Sacred Nature with Karen Armstrong

#briangreene #scienceandreligion #nature
Bestselling author and religious historian Karen Armstrong joined Brian Greene for a conversation exploring humankind’s evolving relationship with the Earth, life, and the cosmos. To save ourselves and the planet, do we need to reestablish our sense that nature is sacred?
This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
Co-Presented with, and filmed at, the New-York Historical Society.
Official Site: www.worldsciencefestival.com/
Twitter: / worldscifest
Facebook: / worldsciencefestival
Instagram: / worldscifest
#Science #WorldScienceFestival

[@max.fleming1045]

Not far off 20 years ago when I was living in Oxford I walked into Blackstone's, a famous bookshop there, to Devin for a book or two. I was reading ancient history for my masters & was specifically at the time looking for books on ancient mythology & found this small book called called "A short history of myth" by Karen Armstrong. I took it home and read it and it changed my life. Not in the way you might expect though & don't think it helped me much with my masters, but it did help me. Please let me explain. You know how some people are recovering alcoholics etc ?. Well at the time I was a recovering Catholic. Karen Armstrong gave me a new way to see & understand the world. She is truly a giant among us. I'm ever great full to her.

[@spiralsun1]

Omg, yes! I wrote a book 20 years ago citing her book on the big 3 religions… I totally understand and I love you 😘

[@romanlakes1658]

Roman

[@aclark903]

Just because Karen is going to hell, don't let her drag you down with her.

[@max.fleming1045]

@@aclark903 what are you doing here ?. This is not a place your evangelical Sunday school brain washing has prepared you for. Go back home to your safe space because you do not have the intellectual capacity to play about in the real world.

[@halbrightcloud9056]

😅

[@coryzane.]

My Dad was a very religious man. He also loved the science’s. He could quote the Bible from cover to cover as well as Darwin, Galileo and all the great Philosophers. A friend of his once questioned him why he cared what Darwin thought, that he viewed it as blasphemy. Dad looked at him with a compassionate smile and said “some people can’t see the forest for the trees” I was 14 and it had a huge impact on my life. For the next 56 years I always tried to look at the whole picture or as Dad would say “The big picture” Thank you Brian for making available to us another piece of the whole picture. My Dad would have been a great fan as am I.

[@spiralsun1]

EXTREME words of wisdom. Thank you so much for sharing. The big picture is important in order to avoid misinterpretation from our individual or collective egos. Which are not about “selfishness” so Much as self-serving interpretations or niches like in evolutionary theory. They limit our ability to see big pictures where all the meaning is. ❤ Thank you for this again, I love you. 😘 Wish you to see the highest interpretation and beauty of the universe 🥰🙏🏻❤️‍🔥

[@galepatrick1702]

listening to Karen Armstrong is great - she is a kind and enlightened person with a wonderful way of relating to our being on this beautiful earth-

[@spiralsun1]

I love you so much 🙏🏻❤️‍🔥

[@bikeboy6674]

These two people I have so much respect for. What a truly wonderful conversation - one that needs to be heard the world over.

[@spiralsun1]

I love you ❤️‍🔥🙏🏻

[@davidblair241]

Brian taught me everything i know about black holes and string theory from decades back. He is not just brilliant, but is the best teacher of ‘complicated’ facts… I have segued into Quantum ‘reality’ and am not getting to understand ‘how life works’ on a completely different angle. I have reached identical religious beliefs as Karen, from my Mt. Carmel Nuns in grammar school, and Christian Brother in High school. Praying was as difficult for me, as it was for her..until I spent a lifetime of analyzing it, and hae come to all the same conclusions. its a “Quantum Life” not a “mystical spiritual life.” Those are hard facts for many, and i understand that, so i keep my opinions to myself; but, I’m much happier with the truth…than trying to live with ‘doubts.’ Thank you Brian for a wonderful, delicately controlled interview. you have always been my favorite physicist. Dr. Kaku is second, but I love him too. you both have a ‘wonderful smiling energy’ about you. Only trying to provide useful information, not to preach or convert..

[@spiralsun1]

VERY well-spoken. Shout it from the mountain, brother! I love you. ❤️

[@michaelerdmann4447]

...Transformative Quantum Life.... up through ...Pathos, Mythos, Logos, and Ethos....

[@hassanmirza2392]

He is a dumb atheist.

[@hassanmirza2392]

Also, you have to read Quran. Science or LGBTQ ideology is not your Saviour.

