Episodes
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Rev. Michael Dowd shapes his evolutionary message for a New Thought audience (Unity of Portland, Oregon) on the first Sunday following the November 2016 elections. His three main points: (1) Decline is divine and chaos catalyzes creativity; (2) Interpretations matter — and mythic interpretations matter most; (3) You can't know the impact of your actions, so get on with it.
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Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd reflect on the past year of learnings and insights, stimulated by listening to the final chapter of William Catton's book, Overshoot. Content is expanded in Dowd's 2016 video trilogy Standing for the Future (on youtube) and in Dowd's Grace Limits Audios webpage compilation.
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Missing episodes?
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Terry Patteninterviewed Michael Dowd inMarch 2016 as part of his ongoing "Beyond Awakening" audio series. Inthis 90-minute program, the two explore the existentiallychallenging worldview offered by Dowd in this "century ofconsequences."
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February 7, 2016 Michael Dowd delivered this guest sermon at South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society of Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
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This is the third in a trilogy of sermons that Michael Dowd delivered at Peoples Church Unitarian, Ludington Michigan, during the summer of 2015. (The other two sermons are posted as episodes 52 and 53 in this podcast series.) You can also view this sermon on youtube in video format.
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This is the second in a trilogy of sermons that Michael Dowd delivered at Peoples Church Unitarian, Ludington Michigan, during the summer of 2015. (The other two sermons are posted as episodes 52 and 54 in this podcast series.) You can also view this sermon on youtube in video format.
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Michael Dowd delivered a sermon series in Summer 2015 at Peoples Church Unitarian, Ludington Michigan. This first sermon in the trilogy is titled "When Religion Fails, Economics Becomes Demonic." You can also view it on youtube in video format.
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Michael Dowd delivered on 4 January 2015 a guest sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers, Florida. His 3 points: (1) Challenging times remind us of our humanity and promote humility; (2) Challenging times help us embrace our mortality; (3) Challenging times help us clarify what matters most. Topics include Dowd's advocacy of "legacy consciousness" and living in accordance with "the fundamental law of life," which he speaks of by resurrecting a legal/moral term that was a central concern for Thomas Jefferson: usufruct. Dowd concludes, "Religions have been failing in their most important task, which is helping us live in right relationship to reality and ensuring a healthy future."
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Michael Dowd was interviewed mid-December 2014 by the hosts of the podcast series Everyone's Agnostic. We edited it down to an hour for our America's Evolutionary Evangelists series. Climate change is front and center for Michael, and you will hear how the interviewers affirm Michael's view. Key points include: "God is Reality with a personality — not a person outside of Reality." Also, "The role of religion has always been to shame any individual or group of individuals who are harming the community or the future. Religion has not been playing that role in our time because of what I call 'the triple idolatries': idolatry of the written word, idolatry of the otherworldly, and idolatry of beliefs."
Visit the "What's new?" page of our website, TheGreatStory.org, to access videos we recorded this year.
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Michael Dowd delivered on 8 September 2014 a a guest sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Indianapolis, Indiana. His three points: (1) We are bigger, older, and more deeply related than we thought; (2) Nature is more holy, more divine, than we've been led to believe; (3) Our way into the future is crystal clear. Dowd begins with a reading from Thomas Berry and ends with a prophetic call:"The past is rooting for us, and the future is calling us to greatness!"
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Michael Dowd delivered on 22 June 2014 a a guest sermon at The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango, CO. His three points: (1) What we call Reality, the ancients called God; (2) God/Reality is communicating today primarily through scientific, historical, and cross-cultural evidence; and (3) in order for religions to pass forward a healthy world for future generations, each must undertake a kind of "evidential reformation" — celebrating that "Reality is God and evidence is scripture."
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Michael Dowd delivered on 13 April 2014 a a guest sermon at Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Prescott, AZ. In addition to his primary themes (as presented in podcast episode 43, "Ecology As Theology," Dowd offers that "all gods and goddesses can be understood in either a fictional or a factual way." Other memes include thinking of the human as the "Prodigal Species": "We have squandered our inheritance, and now we must come home to Reality." He advises secular folk to "Make your legacy your primary concern." For Christians he advises, "Make your legacy your Lord."
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Michael Dowd delivered on 23 February 2014 a new presentation to nurture "legacy consciousness" and to motivate action in joyful service of the future. He spoke at the Seaside Center for Spiritual Living in Encinitas, California. This was his inaugural presentation in collaboration with The Great March for Climate Action, which would commence in Los Angeles on March 1 and conclude in Washington D.C. in early November. You will hear embedded audios of three short videos that Michael played for the audience: (1) a TEDx climate talk by David Roberts, (2) a statement on the "intergenerational injustice" if we fail to act on climate change by climate scientist James Hansen, and (3) a recitation by poet Drew Dellinger.
