I am sharing my eulogy that I began in yesterday’s DM at Joel Primack’s Celebration of Life event.
Geologian Thomas Berry used to say, “We will recover our sense of wonder and our sense of the sacred only if we appreciate the universe beyond ourselves as a revelatory experience of that numinous presence whence all things come into being. Indeed, the universe is the primary sacred reality. We become sacred by our participation in this more sublime dimension of the world about us.”
The young especially are to be invited into this awareness. As Primak and Abrams put it in their book, View From the Center of the Universe: “In many ways the young everywhere have more in common with one another than with the old who live in this country or even in their own house. Young people do not share a single religion or language, but they share an epoch in cosmic and terrestrial history that their elders will never know.”
A second teaching from Aquinas that applies to Joel’s vocation is this: “A mistake about creation results in a mistake about God.” Turn this around, and it says, “An insight about creation results in an insight about God.” Joel left us with many insights about the divine because he and his co-workers discovered many insights about the universe. For this too, we thank him.
Another teaching from Aquinas relevant to the life and work and legacy of Joel Primack is this: “Revelation comes in two volumes: Nature and the Bible.” Nature and the universe are themselves a source of revelation. It speaks to us—if we listen. It tells us truths—if we listen. It fills us with awe and what Rabbi Heschel called “radical amazement,” if we let it. Joel listened; he studied the universe with teams of students and others.
We can join him, provided we are not stuck in “species narcissism” and give a damn about something bigger and more primal than mere capitalist visions of money and power, power and money.
By his vocation and also the values of community that he practiced, Joel took in the revelation that nature is. In their book on cosmology and society, Joel and Nancy instruct us to “think cosmically, but act globally.” They call for a “purified religion” that does not live in the past but honors the meaning of the universe and our special place in it.
Let me share two stories from my interaction with Joel.
About 12 years ago, I started a program called YELLAWE to work with inner-city teenagers in Oakland who were dropping out of school—64% of black teenage boys and 65% of Native American youth on reservations. One topic we emphasized was called “cosmology and ecology.” (“Ecology is functional cosmology,” according to Tom Berry.)
I invited Joel and Nancy to come and instruct these inner-city teenagers about the new cosmology, as only they can with a slide show and all. They generously traveled to Oakland and back from Santa Cruz to do this. And the students were awestruck by their teachings.
On another occasion, a group called Creation Spirituality Communities celebrated the 25th anniversary of my book, Original Blessing, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and lo and behold Joel and Nancy traveled all the way to be with us and offered a workshop on the new cosmology! What I remember best is their full participation with smiles on their faces in the circle dancing and spiral dancing that we did as a group.
Joel was humble, close to the earth (humus), as well as close to the stars. And generous. (The word comes from genesis, origin, kinship, genus and generativity.)
Joel taught us about our kinship to the stars and our origins and sacred relationship to Father Sky, Mother Earth and one another. What a wonderful life! What a wonderful mentor! What a wonderful husband, father, teacher and friend! Thank you, Joel.
Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 384f.
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.
“Father Sky,” in The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors To Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 10-17, 29f.
Banner image: The Milky Way as seen from Lake Tekapo in New Zealand. Photo by Graham Holtshausen on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What do you find useful and inspiring in Joel Primack’s life and teachings? Do you feel young people today are being invited to share in a new epoch of cosmic and terrestrial history that is special? What are the implications of that for education and religion and the young?
Relevant Readings by Matthew Fox
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest.
The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors To Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable God.
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality.
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times.
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
Stations of the Cosmic Christ.
Stations of the Cosmic Christ Meditation Cards and Guide Booklet
3 thoughts on “Joel Primack Eulogy, continued”
The immensity and mystery of the cosmos is awe inspiring!
The interrelated inner spiritual dimensions of consciousness are also awe inspiring!
The Sacred is in both, nonduality… outer cosmology and inner cosmology… All Creation is part of Our Diverse Evolving ETERNAL LOVING ONENESS….
I had learned that we are made of stardust when my children were young. It was a fascinating concept for them. a few decades later a book for children ‘appeared’.
You Are Stardust is a colorful book for children by Elin Kelsey / Artwork by Soyeon Kim published both in Toronto Canada and Berkley CA United States, [Owlkids Books Inc. 2012]. Hopefully it is still in libraries.
Dear Fr. Matt,
We are stardust, and we are awe-inspired! Thanks for what you said about Joel Primack, and for the ongoing teaching of cosmology and ecology, and the coherence of the universe story, and our part in it. I give tremendous thanks for your scholarship, your indefatigable prophetic vision, and the hope and generosity of spirit you exercise and inspire in so many people all over the world. May we continue to interconnect, like a mycelial mat, for miles and miles, across continents and oceans, as we bring this story of the universe to all the young who have yet to hear it! THANK YOU! God bless you forever!