The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story:
Brian Swimme
The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story Paperback – June 1, 1984
by Brian Swimme Ph.D. (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 62 ratings
Communicating his ideas in the form of a classical dialogue between a youth and a wise elder, cosmologist Brian Swimme crafts a fascinating exploration into the creativity suffusing the universe. His explication of the fundamental powers of the cosmos is mystical and ecstatic and points directly to the need to activate
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Seldom, if ever, within the scientific tradition, has the excitement of the universe been expressed in such memorable phrasing.",
Thomas Berry, Creation magazine
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About the Author
Brian Swimme, Ph.D., a specialist in mathematical cosmology, was educated at Santa Clara University and the University of Oregon. At the present time, he is the director of the Center for the Story of the Universe, a research affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco.
Product details
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Bear & Company; Original ed. edition (June 1, 1984)
Language: English
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Biography
Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor of cosmology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco. His department, "Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness" (PCC), is the only graduate program in the western world that places equal emphasis on contemporary science, indigenous spirituality, classical philosophy, and feminist thought for its masters and doctoral programs. He and his colleagues at CIIS have created this program in order to re-imagine the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community.
The heart of Swimme's work is his focus on knowledge that is transformative--of ourselves and of our civilization. His graduate program attracts intellectually engaged women and men who are in varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening in industrial societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world. Keeping in mind Alfred North Whitehead's view that the function of the university is to enable the future to appear, first in conceptual thought, the PCC faculty and graduate students hold in mind three fundamental goals:
1. To open our consciousness, through learning and imagination, to those creative and evolutionary energies suffusing the Earth, the universe, and the deep psyche that will enable us to participate fully in the regeneration of human communities and their enveloping life systems.
2. To analyze the current devastation of planetary life and to strive to liberate ourselves and our communities from the underlying causes of alienation, consumerism, militarism, androcentrism, and unsustainable modes of life.
3. To draw from the deep wells of philosophical and religious wisdom together with other scholarly and scientific insights in order to bring forth a profound vision of a vibrant planetary era.
Swimme's work joins with those scientists, scholars, and visionaries who recognize that the Earth community is facing an unprecedented evolutionary challenge, the most severe degradation of life in the last 65 million years. This multifaceted crisis requires a fundamental reorientation of our civilization, one in which a compassionate humanity becomes a mutually enhancing presence within Earth's complex systems of life. Cultural historian Thomas Berry, who is co-author of "The Universe Story", has called this task "the Great Work."
Swimme's work, both as a writer and a professor in the PCC program, is committed to shaping the leadership necessary for profound, progressive transformation of social institutions and individual consciousness. Drawing upon some of the most powerful ideas of Western intellectual and spiritual traditions, together with insights from Asian spiritual philosophies and indigenous world views, Swimme and the faculty of PCC have constructed a multidisciplinary course of study to help accelerate each student's journey into his or her particular leadership role within this work.
Brian Thomas Swimme was born in Seattle, Washington, earned his Bachelor's degree at Santa Clara University, his doctoral degree in mathematics at the University of Oregon, and now teaches in San Francisco.
Top Reviews
Paige Ellen
5.0 out of 5 stars
A grand celebration of the creation of the Cosmos
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016
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This book is a classic of modern spirituality based cosmology.
I own a copy of the original, but bought this copy to use as a loaner to friends. This is the 22nd printing of what is now a planned 30 printings. The first printing was in 2001. Why mention all that information on the printing history of this book? Because it makes clear how popular and important this book is to cosmologists.
Brian Swimme is extremely well educated. He earned a doctorate in gravitational dynamics at the University of Oregon. He is currently the Director for the Center of the Story of the Universe, which is an affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he also teaches.
He has been mentored by Thomas Berry and his subsequent books, some co-authored with Berry, focus on the unfolding of this universe since the moment of the Big Bang.
This volume is both an early attempt at telling the "Universe Story", as well as a very inspirational book for those who read it. He posits a consciousness to the development of the universe, indicating to those who feel their life has no meaning or purpose, that of all the possibilities within the bounds of creation, the universe chose to conceive you, the one and only you who will ever exist.
How can a person doubt that his/her life has meaning in the face of that point of view?
The book is set up as a dialogue between a wisdom figure, conveniently named "Thomas" and a questioner who is designated as "Youth." The youth questions almost everything possible about the cosmos and Thomas offers his answers.
What is very special about this text and the words of Thomas is the celebratory nature of Thomas' answers. What is extremely creative, especially coming from a man trained in the hard physics of gravitational dynamics, is the notion that it is love that holds the universe together. Love is attraction and the moon continues to orbit the earth, yes, due to the laws of gravity, but as envisioned by Swimme, by love, by attraction. This notion expands the meaning of eros in the Cosmos to, well, universal proportions.
This book is a must read for those interested in the Cosmos, the story of Creation, quantum physics, and even, as I have found personally, to clinical psychologists and shamans.
Highest recommendation.
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C. Duvall
3.0 out of 5 stars Uh....what?Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2019
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I had to get [and theoretically read] this book for a class.... I have absolutely no idea how anyone could like it, let alone finish it. No offense to anyone above or below me. But I was less than impressed.
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Gregory Hatton
5.0 out of 5 stars Universal WisdomReviewed in the United States on March 7, 2013
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I only very recently discovered this book, on Christmas Day 2012 to be exact. I was continuing my search for others who sense this awakening to the Sacred Universe that has been radiating through me for years. I feel there is a new spiritual impulse forming and wrote a book about it myself as well. This book presents a good degree of what I have been sensing. I am glad I found it. It was written, I understand, somewhere around 1984.
This book is written as if a student and master were walking along with the master teaching and discussing universal truths with the student. While reading, I seemed to naturally visualize that the two were walking along a sandy shore of some tranquil ocean while the wondrous concepts, given in the book, were painted on the late afternoon sky. Obviously, to me at least, the teacher is Thomas Berry and the student is Brian Swimme, the author of this book. These gentlemen are two luminaries of the teachings of The Great Story, which is what this book is all about.
Swimme does a marvelous job at telling this Great Story to the reader, revealing that we are all really nearly 14 billion years old and are the emergent universe becoming conscious of itself. Using science told in a heartfelt way, Swimme takes us through history, from the big bang to now to try and fathom how it all has evolved. This is a must read for anyone trying to understand this. It is full of profound truths that bring us closer to ultimate reality.
Gregory Hatton - Author of The Master of Evolution [...]
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CMACA
4.0 out of 5 stars New Ideas to PonderReviewed in the United States on January 11, 2013
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I liked this book which has some concepts I had not heard or considered before re: the creation of the Universe and explanations of gravity, etc. I've read a lot of quantum physics but this little book gave me a lot to think about. In fact, for the new ideas it presents, it could have been longer. When you pack a lot into a small space, it can be hard to digest. Still a great little book for those who like to really think outside the box.
