A PARTICIPATORY UNIVERSE
A MYSTICAL ADVENTURE
Sabina Spencer*
When I first picked up Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme I knew I was in for a treat. As a master of story, Brian brings a perspective to science that makes it a joy to consume and easy to digest and leaves the reader deeply nourished. What I was not prepared for was how the words on the pages I was about to read would lead me to a felt experience of the profound subject matter that he was seeking to express in the intimate telling of his life’s journey.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin speaks of humans seeing clearly their existence and meaning in the context of the evolving universe—where they see beyond the “illusion of smallness, plurality and immobility” and grasp “the momentary summit of an anthropogenesis which itself is the crown of cosmogenesis.”[1] In essence, once humanity embraces its true sense of purpose, we recognize that we are not the masters of this world but interdependent co-creators with all life in the universe. However, as Brian tells us in Cosmogenesis, there is one major difference between ourselves and other species on our planet, we are in the process of developing noospheric consciousness, a planetary mind awakening us to the realization that we are now actively determining the future of the Earth.
I believe we are on the cusp of discovering what Rumi meant when he said, “You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”
Whirling Dervishes,Wikipedia, CC by 2.0
When I first discovered this line in his work, I felt so excited and knew that there was a bigger story that I needed to discover. I embarked on an outward-focused quest to find how I could best be of service at this time of our evolution. All of that changed as I began reading Cosmogenesis and let the richness of Brian’s words resonate profoundly with something nascent within.
For the past thirty years, I have thought of myself as relatively conscious, self-aware, curious, and creative. I have been contributing to the bigger “whole” to the best of my ability, but that “whole” was “without.” I had objectified the world along with the sun, the moon, and the stars; they were outside of my direct experience. I could connect with them on a more spiritual level through meditation and yet something was missing. Intellectually, I understood the intrinsic nature of participation and the idea that we live in a participatory universe; however, they were concepts and ones that made perfect sense to me.
As I continued turning the pages of Brian’s story it seemed like I was not only learning about certain scientific principles and spiritual truths, but rather I was caught up in a mystical adventure that would ultimately expand my perception of reality. I think it was around chapter twenty-three when I first felt the universe running through the blood in my arms as I held the book. I no longer felt any sense of separation but rather a somatic recognition that as humans we are simply an expression of the primordial energies that gave and give birth to everything. The magnificence that is all around us lives within us, it is coursing through our veins. Our purpose at this time, and has always been, is to nurture the emergence of that planetary mind rooted in the very universal intelligence that birthed us; to consciously evoke and celebrate the beauty and grace of the extraordinary creativity that we are alive in today.
By the time I finished Cosmogenesis, I felt like I had become a cosmological being, fourteen billion years in the making, participating in a journey that I believe will lead us to the ultimate source of Love. Brian’s telling of his story is an invitation to connect deeply to soul, it is for those who choose to live in resonance with the heartbeat of our expanding cosmos.
Photo by kyuubicreeper from Pixabay
* Sabina Spencer, PhD, has spent the past thirty-five years working around the planet with visionary boards and executive leaders in some of the world’s largest enterprises. She is highly skilled at weaving together complex organizations and at focusing leadership energy to inspire sustainable futures. As a corporate mystic, Sabina is passionate about transforming company cultures to support people freeing their creative spirit in the service of something higher that has meaning far beyond the bottom line. Focusing on purpose, vision, and values that promote strategic alignment, collaboration, and trust, she helps to evoke the emergence of a mindset rooted firmly in interdependence and planetary consciousness.
[1] Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959; Repr., New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008), 34.