The Living Universe Read online

  THE Living Universe

  Other books by Duane Elgin:

  Voluntary Simplicity

  Promise Ahead

  Awakening Earth

  Changing Images of Man (with Joseph Campbell and others)

  Living Legacies (with Coleen LeDrew Elgin)

  Duane Elgin

  THE Living Universe

  WHERE ARE WE? WHO ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING?

  FOREWORD BY DEEPAK CHOPRA

  The Living Universe

  Copyright © 2009 by Duane Elgin

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

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  www.bkconnection.com

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  First Edition

  Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-969-1

  PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-57675-988-2

  IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-904-0

  2010-2

  Book design and composition: Detta Penna

  Copyeditor: Judith Johnstone

  Illustrator: Camilla Coates

  Proofreader: Katherine Lee

  Indexer: Joan Dickey

  Cover design: PemaStudio

  Cover photo: Byron Aughenbaugh / Getty Images

  Dedicated to the wisdom keepers

  across cultures and through history

  who guide our exploration

  of the living universe.

  Contents

  Foreword by Deepak Chopra

  Preface and Acknowledgments

  Introduction: The Great Awakening

  A Personal Perspective • Living in a Dead

  Universe • Cosmophilia: Love of the Universe • Does Aliveness

  Make a Difference?

  Part One: Where Are We?

  Chapter 1: The First Miracle

  We Are Giants • The Nearly Invisible Universe • Just Getting

  Underway • Our Intuitive Connection with the Cosmos

  • Imagine Building a Universe

  Chapter 2: The Science of a Living Universe

  A Unified Universe • An Ocean of Background Energy •

  A Continuously Regenerated Universe • Sentience at Every

  Level • Freedom at the Foundations • Able to Reproduce

  Itself • An Integrative View from Science

  Part Two: Who Are We?

  Chapter 3: Spirituality as Intimacy with a Living Universe

  Judeo-Christian Views • Islamic Views • Hindu Views •

  Buddhist Views • Taoist and Confucian Views • Indigenous Views

  • Western Views • Harvesting the Wisdom of Human

  Experience

  Chapter 4: The Mother Universe

  The Meta-Universe in Science • The Mother Universe in

  Wisdom Traditions • An Integrative View • Growing in the

  Mother Universe

  Chapter 5: The Soul’s Body and Our Cosmic Identity

  The Size of Our Soul • Qualities of the Soul’s Body • A Body

  of Light • A Body of Music • A Body of Love • A Body of

  Knowing • Recognizing Ourselves Before We Die

  Part Three: Where Are We Going?

  Chapter 6: Where Is the Universe Going? 117

  Life Within Life Within Life • Growing Self-Organizing Systems

  • Humanity’s Central Project • A Garden for Growing Life

  Chapter 7: Humanity Is Halfway Home

  Humanity’s Heroic Journey • Humanity’s Journey of Separation

  • Our Supreme Test and Time of Initiation • Humanity’s

  Journey of Return • The Second Axial Age • Awakening into the

  Living Universe • Stage I: Reflective Consciousness • Stage II:

  Oceanic Consciousness • Stage III: Flow Consciousness

  Part Four: Actions for the Journey Ahead

  Chapter 8: Six Vital Tasks for the Journey Home

  Co-Creating Our Story of Awakening • Cultivating Reflection

  and Reconciliation • Living Simply and Sustainably • Creating

  New Kinds of Community • Becoming Media-Conscious

  Citizens of the Earth • Bringing Our True Gifts into the

  World • The Promise of the Journey Ahead

  Chapter 9: Living in a Living Universe

  Meditations • Conversations

  Notes

  Index

  About the Author 227

  Foreword

  by Deepak Chopra

  As a physician, I am concerned with healing. In my view, the more we are in touch with the universe we come from, the more we will be able to heal ourselves and at the same time heal our planet. We are an integral part of a living and intelligent universe. Not only is the universe alive, it is imbued with consciousness. The universe wants to live and breathe through you. To find out the truth of this, you need to relate to the universe as if it were alive. Otherwise, how will you ever know that it is? Today, begin to adopt the following habits:

  Talk to the universe.

  Listen for its reply.

  Be on intimate terms with Nature.

  See the life in everything.

  Carry yourself like a child of the universe.

