{"id":31305,"date":"2023-02-23T21:59:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T05:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31305"},"modified":"2023-02-24T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:00:33","slug":"thank-god-for-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/thank-god-for-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Thank God for Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee, my home state, was the setting for the famous \u201cScopes Monkey Trial\u201d where the theory of evolution was debated as whether this subject was appropriate to be taught to students in school. \u00a0Many in the early 1900\u2019s believed this theory directly contradicted the creation story found in Scripture. Since then, more Abrahamic faiths have accepted the idea that evolution does not have to negate intelligent design or diminish God, which is why I appreciated Edwin Friedman, a Jewish Rabbi\u2019s, correlation of evolutionary principles throughout his book, Failure of Nerve,\u00a0<\/em>with what organizations and individuals need for healthy development.<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Everything<\/em> Evolves.<\/p>\n

Businesses. Churches. Traditions. Relationships. Technology. Medicine. Seeds. Education. Humans. Fashion. Music. Policies. Laws. Our NPO\u2019s.<\/p>\n

For me<\/em>, Evolution makes sense of a lot of what we experience and observe in the world. Things struggle, modify, adapt, and overcome or they eventually cease to exist.<\/p>\n

Adaptation is one of the fundamental ideas in evolution. What first hit me in Edwin\u2019s book was his discussion on \u201cadaptation to strength rather than weakness\u201d. [1]<\/a> How many times have I adapted to or seen organizations adapt to immaturity? How much energy has been spent on dysfunction rather than vision casting and progress? Too much.<\/p>\n

Friedman claims, \u201cthe \u2018squeaky wheel\u2019 perpetually gets the \u2018grease\u2019.\u201d The most anxious, immature, and even dysfunctional people are usually the loudest and get attended to the most in families or organizations for a variety of reasons. When have I been that weakest link due to a lack of development in an area? Yikes. Edwin discourages catering or getting too <\/em>entangled with people at the expense of excellence or progress in a family or group.<\/p>\n

The football coach example illustrated this point well. If a quarter back throws to hard or fast so that some of his receivers can\u2019t hold on to the ball, do you tell the QB to adapt to the players weaknesses or do have the team adjust themselves to the strength of the Quarterback? Same for the punter and running back? Adapting to weakness and dysfunction will most certainly lead to regression for the team. \u00a0So naturally this means that some of the team would need to adapt and develop<\/em> strength for the sake of the team\u2019s overall integrity and success.<\/p>\n

This can seem harsh. Not for Friedman who says, \u201cThe great myth here is that feeling deeply for others increases their ability to mature and survive\u2026The focus on empathy rather than responsibility has contributed to a major misorientation in our society about the nature of what is toxic to life itself and, therefore, the factors that go into survival.\u201d [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe Friedman is encouraging his readers to become cold, callused, and heartless monsters. In fact, he lists the spiritual and societal benefits of feeling, identifying, responding to, and caring for others. Taking personal responsibility and developing ourselves<\/em> is at the heart of what Friedman is getting at and it is the most caring thing we can do for our families, the organizations we belong to and society at large. When we get healthier it inevitably and positively impacts others.<\/p>\n

Which leads to the subject of growth and development, also referred to as evolution<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Personal and organizational growth comes at a cost. There is really no way around that fact. Pain, discomfort, letting go, and struggle will be involved when getting better. This is part of the universal principal Joseph Campbell captures in the hero\u2019s journey when we are summoned to cross a threshold for an adventure that will ultimately evolve us for a higher purpose. However, the \u201cadventure\u201d that develops our being comes at a cost of \u201cself-annihilation\u201d, struggle, uncertainty, uncomfortable emotions, parts of us ceasing to exist, initiations, and battles. [3]<\/a> Edwin mentions us prioritizing safety as a virtue, especially in America, when what we, and our children, really need is more\u00a0adventure<\/em> and risk for maturity and healthy developments sake.<\/p>\n

Edwin, who is a Rabbi, just gave me permission to run with the bulls in Spain!!<\/p>\n

Back to adventure and the need for struggle. Micheal Dowd, who does in excellent job of merging faith and science, in Thank God for Evolution<\/em>, says, \u201cAll my life I thought my problems and difficulties were evidence that either I was fundamentally flawed, or someone else was to blame. Now I see my problems and difficulties, and our world\u2019s challenges as well, as gifts for my and our evolution, evidence that we\u2019re all alive and growing, evidence that our species is maturing.[4]<\/a> Our universe seems to be set up in such a way that struggle, and pain is essential for growth.<\/p>\n

Brian McLaren discusses this idea further in his book, Naked Spirituality<\/em>. He argues that there is no learning to love without hard to love people in our lives, no patience without having to wait, no virtue without temptation, no courage without fear, no strength without resistance, and no growing in forgiveness without being hurt. Our universe is set up in such a way to push against us in all areas and it is how we respond<\/em> that determines who we become.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

This correlates well with what Failure of Nerve <\/em>emphasizes. Our being <\/em>is either evolving and becoming self-differentiated (a non-anxious presence) or regressing and devolving. This is mainly determined by how we respond<\/em> to the people and circumstances thrown our way every day. This reality takes me to my knees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Friedman, Edwin H., Margaret M. Treadwell, and Edward W. Beal. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>. 10th anniversary revised edition. (New York: Church Publishing, 2017). 49.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid. 99.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em>. 3rd ed. Bollingen Series XVII. Novato, Calif: New World Library, 2008.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Dowd, Michael. Thank God for Evolution! How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World<\/em>. New York: Plume, 2009.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> McLaren, Brian D. Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words<\/em>. 1st HarperCollins pbk. ed. New York: HarperOne, 2012.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tennessee, my home state, was the setting for the famous \u201cScopes Monkey Trial\u201d where the theory of evolution was debated as whether this subject was appropriate to be taught to students in school. \u00a0Many in the early 1900\u2019s believed this theory directly contradicted the creation story found in Scripture. Since then, more Abrahamic faiths have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,1392,2113,1043],"class_list":["post-31305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-a-failure-of-nerve","tag-edwin-h-friedman","tag-evolution","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31305"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31336,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31305\/revisions\/31336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}