It seems to me that this book, Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe, is comprised of three parts: Resonance, Reverberation, and Radiance. Readers familiar with Brian’s Powers of the Universe will recognize these as the aspects of the tenth power, Radiance.
Brian Swimme has written a remarkable book, unlike any other book I have ever read. It is, to be sure, a book about the origin and evolution of the universe—cosmogenesis—but it is far more than that. It is the story of how one person, an accomplished physicist, took the journey down his own road of life which led him from Tacoma, Washington, to Chicago, to New York City, and, through many failures and successes, to the ultimate truths contained in this book.
Modern scientific cosmology has expanded the limits of our imagination and revealed the secrets of cosmic evolution in ways Copernicus could never have dreamt. The change from our old understanding of the cosmos as cyclical rhythms of the heavenly spheres to a time-developmental, irreversible sequence of transformations has forever changed humanity’s consciousness.
Just two days ago, I received the request from Brian Thomas Swimme to write a reflection on his auto-cosmology, Cosmogenesis: The Unveiling of the Expanding Universe. I am sure he was unaware of the unusual circumstances in which I immediately agreed. I am on vacation at my place of birth and childhood, a very small outport in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
In the spring of 1984, I co-led a literary tour around Ireland with poet Robert Bly. One day out in the wilds of Connemara, I was moved to hear him say that if your young people don’t love where they live, they will burn your city down. If they do love it, they will honor and protect it. Love being the operative word.
In Cosmogenesis Brian Swimme tells us of his compelling archetypal journey. It is archetypal as he must leave home driven by inner unrest that compels him to seek something more than he has found in his contemporary world as a physics professor.
A Poem
My tendency when I read a book is to comment in the margins, stream exclamation marks, and underline important passages while I read. But I knew immediately that I couldn’t do that because there would be one continuous underline! Now, I recommend Cosmogenesis to my friends—if I could, to the whole world. It is impossible to put down. I read it in two sittings, finally staying up until 3:00 in the morning.
What follows is an online-written conversation between Brian, Craig, and Louis inspired by their mutual love for humanity, wilderness, and the expanding universe.
Cosmogenesis is certainly among the ten most significant ideas in human history. It dwarfs Copernicus’s discovery that the Sun is the center of the solar system.