WEAVING THE CONNECTIONS

The Newsletter of the Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine

Volume 11                 Spring 2006              Number 4

 

Text Box: Exploring Our Entry into Deep Time Eleanor Rae   On December 2, 2005, I attended a presentation by Dominican sister Miriam Therese MacGillis, the co-founder of Genesis Farm, an ecological learning center located in New Jersey. Her talk was entitled: “Reopen the Christian Mysteries in Deep Time: New Cosmology, New Perspectives.” Miriam was very forthright in stating that she was not there to attempt a resolution to the tension existing between the Universe story—with its 13.7 billion year history, in which the human has been present for a “mere” 2 million years—and the two-thousand-year-old Christian story.  She was clear, however, that she believed in the value of both stories and felt strongly that something is coming into awareness—something we cannot yet define.   In the meantime, how do those who strongly feel the tension (of holding both stories) function on a day-to-day basis? I offer one path in my book Women, the Earth, the Divine in the chapter entitled “Living the Earth-Centered Future Today.” My first suggestion is that we examine our value system and ask the following questions. Is it based solely on individualism, competitiveness, domination and consumption? What is the place of community, co-operation, non-hierarchical relationships and sustainability—living in a way that provides enough for ourselves and for future generations? Secondly, I suggest that the way into the future calls for an ethic of care, one that would recognize the intrinsic worth of all that is, and would be grounded in the Earth as both nurturer and teacher. Thirdly, such an ethic of care would raise for the human the issue of transformation. A person could readily enter into the transformative process whoever and wherever she or he is—and with what seems to be the most obvious and/or the most urgent at the time. In this way, we all could tap into the regenerative power of the Universe itself. We would discover that by transforming ourselves, we would simultaneously transform the Earth. In religious terms, this experience of the unity of all has largely been limited to the mystics. In our own time, however, we can all share the experience—through science with its story of the initial great flaring forth. As I have stated many times before, we are all recycled stardust. The transformative process, however, does need to be grounded in the particular place in which we live. And so, fourthly, I suggest that we need to know and love the other animal species with whom we share our home, as well as the rocks, soil, water, winds, and plants. We need to understand how we all are affected by seasonal changes; we need to experience our interconnectedness in our common Earth journey.   Looking back on human history and the changes that have taken place in our understanding of the role of the human, I cannot help but feel that each age is given that which it needs to bring meaning to its given reality—the search for meaning expressed through such existential questions as: “where did I come from?” or “why am I here?” We have been given a new common story—the scientific story of the origin of a Universe born 13.7 billion years ago—as contrasted to the many creation stories most religious traditions have developed. My hope is that we use this story to create a world we will want to leave to all of our children.

 

To ANZ and Back

Eleanor Rae

 

In March, my husband Giles and I made a trip to Australia and New Zealand. (The ANZ in the above title comes from JUSCANZ, the self-constituted UN group composed of Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). We were scheduled to travel with other people who are also wheelchair bound, as is Giles. However, we were the only ones who participated, which did leave us free to make some personal choices in the itinerary—and so we chose such activities as animal sanctuaries rather than gold mines and mountains rather than city tours.

 

I had looked forward to this trip as a change from my concerns with Earth issues, but it did not begin this way. Sitting next to me on the plane was a young woman from Texas who worked for an organization that built planned communities. As we approached Dallas (an unscheduled stop due to weather conditions) she showed me from the air and with great enthusiasm a number of the planned communities she was involved in promoting. In each, the Earth had literally been stripped bare in order to construct homes and every amenity possible. So much for my great escape!

 

I did try to find some signs of hope in the rest of the trip. Thus in Australia, we chose to go to a wild life sanctuary and were heartened to learn of the work being done for animals that are endemic to this continent, such as the duck billed platypus, the echidna, the koala and the Tasmanian devil, as well as many less exotic species. We were pleased to see that the conditions for the creatures were as natural as possible, and that the emphasis there was on the work and not on our being entertained.

 

In New Zealand, we chose another other-than-human experience but of a different kind. New Zealand has no endemic mammals, except for one species of bat. Consequently, it was a bird paradise before the introduction of non-native species. (As a result of this introduction, now even the national symbol, the kiwi bird, is endangered.) We went to a facility, which was once the site of a dump where everything was trashed, even cars. An individual had converted it to a sanctuary where much work was being done to ensure the survival of native bird species. The founder’s son told us of the joy they had experienced when they unearthed, from under all the debris, a long forgotten and buried spring that now supplies flowing water through much of the sanctuary.