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Connie Barlow delivered a guest sermon on 27 October 2013 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville, North Carolina. The full title is "How Religion Is Failing Our Youth — and What We Can Do About It." She addressed three major concerns: first, the importance of youth being offered a coherent story by which to navigate the excitement and challenges of life (she recommends the "epic of evolution"); second, helping boys in particular steer away from the most debilitating and addictive aspects of internet gaming and internet video porn (without laying on fear or shame); and third, doing what we need to do systemically to pass on a healthy economy and a healthy planet to the generations that follow.
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Connie Barlow introduces in January 2014 a learning and action series for helping trees adapt to climate change — species by species, decade by decade. Citizen naturalists are invited to research a favorite native tree species and begin to work with others to keep up with the northward movement of forest zones by planting and monitoring small numbers of wild seeds of common species onto private forested lands well north of where those seeds were collected. This "assisted migration" in a time of unprecedented climate shift will be increasingly necessary in the decades ahead. Foresters can create the maps to show us where species will need to move to. But we citizen naturalists will play a complementary role in ensuring that the full diversity of genotypes keeps pace with a warming and drying continent. NOTE: This podcast is the soundtrack of a richly illustrated videoblog by Connie that is posted on youtube: VIDEO: Climate, Trees, and Legacy.
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Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow discuss Michael's latest version of his ever-evolving "Religion 2.0" -- aiming for a globally relevant, scientifically realistic, inspiring, and activating worldview that can bridge religiously diverse and secular perspectives. In this episode, Michael pairs a secular term with a religious term in each of his six foundational points: (1) Reality is our God; (2) Evidence is our scripture; (3) Big History is our creation story; (4) Ecology is our theology; (5) Integrity is our religion; and (6) Ensuring a healthy future is our mission. Michael elaborates his points with several quotations drawn from the writings of the late Thomas Berry, mentor to many in this "metareligious" movement.
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Connie Barlow delivered a guest sermon at Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Muskegon, Michigan, on June 30, 2013. While scientifically literate peoples have long appreciated science for what it tells us about our outer nature (the vast universe and the ecological intimacies that surround us), we are now in the midst of a revelatory experience in which evolutionary brain science is helping us understand our inner nature. We learn that the ancient instincts that so vitally served our ancestors without complication a few generations back now cause us turmoil and trauma because they are profoundly mismatched with altogether new temptations — which, in excess, can sabotage our lives and our relationships. Connie explores 4 realms of profound "mismatch" between our inherited instincts and the ramped-up substances and activities that can do us harm in excess: foods, feel-good substances, connectivity compulsion (including internet porn), and advanced medical technologies that all too often prolong the suffering and generational costs of what would otherwise be the natural death of elders.
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Michael Dowd delivered a guest sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe on February 10, 2013. His core message: "Ecology is the new theology; big history is the new Genesis. Those who fail to understand that evidence is modern-day scripture, and that the world we live in is an honorable world, betray God and humanity in the most egregious of ways." He also pointed to, what he calls, "the twin idolatries": idolatry of the written word and idolatry of the otherworldly. In closing, he implores fellow baby boomers to attend to our collective "generational legacy" by staving off climate change and by reining in the debt we will otherwise bequeath to the young, simply by passively submitting to costly medical technologies when death by old age is on the horizon.
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Connie Barlow recites and discusses a December 2012 essay she and Michael Dowd produced and posted in both the Huffington Post (online here) and Metanexus (here). Barlow and Dowd deliver a call-to-action for religious educators and ministers in theologically liberal settings to revamp their goals and curricula toward offering children and youth the inspiring, practical, and deeply meaningful fruits of a fully evolutionary worldview.
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Michael Dowd propels his personal awakening to the perils of climate change into a powerful sermon. Delivered January 6, 2013 at both services of the Jefferson Unitarian Church (Golden, Colorado), the full title of the sermon is "God Rebukes Religious Right: Repent or Face Hell and High Water." Dowd suggests that "idolatry of the written word" and "idolatry of the otherworldly" have blinded the religious right to the "intergenerational evil" of climate change. Note: This is the audio of a video the church posted online: http://vimeo.com/channels/juc/56939241. A 2-minute video excerpt of Dowd challenging the boomer generation to arise out of selfishness is posted at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1KVzWMKHB0&feature=youtu.be.
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