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lynaeve
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is wonderful. I love the chapters explaining love and attractionReviewed in the United States on August 4, 2016
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This book is wonderful. I love the chapters explaining love and attraction. I read it all the way through in about two days.
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kitty golden
5.0 out of 5 stars The Universe Might Not Choose to Save and Protect UsReviewed in the United States on August 19, 2014
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Challenges our mind and hearts to be open to the universe in new ways. Introduces science an philosophy as valid ways for the average person to use to understand the worlds in which we live. Makes our petty political discussions seem petty.
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K. Jackson
5.0 out of 5 stars FantasticReviewed in the United States on March 2, 2014
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An absolutely impassioned way of looking at the way the world and the universe works. It really makes you look at things different. You are connected and every inspired or lustful thought, and every point of fascination is proof of that. We all have an important role to play in this world. I appreciated that message more than any other. I tell you what, I'll never look at my janitor or my accountant the same again.
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H. Perotto
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a gem of a book.Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2013
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Still one of my all-time favorite books. it has the feel of a children's book and is very easy to read, but it is very intelligent, inspiring and thought-provoking despite it's simplicity. Still to this day the only book (and I read a lot!) I have read more than once - at least 10 times and also the only one I always keep extra copies around so I can give one away.
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Top international reviews
Pete
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book for new perspectives on life and the universeReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2013
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It's rare these days I read a book and can almost cry because it is so beautiful, but this is one of them. Clearly this book will be of most benefit to those on a journey of spiritual significance and those asking questions about life and what it all means. It presents ideas and concepts in such a way as to make them so easy to appreciate and it really does take your mind outside of the box. To come away from this book with an appreciation we are, in effect, all the products of the universe (and therefore 14 billion years old, since our component parts were created to some degree in the big bang) gives you such a unique slant on life; this is just one of many great ideas covered here. The writing style is informal but deceptively clear. I am not sure what the general population would make of this book (those not asking major questions about the universe) but I cannot rate it highly enough and it's one of only a couple of books I'll read a second time.
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Mrsbrendajpike
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2018
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Very good
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The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story
by
4.26 · Rating details · 358 ratings · 45 reviews
Communicating his ideas in the form of a classical dialogue between a youth and a wise elder, cosmologist Brian Swimme crafts a fascinating exploration into the creativity suffusing the universe. His explication of the fundamental powers of the cosmos is mystical and ecstatic and points directly to the need to activate one’s own creative powers.
Not my usual sort of book this, but the idea that we exist so the universe can look at itself and just go "...blimey, that's quite nice...", as a meaning of life, really appeals to me!
Aug 05, 2011Nick Mather added it
If I could give this more than five stars I would. If Maude from "Harold and Maude" had written a book, I think this might be it. It places the human dead center in the unfolding of creation without falling into anthropocentrism. It is hopeful, charming and exuberant. The book is a dialogue between an older Thomas (named after the late Thomas Berry) and an unnamed youth and finds not only meaning, but love and joy and optimism in the scientific model of the universe. It is an easy read and yet demands re-reading. Highly, highly recommended. (less)
This is a book that brings the universe to life, literally. It puts a human face and heart on the universe. If you think it's just a bunch of space and masses floating around, Swimme will get you thinking otherwise. This is a book that shows that the universe is committed (unlike many men you know) with great tenacity and verve: "If humans committed themselves to their deepest allurements with the same devotion that stars bring to their own activation of power, Earth would enter a new era of well being." Want sexy? Enjoy romance? But down your Nora Roberts, your Danielle Steel and get down with some real romance. Universal! (less)
Sep 27, 2016Tadhg Jonathan rated it really liked it
Excellent. Well-written and challenging. In all probability you WILL look at everything differently after reading this.
Jul 04, 2012Nick rated it really liked it
Interesting inter-weaving of science with psuedo-spiritual/mystical concepts. While such attempts are usually enough to make me quirk the skeptical eye, this work is well-written enough to overcome the bullshit meter. Beautiful passages about the nature of the Big Bang, the mind, and mankind's relationship with the stars and the Universe give genuine cause for reflection. Recommended.
"Only by establishing ourselves within the unfolding cosmos as a whole can we begin to discover the meaning and significance of ordinary things." (31)
"The universe continues to unfold, continues to reveal itself to itself through human awareness." (31)
"In the language of physics, we call it quantum fluctuation. Elementary particles fluctuate in and out of existence. What a strange realization...A proton emerges suddenly--where did it come from? Who made it? How did it sneak into reality all of a sudden...I am not speaking here of the manner in which mass and energy can be transformed into one another. I am speaking of something much more mysterious. I am saying that particles boil into existence out of sheer emptiness. This is simply the way the universe works. We have to get used to it. We didn't construct it; we just find ourselves here." (37)
"What I would like for you to understand is that this plenary emptiness permeates you. You are more fecund emptiness than you are created particles. We can see this by examining one of your atoms. If you take a single atom and make it as large as Yankee stadium, it would consist almost entirely of empty space. The center of the atom, the nucleus, would be smaller than a baseball sitting in center field. The outer parts of the atom would be tiny gnats buzzing about at an altitude higher than any pop fly Babe Ruth ever hit. And between the baseball and the gnats? Nothingness. All empty. You are more emptiness than anything else. Indeed, if all the space were taken out of you, you would be a million times smaller than the smallest grain of sand. But it's nice knowing we are this emptiness, for this emptiness is simultaneously the source of all being. You see?" (38)
"YOUTH: What is our fullest destiny?
THOMAS: To become love in human form.
YOUTH: Love? I thought we were talking about science and religion. And emptiness.
THOMAS: Yes, that's right. The journey out of emptiness is the creation of love." (40)
"Thomas: ...If a rock is dropped, why does it move toward the Earth?
Youth: Because of gravity.
Thomas: And what is gravity?
Youth: A basic force. It pulls things.
Thomas: What is doing the pulling?
Youth: There’s just this pulling, that’s all. It’s just there.
Thomas: That’s right. An attracting activity. This attracting activity is a fundamental mystery.
Youth: But it’s one we understand.
Thomas: We understand details concerning the consequences of this attraction. We do not understand the attracting activity itself. Years after Isaac Newton wrote out his equations of the Universal Law of Gravitation, he was still wondering about ‘Whence is it that the sun and planets gravitate toward one another?’ We can never penetrate into the basic fact of this attraction, nor determine why it operates at all.
Do you see that the universe might just as well have been different? Might have included no attracting activity? But the fact is that our galaxy is attracted by every other galaxy in the universe; and our galaxy attracts every other galaxy. The attracting activity is a stupendous and mysterious fact of existence. Primal. We awake and discover that this alluring activity is the basic reality of the macrocosmic universe."
