Jane Goodall and the source of hope
I recall when the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC had a special emphasis on the life and work of Jane Goodall. My wife and I learned so much about her young life, how her parents encouraged her becoming a lover of the creatures and eventually how that led to her famous focus on primates. The exhibit was a “deep dive” in what made her such a courageous person. What struck me the most is learning the origin of her persistent advocacy was love - love for the chimpanzees that she befriended. In her own words, she described that love growing within her until it became the only compelling purpose in her life. This abiding love for all creatures, and creation itself, send her around the world sharing that love and demanding that the rest of us pay attention. Her relentless and fierce advocacy was compelling because of her love. It this love that gave her hope. In her latter years, when I we saw her at age 82, she was speaking nearly 300 days each year.
Her voice was gentle, warm, laced with good humor all the while saying some very hard things about the plight of her beloved animals and the earth. This mixture of deep seriousness of purpose, with hope and humor is rare. I was quite moved when I saw her speaking to a packed audience at a DC concert arena. What moved me was her love and how that love shaped her actions. Her book on hope is credible because of the way she lived a life resonant with her love for the earth. When questioned about faith, she usually was elusive, though she was not active in any religious community. But occasionally, like other scientists, she spoke of her curiosity and wonder about what can’t be explained, but can be experienced. I think this openness to wonder and mystery also grows from her capacity to love. She never gave up hope. When asked about this inner resilience from a scientist in the audience she responded with a nod to a deeper mystery of being.
“I believe, part of being human is a questioning, a curiosity, a trying to find answers, but with an understanding that there are some answers that, at least on this planet, this life, this life-form, we will not be able to answer. And I get kind of peeved when scientists will say, “But we know how the universe started. It started with the Big Bang.” Oh. Yes, but, sorry, what led to the Big Bang, please?
And you know what’s fascinating? More and more highly intellectual people — philosophers of science, physicists, and so on — all of these great brains have said, there is no way that what’s happened is just chance. So what that intelligence behind the universe is — what it is, who it is; probably, what it is — I haven’t the faintest idea, but I’m absolutely sure that there is something. And seeking for that something is part of being human.”
May her legacy bear fruit in our lives.