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Rev. Meg Barnhouse
September 29, 2019
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
We hold an apple and talk about how apples developed. Were they developed by humans or did they develop themselves in order to appeal more to humans, insects, birds, and animals so their DNA would be spread far and wide? How smart is this apple?
Chalice Lighting
We light the fire of Truth and ask to be clear, wise, and humble enough to admit when we don’t know. We kindle the warmth of community and ask for open heartedness and patience. We are grateful to the Spirit of Life and ask to learn the secret to loving and being loved.
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Reading
THE BOTANY OF DESIRE
by Michael Pollan
We’re prone to overestimate our own agency in nature. Many of these activities humans think they take for their own good puposes in agriculture (outlawing certain plants, fighting bugs, and replacing other) are mere contingencies as far as nature is concerned. Our grammar might teach us to divide the world into active subjects and passive objects but in a coevolutionary relationship every subject is also an object, every object a subject. That’s why it makes just as much sense to think of agriculture as something the grasses did as a way to conquer the trees.
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