(44-45)
"Thomas: Tell me something you enjoy doing.
Youth: Listening to music.
Thomas: Yes. Now watch. We can not give any explanation for liking music; we simply enjoy music of certain sorts. The attraction is primal. You have awakened to existence and discovered this attraction. Is it clear now that your attraction, your interest and enjoyment, are ultimate mystery?
Youth: I’m beginning to see.
Thomas: There are so many sounds in the world, and yet a very particular sort of sound interests you most deeply. Why should this be? Why not any of the other infinite number of sounds? Why music above all? Well, that is unanswerable, just as Newton never pretended to be able to say why the Sun attracts the Earth. The strangest thing is that this alluring activity permeates the cosmos on all levels of being. These allurements permeating you and everyone and everything else are fundamentally mysterious. You are interested in certain things, certain people, certain activities: each interest is as fundamental to the universe as is the gravitational attraction our Earth feels for the Sun. We cannot explain why these attractions exist. We can only become aware of them. Am I making myself clear?
Youth: Yes, but it seems that maybe we can explain them. For instance, listening to music is relaxing. Maybe that’s why humans—
Thomas: When you first listened to some music you really liked, did you think, ‘This is the sort of music that will relax me?’
Youth: Well, no.
Thomas: You discovered that you were drawn to the music, true? Such experiences of interest are the roots of love. You are simply attracted to something or someone, to some activity. You don’t find reasons for this attraction until after the fact; then you come up with reasons. The Earth does not think: ‘Well, it’ll be a good thing to be attracted to the Sun. That way, humans can warm their tea in black bags and save on electricity.’ The Earth is simply attracted. The electron is simply attracted. The galaxy is simply attracted, You are simply attracted. This mysterious attraction that we call ‘interest’, or ‘fascination’, is as mysterious, as basic, as the allurement we call gravitation. (45-47)
"The great mystery is that we are interested in anything whatsoever...Why should anyone in the whole world interest us at all? Why don't we experience everyone as utter, unendurable bores? Why isn't the cosmos made that way? Why don't we suffer intolerable boredom with every person, forest, symphony, and seashore in existence? The great surprise is the discovery that something or someone is interesting. Love begins there. Love begins when we discover interest. To be interested is to fall in love. To become fascinated is to step into a wild love affair on any level of life." (47)
"we discover not only that we are interested, but that our interest are entirely our own. We awake to our own unique sets of attractions. So do oxygen atoms. So do protons...Each person discovers a field of allurements, the totality of which bears the unique stamp of that person's personality. Destiny unfolds in the pursuit of individual fascinations and interests." (47)
"By pursuing your allurements, you help bind the universe together. The unity of the world rests on the pursuit of passion. Surprised? Let's experiment: Bring to mind all the allurements filling the universe, of whatever complexity or order: the allurement we call gravitation, that of electromagnetic interactions, chemical attractors, allurements in the biological and human worlds. Here's the question: If we could snap our fingers and make all these allurements--which we can't see or taste or hear anyway--disappear from the universe, what would happen? To begin with, the galaxies would break apart...The Earth would break apart as well...even if the physical world retained its shape, the human world would disintegrate just the same...There would be no attraction for work, no matter what it was. Activity would cease...Galaxies, human families, atoms, ecosystems, all disintegrating immediately as the allurement pervading the universe is shut off. Nothing left. No community of any sort. Just nothing." (48-49)
"the primary result of all allurement...is the evocation of being, the creation of community. All communities of being are created in response to a prior mysterious alluring activity. OK? Allurement evokes being and life. That's what allurement is. Now you can understand what love means: love is a word that points to this alluring activity in the cosmos. This primal dynamism awakens the communities of atoms, galaxies, stars, families, nations, persons, ecosystems, oceans, and stellar systems. Love ignites being." (49)
"Our life and powers come forth through our response to allurement.
YOUTH: No matter what allurement?
THOMAS: That's right.
YOUTH: How about reading Shakespeare? What would that pursuit evoke?
THOMAS: If you read deeply and are drawn into the dramas, you will ignite previously unsuspected capacities for being. You will evoke a spaciousness where the feelings of the human world can live. Plunge into the life of the plays, and one day you will be startled by the discovery of feelings you had not known before: an affection for the human condition, for the frailties of the human will, for the nobility of spirit that wells up in every generation, no matter how difficult the circumstances of suffering and disillusionment...A journey into Shakespeare's works enables you to enter more fully the complex relationships within the human world. You may abide more deeply in these relationships precisely because the ontological space within yourself has been opened up by the power of Shakespeare's language...You will carry within yourself the complexity of the world in a manner unimaginable to your previous self. You will know that you are not disconnected from the life of the world, nor from struggling humanity in all its difficulties throughout the planet. You will learn the first glimmer of the profound manner in which humans bind together the entire social order through a heightened awareness of what it means to be a compassionate human." (51-52)
"We awake to a universe permeated with allurement, and our most primal desire is to become this allurement. We awake to a universe filled with fascination, and our most fundamental urge is to become this fascination." (55)
"You are drawn to the works of Shakespeare, say. Through these works you deepen your sense of community...Because of these newly evoked creative powers of perception, you enter more effectively into intimate relationship with the people of your own time and place. You appreciate the feelings that others might have, and intuit their motivations. Thus you enter into more complex relationships within human groups. All of this from reading and studying Shakespeare. He wrote his plays, and through them you enter more deeply into being." (55)
Why did Shakespeare write? He wrote because the world enchanted him. He wrote to capture the grandeur, pathos, profundity, and beauty that he experienced in life. In order to do so, he had to become one with this beauty. How else can we express feelings but by entering deeply into them? How can we capture the mystery of anguish unless we become one with anguish? Shakespeare lived his life, stunned by ts majesty, and in his writing attempted to seize what he felt, to capture this passion in symbolic form. Lured into the intensity of living, he re-presented this intensity in language. And why? Because beauty stunned him. Because the soul cannot confine such feelings.
Shakespeare put himself into writing because by writing he could fascinate others, just as the world had fascinated him. He could amuse, astonish, delight, and enchant others just as the world has enchanted him. Drawn into life by allurement in a thousand different ways, he himself then became alluring. Stunned by the fascinating permeating the human order of existence, he in turn fascinated. (56)
Youth: This is true for poets most of all, but...
