The universe with sticks

This is the second of three parts of Victoria’s interview with Sister Jeanne Clark of the Homecoming project and Sophia Garden. Read part one.

SJ: It is a challenge. Things are changing. It’s all part of the evolution. We are becoming different people. We offer three children’s programs in the summer. A new group started today. The children learned about the story of the universe and how the universe came to be.

VG: Oh my, it’s so important that you are teaching children about the universe.

SJ: Yes. They find out where Earth came from and that we are part of Earth. The first thing many of the children do when they come to the garden is swat the bees and the ants. I tell them, “Oh wait a minute. We are outdoors now. This is where these creatures live. This is their home. The ants probably do a lot more work for Earth than we do. We leave them here; we don’t kill them.”

Then we teach them the Story of the Universe and how it came to be. They see how the humans enter late in the Story and how they are part of the WEB of life. So we are teaching people about Earth through Sophia Learning Center and providing certified organic food through Sophia Garden. These are the two projects of Homecoming.

I always say that this Garden is about more than vegetables. Although it is very important to be related to the land and to grow vegetables in a way that is good for the soil, the water system, animals and birds. All that is very important. But the transformation of human consciousness is what it’s really about. Earth is depending on the transformation of our consciousness to the new understanding that the human and natural world are one sacred community. I don’t know if you are familiar with the work of Thomas Berry.

VG: I looked him up, because I know you draw from his teachings.

SJ: Yes, we do a lot of teaching out of the work of Thomas Berry. We need to redefine the human; redefine who we are. That’s the first thing the children learn when they come here to Sophia Garden. I ask them when they come “Where are we?” It is very important to know where we are. I show them a map of Long Island and ask them some questions to see how much they know about Long Island.

Then I show them a photo of Earth and explore the fact that this is also where we are. This is our home. They usually tell me how we obtained this photo. An astronaut took it in outer space. We then share who shares this home with us. The children usually begin with naming all the humans, but eventually we get to the birds, animals, rivers, etc. I point out that we need to make sure that all of us, all humans and all creatures have a space to live here on our Earth home.

Then I show them a photo of the Milky Way. This is also where we live. There’s a photo of the Milky Way with an arrow that says, “You are here”. The children learn that we live in Earth which we share with all others living here, and we live in a cosmic world. I remember a quote of Wendell Berry, the Kentucky farmer, essayist and poet who said “You cannot know who you are until you know where we are.” Knowing where we are is part of redefining the human at this historic moment in which we live.

VG: I read an article recently in Enlightennext magazine. It was about the ongoing expansion of the universe. It hasn’t stopped. There are scientists who study where the outer reaches are and they know that it keeps going and expanding. And why would it stop? It created all of this and so much more.

SG: And its purpose is life. Everything about the Universe and Earth is for life. And we see that here in the Garden.

VG: In all of its complexity. In things we understand and things we don’t. I went to see Michael Pollan last week at P.S. 1. He is fascinating. He said so many thought provoking things. For example humans have 23,000 different genes, but rice has 50,000 different genes. It has been here longer and has been able to adapt to wherever it’s been grown. There’s wisdom there, it is consciousness.

I believe it is the same consciousness that humans abide in, it’s just that, the plant’s world seems foreign to human eyes. We have to study the world of plants in order to see its beauty and oneness with ours. Pollan referenced Joel Salatin, whom he doesn’t call a farmer, but a playwright. Salatin composes. He looks at what’s going on and then positions things in the right way. And it is just fascinating to see a farmer described like that. He’s more of a conductor.

Sunflowers

SJ: Absolutely. The real farmers are the microbes and worms. They are the orchestra and the farmer is trying to make all of this work in balance, that’s why the typical understanding that this is MY farm is a totally different emphasis. Sophia Garden as a CSA is made up of many people. You have the shareholders, the farmer, the core group, the Garden manager. We are all working together with of course the microbes in the soil, the sun, the bees and butterflies, the water. When the children come to learn about Earth, they learn that the microbes and worms are the real farmers. When we use chemicals, we kill them and create dead soil. When we plant vegetables in dead soil, we get dead food; food that has no nourishment.

VG: We are coming into a new mind. Right now we are in this transition. I believe that’s why there is so much friction going on and you can feel it.

SJ: Exactly. That transition is taking place right here at the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters. We embody both the new and the old mind. It has nothing to do with age, but with a way of thinking. We have sisters in their eighties who are right on board with the understandings of the new cosmology and the thinking of Thomas Berry. But when these thoughts were first introduced; even when the idea of Sophia Garden was first introduced, there was friction. That friction is still there at times.

I try to understand this friction and transition or transformation through the lens of Gandhian nonviolence. When I was resisting the Trident submarine on the West Coast we tried to practice as best we could this way of Gandhi, which is to say you are leaven in the community. You stay where you are and live your truth as deeply as possible. You live alongside of your opponent who believes another truth. You stand together living the truth you believe. You dialogue with and listen to your opponent; to the truth they speak. Eventually a new truth will emerge.

The Dominican Order has come through thirteen centuries always adapting to new thought and new ways. Here on this land we have a beautiful old building built in 1896 which represents the monastic tradition out of which we have come. And on the same land we have Sophia Garden and Learning Center representing a path into a new way of thinking and being. Naturally there is friction when you are going from one into the other. But there is also continuity.

I believe there is one consciousness. And we are all part of it. I think this is what Eckhart Tolle is talking and writing about. It is amazing how popular he is becoming.

VG: I know. He managed to get Oprah on board.

SJ: His whole teaching is that there is this consciousness and we just need to be present. And this is not new. This is in the tradition of many religions. It is part of the mystical tradition of the Catholic Church. It is part of the monastic tradition. In meditation and through spiritual practices we are meant to be stripped of our ego so that we can enter into our true self. I am beginning to understand that my true self is a larger self that is Earth. I am Earth conscious. Actually we teach this to little children in their language. For the very little ones we teach new words to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

We are stardust yes we are
We’re all made of stuff of stars.
Fish and animals, birds and bees
Plants and rocks and you and me.
We are stardust yes we are
We’re all made of stuff of stars.

We’re all stardust. We come from the stars and all the elements in our bodies were once inside of stars. We are all connected. We all Belong! It is so important to help people to know that they belong. Alienation is an illusion. We can’t be alienated. We belong to everything; Of course you can feel alienated. But when you enter into this consciousness, you know you belong to everything; you are one with everything. I believe this is what Jesus called the Reign of God. He said its right here; it is in your midst if you open your eyes and really see.

VG: I personally have chosen not to continue practicing Catholicism. Although I still consider the teachings of Jesus as Truth.

SJ: Many Catholics have along with people of other faiths. We need to rethink much of our language and ideas and interpret them in light of this new consciousness. The Story of the Universe is the context in which all other stories exist. Sister Margaret Galiardi, Adult Program Director for Homecoming has written a book called Where the Pure Water Flows: The New Story of the Universe and Christian Faith. In it she probes the new scientific understanding of the Universe and how it applies to an understanding of Christianity in the 21st century.

Actually this kind of work is not new to the Catholic Church. In the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas took the science of Aristotle and theologized out of new understandings. Today feminist theologian, Sallie McFague, in her book, The Body of God joins body and soul, God and Earth when she suggests a model of God specifically for the sake of Earth. She challenges us to change our thinking by changing our image of God and think about Earth as the Body of God. If we did that it might help to change our destructive behavior toward Earth.