[@Sunnydaysomewhere]

Karen Armstrong and Brian Greene have been huge influences on the way I now understand God, life, the universe, existence. Seeing them together was a transcendent experience. Thank you for this. What a treat.

[@makhalid1999]

It feels like a cool crossover episode with these two on the same panel

[@spiralsun1]

Indeed!!! I love what you said: therefore I love YOU. It’s all very logical-ask Brian! 😂❤

[@voteutah]

Positively delightful and dare I say "consciousness expanding." Thank you both.

[@spiralsun1]

Omg yes. I love what you said: I love you. 💕

[@johngrivas9357]

Once again, I thank Brian for such great content. I teared up a few times listening to Karen speak. These are the style of talks that need to be taught in our schools and infused in our politics. But sadly, like Karen said, greed and ego seem to occupy a more prominent role in our world. One thing is for sure, we are all very lucky to have gotten the privilege to be conscious beings on such a beautiful planet.

[@matildepeixoto3111]

2:10

[@stephenfrench3888]

Sounds good but doesn't map onto reality

[@primajump]

i consider this the best 1 hour I spent today. With everything that is going around us in our world today, I cannot help but wonder if we humans are on the way to be wiped out of this planet unless drastic measures are adopted to change the way we live. However, I am hopeful that things will improve before a catastrophic extinction process is set in motion by nature, not to preclude a chance encounter of our planet with a massive asteroid.

[@stoicsage2322]

It all starts with the question is going to a plant based diet a great start

[@guillermodozal7166]

@@stoicsage2322 Would fertilizers have to go, too?

[@stefanolacchin4963]

Such an elevated conversation. Thank you for bringing this to all of us around the world.

[@ThePJExperience]

Could not have said it better meself

[@jesussrique]

Some exposure of religious practice but nothing is surprising.

[@rob8959]

This is what I understand from psychedelics. We are connected to all things and the divine is within us all, as well as every leaf and blade of grass. Thanks Brian and Karen for this wonderful and enlightening conversation!

[@spiralsun1]

The weird thing is that it actually is. Like REALLY. It’s like all those things you see on hallucinogens and then can’t even put words to when you come down… I actually did always see that way, and I put words to it. It’s called reality. It’s a great literary work. Thanks for this message ❤I love you 😘

[@jazminebellx11]

A timely reminder of what is really important. Thank you, and also thank you for the reminder of Wordsworth's works, especially Tintern Alley.

[@gulanhem9495]

So what did they say about that, what is really important?

[@jazminebellx11]

@@gulanhem9495 listen again since you didn't hear on the first time you listened.

[@gulanhem9495]

@@jazminebellx11 lol you probably found great meaning in the statement at 12:07 about the universe giving him a sense of connection and a deep sense of gratitude. "We're all made of the same particles. It's important" 😅

[@oksu8472]

Endless thanks to you Brian and Karen… Brian, the topics you choose to present are just the gist of Science. Like always…

[@mthedu]

WSF is the best content available on any platform. Why a WSF release doesn't get 1 million views in the first 24 hours both befuddles and worries me. It's always a delight when a new segment pops up. I'm just sorry I missed it live.

[@jesussrique]

That's all you would expect - a few thousand view. Everyone else already know much more than this expert. The most valuable lesson here is that they still believe the same thing as before.

[@warmrainofficial]

What a thoroughly enjoyable interaction between two conscious beings who are full of wonder xx

[@spiralsun1]

WONDER yes, I love you 😘

[@agrajyadav2951]

The way Sir Brian Greene manages this platform while being a genius and impactful physicist is remarkable

[@DonH_Zeroth57]

I heard an interview with Karen Armstrong on CBC Radio 1 up here in Canada a few weeks back discussing her book Sacred Nature. I thoroughly enjoyed it and borrowed the book from the library. It is fancinating read and glad I found this interview here on the World Science Festival.

[@forogafold]

God, religion and mythology is not needed to come to terms with human existence, life, death. In the realm of the cosmos where humans and all life and matter resides, our particles transform and reassemble.

[@kuntamdc]

It's not about coming to terms, but about respect.

[@sardarbekomurbekov1030]

Great talk. Thank you all.

[@jamilkhan715]

Excellent. Patience /tolerance is the only way out. Only last again I started reading her book 'The Case For God".

[@craigswanson8026]

Just wonderful. Thank you both very much.

