Process Theology, Revisited – Darrell G Yardley

Our Eusocial DNA

Post author:Darrell Yardley
Post published:May 13, 2021
Post category:Evolution Process Theology, Revisited

Part III in the “Process Theology, Revisited” series…

Perhaps a more appropriate title to this series would be, Process Atheology, as there is no “theo-” in my proposed “-ology.”

As for the other two posts in this series, this topic is also covered in Guru (Chapter 5, pp 68-72), along with cultural evolution, and based hugely on E. O. Wilson’s, The Social Conquest of Earth (2012), but not from the standpoint of Process Theology.

Humans are eusocial organism and characterized by altruistic (self-sacrificing) behavior, a character of eusocial species. Below are excerpts from my Guru (Chapter 5, pp 68-72) on eusocial species and evolution. Basically, we have two kinds of DNA from this perspective, our selfish DNA (see Dawson’s The Selfish Gene) and unselfish (eusocial) DNA. It is this unselfish DNA that offers a second solution to how a non-personal universe could “call” (think motivate or select for) humans’ (and other eusocial species’) altruistic behaviors. A personal Big Guy/Gal (a.k.a. personal God) up there telling us to be good and nice is an unnecessary hypothesis.

Below is from my Guru book explaining in a little more detail. I’ve edited it a little. Again, I am out on my vision quest and this is day two of the four day quest:

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Dissipation-Driven Adaptive Spirituality

Post author:Darrell Yardley
Post published:May 12, 2021
Post category:Process Theology, Revisited

Part II in my Process Theology, Revisited series–

Again, this hypothesis was originally presented in my Guru book, pp 108-118, in chapter 8 based on Jeremy England’s Dissipation-Driven Adaptation. Below is my discussion in those pages about what I termed, Dissipation-Driven Adaptive Spirituality.

Here I will jump to my main point that applies to my concern about Process Theology’s “God calling,”and how I address this concern from a secular, non-theistic paradigm? By “non-theistic” I mean without being based on a personal god, i.e. a god that is a person, place, or thing, but instead on laws and processes of nature, namely physics in this case. Instead of a God calling, on the driving force of the universe–energy dissipation–not some personal god out there doing a “calling” for humans to be “good.” Energy dissipation is the driving force not only of the universe but of spirituality too.

Here are text excerpts from that chapter, reproduced with the author’s permission. It is a rather lengthy presentation, first going over background. It introduces spiritual fitness, which I haven’t covered in a previous post. Spiritual fitness, analogous to Darwinian fitness, basically equals inner peace x personal growth, again as discussed in Guru. Charles is the guru on the mountain in the book. As presented, Charles’ hypothesis is a type of unified field theory of spirituality.

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Process Theology Revisited

Post author:Darrell Yardley
Post published:May 11, 2021
Post category:Process Theology, Revisited

This is the Introduction to a blog series I want to do in regard to revisiting (for me), Alfred North Whitehead's Process Philosophy and its offspring, Process Theology. Process philosophy…

Chop water, carry wood is a blog by Darrell G. Yardley, PhD, LPC, focusing on wide variety of topics on spirituality and science, Zen Buddhism, secular religious naturalism, Native American spirituality, and science (psychology, evolution, genetics, neurobiology, chaos theory). Defining spirituality as a combination of the cultivation of inner-peace and personal growth.

Promoting simplicity, mindfulness, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-actualization, inner-peace, personal growth, and eco-responsibility. My credo is: reduce, repair, repurpose, recycle, and compost. I will take up a range of topics including gardening, bicycling, and whatever topics are on my mind.

Having just finished my second book, The Guru on the Mountain, which shortly will be available on Amazon.com, I am working toward another with a working title, Buddha on a Bike, about my increased interest and involvement in bicycling, the adventures thereon, and relevant to the above topics.

The blog’s title is a wordplay based on an old Zen proverb: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

What does it mean? There are several layers of meaning to this old, pithy saying. One one level it means that the world does not change when we become “enlightened”. We still must do the work we need to do from moment to moment. The world doesn’t change, but we do, or rather, our perspective and response to the world changes. After enlightenment, the world is still just, the world. It just is. At another level, it is telling us to be fully present in each moment, i.e. to be mindful, no matter what our task.

It is about living your regular life, but from a different perspective and understanding. A spiritual life does not require that we shave our heads, live in the desert, give up all possessions, etc. We can live our regular life, only different; with mindfulness, less attachment, letting go into each moment, then letting it go into the next, realizing that all is impermanent. Being more relaxed, less uptight, realizing that nothing is permanent, everything changes. Less judgmental.

My wordplay is that you can’t of course, chop water, not unless of course it is its solid form of ice. So, my wordplay is a paradox built upon the Zen paradox, known as koans. Koans are Zen word puzzles that are directed to helping students (that be all of us) to obtain enlightenment.

Hopefully my words will help you in this endeavor in your own journey. If not, at least maybe a little enjoyment. Gassho