Thomas: No, no, not at all. Consider scientists--Stephen Hawking comes to mind. Here is an astrophysicist fascinated by the primeval fireball, the initial singularity of space-time. He pursued this path further into experiences of order and beauty, of the complexity and simplicity of the universe's earliest moments. So what does he do? He articulates his experience with the languages of English and mathematics. He creates his own magnificent language forms to communicate the beauty he has uncovered, the clarity he has achieved, the insight he has seized. He hopes to capture some of this, luring others into similar moments of seeing, captivating their minds, drawing them more deeply into their own understanding and feeling of the universe. The beauty of his mathematical language is as alluring as Shakespeare's iambic pentameter. Mathematical physicists cannot resist the lure of Hawking's creations; they seize the mind as powerfully as Shakespeare's." (Dr. Brian Swimme The Universe is a Green Dragon 56-57)
"we awake to fascination and we strive to fascinate. We work to enchant others. We work to ignite life, to evoke presence, to enhance the unfolding of being. All of this is the actuality of love. We strive to fascinate so that we can bring forth what might otherwise disappear. But that is exactly what love does: Love is the activity of evoking being, of enhancing life.
YOUTH: Now is this human love you are describing?
THOMAS: No, no, no.You must begin to see this activity as basic to the universe. Consider the star again. In the core of a star helium, carbon, oxygen, silicon, all the elements up to iron are created in blazing heat. If a star is of sufficient size, after billions of years it explodes, creating all the rest of the elements, sending them off into the universe. Our own solar system emerged from an exploded supernova, creating the planets and their many elements. Minerals and life forms are created out of supernova explosions.
Think about it! When you breathe, you breathe the creations of a star. All the life you will live is possible because of the gifts of that star. Your life has been evoked through the work of the heavens, do you see? The star emerges out of its own response to allurement, then evokes the life of others. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the compounds out of which we are composed: all creations of the supernova.
Drawn into existence by allurement, giving birth, then drawing others into existence--this is the fundamental dynamism of the cosmos. In this we can see the meaning of human life and human work. The star's own adventure captures the whole story. It is created out of the creations of the fireball, enters into its own intense creativity, and sends forth its works throughout the galaxy, enabling new orders of existence to emerge. It gives utterly everything to its task--after its stupendous creativity, its life as a star is over in one vast explosion. But--through the bestowal of its gifts--elephants, rivers, eagles, ice jams, root beer floats, zebras, Elizabethan dramas, and the whole living Earth, become possible. Love's dynamism s carved into the principal being of the night sky." (57-58)
"We are the self-reflexion of the universe. We allow the universe to know and feel itself. So the universe is aware of itself through self-reflective mind, which unfurls in the human. We were brought forth so that these experiences of beauty cold enter awareness." (58)
"the star can, through us, reflect back on itself...You are that star, brought into a form of life that enables life to reflect on itself. So, yes: the star does know of its great work, of its surrender to allurement, of its stupendous contribution to life, but only through its further articulation -- you." (59)
"The universe is a single multiform event. There is no such thing as a disconnected thing." (59)
"Our reverence for the holy must expand to include the whole numinous universe. What are the relics today? We are the relics, the Earth and all beings of Earth were there in the core of that exploding supernova. We were there in the distant, terrifying furnace of the primeval fireball. Not as mere witnesses, either, but as central to the event." (60)
"The universe would never bother to create two Shakespeares. That would only reveal limited creativity. The Ultimate Mystery from which all beings emerge prefers Ultimate Extravagance, each glistening with freshness, ontologically unique, never to be repeated. Each being is required. None can be eliminated or ignored, for not one is redundant." (62)
"Are you aware of the ways in which you have the power to evoke being? This question probes your destiny as a creative source, your ultimate value. To answer requires that you move more deeply into the primordial dynamism of the universe, for as you ripen into love's activity you simultaneously enhance the life around you." (62)
"There are so many beings you can emulate: the simplest prokaryotic organisms struggled ceaselessly and with stunning success, altering the nature of the Earth permanently. They roamed through life and hatched those seeds of power we call genes. Who could have created them if they had not? We have no talent for that kind of work. We carry their achievements in our bodies. All the tens of thousands of genes in our bodies that enable such lambent beauty to delight the planet were handed to us by these primitive creatures. Your gratitude includes them. Your life emerges through their creativity.
YOUTH: But they didn't know what they were doing. I don't see how I can be grateful to them for their mindless behavior.
THOMAS: Do you know what you are doing?
YOUTH: More than they.
THOMAS: I would hope so, yes. Unless their labor was in vain. But do you know what you are doing when you find Shakespeare so fascinating? Do you know what's happening, in a cosmic sense? Can you explain to me quite simply why humans find mountains magnificent beyond capture in language, why they risk their lives to be up there on the angular planes of granite?
YOUTH: Well, no. Not in any ultimate sense.
THOMAS: Then you share the same cosmic ignorance with the microorganisms who created the informed sequences of nucleotides we call genes...The simple truth is that we do pursue the fascinating beauty that surrounds us. Can you tell me what will become of your creativity and your destiny? Of course not! Nor could the microorganisms predict the future or speak of the meaning of their labor in any ultimate sense. We are similar in hoping to immerse ourselves in the life-evoking activities that fill the Earth." (63) (less)
"Only by establishing ourselves within the unfolding cosmos as a whole can we begin to discover the meaning and significance of ordinary things." (31)
"The universe continues to unfold, continues to reveal itself to itself through human awareness." (31)
"In the language of physics, we call it quantum fluctuation. Elementary particles fluctuate in and out of existence. What a strange realization...A proton emerges suddenly--where did it come from? Who made it? How did it sneak into reality all of a sudden...I am not speaking here of the manner in which mass and energy can be transformed into one another. I am speaking of something much more mysterious. I am saying that particles boil into existence out of sheer emptiness. This is simply the way the universe works. We have to get used to it. We didn't construct it; we just find ourselves here." (37)
"What I would like for you to understand is that this plenary emptiness permeates you. You are more fecund emptiness than you are created particles. We can see this by examining one of your atoms. If you take a single atom and make it as large as Yankee stadium, it would consist almost entirely of empty space. The center of the atom, the nucleus, would be smaller than a baseball sitting in center field. The outer parts of the atom would be tiny gnats buzzing about at an altitude higher than any pop fly Babe Ruth ever hit. And between the baseball and the gnats? Nothingness. All empty. You are more emptiness than anything else. Indeed, if all the space were taken out of you, you would be a million times smaller than the smallest grain of sand. But it's nice knowing we are this emptiness, for this emptiness is simultaneously the source of all being. You see?" (38)
"YOUTH: What is our fullest destiny?
THOMAS: To become love in human form.
YOUTH: Love? I thought we were talking about science and religion. And emptiness.
THOMAS: Yes, that's right. The journey out of emptiness is the creation of love." (40)
"Thomas: ...If a rock is dropped, why does it move toward the Earth?
Youth: Because of gravity.
Thomas: And what is gravity?
Youth: A basic force. It pulls things.
Thomas: What is doing the pulling?
Youth: There’s just this pulling, that’s all. It’s just there.
