The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [2]
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