In Memoriam: John B. Cobb, Jr.
Last night, on December 26th, 2024, one of my heroes departed from this world. John B. Cobb, Jr. passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family, on the night after Christmas — just six weeks shy of his 100th birthday.
I met John relatively late in his life. I remember one of my early encounters with him was to celebrate his 97th birthday on Zoom, shortly after I started working with the Center for Process Studies and the Cobb Institute. I’d known of him prior to starting with these organizations that he founded — being first exposed to his thinking and process thought more generally in 2019 through an interview he did with the Psychedelics Today podcast in conjunction with a conference CPS hosted on exceptional experiences — but participating in his digital birthday celebration I was immediately struck by the overflowing affection everyone had for him and by how spry, energetic, and warm he was for someone nearing 100.
Over the subsequent years, I was continually astonished and inspired by John’s continued work and activity in his twilight years. But he was not staying active out of any sort of neurotic urge for productivity or personal concern with his legacy — rather he was simply continuing to live out his vocation to the best of his ability.
This vocation, though often manifesting as sophisticated engagements with spheres as diverse as philosophy, theology, economics, ecology, and international relations (among many others) ultimately, it seems to me, came back to an immediate, personal care for healthy relationality — relations with others, with oneself, with culture, with the sacred, and so on. He was an inspiration for how one can continue to expand to new horizons precisely by humbly inviting others to contribute and building substantive communities knit tightly together by shared visions of the common good. We become more ourselves — and perhaps even become who we are /meant to/ become in a spiritual sense — through our deep relationships with others. John’s life of service and love are a concrete testament to this.
As a pioneer of the field of ecotheology, John dedicated much of his later life to the urgent issue of the anthropogenic climate crisis in all its dimensions — spiritual and practical. His vision and ethic of interconnectedness was not limited merely to human communities, but the whole earth system — and beyond. However, rather than promoting misanthropic, nihilistic, or techno-utopian perspectives common in environmental movements, John instead set down another path on which he invites us to be fellow travelers — that is the vision of ecological civilization.
Human beings, too, have an ecological niche in this world and may contribute in healthy ways to the biosphere, contrary to the promethean paradigm of contemporary humanity where capitalistic delusions of infinite growth and arrogant visions of human domination of Nature conspire to desecrate our common home. It is possible that human beings, too, may contribute novel, unique, and irreducible value to the greater web of life, but this will require us reorienting our values, culture, and especially our industrialized capitalist mode of production so that real relationship with the biosphere and the myriad creatures therein once again becomes possible. For John, this is a sacred and urgent task — perhaps the definitive religious work humanity must do in this era.
All of this, of course, connects with John’s understanding of God as an ever-present companion of unyielding love and his dedication to following the prophetic example provided in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Being in his presence, you could feel his faithfulness which manifested as gentleness, humility, and deep care, right alongside his electric passion and firm commitment to an ethical vision. Even those who only met him but in the briefest encounters would often come away telling stories of his earnest kindness and generosity. Whatever the sources of our own passions and commitments may be — and John certainly recognized many authentic sources even as he personally had as his touchstone the vein of Christian tradition emphasizing Divine Love — may we take inspiration from his example.
With his grounding in these deep spiritual commitments, and a life will-lived in service of these higher principles, he welcomed his death not as the negation of life but rather as “one more gift of life” and “the next big adventure,” to use his own words.
I grieve for our community — and the broader earth community to whom John dedicated his life’s work — in losing such a luminary and friend, but I know John is now continuing his adventure of love with He who Jesus called Abba, and likewise I find solace knowing his luminous example will continue to reverberate in this world for aeons to come.
My own life has been incredibly blessed these past few years as a direct result of John’s bountiful passion, generosity, and commitment to expansive visions of the common good. I cannot imagine much better than having the opportunity to work for the organizations he founded and participate in the beautiful communities that have taken his life and work as an inspiration. What gifts. I pray that whatever small positive impact I may be able to have in this world as a result of all these incredible blessings — that this may serve as yet another testament to the richness and beauty of John’s life. Amīn.
May the adventure continue!
إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