Thomas: That’s right. An attracting activity. This attracting activity is a fundamental mystery.
Youth: But it’s one we understand.
Thomas: We understand details concerning the consequences of this attraction. We do not understand the attracting activity itself. Years after Isaac Newton wrote out his equations of the Universal Law of Gravitation, he was still wondering about ‘Whence is it that the sun and planets gravitate toward one another?’ We can never penetrate into the basic fact of this attraction, nor determine why it operates at all.
Do you see that the universe might just as well have been different? Might have included no attracting activity? But the fact is that our galaxy is attracted by every other galaxy in the universe; and our galaxy attracts every other galaxy. The attracting activity is a stupendous and mysterious fact of existence. Primal. We awake and discover that this alluring activity is the basic reality of the macrocosmic universe."
(44-45)
"Thomas: Tell me something you enjoy doing.
Youth: Listening to music.
Thomas: Yes. Now watch. We can not give any explanation for liking music; we simply enjoy music of certain sorts. The attraction is primal. You have awakened to existence and discovered this attraction. Is it clear now that your attraction, your interest and enjoyment, are ultimate mystery?
Youth: I’m beginning to see.
Thomas: There are so many sounds in the world, and yet a very particular sort of sound interests you most deeply. Why should this be? Why not any of the other infinite number of sounds? Why music above all? Well, that is unanswerable, just as Newton never pretended to be able to say why the Sun attracts the Earth. The strangest thing is that this alluring activity permeates the cosmos on all levels of being. These allurements permeating you and everyone and everything else are fundamentally mysterious. You are interested in certain things, certain people, certain activities: each interest is as fundamental to the universe as is the gravitational attraction our Earth feels for the Sun. We cannot explain why these attractions exist. We can only become aware of them. Am I making myself clear?
Youth: Yes, but it seems that maybe we can explain them. For instance, listening to music is relaxing. Maybe that’s why humans—
Thomas: When you first listened to some music you really liked, did you think, ‘This is the sort of music that will relax me?’
Youth: Well, no.
Thomas: You discovered that you were drawn to the music, true? Such experiences of interest are the roots of love. You are simply attracted to something or someone, to some activity. You don’t find reasons for this attraction until after the fact; then you come up with reasons. The Earth does not think: ‘Well, it’ll be a good thing to be attracted to the Sun. That way, humans can warm their tea in black bags and save on electricity.’ The Earth is simply attracted. The electron is simply attracted. The galaxy is simply attracted, You are simply attracted. This mysterious attraction that we call ‘interest’, or ‘fascination’, is as mysterious, as basic, as the allurement we call gravitation. (45-47)
"The great mystery is that we are interested in anything whatsoever...Why should anyone in the whole world interest us at all? Why don't we experience everyone as utter, unendurable bores? Why isn't the cosmos made that way? Why don't we suffer intolerable boredom with every person, forest, symphony, and seashore in existence? The great surprise is the discovery that something or someone is interesting. Love begins there. Love begins when we discover interest. To be interested is to fall in love. To become fascinated is to step into a wild love affair on any level of life." (47)
"we discover not only that we are interested, but that our interest are entirely our own. We awake to our own unique sets of attractions. So do oxygen atoms. So do protons...Each person discovers a field of allurements, the totality of which bears the unique stamp of that person's personality. Destiny unfolds in the pursuit of individual fascinations and interests." (47)
"By pursuing your allurements, you help bind the universe together. The unity of the world rests on the pursuit of passion. Surprised? Let's experiment: Bring to mind all the allurements filling the universe, of whatever complexity or order: the allurement we call gravitation, that of electromagnetic interactions, chemical attractors, allurements in the biological and human worlds. Here's the question: If we could snap our fingers and make all these allurements--which we can't see or taste or hear anyway--disappear from the universe, what would happen? To begin with, the galaxies would break apart...The Earth would break apart as well...even if the physical world retained its shape, the human world would disintegrate just the same...There would be no attraction for work, no matter what it was. Activity would cease...Galaxies, human families, atoms, ecosystems, all disintegrating immediately as the allurement pervading the universe is shut off. Nothing left. No community of any sort. Just nothing." (48-49)
"the primary result of all allurement...is the evocation of being, the creation of community. All communities of being are created in response to a prior mysterious alluring activity. OK? Allurement evokes being and life. That's what allurement is. Now you can understand what love means: love is a word that points to this alluring activity in the cosmos. This primal dynamism awakens the communities of atoms, galaxies, stars, families, nations, persons, ecosystems, oceans, and stellar systems. Love ignites being." (49)
"Our life and powers come forth through our response to allurement.
YOUTH: No matter what allurement?
THOMAS: That's right.
YOUTH: How about reading Shakespeare? What would that pursuit evoke?
THOMAS: If you read deeply and are drawn into the dramas, you will ignite previously unsuspected capacities for being. You will evoke a spaciousness where the feelings of the human world can live. Plunge into the life of the plays, and one day you will be startled by the discovery of feelings you had not known before: an affection for the human condition, for the frailties of the human will, for the nobility of spirit that wells up in every generation, no matter how difficult the circumstances of suffering and disillusionment...A journey into Shakespeare's works enables you to enter more fully the complex relationships within the human world. You may abide more deeply in these relationships precisely because the ontological space within yourself has been opened up by the power of Shakespeare's language...You will carry within yourself the complexity of the world in a manner unimaginable to your previous self. You will know that you are not disconnected from the life of the world, nor from struggling humanity in all its difficulties throughout the planet. You will learn the first glimmer of the profound manner in which humans bind together the entire social order through a heightened awareness of what it means to be a compassionate human." (51-52)
"We awake to a universe permeated with allurement, and our most primal desire is to become this allurement. We awake to a universe filled with fascination, and our most fundamental urge is to become this fascination." (55)
"You are drawn to the works of Shakespeare, say. Through these works you deepen your sense of community...Because of these newly evoked creative powers of perception, you enter more effectively into intimate relationship with the people of your own time and place. You appreciate the feelings that others might have, and intuit their motivations. Thus you enter into more complex relationships within human groups. All of this from reading and studying Shakespeare. He wrote his plays, and through them you enter more deeply into being." (55)
Why did Shakespeare write? He wrote because the world enchanted him. He wrote to capture the grandeur, pathos, profundity, and beauty that he experienced in life. In order to do so, he had to become one with this beauty. How else can we express feelings but by entering deeply into them? How can we capture the mystery of anguish unless we become one with anguish? Shakespeare lived his life, stunned by ts majesty, and in his writing attempted to seize what he felt, to capture this passion in symbolic form. Lured into the intensity of living, he re-presented this intensity in language. And why? Because beauty stunned him. Because the soul cannot confine such feelings.
