Treasures in Jars of Clay - May 28

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35; Deut. 5:1-22; 2 Cor. 4:1-12; Luke 16:10-17(18)

Today’s Reflection

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. … For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. –2 Corinthians 4: 1, 6-7

This week, I was reading an interview with the 2021 winner of the Templeton Prize. It’s one of those prestigious awards I had heard of, and knew it was named for the English investor and philanthropist John Templeton, but beyond that, I didn’t have an understanding of what the Templeton Prize is meant to recognize. But, as I read the interview, I was curious and did some extra reading to learn that the Templeton Prize was established to “honor individuals whose exemplary achievements advance… harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.” The focus on recognizing the blending of the scientific with the spiritual is more recent, within just the past several years, but since its establishment in 1973, the Templeton Prize has been awarded to 48 individuals whose work has changed the world and our understanding of our place in it.

Of those 48 Templeton laureates, only four have been women—including the very first laureate, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and this year’s laureate, primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall. Now, I am not familiar with the names and accomplishments of many of the other winners, but what strikes me as a common thread between Mother Teresa and Jane Goodall is that both broke new ground and changed the world because of their willingness to see the world and its inhabitants from a different perspective and to live alongside those whom they were supporting or studying in a true spirit of love and humility.

As Heather Templeton Dill, granddaughter of John Templeton, said of Goodall as she was awarded this year’s prize, “Her discoveries have profoundly altered the world’s view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity in a way that is both humbling and exalting.” As a 26-year-old who hadn’t yet earned her first college degree, Goodall went to live in Tanzania to learn more about chimpanzees. Up to that point, scientists believed that only humans were capable of using tools. But Goodall, because of her open mind and heart, was able to see something new: that chimpanzees, too, are tool-users. And when she went on pursue her Ph.D. at Cambridge, she continued to break the established ways of studying animals by insisting on identifying the primates she studied with human-like names (first name and last name) and by viewing them through the lens of believing that humans are no better than any other part of nature, our fellow primates included. What makes her approach to studying primates, and all of the natural world, distinctive and groundbreaking is that her perspective is grounded in humility and empathy:

Well, when I got to university I was told I’d done everything wrong. I shouldn’t have given the chimps names; it was scientific to number them. I couldn’t talk about them having personalities, minds and emotions. Those were unique to us. I was actually taught in the early 1960s, that the difference between us and animals was one of kind. We were elevated onto a pinnacle, separate from all the others. But my dog as a child had already taught me that wasn’t true. You can’t share your life in a meaningful way with a dog, a cat, a guinea pig, a rabbit, a horse, a bird, a pig and not know that, of course, we’re not the only beings with personalities, minds and emotions.

I was also told by these same professors that to be a good scientist you have to be objective. Therefore you cannot have empathy with what you’re studying. That is so wrong. It’s having empathy with what you’re studying that gives you those “aha” moments — “Yes, I think I know why he or she is doing that.” Then you can put on the scientific hat, which I learned at Cambridge, which I love, and say, “Let me prove that my intuition is right or not.”

All that Jane Goodall and Mother Teresa have accomplished was not for their own sake or glory, but to point others toward something larger than any of us—reminding us that anything worthwhile begins by grounding oneself in a place of humility and empathy. When I reflect on the lives of these two extraordinary women, I am struck by how they embody the passage we read today in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In each of their lives is a treasure of insight and concern for the welfare of others, a treasure held in the clay jars of their humility-soaked, other-oriented lives.

—Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Recall a time when you were especially aware that you were being treated as a whole person with a name and not just a number—and recall a time when you felt the reverse. How does being treated with the dignity of being called by name and treated with empathy change your sense of self and your place in this world?

Daily Challenge

Read the full interview with Jane Goodall by the Religion News Service to learn more of how her views on the spiritual and the sacred have informed her approach to science and conservation.