Identifying the essence of Evolutionary Salons

Lion and everyone -

My original response was largely in reaction to the statement "An Evolutionary Salon can be of any size, use any type of process in any venue, include any type of people, deal with any subject or inquiry, and be organized in any way, as long as it fits the definition and purpose above. "

This seems to me today fairly innocuous, but at first read, a few days ago, it bothered me, because it seemed sort of exclusionary, or possible to read as exclusionary, as in "we get to say if what you're doing is an evolutionary salon or not according to whether you meet our rules." I don't have a suggested revision, it can stay as is, it's not a problem.

I think I am going to stop posting for a while. I don't have the time to responsibly stay with the flow of conversation. I'm in a new job, I'm in a play, my personal life is rapidly evolving or perhaps devolving, my billpaying is a joke, I'm living in two places and needing to move out of both of them in the next few weeks into someplace I haven't started looking for yet. This is stressful, but good overall, but demanding. The conversation here is unfolding way too fast for me to keep up with, I can't even scan the relevant bits, or sometimes even find them, much less consider them and articulate a response.

I am sad about this, disappointed to not be able to step up to participate right now. But I have priority interrupts to service.

Love to you all...

Halim

I was trained in science... and though I no longer practice hands-on in that arena, I maintain respect for that lens in the appropriate context. 

For the past 15 yeas I've worked and studied in the transformation/human systems/evolution of consciousness arenas...even got a PhD in this stuff. And yet I wouldn't have been so intensely attracted to the Evo Salons without the trust that this grounding in science existed. 

So, you can see that I am solidly in favor of salon whose grounding includes science.

A further commentary..."science-based" isn't some monolithic dictum...the scientific  understandings of evolution are exploding right now...lots of ideas and disagreements between scientists, and different fields of science having their own pieces of the picture and just beginning to connect with each other in a larger understanding. It's quite amazing and kind of chaotic.

All that said....when I read the phrase "an Evolutionary Salon is any pre-scheduled conversation that....is grounded in a science-based, inspiring, empowering understanding of evolution" AND do that from a place of sensing from the whole, I must admit I hit a snag.

It does sound as if it could be priviledging scientific knowing and truth over ways of knowing and understanding evolution. And I KNOW that is not what is intended...but it does give that impression ...and it is understandably a sore spot with many who have suffered from the oppressiveness of rampant scientism.

My sense is not too many folks really have a deep grasp of the full spectrum scientific understand of evolution. My field was physics, but just getting my brain wrapped around some of the subtle and complex understanding coming out of evolutionary biology now, for example, and how that informs other ways of knowing, is tough!

There aren't too many who hold that full spectrum scientific knowing, and who can also hold the sacred and enable the social systems wave. I feel that we have that potential within these salons, and that is a unique and wonderful thing. My question is...can we find the language and our expression to match our intention...to hit the note that vibrates with the clarity we want that calls in the field? Or is our intention itself that is hazy?

SusanC <!-- SKYPE_UNIQUE_CODE STARTS -->

There are many important stategic conversations happening around the world related to human transformation and ensuring a healthy world for future generations.  I realize that just because I coined the term "Evolutionary Salon" does not mean I own it.  I welcome a larger community co-creating/co-discerning what makes Evolutionary Salons unique from other strategic or meaningful conversations for transformation.  Connie's and my current request is that Evolutionary Salons be grounded in evolutionary science.  Other such conversations - "Transformational Salons" perhaps? - should feel free to not necessarily be connected to or grounded in a science-based approach.  Without this distinction we fear excluding many (most?) scientists and others immersed in a science-oriented approach from these stategic conversations, and we believe their voices and contributions are vital.  Connie, as a science writer for the last 15 years, feels certain that most serious scientists would never come to an "evolutionary salon" that was not explicitly rooted in an empirical science-based approach.  In her experinece there are MANY groups using the word "evolution" that are actually coming from a subjective, revealed source of truth mindset, rather than the kind of objective, collective intelligence source of truth mindset that the world-wide scientific enterprise is engaged in.

