User:EquinoxJ
From Evolutionary Spirituality
(I use the name Equinox online, while Jon is my common name. Use whichever you like.)
My Ph. D. is in the field of materials science, though my interests include anthropology, biology, chemistry, astronomy, geology and many others. I have taught chemistry, physics and biology at the University level in addition to being a full-time research scientist. Science is not a collection of separate, unrelated fields of study, but rather is simply the study of the real world, an interconnected whole. Teaching or learning separate subjects in science can be like memorizing the contents of separate boxes filled with dried specimens in an old museum drawer. A better approach is to study science as an interconnected whole, like the grand story of evolution, which links life forms as disparate as a slime mold is from an elephant, and subjects as diverse as geology and emergence. My spiritual journey began with Roman Catholicism, and in my early 20's this was replaced with Humanism. Since then I've maintained a naturalistic worldview (naturalistic meaning no supernatural, literal gods, nor magic), and have incorporated pagan symbols and metaphors such as the Wheel of the Year, the directions and others. This approach is called Naturalistic Paganism, and a brief descriptive webpage has been established at http://www.naturalpagan.org. A yahoo group for Naturalistic Paganism was started independently last year, and now has over 5 dozen members. The Wheel of the Year is a powerful and flexible framework which unifies the holidays, our lifetimes, the evolutionary story, and much more. It immediately lends itself to ritual, the creation of sacred space, and an intimate connection to our Neolithic ancestors. More on my spiritual history, my vision of an earth-honoring religion, and tidbits such as my letters to the editor about intelligent design/creationism can be found on my webpage. Webpage: http://tinyurl.com/2wtbj
Welcome, Jon! I hope you don't mind, i took the liberty of "linkifying" Naturalistic Paganism above, to draw you or someone else into adding a page about it some time. --John Abbe 03:15, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, John! --EquinoxJ 18:15, 20 July 2007 (UTC)