The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [32]
One of the denser concentrations of Indian populations in North America—the Ohlones—lived in the fertile region that now extends from San Francisco to Monterey, California.34 The Ohlones, now extinct, lived sustainably on this land for roughly 5,000 years. Like the Lakota, their religion was without dogma, churches, or priests because it was so pervasive, like the air. Their religion was found everywhere, as nature was seen to be alive and shimmering with energy. Because everything was filled with life, power was everywhere and in everything. Every act was a spiritual act because it engaged the worlds of power. All tasks—hunting an animal, preparing food, or making a basket—were done with a feeling for the surrounding world of life and power.35
The Aborigines of Australia believe the universe has two aspects. One aspect is ordinary reality and the other aspect is the “Dream-time” reality from which the physical world is derived. In Aboriginal cosmology, the everyday reality of people, trees, rocks, and animals is “sung into existence” by the power of the Dream time—and the Dreamtime needs to continue unabated if the ordinary world is to be upheld and maintained.36 The Dreamtime for Australian Aborigines “. . . is an ongoing process—the perpetual emerging of the world from an incipient, indeterminate state into full, waking reality, from invisibility to visibility, from the secret depths of silence into articulate song and speech.”37 Like the Aborigines, the Kalahari Bushmen have a saying that, “There is a dream dreaming us.”38
The Koyukon Indians of north central Alaska live “in a world that watches, in a forest of eyes.”39 They believe wherever we are, we are never truly alone because the surroundings, no matter how remote, are aware of our presence and must be treated with respect. A clear theme emerges: Indigenous peoples have long recognized the aliveness at the foundation of the universe. They understand that we are not, and never have been, disconnected from the larger universe. With a cosmology of a living universe, a shining miracle exists everywhere. There are no empty places in the world. Everywhere there is life, both visible and invisible. All of reality is infused with a vital presence and this creates a profound relatedness among all things.
Western Views
Although not a religion, Western thought is an integral part of the world’s wisdom and has had an enormous impact on human development. Here again we find the idea of a living universe running like a bright thread through the complex tapestry that is Western thought. More than 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Plotinus declared, “This universe is a single living being embracing all living beings within it.”40 In a similar manner, the ancient Greek philosopher and mystic Heraclitus said of the universe that “everything flows, nothing stands still.” “All things are in a state of flux,” he wrote, and “Reality is a condition of unrest.”41 Heraclitus also declared that, “For those who are awake the cosmos is one.”42 He wrote that life is an eternal becoming and the universe is continually “flowering into deity.”43
Giordano Bruno (1548—1600 C.E.) was a visionary priest and philosopher. He maintained that a spiritual force is found in all things, and that even the most minute body contains a sufficient portion of spirit to animate itself. Bruno felt that God was present throughout the world—a life force that permeated the universe and gave all material things some measure of life. No matter how small something might be, he believed