The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [10]
These are just a few of the fundamental ways that our approach to life can be radically different depending on which of these two perspectives seem most real. Everyday life, of course, is not so clear-cut as these polarities suggest. The important point is that, whether we regard the universe as dead or alive at its foundations has enormous consequences for our future, both individually and collectively.
Overall, I do not believe that the human community can come to a new relationship with one another and the Earth unless we also come to a new relationship with the universe. Life-changing consequences flow from this new perspective.
Part One
Where Are We?
Chapter 1
The First Miracle
Nature is incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on,
There are divine things well envelop’d,
I swear to you there are divine beings
More beautiful than words can tell.
—WALT WHITMAN1
American Indian lore speaks of three miracles. The first miracle is that anything exists at all. The second miracle is that living things exist. The third miracle is that living things exist that know they exist. As human beings conscious of ourselves, we represent the third miracle.2
In celebrating ourselves, it is important that we not overlook the first miracle: the natural world which is our home. When we overlook the first miracle and do not feel at home within the larger universe it is impossible for us to feel at home within ourselves or with one another. The journey home, reconnecting with the first miracle of the universe around and within us, is a theme woven through this book.
In our long evolutionary ascent toward the third miracle of knowing ourselves, we have been pulling back from our connection with nature and the first miracle. I believe this has been a natural and purposeful process. The human family is on a collective journey to awaken and, in the initial phase, our evolutionary task was to separate ourselves from nature and to develop our sense of individuality and empowerment. We have now succeeded so well and become so empowered that we are disrupting the climate, depleting precious resources, spreading weapons of mass destruction, and overpopulating the Earth. We are hitting an evolutionary wall and being pushed by necessity—and pulled by opportunity—to make a great turn in our evolutionary journey. How do we find our way back to the living universe? How can we visualize ourselves at home in the universe?
To expand our appreciation of the universe, let’s consider four observations from science that set the stage for a more systematic inquiry in the following chapter. These four insights always fill me with awe.
We Are Giants
When we gaze at the enormity of the universe, with its billions of swirling galaxies, it seems natural to conclude that we are very small. When we see a universe that extends trillions upon trillions of kilometers, it is reasonable to think we are insignificant in the cosmic scale of things. However, this commonsense view of ourselves is radically mistaken. We are not small creatures. In the overall scale of the universe, we are giants!
Imagine you have a ruler that measures from the largest scale of the known universe to the smallest. At the largest, we see hundreds of billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars like our Sun. At the smallest, we travel deep within the core of an atom to the world of quarks, and then farther, to the foundations of existence and what is called the “Planck distance.”3 If we were to place humans on that ruler, we would fall roughly in the middle zone.4 Actually, we are a bit on the larger side, as shown in the accompanying illustration. The stunning insight from science is that