I'm attaching below a short piece Connie just wrote to articulate what we mean by the kind of "evolutionary perspective" we see as the context of "evolutionary salons."  Following this is an attempt on my part to articulate what I see as the basic flow of a science-based evolutionary understanding that can enrich all the world's religious traditions (as well as those who do not subscribe to any religious or spiritual tradition).  Both of these are offered NOT as a final word on anything but merely to (hopefully) seed the conversation.  Both Connie's piece and my own are works in progress.  We are open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.  Please consider them first draft offerings.

Co-evolutionary love and blessings,

 Michael - Cell phone: 425-760-9941

PS. FYI: Here are some fabulous quotes (and short essays) from scientists, theologians, and others re: What is The Great Story?

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 History of the scientific use of the term, "evolution"

 by Connie Barlow

Long before Charles Darwin wrote his "On the Origin of Species," which was published in 1859, natural philosophers (the 'scientists' of the day) used the term "evolution" to refer to developmental unfolding of natural phenomena.  In fact, Darwin resisted using the term "evolution" in his great book because his view of the role of "natural selection" in fostering change through time in the living world was far more spontaneous and decidedly not preordained.

Since then, biologists have comfortably adopted the term as their own, and its definitional use in that field has come to imply not only spontaneous but, indeed, random change through time.  Since the death of Stephen Jay Gould, esteemed voices within biology have begun to alter the professional and popular understanding of "evolution" to include, once again, a kind of developmental trajectory.  Richard Dawkins, Edward O. Wilson, John Maynard Smith, Simon Conway Morris, and Mark McMenamin are among the biologists who track on convergent evolution — that is, the compelling evidence in the living and fossil record that an array of very distinct structural, functional, physiological, sensory, and behavioral characteristics have occurred not once but twice, or even many times.  The classic example of convergent evolution are the striking similarities between marsupial "mice", carnivores, and other mammals in Australia and the look-alike placental mammals found elsewhere in the world.  Among plants, the classic example of convergence are the succulent cactuses and yuccas of the New World compared with the succulent euphorbs and aloes of the Old World.

Is there a direction to evolution?

Considering not only evolutionary convergence but also the history of the rise in diversity and complexity in the living world, Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, and Peter Corning have all written of "progressive" evolution as a well-grounded, indeed compelling, interpretation of the empirical evidence.  Three recent, widely respected popularizations of a progressive view of evolution are John Stewart's ''Evolution's Arrow: The Direction of Evolution and the Future of Humanity'', Robert Wright's ''Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny'', and Eric Chaisson's ''Epic of Evolution: Seven Ages of the Cosmos''.

The term "evolution" (as Michael and I use it) thus draws from wide-ranging and inclusive roots of mainstream science — a heritage that regards evolution as proceeding very often in spontaneous and unpredictable ways, and very often in pathways that have been walked before and might indeed be expected.  It also is grounded in the awareness that evolutionary change in the living, cultural, and cosmic realms is often gradual, and yet often abrupt.  Finally, it is grounded in the vast evidence collected that living and non-living systems may change in "progressive" ways — that is, building complexity and cohesiveness at ever greater levels, such as the role of symbiosis, or merger, in the evolution of eukaryotic cells or the role of "stellar nucleosynthesis" in the formation of complex atoms.  It is also grounded in the recognition that "devolutionary" forces are also at work — entropy in the physical world and organ and sensory diminution in the living world when organisms adopt a parasitic lifeway.'''

Nonetheless, there is no dispute that the rudiments of a trajectory through time can be discerned in cosmic, biological, and cultural evolution — a trajectory of greater complexity through time and the enhanced degree of co-operativity at wider scales that undergirds the rise in complexity.  Indeed, the devolutionary forces of explosive star deaths, extinctions of life, and geological break-up of massive continents provide the very conditions for novelty and emergent complexity to ensue.