 

A more familiar world view, however, was to be my experience once again on the long flight home. A fellow journeyer spent much time talking about two things—the fortune he had made in real estate and the unspoiled nature of the west coast of New Zealand. Somehow he thought it was all right to totally “develop” the Earth in any way possible as long as a portion remained unspoiled for his own enjoyment. Welcome home!

 

May we all become aware of any contradictions of our own—and work to overcome them.

 

 

 

 

Returning From India

Susanne Schaup

 

In March, I went on a field trip to India, a country to which I have been close for many years. Her ancient spiritual tradition has taught me to look at human beings as potentially divine, not as the sinful, fallen creatures of biblical anthropology.  

The Indian concept of God never excluded the feminine. There is no male God—Brahma, Shiva or Vishnu—who does not have a female consort, not one who is envisioned without his shakti (the feminine energy and well-spring of his power). Shakti is the World Mother, the source of all being. The Indian people worship Goddesses Durga and Kali (life-giving and destructive forms of the Divine Feminine) in temples and colorful festivals. They also invoke Goddess Lakshmi as the giver of beauty and worldly fortune. Saraswati, the Goddess of Wisdom (who corresponds most closely to our concept of Sophia), appeals to those who seek wisdom and self-perfection. 

India also has female saints and mystics. The people still worship a woman simply called the “Mother” more than thirty years after her death. She was the companion of the great Indian sage of the 20th century Sri Aurobindo, and they regard her as his shakti. This remarkable woman, who was of European origin, founded schools and a university, as well as a city of the future in Auroville. She inspired arts and crafts and local industries.  

The Mother also acted as spiritual guide for innumerable disciples and built the famous ashram in Pondicherry. It was her genius that put Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga into practice and turned Pondicherry into a training ground for thought on human evolution along ideas surprisingly similar to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of an ever growing spiritualization of matter. The ashram, the “Mother’s School”, was formerly housed in a small building, but later branched out to New Delhi. It had a good reputation even thirty years ago when I visited it for the first time, and now is housed in a beautiful new building for 700 students. It ranks as one of the best in the country.  

On the ashram compound I also visited an experimental school, “Mirambika”, which practices Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s educational principle of free and pleasurable learning. There are no exams and no grades. As I walked through the open classrooms in an airy structure of breathtaking architectural beauty, I saw happy, smiling children squatting on the floor and engaged in learning projects. They were visibly unstressed and unfrustrated. Though the deafening noise of the Delhi traffic or the airplanes overhead could not be completely ignored, when one enters the ashram, one moves into another world—it is an oasis of peace and beauty. 

My trip also took me to rural areas. In West Bengal, I met poor tribal women who are beginning to organize themselves. They form self-help groups, strive to overcome their illiteracy and send their children to school. They generate small incomes with loans from their own savings bank, keeping their monthly deposits in a metal box (out of reach of the men who often have a problem with alcohol). The German NGO with which I work and our Indian partner organizations, however, have observed that help given to women tends to benefit the whole family and the larger community. 

It seems that women in India generally are coming forward. Marginalized women, who have been suppressed by caste and custom, are waking up to their own power. Fisherwomen on the south coast near Chennai (former Madras), assume functions and responsibilities they never dreamed of before the tsunami disaster. With the aid of relief funds, they buy fish nets, which they lease out to the men. They ride bicycles and even drive cars, learn to read and write, and to make use of the internet. Instantaneously, they are in touch with the world. The women are proud of the progress made within the short span of two years. They are gaining self-confidence and authority, and are experiencing solidarity and sisterhood.

In Kolkata I spoke with fifteen-year old girls who are students of the prestigious Loreto School. They go to the slums as part of their curriculum to locate children (mostly little girls) who have been sold as household slaves and bring them to school or tutor them in their homes. They also go to nearby villages on their free day to make contact with neglected children whom they offer tuition and seek to understand their and their families’ other needs. It was wonderful to interview these girls as they were smart and highly motivated—just bursting with energy.  

It is what I call a “joyous energy” that impressed me with so many of the women I met. They have a sense of purpose, a willingness to render service, an acute awareness of the challenges of Indian society relative to the uplifting of women and the eradication of poverty. 

The brightest aspect of my trip was seeing women in the process of being empowered. After ages of injustice and inequity—in glaring contradiction to the elevated position of the feminine in Indian spirituality—womenare gradually coming into their own. Shakti-Sophia be praised.