Shakespeare put himself into writing because by writing he could fascinate others, just as the world had fascinated him. He could amuse, astonish, delight, and enchant others just as the world has enchanted him. Drawn into life by allurement in a thousand different ways, he himself then became alluring. Stunned by the fascinating permeating the human order of existence, he in turn fascinated. (56)
Youth: This is true for poets most of all, but...
Thomas: No, no, not at all. Consider scientists--Stephen Hawking comes to mind. Here is an astrophysicist fascinated by the primeval fireball, the initial singularity of space-time. He pursued this path further into experiences of order and beauty, of the complexity and simplicity of the universe's earliest moments. So what does he do? He articulates his experience with the languages of English and mathematics. He creates his own magnificent language forms to communicate the beauty he has uncovered, the clarity he has achieved, the insight he has seized. He hopes to capture some of this, luring others into similar moments of seeing, captivating their minds, drawing them more deeply into their own understanding and feeling of the universe. The beauty of his mathematical language is as alluring as Shakespeare's iambic pentameter. Mathematical physicists cannot resist the lure of Hawking's creations; they seize the mind as powerfully as Shakespeare's." (Dr. Brian Swimme The Universe is a Green Dragon 56-57)
"we awake to fascination and we strive to fascinate. We work to enchant others. We work to ignite life, to evoke presence, to enhance the unfolding of being. All of this is the actuality of love. We strive to fascinate so that we can bring forth what might otherwise disappear. But that is exactly what love does: Love is the activity of evoking being, of enhancing life.
YOUTH: Now is this human love you are describing?
THOMAS: No, no, no.You must begin to see this activity as basic to the universe. Consider the star again. In the core of a star helium, carbon, oxygen, silicon, all the elements up to iron are created in blazing heat. If a star is of sufficient size, after billions of years it explodes, creating all the rest of the elements, sending them off into the universe. Our own solar system emerged from an exploded supernova, creating the planets and their many elements. Minerals and life forms are created out of supernova explosions.
Think about it! When you breathe, you breathe the creations of a star. All the life you will live is possible because of the gifts of that star. Your life has been evoked through the work of the heavens, do you see? The star emerges out of its own response to allurement, then evokes the life of others. The air we breathe, the food we eat, the compounds out of which we are composed: all creations of the supernova.
Drawn into existence by allurement, giving birth, then drawing others into existence--this is the fundamental dynamism of the cosmos. In this we can see the meaning of human life and human work. The star's own adventure captures the whole story. It is created out of the creations of the fireball, enters into its own intense creativity, and sends forth its works throughout the galaxy, enabling new orders of existence to emerge. It gives utterly everything to its task--after its stupendous creativity, its life as a star is over in one vast explosion. But--through the bestowal of its gifts--elephants, rivers, eagles, ice jams, root beer floats, zebras, Elizabethan dramas, and the whole living Earth, become possible. Love's dynamism s carved into the principal being of the night sky." (57-58)
"We are the self-reflexion of the universe. We allow the universe to know and feel itself. So the universe is aware of itself through self-reflective mind, which unfurls in the human. We were brought forth so that these experiences of beauty cold enter awareness." (58)
"the star can, through us, reflect back on itself...You are that star, brought into a form of life that enables life to reflect on itself. So, yes: the star does know of its great work, of its surrender to allurement, of its stupendous contribution to life, but only through its further articulation -- you." (59)
"The universe is a single multiform event. There is no such thing as a disconnected thing." (59)
"Our reverence for the holy must expand to include the whole numinous universe. What are the relics today? We are the relics, the Earth and all beings of Earth were there in the core of that exploding supernova. We were there in the distant, terrifying furnace of the primeval fireball. Not as mere witnesses, either, but as central to the event." (60)
"The universe would never bother to create two Shakespeares. That would only reveal limited creativity. The Ultimate Mystery from which all beings emerge prefers Ultimate Extravagance, each glistening with freshness, ontologically unique, never to be repeated. Each being is required. None can be eliminated or ignored, for not one is redundant." (62)
"Are you aware of the ways in which you have the power to evoke being? This question probes your destiny as a creative source, your ultimate value. To answer requires that you move more deeply into the primordial dynamism of the universe, for as you ripen into love's activity you simultaneously enhance the life around you." (62)
"There are so many beings you can emulate: the simplest prokaryotic organisms struggled ceaselessly and with stunning success, altering the nature of the Earth permanently. They roamed through life and hatched those seeds of power we call genes. Who could have created them if they had not? We have no talent for that kind of work. We carry their achievements in our bodies. All the tens of thousands of genes in our bodies that enable such lambent beauty to delight the planet were handed to us by these primitive creatures. Your gratitude includes them. Your life emerges through their creativity.
YOUTH: But they didn't know what they were doing. I don't see how I can be grateful to them for their mindless behavior.
THOMAS: Do you know what you are doing?
YOUTH: More than they.
THOMAS: I would hope so, yes. Unless their labor was in vain. But do you know what you are doing when you find Shakespeare so fascinating? Do you know what's happening, in a cosmic sense? Can you explain to me quite simply why humans find mountains magnificent beyond capture in language, why they risk their lives to be up there on the angular planes of granite?
YOUTH: Well, no. Not in any ultimate sense.
THOMAS: Then you share the same cosmic ignorance with the microorganisms who created the informed sequences of nucleotides we call genes...The simple truth is that we do pursue the fascinating beauty that surrounds us. Can you tell me what will become of your creativity and your destiny? Of course not! Nor could the microorganisms predict the future or speak of the meaning of their labor in any ultimate sense. We are similar in hoping to immerse ourselves in the life-evoking activities that fill the Earth." (63) (less)
Feb 22, 2016Paige Ellen Stone rated it it was amazing
The problem with the Goodreads system is that, while I first read this book when it came out, I have re-read it a number of times. This book is a classic of modern spirituality based cosmology. I own a copy of the original, but bought this copy to use as a loaner to friends. This is the 22nd printing of what is now a planned 30 printings. The first printing was in 2001. Why mention all that information on the printing history of this book? Because it makes clear how popular and important this book is to cosmologists.
Brian Swimme is extremely well educated. He earned a doctorate in gravitational dynamics at the University of Oregon. He is currently the Director for the Center of the Story of the Universe, which is an affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he also teaches.
He has been mentored by Thomas Berry and his subsequent books, some co-authored with Berry, focus on the unfolding of this universe since the moment of the Big Bang.
This volume is both an early attempt at telling the "Universe Story", as well as a very inspirational book for those who read it. He posits a consciousness to the development of the universe, indicating to those who feel their life has no meaning or purpose, that of all the possibilities within the bounds of creation, the universe chose to conceive you, the one and only you who will ever exist. How can a person doubt that his/her life has meaning in the face of that point of view?