Diverse interpretations draw from the same scientific facts

Thus from the perspective of The Great Story of evolution at all levels of reality, the evolutionary narrative offers a history of change and the opportunity to read from that history basic principles worthy of study and mindful application by those whose pyschological resonance with the wider world (spirituality) honors and embraces this understanding. Those who embrace "evolutionary spirituality" may hold vast differences as to whether and how "spirit" and "soul" play out within the human, living, and cosmic realms.  They hold great differences in their views about questions not yet (or perhaps never) answerable or falsifiable by science.  But those who include "evolutionary spirituality" as an important part of their worldview share a regard for the gleanings of science and for how those understandings can be intentionally, collectively, and pragmatically applied to offer hope, inspiration, and gentle guidance for individuals and groups to be of service to their communities, to their cultures, to their species, and to the wider world.

Another facet of a mainstream evolutionary worldview that is subject to different interpretations pertains to divergent beliefs as to whether a spiritual force gave birth to matter and energy or vice versa.  That is, some philosophical interpretations posit that "the lesser derives from the greater" (spirit first), while others that "the greater derives from the lesser" (commonly known as "evolutionary emergentism".)  Both are legitimate interpretations of the same agreed-upon scientific facts.

More on the evolutionary perspective  

Evolution, in this sense, is viewed as multi-faceted -- even fractal.  That is, it happens at all levels of scale and dimensions of reality simultaneously, in highly interconnected ways.  Each "microcosmic" developmental or change process is part of a "macrocosmic" developmental or change process, and vice versa.  Personal changes impact collectives that the individuals are part of, and social changes impact individuals.  Human activity changes the biosphere, and changes in the biosphere alter human activity.

The evolutionary perspective we're suggesting here honors and is grounded in current theories of cosmic, biological, and other forms of evolution.  Being motivated by a desire for civilization to develop in more sustainable, wise, self-aware, and life-affirming directions, and for humanity to avoid self-extinction, we seek to use current theories of evolution (scientific, biological, spiritual, etc.) to deepen our understanding of conscious change at all levels.  We want to apply that understanding to our individual, group, community, national and global lives, thereby becoming a conscious force for evolution.  A wide variety of spiritual and religious interpretations of the science is not only acceptable.  It is essential if we are to move into a just, healthy, beautiful, sustainablly lifegiving future for all species.
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 WHAT IS EVOLUTIONARY SPIRITUALITY?

by Michael Dowd

Evolutionary spirituality is an integral way of thinking and being in the world grounded in a personal, meaningful experience of the epic of evolution as one’s own creation myth, or cosmological sacred story.  

What distinguishes evolutionary spirituality from other meaningful approaches to life is its celebration of cosmic history as sacred revelation.  Such an inclusive approach provides common ground for all – religious and non-religious alike.  It supports appreciative ways of thinking about the past, enlightened ways of being in the present, and empowering ways of imagining the future, grounded in the most inspiring and subjectively truthful interpretations presently available of objectively true scientific facts and widely accepted theories based on those facts.

The Science of Evolutionary Directionality

While every religious tradition will necessarily mythologize cosmic history differently, all will share a similar, if not identical, scientific understanding.  Evolutionary spirituality in all it’s myriad of forms is rooted deeply in what the majority of the world’s scientists hold to be true, real, verifiable.  Here’s one articulation of the basic flow of the evolutionary epic…

Everything is in a time-developmental process.  Galaxies evolve.  Solar systems and planets evolve.  Continents, oceans, mountains, and rivers evolve.  Bacteria, plants, and animals evolve.  And human consciousness, culture, and technologies evolve.  Everything is in a developmental process.  Everything is interconnected and interrelated.  And nothing is itself without everything else.  

From the perspective of the whole, evolution clearly evidences directionality.  The universe has become increasingly complex over time, with each stage building upon and incorporating earlier stages.  The galactic era, for example, emerged out of and integrated (i.e., transcended and included) the radiation era.  In the biological era, life has repeatedly discovered ways to create cooperative, interdependent wholes out of self-interested, formerly competitive parts, and then do the same thing at a higher, or wider, level of organization.

Cooperative groups of self-replicating molecular processes formed the first simple cells.  Groups of these cells formed larger and more complex cells, and these in turn formed cooperative groups of cells that become multicellular organisms.  Groups of multicellular organisms formed cooperative insect societies and human social systems.  

