Well, time certainly got away from me!  The following are my contemplations this evening, based on hastily jotted notes during the next session of the retreat.

Sr. Ishpraya took us onward, gave us more food for our silent thought.   The retreat brochure used the phrase “we are quivering on the brink.”  The brink of what?  Some serious changes in our earthly universe.  Some serious FAST changes in our earthy universe.  What does this mean for the future of humanity – not defined here as a group of humans, but as the quality of being human, of being kind, of being humane, of being a spiritual being in clothing made of flesh.

My Grandma used to say that it was amazing that in her lifetime she saw the world go from horse and buggy to a man on the moon,  from riding in a carriage pulled by an animal to being hurled into space and looking back at Earth.  For me personally, I marvel that in the time it took for my toddlers to become adults, I went from typing my husband’s invoices to his clients on a typewriter (albeit an electric one!) to magically printing them out on a computer; from watching him keep his books by hand, Bob Cratchit style, to using online Quicken.  Things change so quickly now, we need our children (and soon they will need theirs!) to help us learn everything new that comes along.  It used to be the other way around – the adults would teach the children. Knowledge evolved so much more slowly so that was their duty as parents, and then the children would gently lead the adults forward into new knowlege as they matured.  Now we need an eight year old to tell us how to put music on our iPod – and she can!

What’s more, the rush of knowledge that has evolved has allowed some evil into our existence that is radical and irreversible.  Nuclear weapons are a prime example – that knowledge and threat is not going away anytime soon.  We live with the knowledge that we could be annihilated.  “We” meaning human beings.  Not Americans, not Iraqis, all human beings.  As we human beings go, so would go humanity.

We have broken the DNA code – the power to manipulate life has come into our hands – it happened quickly and has the power to change our world for good – or for evil.  It can change the very essence of what it is to BE human, scientifically, zoologically if you will.  What happens to humanity in this scenario?

Space exploration has given us a view of the universe that is almost incomprehensible – we have photos taken by the Hubble telescope that blow our minds, that make Godless people question their atheism and make believers question their limited definition of God.  How do we fit into this new understanding of the physical universe?  What can human beings possibly have to do with anything important when we contemplate those photos?  Is humanity even relevant in the universe, or is it just some “aww isn’t that cute” YouTube video for the pleasure of the wild untamed universe?

So much – so new- so quickly – may leave us feeling unsettled and unstable.  How much easier it would seem to have lived in Grandma’s time. You went from horse and buggy to man on the moon but essentially your life was the same – you ate ice cream, you read books, you knitted, you listened to a limited selection of music and wow, hot damn, the Beatles really rocked your world.  

Our challenge is that we must face the fact that we are here NOW, so what exactly is our purpose?    How can humanity – humanity, the essence of our physical being –  survive in this new era?  In the grand scheme of time, are we just a blip,  just a bundle of DNA on the way to the next great creation in the imagination of the Mystery, neither here nor there,  completely irrelevant?  You can guess my answer, I’ll bet.

As believers in the realm of the Holy Spirit,  we know we are not just blobs of cellular energy and plasma.  We are all standing on our own little historical moment and each decision we make as individuals and collectively about what humanity really means affects us all.  Our idea of God and humanity must expand – if we face this truth we can be stabilized.  If we do not, we will continue to quiver in fear.  As humans we must grow in our understanding of what it means to be a spiritual being.   We are challenged in this way like never before, as we face annihilation not just of a kingdom or a town, but as humanity.  Not just by weapons of mass destruction that would destroy our very lives, but by technology all around us that threatens to place our humanity in the background of importance, like a quaint curio on a shelf in Grandma’s house, behind the new 36″ flatscreen.

As we contemplate these irreversible changes in our world, we are challenged to look again at our faith convictions.  All around us the Mystery is being challenged.  It won’t go away, though, and by definition and truth, it will never go away even if we cease to exist as human beings. 

So the question to ponder in silence is this: How can we continue to make sure humanity remains?  Through the great wonders that the universe has allowed us to discover,  through the inevitable graceful uses of these discoveries and the evil uses of these discoveries, we must take responsibility to question, to doubt and to ultimately promote the existence and progression of humanity, so that it does not become extinct, even if we, as homo sapiens, do just that.