Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

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evolution, the “universe story” diminishes our pretense of mastery
while raising the importance of humankind as the storyteller in an
otherwise silent universe. Theological details aside, I believe that
we need to see ourselves as part of a larger story. But what story?
Several years ago I was asked to deliver a college baccalaureate
address, which is not my custom, and foolishly agreed. In trying
to get traction on the subject I reread Berry and Swimme and
others and came to the conclusion that we need a larger story for
certain, but we also need to begin with something closer to hand
and heart, which is simply the sense of gratitude for the gift of
life itself. 7 The address, my fi rst and last attempt at theology, went
like this.
The story of the universe begins in the great cymbal smash of
the Big Bang, the rhythm heard through the still expanding Creation,
and in the pulsations of energy and light that animate the
cosmos and drive the journeys of our little planet around its small
star. Day follows night; one season follows another in the dance
of life, the ebb and fl ow of the tides, the migration of birds, the
rhythms in our bodies, and the seasons of our lives. That rhythm
was refl ected in early scripture and mythology. There is:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time
to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep, and
a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to
cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to
embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.
It was once known that if we broke the rhythm, our little part of
the cosmic dance would stumble to a halt. A fraction of a second
ago, as geologists and ecologists measure time, another rhythm
was begun. Some call this the Fall. In one telling of the story, the
cadence was changed by a snake and a woman—a libel against a
perfectly fi ne life form and against all women. More likely the