In the human realm this process has continued and expanded considerably over the past 100,000 years.  Initially cooperation existed only within small family groups.  Since then, cooperative organizations have progressively expanded in scale to produce multi-family bands, then tribes, then agricultural communities, cities, and empires, then nation states, and now some forms of economic and social cooperation that span the globe.  

This direction is progressive.  Each stage transcends and includes (incorporates and builds upon) earlier stages.  The vital point to remember, however, is this: This process has happened successfully in evolutionary history only when the system becomes self-organized or self-governed in such a way that it is genuinely in the interests of the parts to cooperate in the service of the whole – that is, where they benefit by doing so and/or suffer in some way by not doing so.

This is why at each level of complexity in human history, stories, beliefs, and incentives of various kinds (moral codes, laws, taxes, etc) emerged to support trust and cooperation among the group (whether family, band, tribe, city, empire, or nation) and protect against those things which erode trust and cooperation: lying, cheating, stealing, dominating, freeloading, etc.

When we scan the universe story in its human phase of development, we see a number of trends leading down the path of greater interdependence.  Two of the more obvious are: (1) improvement in the processing and transport of matter, energy, and information, and (2) improvement in our ability to obtain and act on feedback from the world around us.  The progressive evolution of communication and transportation technologies has increasingly enabled people and organizations to share information and experience more often, more widely, and more deeply.  This has, in turn, tended to expand our circles of cooperation, care, compassion, and commitment.  

This process has not always been easy, of course, and setbacks are both common and seemingly necessary.  Getting individuals that are used to seeing each other as enemies to cooperate has always been tricky at best.  Every time we learned to cooperate at a wider scale, what was required was to move beyond ingrained judgments, beliefs, and prejudices to learn to trust those once feared and/or despised.

From a biological evolutionary standpoint, the key, as mentioned above, has always been finding ever more effective ways of aligning the natural self-interest of individuals with the wellbeing of the whole(s) of which the individual is part.  In this sense, the past provides clear and unambiguous guidance re we must evolve our social and governmental structures for us to move into a just, healthy, beautiful, sustainably lifegiving future.  Evolutionary integrity is the way!  

Learning how, in the past, life has produced increasingly complex, interdependent wholes out of competitive, self-interested parts and applying that knowledge to maturing our own political and economic systems is paramount.  If we succeed here, virtually everything else will flow naturally.  If we fail here, all the other good we do will probably not be enough.

Humanity’s great work in the 21st century will be evolving local, regional, national, and global systems of governance, and economics, which ensure that individuals and organizations benefit when benefiting the whole and suffer when harming the whole.  Human interests, the interests of other species, and the wellbeing of the planet will thereby become aligned.  

Nothing is more important than for humanity to create real and effective incentives for individuals, corporations, and nation-states to do the right, just, ecologically beneficial thing, and equally effective incentives for them not to do the wrong, unjust, or ecological harmful thing.

By nurturing an ever more conscious, intimate and interdependent relationship with each other and with The Whole, our Source, we will increasingly function, collectively, with the wisdom of a self-organizing global body, beyond the control of any individual or group of individuals.  This vision – of humanity and the ground of our being in a mutually enhancing, symbiotic relationship – provides a realistic, if also mythic, vision of the fulfillment of the world’s greatest religious ideals.

The following was written a day after posting the above... 