The book is set up as a dialogue between a wisdom figure, conveniently named "Thomas" and a questioner who is designated as "Youth." The youth questions almost everything possible about the cosmos and Thomas offers his answers. What is very special about this text and the words of Thomas is the celebratory nature of Thomas' answers. What is extremely creative, especially coming from a man trained in the hard physics of gravitational dynamics, is the notion that it is love that holds the universe together. Love is attraction and the moon continues to orbit the earth, yes, due to the laws of gravity, but as envisioned by Swimme, by love, by attraction.
This notion expands the meaning of eros in the Cosmos to, well, universal proportions.
This book is a must read for those interested in the Cosmos, the story of Creation, quantum physics, and even, as I have found personally, to clinical psychologists and shamans.
Highest recommendation. (less)
Brian Swimme is extremely well educated. He earned a doctorate in gravitational dynamics at the University of Oregon. He is currently the Director for the Center of the Story of the Universe, which is an affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he also teaches.
He has been mentored by Thomas Berry and his subsequent books, some co-authored with Berry, focus on the unfolding of this universe since the moment of the Big Bang.
This volume is both an early attempt at telling the "Universe Story", as well as a very inspirational book for those who read it. He posits a consciousness to the development of the universe, indicating to those who feel their life has no meaning or purpose, that of all the possibilities within the bounds of creation, the universe chose to conceive you, the one and only you who will ever exist. How can a person doubt that his/her life has meaning in the face of that point of view?
The book is set up as a dialogue between a wisdom figure, conveniently named "Thomas" and a questioner who is designated as "Youth." The youth questions almost everything possible about the cosmos and Thomas offers his answers. What is very special about this text and the words of Thomas is the celebratory nature of Thomas' answers. What is extremely creative, especially coming from a man trained in the hard physics of gravitational dynamics, is the notion that it is love that holds the universe together. Love is attraction and the moon continues to orbit the earth, yes, due to the laws of gravity, but as envisioned by Swimme, by love, by attraction.
This notion expands the meaning of eros in the Cosmos to, well, universal proportions.
This book is a must read for those interested in the Cosmos, the story of Creation, quantum physics, and even, as I have found personally, to clinical psychologists and shamans.
Highest recommendation. (less)
Apr 09, 2016Erik Akre rated it liked it
Recommends it for: those curious about the Big Things
Shelves: history, spirituality, science
Humans are here as the eyes and heart of the universe, that it might reflect upon itself. Humans are here to experiment, laugh, and play; we are here to mess around and enjoy the process AND to pay attention to creation.
To put it in terms of the moon, for example, we arrive at our destiny when we experience the moon as a moon-human-complex, rather than a human "having the experience of" the moon. When we truly experience the moon, we are at one with the moon. We dissolve into it, and it dissolves into us. Both are changed by the process.
Swimme takes a cosmocentric look at the history of the universe. What is the purpose and the fundamental activity of the universe? Things are attracted to each other! Things organize themselves! Things dissolve! Things remember, and things are sensitive!
Read all about it in this book--an imaginative exploration of the purpose of existence and its metaphysics, based on empirical observation of how the universe behaves. There's something ever-so-slightly missing in the engagement of the writing style, but the ideas still come across, and they engage with energy and innovation. (less)
To put it in terms of the moon, for example, we arrive at our destiny when we experience the moon as a moon-human-complex, rather than a human "having the experience of" the moon. When we truly experience the moon, we are at one with the moon. We dissolve into it, and it dissolves into us. Both are changed by the process.
Swimme takes a cosmocentric look at the history of the universe. What is the purpose and the fundamental activity of the universe? Things are attracted to each other! Things organize themselves! Things dissolve! Things remember, and things are sensitive!
Read all about it in this book--an imaginative exploration of the purpose of existence and its metaphysics, based on empirical observation of how the universe behaves. There's something ever-so-slightly missing in the engagement of the writing style, but the ideas still come across, and they engage with energy and innovation. (less)
Sep 28, 2014Katie R. Herring rated it really liked it
Wow.
Another book I had to read for my litco class, and it was mind blowing.
I started it on Sunday morning, and let me say reading this at 8 in the morning really put the rest of my day in perspective!
This was a very interesting interview style novel, and I can't say I'm not still thinking about it!
His theory of attraction amazed me the most.
Another book I had to read for my litco class, and it was mind blowing.
I started it on Sunday morning, and let me say reading this at 8 in the morning really put the rest of my day in perspective!
This was a very interesting interview style novel, and I can't say I'm not still thinking about it!
His theory of attraction amazed me the most.
This wasn't amazing, but it was very insightful on how we may perceive of our place in nature and the universe; it provides another lens for being. A blend of Sagan's Cosmos and Quinn's Ishmael. However, it would have been better if the 'student' had more to say. Unlike the Socratic method of Ishmael, the student was a yes-man, a tool for the main character to just keep explaining. At times it bordered on ridiculous (Student: no way! Teacher: Yep, let me explain more...). Also, imo, 'Green Dragon' is a terrible title and poor metaphor. Still, the ideas are certainly worth these flaws, and it's a quick read! Highly recommend. (less)
Oct 23, 2010Hedi rated it it was amazing
This might be my all-time favorite book. I've read it so many times and still discover new nuggets of wisdom and insight from it. I've given it away many times as well and usually get great feedback.
It's not a 'story' in the typical sense, but it's a discussion between an older man and a young boy about 'The Story', - the story of all of us, the story of the Universe, the amazing things we now now about this Universe and how we can learn from and be inspired by this story.
I think this book should be required reading in every school.
It's easy to read, easy language but deep meaning. (less)
It's not a 'story' in the typical sense, but it's a discussion between an older man and a young boy about 'The Story', - the story of all of us, the story of the Universe, the amazing things we now now about this Universe and how we can learn from and be inspired by this story.
I think this book should be required reading in every school.
It's easy to read, easy language but deep meaning. (less)
May 17, 2017Daniel Petersen rated it it was ok
2 and a half stars. That's not as bad as it sounds. I really liked aspects of this book and I'll definitely make a go of some of the author's other books. He's a mathematical cosmologist who also bases much of his thought on the Catholic theologian Thomas Berry who in turn based much of his thought on the French paleontologist-geologist-philosopher-priest Teilhard de Chardin. Some of the ideas in this book were persuasive and fascinating. Others left me needing more argument and understanding. ...more
Feb 16, 2015Sharon rated it it was amazing
tried reading this a few years ago... I finally get it. stretched my perspective, without being overwhelming, leaving much to journal and reflect on in the coming days.