[@iriscater8888]

how precious!!! thank you! 🙏

[@fc-qr1cy]

Love these conversations. evolves my thinking.

[@user-hy9nh4yk3p]

Ego is always needed. But, it has to be moulded/trained - for the sacred task, now. ie. love universally/eternally, wholly. It is such work - that will save individuals/humanity, the world. May it be so !

[@Yureka-ox5jn]

Karen has developed so much respect and and sense of cohabitant with nature. Humans are part and embedding in nature.

[@nicholasfulford6753]

I really appreciate the direction that Karen Armstrong was going in - and that wonderful quotation from Woodsworth - and it brings to mind another wonderful poem by Mary Oliver. The Summer Day Who made the world? 
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
 Who made the grasshopper?
 This grasshopper, I mean -
 the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
 the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
 who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down -
 who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. 
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. 
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. 
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
 I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down 
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
 how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
 which is what I have been doing all day. 
Tell me, what else should I have done? 
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? 
Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
with your one wild and precious life? The thing is, the “Who” yields to the observation and appreciation of a grasshopper - a very different subjective frame than the human - and from here says, "I don't know what a prayer is", and instead displaces the templates of religious form with appreciation. She evokes what Armstrong calls sacredness rather than being focused on defining it in religious beliefs and forms. Those fall off like dead skins off a snake, and reveal the better and more important questions in the last four lines of the poem. I may not be able to change the world, but I can change my state to appreciate - the all in the small - and from appreciation go on to live my one and precious life more in tune with nature, to love and celebrate it, to revere it, and in the process to draw myself out of the traps of the ego, instrumentalism, and the despairs of alienation from nature. (Hint: Everyone can, and you don’t need a church or the formal trappings and frames of religion to do it. It starts - and perhaps ends - with seeing, listening, experiencing. Love and reverence follow without effort, and then the butterfly emerges from the Chrysalis.)

[@yoganature3598]

Beauteous topic 🌱💚🌳🧘🏽‍♀️🪨🐸🌦 Gratitude 🙏

[@spiralsun1]

“It ain’t easy being green, being the color of the scene…” -Kermit the god 😂❤👍🏻

[@HarrierBr]

Brian, congrats on another very good exploration, this time out of your area of expertise. Your questions are very good and bring the best out of the participant. Karen is great too. Thanks for making WSF happen and open sourcing it to all of us. Greatly appreciated

[@miacrowell1472]

Lovely. And thank you Brian for your ability to let her speak.

[@spiralsun1]

❤😭🧘‍♀️ YES. ❤

[@carolspencer6915]

Again thankyou both for your shared candid discussion. I need to escape the confines of mental health nursing practice and strive to become a historian in the subject! Perhaps. My academic writing from 2002-2005 paint a grim sad sorry state, public services and non progressive results/outcomes when comparing societal health and lack of provision in place today. Think we need more people to indeed pay attention.💜

[@montanacrone8984]

I have loved all her books!

[@DavidBrown-xz3mj]

Thank you Karen bringing the idea of sacredness into all things, I believe this is the key the point of change, investing all of your energy into the one thing, you have given us love , but a deeper love, pure inspiration . commune with lamas, donkeys marvel at ants, worms, insects etc david

[@virajjoshi9316]

Sir Brian as usual questions like he has very depth of subject...Really like his style of questioning comes from study...And for religion everyone had been trying to understanding the Nature's sacredness through various logos & mythos with science behind it irrespective of complexicity & spookyness....

[@stephenarmiger8343]

Currently reading Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Kimmerer. I have had the privilege of working in the wildland fire community for many years. I retired in 2015 and am currently nearing seventy five years of existence. I became an Emergency Medical Technician, EMT, and during fire season I would go out as a fireline medic. In that capacity, I worked with many tribal people. Though Karen Armstrong is highly regarded, I would very much like to see some tribal folks invited to the World Science Festival. Regardless of whether someone like Robin Kimmerer has a lower regard for science, which I am thinking upon reading her book, it would be good to have a tribal person. I am looking forward to watching and listening to this an I appreciate that it has been uploaded to KZbin! Stephen Armiger. Dillon Montana.

[@feelinghealingfrequences7179]

well said seems like in practice WSF stands for Whites Science Fest

[@spiralsun1]

I love tribal, or any people who can speak clearly the symbols of the heart. Thank you 🙏🏻 ❤

[@manmohanmehta5697]

Great thoughts. I think that in a way are we not finding new amazing facts about nature of matter,life and Universe . The advacement of sciences by the day makes me feel so humble that even more that humanity is but an infinitely more smaller. All in all I find the present times to most exciting.Compassion to all and reverence seems to be just natural. Why are we fighting each other . Anyway it is journey i am so happy.

