Could Big History become a new religion?

  • Sunday, July 12, 2015 3:45 PM
    Message # 3431174
    Anonymous

    It seems to me if someone wanted to set Big History to sacred music, create beatific works of art with Big History themes, build monumental architecture in honor of the Big History narrative, maybe gathering there on Sundays to engage in rituals that inspire the feeling of reverence for life, and to worship the phenomena of individual units self-assembling into larger self-perpetuating organizations that then themselves become individual units, etc, one would have themselves a pretty worthwhile religion.

    Moved from IBHA Discussions: Thursday, April 20, 2017 7:53 PM
  • Monday, July 13, 2015 5:05 AM
    Reply # 3431595 on 3431174
    Lowell Gustafson (Administrator)

    Great ideas here Karen.  Feeling awe and relatedness in response to Big History is a meaning of religion in our time.

    The creation of music based on the geology of the Earth by Gabriele Rossetti and Alessandro Montanari is at:  http://www.ibhanet.org/resources/Documents/dances/dances.swf

    The Religious Naturalist Association's website says this:

    What is the common understanding of being religious?
    Most traditional religions have a core narrative (a mythos, a large story), usually recorded in texts or oral accounts. Interpretations of each account are embedded in the mythos and elaborated by clergy; spiritual responses to the account are elicited via art and ceremonies; and moral/ethical edicts are built into the fabric of the narrative. A person adopting a traditional religion elects to believe in the mythos and its embedded interpretive, spiritual, and moral/ethical parameters and usually participates in a community of fellow believers.

    Who is a naturalist?
    Scientific inquiry has provisioned us with a mind-boggling new core narrative  — the epic of evolution, the epic of creation, the universe story, big history, everybody’s story — where humans and human cultures are understood to be emergent from and hence a part of Nature. Naturalists adopt this account as their core narrative, with full recognition that these understandings will certainly deepen and may shift with further scientific inquiry. They adopt the story currently on offer and do not simply select features of the story that support preferred theories of Nature.

    Who is a religious naturalist?
    A religious naturalist is a naturalist who has adopted the Epic as a core narrative and goes on to explore its religious potential, developing interpretive, spiritual, and moral/ethical responses to the story. Importantly, these responses are not front-loaded into the story as they are in the traditions. Therefore, the religious naturalist engages in a process, both individually and in the company of fellow explorers, to discover and experience them. These explorations are informed and guided by the mindful understandings inherent in our human traditions, including art, literature, philosophy, and the religions of the world.