Becoming God

When J. Robert Oppenheimer watched the first nuclear bomb go off in an isolated desert of New Mexico, these were the words that came to him from Hindu scriptures: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Although the nuke was his creation, he spent the rest of his life fighting for disarmament and control of this godlike, destructive power. Climate change shares a special relationship with these weapons in that they are the two “existential threats” to our species and the planet. What do we have to learn about one from the other? Maybe how we stop one is how we stop both.

This was a two-part Zoom event. First, a radio play performance of “The Shelter,” written after a Twilight Zone episode of the same name where neighbors react to a bomb scare. Then, a conversation with three-time Nobel nominated peace activist Kathy Kelly about her amazing work in fighting for the better angels of our nature.