[@michael-jo7qd]

good conversation starting my new year off with hope 🙏

[@8Georgie]

A gift in our world, for us for all. May we listen.

[@Enduseschi]

Amazing !

[@gsilcoful]

Thank you.

[@CGMaat]

Love Karen ; such Integrated human wholeness

[@kricketflyd111]

Her words are so meaningful and helpful. 😁

[@natashathomsen2434]

Conversation of elevating ones senses from the benign to the divine by moving from being passive to participating in nature. A wonder of what caused it all to be, and why, for what purpose.

[@spiralsun1]

❤❤❤❤

[@rp3164]

Unlike most other WSU productions I found this to be a very rambling, vague and unhelpful video. This planet needs our help and I don't feel that unfounded myth and superstition is the way forward.

[@leandrorgps]

Brian has a face of a student, very happy with his big professor presence and teaching.

[@amprojects8]

This talk gave me a new paradigm of death .. this is start to see things in a different way.. Thank you

[@michaelerdmann4447]

Our emerging and evolving integral ...pathos, mythos, logos, and ethos.... can be embraced and engaged into ...greater, higher, and truer.... transformabilities going forward.

[@user-hy9nh4yk3p]

Change is the only permanent feature of our Universe.

[@virajjoshi9316]

Sir Brian achieved his goal to approach,ignite and tell scientific view in everyone around globe...

[@leonstenutz6003]

So wonderful to hear a world eminence like Karen Armstrong live today. Incredible tech that allows us to connect this way; vital message she shares. Thank you all for enabling this.

[@johannaprice4880]

Faith and reasoning is our way of life to share with others.

[@mehdibaghbadran3182]

I can’t control my tears ❤

[@spiralsun1]

I know. I know. It’s perfectly natural. I love you so much ❤️‍🔥😭

[@elizondorj]

Best conversation I've seen in a long, long while. Thank you.🙏

[@atiqrahman7289]

Good discussion.

[@RichardOhlrogge]

How do we reach the average global citizen who is immersed in a threatened reality in the sense that you express? What movement or cadre of modern enlightened players such as the two of you will impact such a major transition in thinking and being aware??

[@vegasvalley30]

I love you Karen

[@0745h]

🙏

[@elonever.2.071]

Worrying about death is like watching a great movie and obsessing over the fact it will end.

[@ericbond3261]

@Elone. WOW!!! Great analogy.

[@CGMaat]

Nature is sacred-it is in here and out there and everywhere…

[@SecretEyeSpot]

I think it's important to distinguish between Nature as totality of Behavior, or the totality of Environment. We use them differently when discussing them in either of these contexts

[@stoicsage2322]

Very true that is why I eat a plant based diet )

[@michaelerdmann4447]

An integral unfolding ...nature, nurture, culture, and self-stature.... with respect to a greater Godliness.

[@rileyhoffman6629]

Wowowowow! Two brilliant minds, melding. Lovely. Thank you.

[@jjddd1000]

Penrose and Peterson had a conversation regarding the Big bang. Was difficult to understand what Penrose was trying to explain. Perhaps you can speak on the subject. It appears to be new findings based on his understanding in physics. And thank you for the good work you're doing.

[@spiralsun1]

Penrose is trying to write the never ending story in physics, basically. But you need more than physics to actually do it. What he is doing is very important and meaningful though. Thanks for this comment. Much love for 2023!! ❤

[@user-hy9nh4yk3p]

There is some research - of the Creative moment - in Raja Yoga. Space - was there first (almost asleep). Commands came and movement/heat developed. Particles formed out - of this Stir (kshoba). Change - since then, as now - is the essential dynamic - of our universe. Highest yogis - are said, to regain this process - through highest/deepest consciousness. One (advanced, thus) - is supposed to penetrate - this now - as also within the distant past and the coming future. When consciousness opens up - all is revealed. It is for us - to be interested - do the work and open up - to our real human potential. May it be so !

