The Living Universe (29 page)

Schimmel, Annamarie, life's journey,
93

Schroedinger, Erwin, barriers in quantum theory,
41

science, the meta-universe in,
84
–86

Scott-Maxwell, Florida, knowing yourself,
109

Self

encounters with your cosmic,
110
–111

our sense of,
94
–96,
185
–186

self-awareness, our sense of,
93

self-image

collective,
3

of a maturing species,
161
–162,
165
–166

sentience

basic,
43

consciousness of the universe,
46
–47

separation, humanity's journey of,
134
–138

Shabistari, Mahmud, poetry of,
67
–68

Shao, description of Mother Universe,
87

Shintoism, the Golden Rule of,
146

Shiva, cosmic dance of,
70

shortages, energy,
139
–140

Sikhism, the Golden Rule of,
146

simplicity, living a lifestyle of,
172
–176

size, humans in the Cosmic Scale,
21

slime mold, single cell consciousness,
44
–45

Smith, Huston, on Hindu religious thought,
69

society, journey of awakening,
131

song-line, individual,
103

Sorokin, Pitirim,
The Ways and Power of Love,
170
–172

soul

existence of a,
215

identity,
94
–96

impact of life events on the,
113

knowingness,
109
–110

unique signature of thoughts in our,
97

“Sound,” Kabir,
103
–104

space

designing,
28

empty,
38
–39,
41

space-time, fabric of,
24
–25

species

balancing human needs with the earth's biosphere,
169

the cosmic nature of our,
163
–166

a maturing,
161
–162

SRI

participation in “futures group,”
5

psychic research conducted at,
6
,
47
–48

stars, engineering,
28

stories

miracle of the universe,
128

passing along wisdom,
13

suffering, healing,
170

Sufism

essense of God,
106
–107

Islamic doctrine of,
67
–68

superspace,
theory of,
84
–85

surfing, reality,
153

Suzuki, D.T., Zen scholar,
73

Swimme, Brian

our sense of self-awareness,
93

persisting pattern of the universe,
42

systems

cosmic information,
28

of the cosmos,
31

crisis of whole,
3

living,
34
–35,
38
–39,
54
–55

self-organizing,
119
–123

Tao Te Ching
(Lao Tzu),
74

clear light,
101

Taoism

the Golden Rule of,
146

“Great Tone of Nature,”
104

Lao tzu's description of Mother Universe,
87

view of the world,
73
–74

wisdom of simplicity,
172

Targ, Russsell and Harold Putoff, psychic research experiments at SRI,
48

technology, exposing injustice in all parts of the world,
170

temperature, zero point,
38
–39

tension, creative,
104
–105

test, our supreme,
138
–140

texts, the Nag Hammadi,
64
–65

The Encyclopedia of Religion,
love and wisdom traditions,
105
–106

The Gospel of Thomas

the Kingdom of God,
109

light in the teachings of Jesus,
99

recognizing ourselves,
110

teachings of the living Jesus,
64
–65

The Ways and Power of Love
(Sorokin),
170
–172

theism, vs. atheism,
201

theories

the Big Bang,
24
–25,
27

continuous creation of the cosmos,
40
,
204
–208

a dead universe vs. a living universe,
39
–42

non-locality,
36
–37

number of dimensions of the universe,
24

quantum,
41
–42

quantum foam,
41
–42

the quantum principle,
37

superspace,
84
–85

Tiru-Mular, poetry of love in the Middle Ages,
107

Toba catastrophe,
135
–136

tools, animal use of,
46

torus

in Nature,
121

significance of,
120

Toynbee, Arnold,
Law of Progressive Simplification,
173

traditions, wisdom.
See
wisdom traditions

training, cosmic feedback,
50
–52

tribal peoples, indigenous view of the universe,
75
–77

truth-telling, planetary,
182

Tzu, Lao,
Tao Te Ching,
73
–74

universe

acknowledging a non-living,
7

Biblical references to creation of the,
61
–63

composition of the,
23

contrasts between a dead and a living,
30-31

daughter perspective,
90
–91

definition of a living,
12

evolution of the Cosmic Feminine,
143

exploitation of the dead,
9

friend or foe,
2
–3

invisibility of the,
22
–24

as a living system,
55

music of the,
104

rate of expansion of the,
27

views of various religious groups on the,
61
–77,
81
,
99
–100

wisdom traditions,
59
–60

Upanishad, Chandogya, Hindu teachings of,
69
–70

vacuum, quantum,
85

Vedas

Hindu scripture,
68

sound of Brahman,
104

vibrations, music of the universe,
104

videos, powers of “ten,”
217

viewing, remote,
47
,
48
–49

views, dead vs. alive universe,
xii

virus, a living or non-living entity,
34

Voluntary Simplicity
(Elgin),
6

warfare, psychic,
48

Watts, Alan, Zen scholar,
73

wealth, narrowing the economic disparities between opportunity and,
168
–169

Western thought, impact of,
77
–80

Wheeler, John

quantum foam theory,
41
–42

the quantum principle,
37

theory of
superspace,
84
–85

Whitehead, Alfred North, “occasions of experience,”
79

Whitman, Walt

colorless light,
101

the divine in nature,
19

Wiener, Norbert, pattern of the universe,
42

Wilson, E.O.,
biophilia,
10

wisdom

culture,
143

harvesting the human experience,
80
–82

using stories to pass along,
13

wisdom traditions

the Golden Rule in,
145
–146

sacred meaning and knowledge,