  Duane Elgin writes about our living universe as an evolutionary pioneer. He has been an explorer of scientific knowledge and spiritual understanding for more than four decades. He has worked on a Presidential Commission looking into the deep future; helped pioneer sustainable ways of living with his book Voluntary Simplicity; developed a stunning view of the big picture of the human journey in Awakening Earth; co-founded three non-profit organizations working for media accountability and citizen empowerment, and more. The uniqueness and span of this book reflect Duane’s wide-ranging life journey.

  The Living Universe is written with elegant simplicity and yet it addresses our most important existential dilemmas. Where are we? Who are we? What journey are we on? Step-by-step he offers us new insights about ourselves and our human journey. At the foundation is the understanding that we are each an expression of a living universe. The universe is conscious, self-regulating, self-creating, ever-renewing, and always evolving to increasing levels of complexity and creativity.

  Through us (the human nervous system), the universe is becoming increa
singly aware of itself. We are beings of light, love, music, and happiness. We are evolving toward unity consciousness where we experience ourselves as cosmic beings participating in the evolution of the universe. If we consciously participate in this evolutionary process, we can heal the rift in our collective soul and bring creative solutions to poverty, social injustice, war, terrorism, and ecological devastation. If we ignore the call to our collective awakening, we put at risk the future of human civilization on our precious planet. The choice is ours.

  It is my hope that the human family rapidly awakens itself to the reality that we live in a living universe. The human body is part of the cosmic body. The human mind is part of the cosmic mind. Awakening to this cosmic dimension of ourselves is profoundly restorative. With that experience and understanding, we bring healing to our wounded planet and a new sense of adventure to the human journey.

  Duane has written an important book because, at this pivotal time when we are separated by so many differences, it is vital that we discover our common ground as a species. A widely shared understanding that we all live in the same living universe provides the foundation for positive visions of the future that offer beacons of hope to pierce the darkness of the world’s gathering storms.

  Preface

  As I complete this book in early 2009, a number of crises are putting the world system under enormous pressure to make fundamental changes: economic breakdowns, growing climate disruption, the end of cheap oil, desperate poverty, violent conflicts over resources and religion, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and more. We are fulfilling the “Warning to Humanity” given by more than 1,600 of the world’s senior scientists, including a majority of the Nobel laureates in the sciences.1 In 1992 they warned: “A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.” If a “great change” in our stewardship of life is essential, what does that change look like? Given the enormous differences and divisions within the human community, where can we find a commonly shared understanding for building a new pathway into the future?

  To align our efforts and fulfill our potentials, it is vital for the human family to find a compelling sense of direction for living and growing together. But what vision of humanity’s journey has the breadth, depth, and reach to enable us to look beyond our many differences and galvanize our efforts in building a promising future? This integrative vision, or “great story,” of humanity’s journey can be summarized as follows: The universe is deeply alive as an evolving and learning system and we humans are on a journey of discovery within it. We are learning to live within a living universe. If we lose sight of where we are (living in a living universe) we profoundly diminish our understanding of who we are (beings of both biological and cosmic dimension) and where we are going (growing into an ever more intimate relationship with the living universe).

  We cannot understand who we are or the journey we are on without first understanding where we are and the universe we are in. Our future pivots on how we answer the question of whether we regard the universe as dead or alive. As we will explore in great detail throughout this book, I think the evidence points toward regarding the universe as alive. We will progressively unfold what this means, but here is a preliminary distinction between these two views:

  Dead universe view. The universe is a barren and inhospitable place comprised almost entirely of non-living matter and empty space. Life is extremely rare. On Earth, matter has somehow organized itself to high levels of complexity and has produced living entities. However, considered in the context of the larger universe, the human enterprise is a trivial speck. Our existence as humans appears to be pointless and without purpose—a cosmic accident that will be forgotten. A dead universe has no memory and tells no stories. When the body dies, the “lights go out” and we disperse, leaving no trace or remnant, either physical or non-physical. What matters most is matter—material possessions, material power, material pleasure, and material prestige.

  Living universe view. In counterpoint to the dead universe perspective, the living universe is a paradigm that portrays the universe as buzzing with invisible energy and aliveness, patiently growing a garden of cosmic scale. It suggests that we humans, as conscious life forms in this immensity, are very precious. We serve an important purpose for a universe growing conscious forms of life: Through us, the universe sees, knows, feels, and learns. We are learning how to live ever more consciously in a living universe. What matters most is not matter but what is invisible—the aliveness within ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us.