[@Healinghonies]

Interesting to hear the distinction between the feminine and the masculine regarding the redefinition of civilisation - smashing vs cultivating

[@oksu8472]

Could somebody write the name of the music at the end…. Thanks

[@CarlosElio82]

I had an epiphany upon hearing at 12:10 that "[Science] gives me a sense of connection to the universe. It also gives me a deep sense of gratitude for the mere fact that a collection of particles happen to coalesce into a being that momentarily gives me a sense of self-awareness and consciousness that allows me to appreciate the wonders of reality." Examined with big magnification, science tells everyone that we are bundles of hydrogen atoms some of which have undergone transformation to make complex processing of electrical signal possible so that matter can see itself. Nature is like the artist of comic strips whose illustrations come alive. We are drops of water emerging from a common vase for a while and will ultimately go back to the vase. Anything that has ever existed as an individuality, a cluster, a galaxy, a solar system, a star, a planet, a being, a cell, anything has existed as individuality emerging from the totality of other things O. Even a quark is an individuality that emerges from the totality of energy. As matter emerges in individual quanta from energy, consciousness emerges as individual choices matter makes as units. The Standard Model renders unto consciousness a detailed picture of the choices small structures make to create a lawful universe. We do not have a convincing model of the choices humans make to create a lawful/fair universe of human relations. We emerge from the vase of totality where laws sustain the physical universe, as individualities where other laws apply. Karen seems to advocate the crafting of those laws according to supernatural beings. Brian prefers logical reason in the driver's seat when crafting those laws.

[@gulanhem9495]

lol So because material is all connected and we share material between the other objects in the universe, this somehow gives you... what exactly? Lws and fairness? Meaning and purpose? Such mumbojumbo.

[@abdulkaderalsalhi557]

A great discussion .. Well done Karen, well done Brian, well done WSF and every one involved .. I think as Karen said what might be rendered: Not just lock and read, one has to listen to the other side even if that other side is nature itself of a book like Quran, ..etc. I think, if one can be of the type: "Don't harm others , even an ant", then he (she) will be OK, and everything becomes, in a sense, sacred.

[@spiralsun1]

Oh yes. It IS sacred. Everything that exists is sacred. You included-which is why I love your poetry and prose, the poetry of you, your life. Thank you ❤

[@uurkubaalle3205]

I like the way Brian explained his existence after death. That is true and it is what our body does in the normal decomposition process but did you ever ask your self about how you are in your current state different from other things?! Things with particles and matter but not alive like you which after death as you said our bodies will join with/to. What makes you a living being now and a dead being later? What is gonna happen to that whatever thing and not the body? The body that came in evolution and keep evolving with other matters after death. Same the clothes we wear and throw or recycle after they worn-out!! @Karen Armstrong, if you would see it, my question would be about, if you have had the chance to read many religions or from their authentic sources with true intention and understanding without simply listening or reading about the stories from those claim they know or understand them? Anyhow, I always love experiencing, exploring and learning about human diversity, traditions, beliefs, cultures, behaviours and personal views. It is natural and that's the way they are at that moment in time and any intellectual human would use it for advancing their general sense and information without prejudice from their subjective windows. I like the truly said point of wishing peace and love to everyone. Greetings with peace and love even to strangers and wishing for people what you would love & wish for yourself.

[@spiralsun1]

I love love love how you think, the poetry of your life. Thanks 🙏🏻 ❤

[@uurkubaalle3205]

@@spiralsun1 wow! your short video on your channel is beautiful

[@nilavora1]

What a privilege to listen to these two wonderful brings! Karen Armstrong has so much wisdom to share with the world..

[@CGMaat]

Science is as sacred as spirituality all is a REAL FAIRTY TALE- ALL OUT OF WHAT WE DONT KNOW- MAKES US ALL BORN TO PONDER!

[@mvexler]

A great insight into the relationship between different religions and nature from antiquity to today.

[@CityFire]

Beautiful soul like her can lead human kind to a beautiful world, but reality is that only those greedy and anti human creatures are ruling this world with lies and cold blood.

[@alokbhattacharyya2140]

In science, we are supposed to leave the self behind. That is why lab reports are to be written in third person, singular number, past tense and passive voice. The name/s is/are only mentioned once after the title of the experiment.

