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By Root 942 0

The first dynamic is often called the “universe story,” and is the grand narrative of the universe evolving through time. The universe story portrays humanity as descendants of a vast creative lineage stretching over the past 14 billion years. The second dynamic is what I call the “great awakening,” and it is the account of humanity progressively awakening to the miracle of the universe arising as a fresh creation at every moment. Where the universe story provides a stunning narrative of the “horizontal” unfolding across time, awakening to a living universe adds a further dimension: the “vertical” creation of the cosmos in time. The universe story focuses on the evolution of the universe through time and the living universe focuses on the universe being created in time. The vertical dynamic of continuous creation slices through all that exists and reveals everything as a single orchestration happening all at once. We are, at every moment, a part of this grand unity of creation. The first miracle—the flow of continuous creation of the cosmos—is so subtle and occurs at such a high rate of speed that it is easy to overlook. As we have seen, it is those who invest long periods in quiet contemplation and meditation—participants in the world’s wisdom traditions—who have perceived this flow most clearly and described it most pointedly.

Our awakening to a new understanding of the universe in both its horizontal and its vertical aspect represents a stunning and extraordinary re-imagining of where we are as a species. Our awakening to the living universe goes beyond the history of any particular nation, region, or ethnic group. This vision of the human journey is big enough to honor the diversity of our past and to act as a beacon for our collective future. This is a story of such immensity and immediacy that it completely transforms the shallow story of materialism and consumerism. The emerging narrative tears back the veil of smallness and reveals humanity as creatures of cosmic dimension and participation. We are bio-cosmic beings who are waking up to find ourselves in a living universe and our evolutionary task is to grow into the bigness of who we are, both personally and collectively. Although the idea of a living universe has ancient roots in human experience, it is radically new and fresh as the frontiers of modern science begin to recognize how mysterious and magnificent the universe truly is. Humanity and universe are becoming connected once again, this time with the aid of science to cut away superstition and reveal the authentic mystery and subtlety of our cosmic home.

The evolutionary direction of the larger universe and that of humanity are aligned. We are not off course or on an evolutionary detour. Although we are largely on track in fulfilling our evolutionary potential, we now confront a supreme test of our collective intelligence and species maturity. Let’s look at the challenging journey ahead.

Chapter 7

Humanity Is Halfway Home

. . . we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country, home.

—FATHER GIOVANNI, 1513

Where are we on our journey of collective awakening? As beings with an evolving reflective consciousness, how fully have we realized who we are? To answer that question let’s move from the scale of an individual to that of an entire society.

Our journey of awakening into our living universe is not exclusively the journey of the individual; inescapably, it occurs within the context of society. With rare exceptions, our personal awakening does not happen in isolation, but is strongly influenced by the larger culture in which we live. Culture and consciousness co-evolve. It is difficult to step outside the perceptual paradigm of a culture and beyond the prevailing norms. Soul and society tend to grow together.

To explore our collective journey of awakening we can use the simple but powerful lens of one of the world’s fundamental archetypes—the hero’s journey.

Humanity’s Heroic Journey

Because we are all living and growing in the same universe, it is understandable that we would