Dear Evolutionary Salon friends,

The more I think about it, the more I realize I can let go of "science-based" as a qualifier.  I think the addition of that phrase in the first place came out of my fear that interpretations of evolution that have little or no grounding in empirical science (of which there are many) would come to dominate future evolutionary salons.  But I've let go of that fear.  I now trust that this "child" of mine is maturing on its own, outside of my influence, and that for me to be overprotective would probably be counterproductive.  See below for my current wording suggestion.  I'm offering "is grounded in inspiring, empowering interpretations of evolution" because it doesn't give the impression that there's only one such understanding, and "interpretations" is more active that "understandings"

- Michael
Cell: 425-760-9941
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DEFINITION

An Evolutionary Salon is any pre-scheduled conversation that

    1.    is grounded in inspiring, empowering interpretations of evolution
    2.    takes seriously our role in evolution becoming conscious of itself
    3.    is designed to support individual and collective evolution
    4.    contributes to the emerging networked movement for conscious evolution

PURPOSE

The purpose of an Evolutionary Salon is to develop understandings, capacities, communities, connections, and possibilities that can serve us in growing into the conscious evolution of civilization, so that our individual and collective actions serve the whole of life.

FORM

An Evolutionary Salon can be of any size, use any type of process in any venue, include any type of people, deal with any subject or inquiry, and be organized in any way, as long as it fits the definition and purpose above.

The diversity of evolutionary salons ranges from one-time potluck discussions, to weekly living-room study and support groups, to a dozen professional or sector experts gathering for two days of intense work together, to a large week-long open-invitation open space conference with hundreds or thousands of participants -- or any other form. The more diverse forms, the better.

In Life is a Miracle, a book by Wendall Berry, Berry explores the idea of what it might mean if we choose to define life only through 'scientific' lenses.

Scientism is not merely a logical fallacy (which of course it is) or a harmless deception; given science's cultural influence and corporate malleability, scientism is dangerous in that its adherent sees its practitioners as gods, final diviners of ALL truth.

A quote from Berry's book:  "The only science we have or can have is human science; it has human limits and is involved ever with human ignorance and human error. It is a fact that the solutions invented or discovered by science have tended to lead to new problems or to become problems themselves. Scientists discovered how to use nuclear energy to solve some problems, but any use of it is enormously dangerous to us all, and scientists have not discovered what to do with the waste. (They have not discovered what to do with old tires.) The availability of antibiotics leads to the overuse of antibiotics. And so on. Our daily lives are a daily mockery of our scientific pretensions. . . Science does not seem to be lighting the way; we seem rather to be leapfrogging into the dark along a series of scientific solutions, which become problems, which call for further solutions, which science is always eager to supply, and which sometimes it cannot supply. (emphasis added) Sometimes it fails us infamously and fearfully." p 32, 33.

I had a very strong reaction to 'science-based' when I first read the draft statement, prepared by Peggy/Michael/Tom, which is their best effort to define 'what is an evo salon'.

 'Science-based' snagged my energy, then I got involved in something else and I let that little snag go.  But now, here I am, and I see others had, at least, a pause over the language choice.

In a conscious social system, one way of knowing what the collective field is seeking to beckon into consciousness, is by paying attention when members of the conscious social system feel  vibrational reactions to anything in the system.   To be as explicit as I can, I believe a conscious social system will routinely both want to hear about the little nagging feeling I got when I read 'science-based', that a conscious social system will then integrate the little nagging feeling I got when I read 'science-based' -- as well as the feelings/thoughts/reactions of others in the system. . . and then the field will, somehow, shift as it integrates 'the little nagging feelings'.

I am not a scientist.  If there is a science-based discipline that knows how to integrate the feelings, hunches, knowings of people in social systems that aspire to be conscious ones, I have not heard of this scientific discipline.  But gosh, I would love to.

 A core of 'evolution', for me, is that human beings are being asked, all over the world and not just in our familiar Western culture, to integrate ways of being and knowing that have not, heretofore, been recognized by 'science-based' findings.  In fact, for me, it might be that the essence of 'what is evolution' might actually be a collective agreement that science does NOT  hold all the answers, that science itself needs to continue to evolve, that there are many things in the totality of human life and all life in the cosmos that science-based approaches have not yet 'seen' or, maybe, that science has not yet even begun to figure out how to measure.

 'Science-based'. . . what does it mean when a story is 'science'based'?  And what has to be overlooked if our evolutionary stories have to excluded anything that is not 'science-based'?

Cut to the bone, the purpose statement would then be:

The purpose of an Evolutionary Salon is  conscious evolution of civilization
 

I like the clarity in that.