May 16, 2013Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: revisioning, cosmology, new-age, mythology, science, evolution, religion, want-to-read-again
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jun 24, 2019Caleigh rated it did not like it
I’m not familiar with classic dialogue, but this book started out and interesting and ended up annoying. Why was “the youth” character always so excited, dumbfounded, and eager to repeat what was just said? This book also neglected to mention many of the other life forms with higher cognitive abilities and over-focused on humans. It also got some stuff with evolution/genetics wrong. I did enjoy hearing some facts about physics that I didn’t remember or know, and I thought that a few of the ideas were worthwhile. In particular I liked the idea of repulsivity and attractivity with atoms, beings, and space. (less)
A musing inspired by Swimme’s lyrical retelling of the story of the earth:
What scientists will not tell you is that the universe too feels lonesome. Why else would she have dreamed up this pitiful creature but to feel in us her own beauty? The quiet of snowfall, the grace of a whale, the repose of an iceberg, without us, these things would have no witnesses to their beauty.
In exiling ourselves from the natural world, we have lost a feeling for true beauty and have forgotten what it is to be the earth’s beloved witness. We fill our lives instead with hollowed, two-dimensional substitutes that reflect only our own image and deaden us to the calls of the nonhuman world. (less)
What scientists will not tell you is that the universe too feels lonesome. Why else would she have dreamed up this pitiful creature but to feel in us her own beauty? The quiet of snowfall, the grace of a whale, the repose of an iceberg, without us, these things would have no witnesses to their beauty.
In exiling ourselves from the natural world, we have lost a feeling for true beauty and have forgotten what it is to be the earth’s beloved witness. We fill our lives instead with hollowed, two-dimensional substitutes that reflect only our own image and deaden us to the calls of the nonhuman world. (less)
May 15, 2017Peter rated it it was amazing
Shelves: aging, coming-of-age, 2017, meaningful, spirituality
Ever since I read Ishmael, I have wondered about our creation stories. They are depicted there as human-centric and the main character, a gorilla, suggests that a porcupine creation story is just as good. The Universe is a Green Dragon offers a cosmic creation story in which all beings and all things are included. It seems to make sense when I say it, but it does break the mold of man on top and the rest subservient to man way of thinking. And yet, it is also a celebration of our existence. Creativity is a celebration of our being. (less)
Mar 22, 2019Andreana rated it liked it
2.5 stars. It didn't really "work for me" because I think it went a little too mystical/anthropomorphic in some places, and in others the way scientific concepts were described was a little too inaccurate. But, I do think it is important for someone to be writing mystical ways of contextualizing the entire universe, because as much as I hate to admit it, math and science don't always "work" for everyone's mind, and certainly they don't work to change everyone's perspectives.
Nov 06, 2019Walt rated it it was amazing
Another excellent book in the Teilhardian Universe Story tradition. Presented as a dialogue between the teacher Thomas and humanity as a Youth, this book explains why it is so crucial to begin looking at ourselves as part of a larger universe and the philosophical and scientific principles revealed through this perspective.
Jun 25, 2017Lily rated it it was amazing
Enlightening! Fascinating! Uplifting and thought-provoking!
Most important - very easy to read and understand.
I finished it in 2 1/2 hours and plan to reread it so more of the physics sinks in.
Wish I'd read it decades ago, when it first came out, but it's more timely than ever today.
Most important - very easy to read and understand.
I finished it in 2 1/2 hours and plan to reread it so more of the physics sinks in.
Wish I'd read it decades ago, when it first came out, but it's more timely than ever today.
Jun 16, 2019Imogen Crest rated it it was amazing
Excellent, thought provoking book on the nature of the universe and the need for deeper thought.
Jun 04, 2019Michael rated it really liked it
This book carried an almost mythical reverence in my reading history for many years since I first read it in 2003. While I did enjoy it this time around, it had definitely lost a bit of its luster this time around. I don’t know if this is because my mindset is different today, or if I’ve just found better books about this particular subject.
In any case, this is a very simple book about a pretty complex subject. It does a great job breaking down its ideas in a easy to digest book. It can be a little grandiose and “out there”, but overall it paints a wonderous picture of the universe and our place in it. (less)
In any case, this is a very simple book about a pretty complex subject. It does a great job breaking down its ideas in a easy to digest book. It can be a little grandiose and “out there”, but overall it paints a wonderous picture of the universe and our place in it. (less)
Jun 20, 2019Louise Hewett rated it it was amazing
I loved this book! Can't recommend it highly enough!
Jul 18, 2008Thomas rated it it was amazing
A fantastic book. Swimme seamlessly weaves the creation story into the cosmic play of the universe. His careful handling of the nature of the self, that which is the most dramatic talking point between the Buddhist and Hindu, is beautifully resolved by demonstrating that when purna or fullness is realized by humans (or let's say anthropomorphized cosmic event) we give the fullness of our identity to the universe, thereby releasing all ownership and ego. This emptiness, see in the light as the process of complete generosity, in my mind, is gorgeous. (less)
Apr 15, 2016Talal rated it it was amazing
A beautiful read, it was like a song or dance of the Universe. The author ties everything together, like a great symphony and tribute to our existence - all thanks to the primordial fire that continues to power us to this day. It was a short, and delightful read. It is one that I will surely read again to remind myself that I - we - are the babies of the Universe. We are the fire that the green dragon has breathed to life, sentience, and much more to come.
May 16, 2016Deanna ✰ ☾ rated it it was amazing
Shelves: light-entertainment, spiritual, scientific, non-fiction
This thoughtful exploration of the meaning of the universe was very well done. Even if I did not agree with all of the opinions of the author, I felt that he did a great job sharing the beliefs he has about humanity in the context of astronomy. The fact that he holds a doctorate in his field of science and also has such a deep spirituality is very special; this book attests to his uniqueness of thought, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
In all honesty, this book was recommended to me by my dad right after i finished reading dragons of eden by Carl Sagan, which takes on an astronomical and creationist view of humanity, something i see alot of value and truth in. This book was just all in all a fun read, but also a completely mind-numbing novel, in a good way, about the origin of us all, and everything we know.
May 24, 2008jacqs rated it really liked it
Brian Swimme has great things to say about the nature of reality, drawing from quantum physics and philosophy (mainly Thomas Berry). The format of the book is a dialogue between the teacher (Thomas) and a Youth. Parts of it I found elementary or unnecessary commentary about the state of society.
Sep 05, 2007Rei rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: all interested in their life's purpose
Shelves: grow-a-brain-books
wow! this is a great find for me! I enjoyed the conversational flow of the ideas presented here. I like the idea of allurement here and how life on the planet and our lives are connected because of it.
Mar 17, 2014Ayla rated it liked it · review of another edition
Very intellectual discussion on the evolution of Earth and the cosmos and how we are connected to it all. I found it all so interesting how we are all part of this cosmic happening. Made me want to re-evaluate my role in this lifetime and make my existence more meaningful.
