In memory of John B. Cobb Jr. (1925-2024)

by Nathan Blair , Founder of The Somatic School

John B. Cobb Jr., beloved friend, mentor, theologian, philosopher, and champion of ecological civilization, passed away peacefully the night after Christmas, just six weeks before his 100th birthday.

Without realising it, I had been a fellow thinker with John and others like John for many years prior to our first meeting early 2023:

Over the past seven years, I have read eight different translations of the Tao Te Ching, deeply resonating with Lao Tzu’s philosophy of interconnectedness and effortless unfolding. I’m a proud Jewish man, but I also spent several years attending church services every Sunday, drawn to the message encapsulated in the assertion that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 4:16). For as long as I’ve been coaching, I have been a strong advocate of the humanistic tradition with its emphasis on presence, potential, and the actualising tendency of the individual as part of a universal formative process. I deliberately trained almost exclusively in process-oriented body psychotherapies, long before discovering that “Process Thought” exists as an interdisciplinary study in its own right!

One day I was struck by a wave of tantalising curiosity - I honestly don’t remember about what exactly - but following this curiosity, as if following a trail of bread crumbs on Google, I found myself on a registration page for the Center For Process Studies 50th Anniversary Conference in Claremont, California.

I had never heard of “Process Philosophy” before (nor Process Thought). I was unaware that it was a subject that could be studied academically as a concentration of its own. Whatever this branch of philosophy was, it seemed to speak to everything I felt intuitively called to and a world-view I had held dear to my heart for many years prior.

Alfred North Whitehead, one of the central figures in Process Philosophy, believed that the world is a dynamic process of becoming, and that the inclusion of God was essential to account for both the source of creativity and the coherence of the universe. He conceived of God as having a primordial nature (holding infinite potential and possibilities) and a consequent nature (receiving and responding to the unfolding experiences of the world). He also argued that God’s power is not coercive but rather persuasive, manifesting in our lives as “the Lure of feeling, the eternal urge of desire”.

Without a shadow of doubt, I was lured to Claremont, to the 50th Anniversary Center for Process Studies Conference, and to John Cobb.

John was a gentle, brilliant soul who spent his life exploring big questions about God, the world, and our place in it. He was not only a pioneer of Process Theology but also a passionate advocate for a more compassionate and sustainable world. To so many, he wasn’t just a scholar - he was a friend, a mentor, and a source of unending inspiration.

I arrived at the 50th Anniversary conference early to celebrate John’s 98th birthday and to attend a memorial for Dr. David Ray Griffin. At John’s birthday gathering he was gifted a beautiful stole, the Center for Process Studies logo embroidered on either side and an unusual number of colourful honour cords attached.?

What happened next felt divinely orchestrated. “The next generation of Process Thinkers” were asked to step forward to receive an honor cord from John, those who are here to continue the legacy of Process Philosophy and Theology. You’ll see from the wonderful photos shared with permission from the Center for Process Studies archive that I, alongside many great thinkers, stepped forward (unruly curls and all) as Andrew Shwartz placed an honor cord from John Cobb’s stole around each of our necks. The price of my plane ticket to California pales in comparison to the immeasurable value of this moment.

Toward the end of the conference, John and I were sitting together in conversation. As the founder of a somatic coach training school with a major emphasis on Process, I was interested to ask John about his view on the human body (in relation to other bodies) through the lens of this philosophy. Moments before John could answer my question we were being summoned back to our seats to receive the next speaker. I never got a chance to revisit this particular question with John…

As if my prayers had been answered, the day after John’s passing, Andrew M. Davis posted this quote of John’s in his memory:

"In our relation to God, there is no distinction of body and soul. Every cellular event in our bodies, lives on in God, just as does every personal experience. Here, too, we can speak of the resurrection of the soul. But in this case, the resurrection of the soul and the resurrection of the body are united. It is in the wholeness of our psychosomatic being that we live forever in God." - John B. Cobb Jr., The Resurrection of the Soul

Andrew is one of the Process Thinkers I met at the 50th Anniversary Process conference, alongside many other incredible minds whom I consider dear friends and kindred spirits, including Jared Morningstar , Meijun Fan, Zhihe Wang, Matthew Segall , Jay McDaniel, tripp fuller , Bob Mesle , Sherry Clay, Bruce Epperly , Thomas Jay Oord , Bonnie Rambob , to name a few...

I do not claim to have known John as well as many of his colleagues and friends, but his life has had a profound impact on mine, as great lives tend to do.

I feel blessed and honoured to have met you, John. I promise to carry forward your legacy as best I can, alongside the others who have had the privilege of knowing you.