109

spirituality and the universe,
86
–89

theme of light in,
98
–102

views of the universe,
59
–60

womb, cosmic,
89
–90

world

intense interdependence of the,
182

solidity of the matrial,
97
–98

wormholes, relationship to black holes,
53
–54

wounds, healing through reconciliation,
169
–170

Wright, Frank Lloyd, belief in God,
11

Yung-chia, Zen view of the universe,
88

Zen

becoming centered,
73

Buddhist wisdom traditions from the
Lanbkavatara Sutra,
88

zero point, background energy,
38
–39

Zimmer, Heinrich, Hindu cosmology,
70

DUANE ELGIN
is an internationally recognized visionary, speaker, and author. He earned his MBA from the Wharton Business School and then an MA in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2001 he was awarded an honorary PhD for work in “ecological and spiritual transformation” from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In 2006 Elgin received the Goi International Peace Award in recognition of his contribution to a global “vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.”

In the early 1970s Elgin worked in Washington, D.C., as a senior staff member of a joint Presidential-Congressional Commission on the American Future. He then moved to California to work as a senior social scientist with the think tank SRI International, where he co-authored numerous studies on the long-range future. With Joseph Campbell and a small team of scholars, he
co-authored the report that later became the book
Changing Images of Man
(1982). He co-authored other major reports as well:
Anticipating Future National and Global Problems
(for the President's Science Advisor),
Alternative Futures for Environmental Policy
(for the Environmental Protection Agency), and
Limits to the Management of Large, Complex Systems
(for the National Science Foundation).

Seeing the challenges ahead, Elgin left SRI in 1977 to focus on writing and non-partisan organizing of citizens around issues of media accountability and citizen empowerment. Elgin's first book was published in 1981:
Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich
(3rd edition, forthcoming). This pioneering book is recognized as a classic in exploring more sustainable and meaningful ways of living. The idea of a living universe was at the foundation of his next book,
Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness
(1993). This is a big-picture overview of the evolution of human consciousness, both personal and social, from awakening hunter-gatherers to the modern era and then into the deep future. Elgin's third book,
Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity's Future
(2000), explored the “adversity trends” and the “opportunity trends” that were converging at that time; it suggested ways the human family could avoid an evolutionary crash and instead realize an evolutionary leap forward. Elgin has also contributed chapters to sixteen books, and published more than seventy articles on subjects ranging from social transformation and simplicity to media accountability and a living universe.

Elgin has been researching the theme of a living universe for the past twenty-seven years, and elements of his work have been published in scholarly journals. In 1988 he published the lengthy article on the cosmology of a reflective and regenerative universe:

“The Living Cosmos: A Theory of Continuous Creation,” for the journal
Revision.
His article, “The Paradigm of a Living Universe,” was published in the
Journal of World Futures
(2000) and presents a scholarly summary of his cosmology. Two of his books—
Awakening Earth
and
Promise Ahead
—included chapters on the theme of a living cosmos.
The Living Universe
brings these years of inquiry together for the first time.

In addition to decades of scholarship, Elgin also brings forty years of meditation and inner inquiry to his exploration of a living universe. He has been inspired by all of the world's wisdom traditions, especially Buddhist, Quaker, Gnostic Christian, and Hindu. Elgin has also had extensive experience with psychic research in a scientific setting. For nearly three years in the early 1970s he was one of four primary subjects who participated in numerous experiments funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to explore our intuitive potentials. These experiments were conducted at SRI International, where Elgin worked doing futures research. Results from these experiments (notably, remote viewing) have been published in major scientific journals. A portion of Elgin's work is described in the scientific paper by Puthoff and Targ, “A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances,” published in the proceedings of the prestigious I.E.E.E. (1976). His work is also described in their book
Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability
(1977).