Open Horizons

We are multiple writers and artists from different generations and traditions, and from various parts of the world, sharing ideas about:

art, music, spirituality, politics, religion, cosmology, philosophy, theopoetics, science, social justice, peacemaking, and hopes for a beautiful planet.

Along the way we are introducing and exploring an open and relational (process) outlook on life and way of living in the world.

We write for people who are religious, non-religious, and anywhere in between. Thank you for joining us.

edited and curated by Dr. Jay McDaniel

Our Columnists

new to a process outlook on life?

here are some pages in Open Horizons that will help you get started

Relationships as the Spiritual Web of our Lives (Frederic Brussat)
Twenty Key Ideas in Process Thinking (Jay McDaniel)
Whitehead Video Series (video series for people serious about reading Process and Reality)
The Constellation of Process Theology (Bradley Artson)
Whitehead's Theory of Value (John Cobb)
Emotional Intelligence and Embodied Wisdom: The Spiritual Side of Process Thinking
The New Process Theology: International, Multireleligious, Practical, Theopoetic (Jay McDaniel)
Building Ecological Civilizations: The Practical Side of Process Thinking
China's Ecological Civilization: Our Common Great Opportunity (Zhihe Wang)
A Biologist Looks at Process Thought (Charles Birch)
A Whole Universe of Stories (Patricia Adams Farmer)

Context and Emerging Initiatives

Open Horizons is part of a much larger, international network. We are inspired by many organizations with similar interests and aims. Some are process in orientation; all are open and relational in outlook. See Kindred Spirits below.

We borrow the phrase "open and relational" from the theologian Thoms Oord. Process is one of many valuable ways to embody an open and relational approach to the world. Here are two of our new initiatives, inspired by the work of kindred spirits, which we hope will add to the collective endeavour.

The Center for Process Spirituality

Becomings: An Emerging Artists' Collective

If you are an emerging artist (short story writer, musician, photographer, film-maker, poet, sculptor, choreographer, craft-maker) please check out becomings and see if you'd like to submit something to us.

12 points of entry to the process way

Open Horizons offers twelve points of entry to the Open Horizon (Process) Way. Click on a theme in the menu that interests you, and you'll find an assortment of short articles related to the theme. Each article has a specific focus. Be exploratory. If one article doesn’t interest you, try another. For an overview, see Process Theology: A Constellation of Ideas or Twenty Key ideas in Process Thinking or A Whole Universe of Stories.

Reflecting on Big Questions (the universe, God, creativity, despair, hope)
Spirituality and Practice (faith, listening, courage, kindness, zest for life)
Art and Music (art and popular music: hip-hop, rock, jazz, singer-songwriter)
Hopes for a Beautiful Planet (beloved community with ecology added)
Social Justice (economic, politics, injustice, protest, prophetic imagination)
Interfaith Explorations (world religions, spiritual hybridity, interfaith leadership)
East-West Thinking (combining Asian and Western ways of thinking)
Mental Health (mental illness, depression, and resilience walks in life)
People’s Stories (interesting people, but really we all are)
Science (postmodern physics, biology, and chemistry)
Animals (especially for those who love animals)
Whitehead’s Philosophy (for those who love "process" philosophy)

plus Miscellany for the Curious Mind (odd subjects hard to pigeonhole)

twelve most recent posts

updated June 21, 2019

click here for more

a spiritual alphabet

Practicing the process way by growing in capacities for attention and forgiveness, hospitality and wonder, compassion and imagination, listening and a love of life.

For us "spirituality" is embodied cognition and emotional intelligence in everyday life. In the wheel of spirituality below, you will find thirty seven qualities of heart and mind that are part of spirituality. We borrow the list from one of our partner organizations: Spirituality and Practice. In the essays on the left, Patricia Adams Farmer and Jay McDaniel offer interpretations of some of the letters.

"A" is for Attention
"B" is for Being Present
"B" is for Beauty
"C" is for Connections
"G" is for Grace
"F" is for Forgiveness
"H" is for Hope
"H" is for Hospitality
"I" is for Imagination
"J" is for Joy
"J" is for Justice
"M" is for Meaning
"S" is for Silence
"T" is for Transformation
"U" is for Unity
"X" is for Mystery
"Z" is for Zeal (Zest for Life)

ecological civilizations

practicing the process way by helping create just, sustainable, and joyful communities that are good for people, animals and the earth.

Ecological civilizatons are the world's best hope. We humans live within, not apart form, a larger web of life filled with value and beauty. Our responsibility is to care for the larger whole and for one another. The building blocks of ecological civilizations are local communities that are creative, compassionate, participatory, inclusive, diverse, humane to animals, good for the earth, and spiritually satisfying -- with no one left behind. The social aim of process thinkers is to help build these kinds of communities. Here are some links to get started:

Ecotheology in Theory and Practice (Jay McDaniel)
Three Needs: Organic Worldviews, Creation Stories, Creative Local Expressions (Mary Evelyn Tucker and others)
The Radical Vision of Ecological Civilization (Andrew Schwartz)
Five Foundations for an Ecological Civilization (John Cobb)
Ten Ideas for Saving the Planet (John Cobb)
Economic Justice and Process Philosophy (John Cobb and others)
China's Ecological Civilization (Zhihe Wang)
A Call to Deeper Places: The Owl as My Teacher (Nita Gilger)

growing in religious literacy

practicing the process way by encouraging
religious literacy and interfaith friendships

We encourage growing in religious literacy as a beginning, but not an end, to what is most important: interfaith cooperation.
We in the "process" world believe that friendships with people of other faiths, combined with joint projects aimed at helping bring about just, sustainable, and joyful communities, are what is most important.

Still, a degree of religious literacy is very important and a worthy aim. Very few people in the world are religiously literate in a complete sense; the very process of growing in such literacy is a lifelong endeavor and, for some, a spiritual practice. Let this page help you take first steps.

Click on the links to the left and you will be taken to the best resource you can find for understanding the world's religions today: On Common Ground from The Pluralism Project at Harvard University. These are the multiple "faiths" which can be an important part of a relational culture and community. Process philosophy offers a way of appreciating the best in each tradition and articulating the traditions from the inside, by those who practice them.