An Unrepeatable Miracle
A Myth of our Own

The real history of the world seems to be
the progressive incarnation of the deity.
-CG Jung, Letter to Morton Kelsey

God Is Born
…the dim flux of unformed life struggled…
broke at last into light and dark…
every atom of the cosmos trembled with delight.
Behold, God is born! …a drop of water…a breath of vapour…
again the shudder of bliss!…Behold, He is born wet!…
sapphires cooled…gold lay shining…little eggy amoeba emerged…
God is born! He twinkles within.…the narcissus lifted a tuft
of five-point stars…lizard swirls his tail…
peacock turns to the sun…leopard smites the small calf…
the universe trembles…God is here!…
man stood on two legs and wondered…
a hush of suspense at the core of every electron…
now very God is born! And so we see, God is not until He is born.
And also we see there is no end to the birth of God.
—D. H. Lawrence

Presented by Robert Keller, PhD
and Varley Wiedeman, PhD

Response by Jungian Analysts
Nancy Qualls-Corbett, PhD,
Jutta Von Buchholtz, PhD,
Lucie Magnus, MA

Saturday, January 23, 2010
9 am - 1 pm
Independent Presbyterian Church, Birmingham

Myths have always arisen in response to ultimate questions...
Where do we come from? Where are we going?
What is the real meaning of life--of my life?
It is our duty, our destiny to ask ultimate questions
and then listen for the myths that come back
from the depths in response.
--Robert Cunningham, PhD

Lecture . . .
The origin of our universe has been wondered over and studied since antiquity. In response, over time, human consciousness evolved and myths arose to express new understandings. As consciousness evolved, cultures were altered and new myths emerged. In 1543, Copernicus announced that the earth was not stationary but rather was moving through space, and further that the earth orbited the sun, rather than the other way round. This re-orientation altered the medieval sense of self and led to the upheaval and reconstruction of European civilization.

Today, we are informed by the Big Bang theory. We are familiar with the wondrous images from the Hubble telescope that inform us that our universe contains not one but many galaxies and that our universe is not static but had a beginning 13.4 billion years ago. We see that old stars are dying and new ones are being born. Consciousness is again evolving and calling for reorientation. Again, we search for a new myth.

Our presenters, Dr. Keller and Dr. Wiedman, will lead us in an exploration of this new myth as written in their acclaimed book, The Unrepeatable Miracle: A Myth of Our Own. Their lecture will be amplified with DVD presentations. They will discuss how they came to their understanding of this new myth, what hard and soft scientists are saying about this new story, and why there is much resistance to it. They will discuss the dynamics or energies of the Universe--Allurement, Sensitivity, Memory, Adventurous Play, Unseen Shaping and Celebration. These dynamics tell us how the universe operates and how we are called to become these energies in human form.

Response . . .
There will be a panel response to the lecture from Birmingham Jungian analysts Nancy Qualls-Corbett, Jutta Von Buchholtz and Lucie Magnus.

Human consciousness created objective existence and meaning,
and man found his indispensable place in the great process of being.
--CG Jung, MDR p.256

Dr. Robert A. Keller is an award-winning professor, with graduate credentials from St. John's, Notre Dame and Wayne State in Theology, Sociology and Education. He has been a teacher for over fifty years, published several books and articles, and has lectured worldwide. He is the father of a large and extended family and has been intensely involved in a multitude of cross-cultural experiences. He is currently trying to learn how to play adventurously and be a child again.

Dr. Varley E. Wiedeman has graduate degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas-Austin. He was an honored Biology Professor at the University of Louisville from 1964 to 1995.

He is currently associated with Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest as Science and Education Advisor and developed and maintains the library there. His current serious interest is in photography--featuring images found in nature, patterns, and Americana.

God Is Born
by D. H. Lawrence

The history of the cosmos
is the history of the struggle of becoming.
When the dim flux of unformed life
struggled, convulsed back and forth upon itself,
and broke at last into light and dark
came into existence as light,
came into existence as cold shadow
then every atom of the cosmos trembled with delight.
Behold, God is born!
He is bright light!
He is pitch dark and cold!

And in the great struggle of intangible chaos
when, at a certain point, a drop of water
began to drip downwards
and a breath of vapour began to wreathe up
Lo again the shudder of bliss through all the atoms!
Oh, God is born!
Behold, He is born wet!
Look, He hath movement upward! He spirals!

And so, in the great aeons of accomplishment and debacle
from time to time the wild crying of every electron:
Lo! God is born!

When sapphires cooled out of molten chaos:
See, God is born! He is blue, he is deep blue,
he is forever blue!
When gold lay shining threading the cooled-off rock:
God is born! God is born! bright yellow and ductile
He is born.

When the little eggy amoeba emerged out of foam and nowhere
then all the electrons held their breath:
Ach! Ach! Now indeed God is born! He twinkles within.

When from a world of mosses and of ferns
at last the narcissus lifted a tuft of five-point stars
and dangled them in the atmosphere,
then every molecule of creation jumped and clapped its hands:
God is born! God is born perfumed and dangling and with a little cup!

Throughout the aeons, as the lizard swirls his tail finer than water,
as the peacock turns to the sun, and could not be more splendid,
as the leopard smites the small calf with a spangled paw, perfect.
the universe trembles: God is born! God is here!

And when at last man stood on two legs and wondered,
then there was a hush of suspense at the core of every electron:
Behold, now very God is born!
God Himself is born!

And so we see, God is not
until he is born.

And also we see
there is no end to the birth of God.