“How Constraint Has Anchored the Emergence and Evolution of Life” with Dr. Ursula Goodenough

“How Constraint Has Anchored the Emergence and Evolution of Life”
Last Sunday, Vicky Hanjian beautifully addressed “Resistance is futile????” our theme of the month, “Practicing Resistance,” in its societal and political contexts, noting that it works best as non-violent non-cooperation. Today we will think about how resistance, in the form of constraint, has allowed the emergence of life from non-life, creating order from randomness and hence resilient selves with aims and expectations. Constraint is also vital to the resilience of ecosystems, including the one we call human cultures. These understandings are helpful guides in our quest to make good trouble.

Ursula Goodenough is Professor of Biology Emerita at Washington University who lives in
Chilmark and is a member of the UUSMV. She taught cell biology and molecular evolution
and engaged in research that focused on Chlamydomonas, a green soil alga. Her honors
include election to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. She and others are
developing what we call a religious naturalist orientation, and she co-founded the Religious
Naturalist Association (www.religious-naturist-association.org). A new edition of her
book (www.sacreddepthsofnature.com), The Sacred Depths of Nature, describes her
understandings of this orientation. She has five children and ten grandchildren.