http://catherinecrouch.com/sites/default/files/ALFA_DATA From slime molds to forest floors, counting crows to Happy the elephant, Scientists are beginning to understand more and more that intelligence and awareness are not the unique possessions of human beings or even the so-called higher mammals. Indeed, these qualities appear to be omnipresent in creation. Of course, many other cultures and ways of knowing have always acknowledged this. What does that mean for our relationships to living things, especially as UUs, who hold inter-relatedness as a core religious principle? This Sunday we will explore the intelligence of the natural world and indigenous biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s concept of kinship as applied to humanity and the natural world. 

Woodmere Rev. Jamie Hinson-Rieger is a Unitarian Universalist minister serving at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis. He is a graduate of Christian Theological Seminary, a lifelong Hoosier, and a humanist who is trying to learn to listen better to the wisdom of life all around us.