PAULA ARBUTHNOT
researcher/author
Growing up under the umbrella of a metal desk for ‘atomic bomb drills’ that took place in a Christian elementary school, I grew up not understanding the dualistic message — and often fatalistic thinking — of those turbulent times. Yet, it was also a time of great dreams, watching the first lunar landing on television, remembering the hope for peace in the early space culture developing in front of us. We knew the astronauts, but I never really thought about the ‘new society’ that was also emerging among the spacefarers. Always captivated, I pursued a career in the engineering fields for over 30 years until a near drowning event and the needs of a town demanded a better answer and my faith was renewed. What I really learned was that even individuals of small stature can create great change, when needed.
rICHARD
HASKIN
President
“The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.” ― Werner Heisenberg.
As many adolescents growing up under the umbrella of a faith I did not fully understand, I renounced internally the concept of a higher power. The fundamental mathematics of the universe had the probability to create life as we know it, and thus in the vast array of the multiverses, ours was the lucky draw. Though through my years a deeply unsettling feeling of sheer dread carried me through my existence, as if there was a vast cruel cosmic joke that had been played on us. Thus began a new chapter in my life to try to seek the truth in the world and seeing the entire universe as such an interconnected series of events since the beginning of recordable time. And so now I behold Wonder in all things, in all places, and in all people; For are we not all the same product of the same process since the very beginning?
We both grew up in a world that sounded too challenged to invoke much change, even 35 years apart. Our collective education kept bringing us back to both the sciences and theology with a touch of optimism that wasn’t always reflected in either discipline. Combining these talents required new thinking and, hence, wondermentlogy was created as an answer to that void.
About us:
A brief history
I survived a flash flood in July of 2015. I shouldn’t be here to tell this story.
So, in October of 2015, we moved to a new town after being flooded out of our old house. It was a move of frustration to improve what turned out to be our substandard housing and it was a traumatic upheaval of goods, family members, and farm animals into a new community, starting over. We bought a house on top of a hill just outside of town, hopefully a safe location from turbulent storms. But in December of 2015 and again in April of 2016, the town of DeSoto, MO, flooded for the second and third times from a flash flood where over a hundred houses were breeched. (The first flood of recent history was in 2012). When a house floods for the third time, HUD housing regulations will no longer allow for habitation and the property must be abandoned. The town didn’t pull the utilities – yet – but will have no choice on the next flood. Most often, floods happen in marginalized neighborhoods, but floods do happen in ANY economic or racial category – floods don’t know polarized politics. I formed a ‘movement’ with some friends called the “Citizens Committee for Flood Relief”, gathered frustrated townspeople who wanted to be bought out and relocated, made enough political noise for a flood study, even got a new mayor elected and a new city manager appointed who were both sympathetic to the flooding issues, applied for FEMA buyout money, and waited for the buyouts to get started. And waited. So, we demanded a new 2-D flood study by the USGS, only the second time in the country that new science was used, made a few new geophysical discoveries about flash flooding events, learned all about climate changes and predictions for extreme weather events for the next 25 years, had science papers written and presented at the American Geophysics Union yearly call for papers, even had minor changes made to national FEMA flood policies as a result. Our movement had been a success as it grew into national media coverage where I told my story and the town’s story on Vice News Network and all the local TV channels, even had a social media presence that is still strong to this day….And waited some more for the buyouts to get started.
2020 rolled around and our group needed more help, more training. At the age of 60, after years in the construction and engineering disciplines, I started my MDIV degree to learn how to run a nonprofit, get better skills at building community, and work on social justice issues. Classes and internships have led to opportunities to start replacement housing developments and we await word on that success, hoping for good news in October 2022. Additional classes taught me to use caring words with politicians, to present persuasive arguments in public settings, and to practice social justice as an active movement….
And we are still waiting for the buyouts to get started.
Along the way, I came to the realization that our geophysicists scientists involved in the flood work were engaging in social justice issues as were other scientists in their respective fields. I also came to realize that many religious leaders were engaging better with communities for healing of political hangovers and participating in more environmental practices. Both professions were using the same words of a hopeful future and the same social justices in their respective fields for the betterment of the earth, of individual human lives, and offering environmental solutions for entire communities. The more I looked, the more I realized that I was watching new science and new theology come together in a positive way instead of a negative way.
The lines have become blurred, and I speculated what that signified. Where these disciplines often tried to stay separated in the past, there is more societal acceptance to the ideas of science into theological studies and vice versa. An example of this in recent decades is the understanding of LBGTQ issues being biological into the human nature – there are other examples, as well. What has become more prevalent in recent years is the idea of viewing that we humans are part of the human biosphere and that we must share this with other lifeforms, even the Earth itself, for better survival and for better health for all. This is an ‘eco-centric’ approach to human understanding, to research and advancements, to any solutions put forth in our civilizations.
So, while we are still waiting for buyouts, it is also time to address our ecological future together constructively, with learned hope and optimism. Since we have already been through decades of destruction, decimation, and dismal futures for marginalized groups, hope may now need to be taught again.