The New StoryWhat is our cosmic story? In the last 100 years, science has provided more information on life than in all of recorded history. But what are we to do with that information? Cosmologist Brian Swimme explains why we need a new cosmic story that explains what we now know about the universe, and how that story can provide a pathway into the future of a vibrant life. For more information, visit www.global-mindshift.org
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TRykk_0ovI0[/youtube]
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Where are we?
We are here on solid ground, a rocky planet 93 million miles away from the sun, in a galaxy that is 100,000 light years wide and populated by 200 billion solar systems. Our presence on this planet puts us on the cutting edge of a creative cosmic event† the expansion of the universe† that has been 13.7 billion years in the making.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sZckDXoFSy0[/youtube]
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Birth To Earth
Swimme answers the ultimate question by looking at our birth in a sea of light 13.7 billion years ago. Out of that initial event comes matter, atoms, elements, and the birth and death of stars. In the intense explosion of energy that attends the death of a star, the very atoms that comprise our physical beings are created and flung out into the universe.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SDr9wh_dGH8[/youtube]
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Earth to Life
Seen from the perspective of the evolutionary process, earth gave birth to life. And life takes on the dynamics of this planet, to grow increasingly complex, to adapt to change, and to continue to give birth to ever more complexity. Along the way, incredibly adaptive mechanisms such as photosynthesis, which turns energy from the sun into life, and sexuality, which creates new life from shared genetic material, are invented. Underlying these processes is the essence of life, which Swimme explains as a profound longing for a deeper, richer experience.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DaI6lCNZvZ0[/youtube]
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Life to Human
What makes us different from our ancestors the apes and primates? The genetic mutation that gave rise to the human also gave us curiosity. This fascination with the world around us, Swimme explains, may be the defining characteristic of what it means to be human. Our capacity for wonder, awe, play and astonishment eventually lead to an ability to share those experiences with language. With the development of language comes a change in life itself, as learning now becomes part of the evolution of our species.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FnRJb-c4JEU[/youtube]
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The Current Moment
In this video, astrophysicist and mathematical cosmologist Brian Swimme talks about our current moment and introduces 4 evolutionary “qualities” that can help humanity find its way forward.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw0RS2Tfk74[/youtube]
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Being Present
Our sense of presence in the universe begins with an awareness of who we are and where we are. The energy of the sun, that grows our food, and courses through our bodies, is the energy of the universe, here and now, present in us. It is as if, Swimme explains, the universe wants to be present to itself in the experience we call being human. for more information.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KCfOoPCdq1E[/youtube]
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Being Authentic
The most important accomplishment you can make in the universe, cosmologist Brian Swimme says, it to discover your authentic role. Pursuing our passions as we respond to the deep currents of energy in the universe may be the ultimate creative act. The promise the universe makes to us, as we find our way into our authentic selves, is that the community of life will blossom forth, and our lives become filled with meaning and coherence.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj-miyaElIs[/youtube]
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Being Inclusive
oves forward to greater levels of complexity and creativity, it wants to form a wider circle of concern. In human terms that means extending our circle of concern from the tribe to the village, from the village to the nation, and from the nation to the entire planetary community.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ltOWgiMiBGo[/youtube]
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Being Responsible
To respond to the conditions of life is one of the fundamental capacities of the universe, Swimme tells us. To be human means we have a deep capacity to care and act responsibly about the future. As the dynamics of life on the planet change, from the genetically determined to the cultural, our decisions have the power to alter life on the planet. The most responsible decision we can make will be one that maintains the conditions of life and makes the earth blossom for millions of more years.
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZcSw1KOSM[/youtube]
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