in dialogue with the pressing challenges and transformative opportunities of the 21st century. Learn more here. Annual Environment & Spirituality Summit September 28-29, 2026 - Faith in Place is hosting its Annual 2026 Environment & Spirituality Summit with Bill McKibben giving the keynote address. All sessions will be available online. In-person watch parties will be hosted for the Keynote Session. We will send out details on how to join via Zoom or in-person at a Watch Party closer to the event. Register here. 10th Anniversary Conference: Love, Conflict, and an Unfolding Universe November 9–11, 2026 - The Center for Christogenesis will hold its 10th Anniversary Conference: Love, Conflict, and an Unfolding Universe. As conflict and division rapidly intensify, the Center for Christogenesis offers a transformative vision of the forces shaping our world. "Love, so often misunderstood and reduced to mere sentiment, is revealed in Teilhard’s evolutionary framework as the fundamental energy of the cosmos: the power that draws all life toward greater complexity and consciousness." More information and registration here. This website aggregates and curates information from many third-party sources and does not necessarily endorse all aspects of others' work. Still, we find their viewpoint provocative and interesting enough to encourage the reader to engage with and come to their understanding and actions, as they deem appropriate.