The Powers of the Universe

The ultimate attainment for a human being is to have an experience of Simple Reality, to live in the present moment. In terms of content, P-A is like a tapestry in which each thread is inter-dependent upon and interrelated to each and every other thread. Woven together, each person, each element of nature each and every aspect of creation cannot be harmed without harming the whole. The Oneness of the universe in which we live will respond positively to the energy of our compassion but will be destroyed by the energy of our fear.

Cosmologist Brian Swimme is a captivating teacher and brilliant theorist but remains in the thrall of the old paradigm while transcending it at the same time. This paradox reveals a significant emerging consciousness on his part and heralds the more widespread awakening of humanity. He is one of many mystics and archetypal prophets who have been ignored over the ages trumpeting the warning that continued unconscious behavior on the part of humanity will be ultimately self-destructive. In response to the First Great Question—where am I?—Swimme reveals an awareness of a new paradigm and what the unfolding creative process in the universe means. “The universe is not a place; it is a story, an ongoing creative emergent event.”

What humanity must attain is a worldview that can accommodate this realization. In short, humanity must shift to a “new story” or worldview that is more profound and leave the “old story” behind. The reason for this is that the worldview of an individual or a collective community of human beings whether it is a tribe or a nation drives the behavior of that individual or those collectives. It is clear to most of humanity today that our current worldview is driving behavior that is destroying the planet and in turn the global village.

The Second Great Question—who am I?—addresses our identity as human beings. Here is where Swimme fails to make a profound response. He sees humanity identifying with the planet and indeed as the planet.“We are a mode of the planet in its functioning.” The great mystics warned against identifying with any kind of form because reality does not change and that which changes is not reality.

Swimme admits this basic truth which Buddha called “impermanence” in his definition of “cataclysm.” “The way the universe destroys some of its achievements, systematically destroying aspects of its own self. Creativity would not be possible without the power of cataclysm. Endings are beginnings for a new form.” For humanity to escape the fear which is the fundamental energy source of the old paradigm we must not identify with that which is impermanent. Our identity must be with consciousness itself—beyond all form—and therefore changeless. Swimme is moving toward this more profound identity when he says. “We are the way in which the universe proceeds in conscious self-awareness.”  

Another fundamental error which relates to identity has to do with the process of thinking and the related language and symbols. “Conscious self-awareness is enabled through the power of language, which is the power of the symbol. This ability has led to another kind of being, a new form of the human.”  First of all, there has been no emergence of “another kind of being” as yet anyway. Mystics, saints and sages in the past were not in any profound way different from you or me. We have the same capacity to “wake up” that they had. If we do not have that capacity, the world is indeed in trouble. The self-aware or awakened universe already exists and is not an “evolutionary” process. Creation is and has always been and proceeds beyond space and time (strictly human constructs) regardless of what human beings are able to achieve although we take part in evolution as does all creation. Evolution is a process that occurs in the realm of the “relative” and when profoundly understood is an illusion.

The new paradigm then must be profound enough to reveal that humanity can awaken into an “absolute” reality which is beyond form and therefore, beyond even ideas of evolution itself. This is the truly awakened state attained by Buddha and one which others have attained. It our natural state, it is the Self-realization that we are all capable of. The ultimate goal of the new paradigm is awareness; it is experiencing Reality as it really is. One of the major obstacles to that “insight” into the nature of Reality is the process of thinking itself. A human being using language and symbols to think has generally left the present moment to live in the past or the future. That person is not truly experiencing the context of Simple Reality. P-A is where the Absolute is found. In other words, Self-realization transcends symbols and language.

And finally, let’s address what Swimme has to say about the Third Great Question—why am I here?—which asks: given that I know where I am and who I am, what do I do? Swimme says that, “We are the way in which the universe proceeds in conscious self-awareness.”   (1)  True enough and this is in agreement with the perennial wisdom. “Anatomically, the human is just another species, but in terms of our inner powers, we are something like a new phylum.”   Again, there is an unhelpful attachment to the language if not the essence of “form” in Swimme’s description. Our inner powers (I prefer the term “inner wisdom”) that Swimme refers to must be thought of in terms of the principle of Oneness, which is the foundation of the new paradigm. There is only one Mind and as individuals we all use that one Mind and indeed we “are” that one Mind. There is no dualism in the new paradigm. In terms of our inner powers, we are the universe.

In conclusion, we must see the function of the individual human being in the new paradigm as the creation of consciousness itself. Each individual must be self-reliant and attain self-awareness relying on his/her own inner wisdom and his/her connection to the implicate order. In doing this as individuals we fulfill our role in the unfolding consciousness of the universe. And of course there is only one Consciousness beyond time and space and yes, beyond form.

This essay is in response to the video series by Brian Swimme entitled The Powers of the Universe. Swimme was (2005) a cosmologist and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. The series was co-sponsored by Earth Literacy Companions and EarthLinks (see www.earthlinks-colorado org.) and was shown at the Washington Park United Methodist Church in Denver during January-March 2005.

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References and notes are available for this essay.
For a much more in-depth discussion on Simple Reality, read  Simple Reality: The Key to Serenity and Survival,  by Roy Charles Henry, published in 2011.