[@spiralsun1]

Yes, but we forget the larger symbolic implications of these things which amount to rituals or reminders for the ego structures of paradigms and whole civilizations which are completely invisible in daily life-even laboratory life… but of course you use this as an example in this vein, so I felt the need to say what it made me feel: ❤️ logically, of course. 😊

[@DaOfficialBlackPsych]

Thank you for this conversation. It's good to see others seeing God in EVERYTHING

[@spiralsun1]

People think they know what ego is, but they are not paying attention. It’s not “selfishness” but a self-serving interpretation of the world installed early on for survival purposes. We have prepared learning for social behavior for example. Also for social fears. Projecting this endemic misinterpretation onto the world obscures the objective reality of things -where the real “why” of existence is spoken. ❤ LOVED THIS THANK YOU 🙏🏻 Coincidentally ❤after 4 years of work, I Also was rejected for the PHD 😂 SO instead of a PhD thesis, I wrote a 700-page book (20 years ago) which was so ahead of it’s time that many researchers today gain fame for development of various aspects of science that I covered in the book. Every prediction has been completely supported since then. And also coincidentally I also cited ❤️‍🔥Karen Armstrongs❤️‍🔥 book on the big 3 monotheistic religions -because my whole book was about the WHY related to science and neuroscience in the context of evolution and symbolic information theory. Thanks 🙏🏻 ❤ The world we live in is symbolic and it was meant to be, and once you begin to see it, it will be obvious. The reason for the objective meaning is a basic property of the universe which I worked out in detail with natural laws of information which are the REASON we have brains and language. Don’t get me started, lol. People are not asking the right questions because whole civilizations can have equally giant egos. Just like individual people do. It’s time for humans to ascend to the next level. Once people understand, all wars will end. Our only enemy is chaos, in the form of misinterpretation that solidifies even as it brings death. All our technology is symbolic too. Everything is. It ACTUALLY IS in objective ways. We know the Earth is round, and that is highly significant. Everything is completely holy and when you see what they symbolize, you will understand. I am finishing up a new book going into the details of the meaning. I was already writing about tree communication years ago before “Searching for the Mother Tree” came out, and the evolutionary limits on knowledge from evolutionary processes before Donald Hoffman did his work, for 2 concrete examples. Ok you did get me started…😂 I can’t help it, I love people, I love all life, and this is important. ❤ Poetry is more relevant than people think… 👍🏻❤️‍🔥 Brahman, Tao/CHI yes. Whole contexts and poetry. Loved hearing her recite poetry. ❤ Nature, down to particles, is my poetry. 🥰🪩❤️‍🔥

[@neelumahendra4695]

She is so right

[@wizzdem-tjmclaughlin8165]

Hey Brian, Science can be instrumental in cultivating values with respect to the human condition in various ways. Here, for example is one - In Chance and Necessity, Jacques Monod (1970) writes, "…a living being's structure…owes almost nothing to the action of outside forces, but everything, from its overall shape down to its tiniest detail, to "morphogenetic" interactions within the object itself. It is thus a structure giving proof of an autonomous determinism: precise, rigorous, implying a virtually total 'freedom' with respect to outside agents or conditions - which are capable, to be sure, of impeding this development, but not of governing or guiding it, not of prescribing its organizational scheme to the living object." And also, "…it is in the structure of [living] molecules that one must see the ultimate source of the autonomy, or more precisely, the self-determination that characterizes living beings in their behavior." It is by virtue of an inherent autonomy, then, that we are endowed with self-determination. It is our nature that necessitates freedom for every individual. It is from the depths of life itself that we are endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A government, as the Founder's of the United States knew, cannot be trusted to foster those inalienable rights indefinitely and, so, government must be always at the mercy of the self-determined individuals that comprise the populace and for whom individual freedom is held to be an intrinsic value.

[@alexialorentz2428]

I feel like this is most interesting on an anthropological level.

[@michaelerdmann4447]

An Integrally progressing ... •UniPhotoElectroChemology •BioCytoNeuroPsychology and •AnthropoPoliticoSocioTheology ....

[@dr.satishsharma1362]

Excellent.... thanks 🙏.

[@MrKeithtoad]

Oh my! I have been an avid Naturalist for over 4 decades and have had a great interest in comparative religion for just a long. I have read a couple of Karen's books and I swear that this is the first time that I have heard the opinion that Islam has a special reverence for the Natural World. Ms. Armstrong states that it is superior to Christianity and Judaism in this respect when I have long assumed that Muslims were the most Biophobic of these Desert religions. I must look into this...and being a man of Science I don't mind that I may have been incorrect in my view.