 

 

 

 

U.N. Commission on the Status of Women

50th Session, February 27-March 20, 2006

Anne Andersson

 

The 50th session considered two themes:

     • Enhanced participation of women in development: an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women, taking into account, [among other things], the fields of education, health and work.

     • Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels.

 

Rachel N. Mayanja, Assistant Secretary-General and special adviser on gender issues and advancement of women, offered an introductory statement:

 “During the past 60 years women of the world have made remarkable gains. Joining forces with governments, the dynamic world women’s movement and international organizations, the Commission [which was formed in 1946] worked hard to bring women’s advancement and empowerment to the centre of the United Nations quest for peace, development and human rights. Today, gender equality is at the heart of the mission of this organization. It is therefore not surprising that in September 2005, in the face of multiple threats of our globalized environment—extreme poverty, environmental degradation, deadly pandemics, terrorism, organized crime, the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction—the World Summit brought Heads of State and Government together in reaffirming their commitment to the full and effective implementation of the goals and objectives of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action [1995] as an essential contribution to achieving the internationally agreed development goal, including the Millennium Development Goals [2000].” 

“We must be encouraged by this confidence. At the same time, we must be candid in our assessment. No country has fully implemented the recommendations of the Platform of Action, nor has full de facto equality for women with men been reached in any society.” 

Rachel Mayanja’s assessment of the world’s sluggishness was reiterated in an opinion offered by a variety of country representatives—a gap exists between policy intention and implementation. NGO reports and organizations’ literature addressed a plethora of existing problems, such as poverty, violence, health, education and access to the political process. For example: 

 • Sudanese women were involved in the peace processthat led up to Sudan’s 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that called for the “equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights. Mayanja,on the other hand, reported that Sudanese women shoulder the force of post-conflict problems, such as unabated violence, rapes, sexual slavery, abject poverty, lack of healthcare, scarcity of water and food, economic deprivation and social discrimination.

  • In 2005, Afghan women gained 27% of the 249 seats in the Wolesa Jirga (House of the People), and there have been improvements in access to education, greater awareness of gender equality within the government and efforts to combat violence. Yet, Afghan women face serious security, social and human rights challenges, such as threats, forced and early marriages (60-80% are forced; 40% involve girls below the age of 15) and other types of violence, including domestic and sexual, forced seclusion and forced prostitution, trafficking of women and children, and so-called honor killings (the murder of women for actual or perceived immoral behavior, which may take the form of marital infidelity, refusing to submit to an arranged marriage, demanding a divorce, flirting with a man, or being raped).

 I believe that hope lies in the significance given by U.N. organizations to a tool used to achieve gender equality in promoting the goals of the Beijing declaration and the Platform of Action. This tool, called gender mainstreaming, involves the integration of the gender perspective into every stage of policy processes—design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation—with a view to promoting equality between men and women. It means assessing how policies impact on the life and position of both women and men—and taking responsibility to re-address them.

 

 

                                                               

    

 

Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live. Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time? Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers—wiser than all alphabets—clouds that die constantly for the sake of His glory, we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature. It is so embarrassing to live! How strange we are in the world, and how presumptuous our doings! Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.

    Abraham Heschel, from I Asked for Wonder

 

 

 

Associates of C:WED:

 

Eleanor Rae, Ph.D., founder

Giles E. Rae, publisher

Anne Andersson, editor

 

Representatives at the United Nations:

       New York: Rosalyn Dischiavo

                          Lina Gupta, Ph.D.

                          Helena Miele

                          Alayne O’Reilly, Ph.D.

       Vienna: Susanne Schaup, Ph.D.

      

Mission Statement

 

     The Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine is dedicated to exploring the parallels that exist between the imaging and treatment of women and of the Earth, and how our images of the Divine are related to these parallels.

     We began by exploring these relationships within the context of our own tradition--the Christian. While we continue our exploration in this tradition, we have also engaged people of other traditions such as the Buddhist, Goddess, Hindu, Indigenous, Jewish and Muslim. Our work is made available through talks, workshops, writings and retreats. The immediate purpose of the Center is educational, while the ultimate goal is the healing of the Creation.

                

     The founder of C:WED is Eleanor Rae, Ph.D., author of Women, the Earth, the Divine, President Emerita of the North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology and founder of the United Nations Earth Values Caucus.

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8/19/06

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