The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [49]
• Community. Communities of self-organizing systems are the foundation for life. An expanded scope of community supports new levels of learning and life-experience. Self-organizing systems grow in concert with other systems in a mutually supportive process of co-evolution.
• Emergence. We cannot predict what creative configurations will emerge as self-organizing systems grow to higher levels of connection and synergy. Smaller systems do not reveal the potentials that can emerge from larger combinations. To illustrate, we could not predict the properties of biological cells by looking only at molecules. In a similar way, we could not predict the ability of molecules to build cells by only looking at the structure of an atom, the building block of molecules. There is an extraordinary jump in aliveness at each level that could not have been anticipated by the properties of the previous level.
Where is the universe going? The universe is rolling out self-reflective systems at the local scale that are able to join into communities at larger scales that offer the opportunity for learning and creative expression in a context of ever-broadening freedom. If we want to go with the flow of our cosmos, we will orient ourselves in this direction.
Humanity’s Central Project
If the universe is busy nurturing the development of self-organizing systems at every scale, then how does our journey of awakening align with nature’s evolutionary intentions? If we fight against nature we are fighting against ourselves, and our evolutionary journey will be one of alienation and frustration. If we cooperate with the cosmos, we are serving our deepest potentials and our journey will be one of satisfaction and learning. Although we may not have been aware of it, the human community is on a path of development that is aligned with the self-organizing direction of the universe.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, our full name as a species is Homo sapiens sapiens, or doubly knowing humans.3 Simply stated, this means we can see ourselves as objects in the mirror of our own consciousness. Being able to observe ourselves gives us an entirely new level of freedom and creativity. If we use our scientific name as a guide, then our core purpose as a species is to realize—both individually and collectively—our potential for double wisdom or conscious knowing in a living universe. As we awaken, the cosmos also awakens. This is what I have called the “great awakening.” The cosmos is bending back upon itself as we humans cross the threshold of reflection and begin to contemplate ourselves within the cosmos. As the bending arc of evolution follows its course and consciousness returns to itself, we are fulfilling the potentials of the universe for creating self-organizing forms of life that are progressively ever more self-reflective. A simple visualization of stages of awakening follows. These stages are discussed in detail in the next chapter.
Does our development as doubly wise beings align with the universe’s central project of developing self-organizing systems? As the figure’s simple images suggest, I believe that humanity and the universe are evolving in the same direction. After billions of years of evolution, a life-form has emerged on the Earth that is literally the universe looking back at herself and her creations through the unique perspective and experience of each individual person. A gardener appreciating a flower or an astronomer peering out at the night sky actually represents the closing of a loop of awareness that began with the birth of our cosmos some 14 billion years ago. We are the eyes, hands, voices, and heart of the cosmos. Our universe gave birth to and sustains living planets, which, in turn, have given rise to life-forms that are now