[@yasseral-khulaidi5143]

Sir, please read these verses (excerpts from the verses of the Qur’an) These are examples of the way the Qur’an addresses people ------------- Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things. Seest thou not that it is Allah Whose praises all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds (of the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and praise. And Allah knows well all that they do. Yea, to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and to Allah is the final goal (of all). Seest thou not that Allah makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? - then wilt thou see rain issue forth from their midst. And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) wherein is hail: He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases, the vivid flash of His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight. It is Allah Who alternates the Night and the Day: verily in these things is an instructive example for those who have vision! And Allah has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills for verily Allah has power over all things. Be quite sure that to Allah doth belong whatever is in the heavens and on earth. Well doth He know what ye are intent upon: and one day they will be brought back to Him, and He will tell them the truth of what they did: for Allah doth know all things. ================================================== Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things competent - [He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving - [And] who created seven heavens in layers. You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency. So return [your] vision [to the sky]; do you see any breaks? Then return [your] vision twice again. [Your] vision will return to you humbled while it is fatigued. And conceal your speech or publicize it; indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts. Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted? It is He who made the earth tame for you - so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision - and to Him is the resurrection. Do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not cause the earth to swallow you and suddenly it would sway? Or do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not send against you a storm of stones? Then you would know how [severe] was My warning. And already had those before them denied, and how [terrible] was My reproach. Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing. Or who is it that could be an army for you to aid you other than the Most Merciful? The disbelievers are not but in delusion. Or who is it that could provide for you if He withheld His provision? But they have persisted in insolence and aversion. Then is one who walks fallen on his face better guided or one who walks erect on a straight path? Say, "It is He who has produced you and made for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful." Say, " It is He who has multiplied you throughout the earth, and to Him you will be gathered." And they say, "When is this promise, if you should be truthful?" Say, "The knowledge is only with Allah, and I am only a clear warner." ================== Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him? Or do you think that most of them hear or reason? They are not except like livestock. Rather, they are [even] more astray in [their] way. Have you not considered your Lord - how He extends the shadow, and if He willed, He could have made it stationary? Then We made the sun for it an indication. Then We hold it in hand for a brief grasp. And it is He who has made the night for you as clothing and sleep [a means for] rest and has made the day a resurrection. And it is He who sends the winds as good tidings before His mercy, and We send down from the sky pure water That We may bring to life thereby a dead land and give it as drink to those We created of numerous livestock and men. And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier and prohibiting partition. And it is He who has created from water a human being and made him [a relative by] lineage and marriage. And ever is your Lord competent [concerning creation]. But they worship rather than Allah that which does not benefit them or harm them, and the disbeliever is ever, against his Lord, an assistant [to Satan]. Blessed is He who has placed in the sky great stars and placed therein a [burning] lamp and luminous moon. And it is He who has made the night and the day in succession for whoever desires to remember or desires gratitude. ============== Do they not look at the sky above them?- How We have made it and adorned it, and there are no flaws in it? And the earth- We have spread it out, and set thereon mountains standing firm, and produced therein every kind of beautiful growth (in pairs)- To be observed and commemorated by every devotee turning (to Allah). And We send down from the sky rain charted with blessing, and We produce therewith gardens and Grain for harvests; And tall (and stately) palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one over another;- As sustenance for (Allah's) Servants;- and We give (new) life therewith to land that is dead: Thus will be the Resurrection. =================================================>>>

[@RXP91]

The lack of natural spots in our large cities is a real issue here. The poorer you are in the west the less green space and even trees on the road. Sad.

[@SolaceEasy]

Head looks at Heart and sees questions. Heart lovingly holds Head arguing with itself.

[@SolaceEasy]

Science is not the tool to explore this realm.

[@thoughtsurferzone5012]

Thanks for redeeming the name Karen.

[@spiralsun1]

Aliens will be very well versed in poetry. This is how we will communicate initially. How we will understand each other. An alien intelligence is definitely involved in the poetry I know. But anything existing in a poetic universe can never be truly alien. Even the octopus under the sea reflects aspects of our shared realities. There is poetry there behind the difference which provokes our personal and collective egos and their fearful imaginations. I was born to slay those demons, the chimeras of the deep and the deceptive egos of the childhood of humankind ❤ LOVE, LOVE, LOVE LOVE these people so much I’m crying right now. Joy tears…. Because I love science and nature and everything-aliens too! I’m the slayer of erroneous ideas. And that rigid surety that leads organisms into dark corners of the mind and lash out at each other. Stuff like that. I’m a demon hunter under the ocean of time. So yeah there’s some poetry right there. 😂👍🏻❤️‍🔥

[@Rakesh-60kumar]

Hi Brian sir, please invite Mr Acharya Prashant to talk about purpose of life. I think he has a great views on this. It would be like fusion of eastern and western philosophy.