  Several hundred years ago, the mechanistic and materialistic view of a non-living universe was liberating—part of the Enlightenment-born rationalism that helped humanity free itself from superstition and fear to achieve extraordinary intellectual and technological breakthroughs. But this paradigm no longer serves human evolution. By removing aliveness from the fabric of the universe, the initial success of the materialistic perspective has ultimately led to environmental exploitation and a profound global crisis.

  Because our view of the universe creates the context within which we understand and choose our future, it is critically important that we have an accurate understanding of our cosmic home. Where a dead-universe perspective generates alienation and despair, a living-universe perspective generates inspiring and resilient visions of a higher pathway for humanity. Is this affirming view of the future justified?

  Three core questions run through this book. The Introduction sets the stage and focuses the inquiry. We explore the first question—Where are we?—in the next two chapters. In Chapter 1, we expand our thinking about the universe and ourselves. In Chapter 2, we consider the universe through the lens of science and ask whether it has the basic characteristics of a living entity. Because the science of life is at an early stage, it is premature to declare that science can prove the universe is a living system. Instead we ask, does this evidence point in the direction of a living or a non-living universe? If so, how does this matter?

  We then explore the second question—Who are we?—in Chapters 3, 4, and 5. In Chapter 3, we explore who we are in relation to the universe through the eyes of the world’s major religious and wisdom traditions. In Chapter 4, we consider how a “Mother Universe” can contain countless daughter universes, including our own. Chapter 5 explores our soulful nature as cosmic beings learning to live in a living universe.

  We explore the third question—Where are we going?—in Chapters 6 and 7. In Chapter 6, we ask where is the universe going? Does it have an evolutionary direction that is apparent? If so, how does our journey fit with it? Are we “going with the flow,” or not? In Chapter 7, we look at where we are on our journey and focus on the unprecedented pivot we are making as a species—moving from a path of separation and differentiation to a path of connection and communion.

  In closing, Chapter 8 presents six tasks that are vital for our journey home and Chapter 9 offers suggestions for personal meditation and group conversation that explore the theme of a living universe.

  Acknowledgments

  I am grateful for the support of the many people whose unique contributions helped bring this book into the world. First, I appreciate those who, through their financial support, enabled me to complete this lifetime project. I especially want to acknowledge two individuals who were initial supporters, Ted Mallon and John Levy; thank you for your trust in me and in this work. Three foundations stepped forward with important grants: the Kalliopeia Foundation in California (thank you, Barbara Sargent and Barbara Cushing), the Fetzer Institute in Michigan (thank you, Frances Vaughan), and the Foundation for Global Community in California (thank you, Richard Rathbun). I am grateful to other individuals who provided important support along the way: Kimberly and Foster Gamble, John Steiner and Mar-go King, and Charles Silverstein. The president of the RSF Social Finance organization, Mark Finser, wa
s an invaluable ally who provided a fiscal home for the living universe project.

  Second, I want to express my great appreciation to those whose feedback helped to shape this work. Deepak Chopra, I am deeply grateful for your Foreword. Profound thanks also to the community of friends and scholars who critiqued earlier versions of this book: Chris Bache, Bill Barnard, Coleen LeDrew Elgin, Dave Ellis, Scott Elrod, Kimberly and Foster Gamble, Roger Housden, Jean Houston, John Levy, Joel Levey, Nipun Mehta, Carter Phipps, Frank Poletti, Richard Rathbun, Charles Silverstein, Bill Veltrop, and Roger Walsh. Your feedback was invaluable in moving the work toward its greatest potential. I am also grateful to Colleen Mauro for her expert editing of the initial draft.

  Third, my great appreciation goes to the superb publishing team at Berrett-Koehler, who were so helpful, transparent, and professional throughout the publishing process. I especially want to acknowledge Steve Piersanti for his skilled collaboration as my editor and his creative leadership as president of Berrett-Koehler. Steve’s feedback was restrained, persistent, discerning, and consistently helpful. I am grateful for the support of Judy Johnstone and her skillful editing of the final manuscript. To Detta Penna, many thanks for her elegant design and for seeing this project through production. To Camilla Coates, my grateful thanks for her graceful illustrations. I also appreciated the editorial feedback of B-K authors Alan Briskin, Dee Hock, David Korten, and Libba Pinchot, and B-K manuscript reviewers Douglas Dupler, Elainne Obadia, John Renesch, and Don Schatz.

  Finally, I want to express my great appreciation to my wife Coleen LeDrew Elgin for her feedback on this manuscript and for being such a loving and supportive partner as, together, we learn to live in the living universe.

  Duane Elgin

  February, 2009

  Introduction

  The Great Awakening