[@neelumahendra4695]

People r so reluctant to doubt ‘modern science’. everything is science , we just don’t know all yet ; as if we hv to hv permission to trust our experiences , by science

[@polymathpark]

There's a book called "the sacred depths of nature" that I keep putting off. has great reviews

[@stoicsage2322]

Go vegan

[@CGMaat]

Logos is ratio = measure = the whole universe - the great pi in the phi

[@harjitflora4667]

Interesting discussion. But don’t think Ludwig Boltzmann would have arranged for the entropy equation to be inscribed on his grave stone.

[@gulanhem9495]

Yeah it was his relatives that picked it. Armstrong studied foreign cultures so much that she forgot to pay attention to our own customs.

[@treefrog3349]

She said "OUR environment". It is not our environment. It is THE environment, of which humans are just one component. We will never grasp that fundamental reality. It is our "achilles heel", our fatal flaw.

[@davevallee7945]

Divinity, and spirituality are the entrails of religion. Remember fondly religion as the ME of science dissects it, and pronounces its death. Leaving the devotees of its traditions, rituals, and myths to decry its passing, and to claim its passing as instead its transformation into spirituality, and sacredness. It is time to look at the floor, and acknowledge with great courage that all has been painted with the revealing brush of science, and that those who cling to the ancient world are in a corner, with no where to go. Think of how future generations will admire the courage, and strength that was displayed, at this hour, by those who admitted that the time had come to face the reality of what surrounds them, and to free themselves, in whole, from the stone age thinking that distracted them from the wisdom of how the world works, as best we can tell.

[@stephenarmiger8343]

Finished watching. Karen traveled the world and spoke to those from major religions. From what I gained from listening, she has not talked to indigenous peoples. Sacrality is everywhere in indigenous creation stories. Thinking about Joan of Arc. At the time that she lived sacrality was also alive. She was burned at the stake for it. Indigenous children were taken from their parents to separate them from their religions.

[@wizzdem-tjmclaughlin8165]

It's all well and good to serenely contemplate and have a reverence for nature but that seems to require one to be removed from the nature of things. For instance, we can marvel at the birds singing in the trees at dawn while ignoring the fact that they are preparing for a day of killing.

[@nalissolus9213]

I like to speak to the manager! hehe

[@gerardbiddle1808]

Logos means Word. 8:37

[@mikotagayuna8494]

Although an atheist, Brian's views actually has a lot of overlap with religion. The glory of God is man fully alive.

[@vasukinagabhushan]

In India, there are are many religious philosophies like Saankhya, Yoga, Meemaamsa, Jainism and Buddhism, which do not have the concept of ultimate God.

[@megamond]

Greene: 'Get a sledge hammer and smash things'? The danger of Academia anywhere near the levers! Thank God, Armstrong pulled him up. Dear God, indeed.

[@Journal2Awakening]

Perhaps the study of the thousands of “near death” experiences would be enlightening…

[@gesswa4755]

I was impressed by her eloquence and disappointed that Karen did not share any mystical experience she might have had with nature to go beyond words and concepts. Was it out of humility, perhaps, or influenced by the setting of this talk?

[@howardrobinson4938]

There must be a meaning, a deep deep meaning, to Karen's chunky necklace. I can't believe Brian did not ask her about it. What an interviewing oversight.

[@Laura-rb3tq]

Respectfully, when I hear any learned person state unequivocally that “humans are the only animals that know they’re going to die,” I want to scream. Show me proof of that. You can’t. The state of “knowing” for any other species is beyond our ken. We make such baseless assumptions about the minds of other beings we share this planet with, and we have the audacity to seek contact with EXTRAterrestrial beings?

[@maxdoubt5219]

I own and read Karen's first hit book. Mostly woo.

[@spiralsun1]

Well, there are other interpretations-such as “Woohoo!” 😂❤

[@shadi490]

And some think they would go to heaven by creating a hell on earth, from this life.

[@startreck1673]

🙏sacrality: noun The property of being sacral; sacredness. She says serenity. He says smashing. 🤔

[@treefrog3349]

The human species is the metaphorical equivalent of a crew off ill-bred pirates, who find a treasure trove and then rollick in their rum and riches until their ship goes hard aground.