Cosmologist Brian Swimme on the Order of the Sacred Earth

As part of our book on the OSE, we posed this question to a number of persons we respected: “What might a new, inclusive, spiritual Order contribute to our world?”  Following is part of cosmologist Brian Swimme’s response to the question.

The archetypal story concerning this dimension of the universe begins with the hydrogen atom. In the previous era of humanity—by which I mean the modern industrial era, which is presently in its death stage—scientists were convinced they understood the hydrogen atom in all its details, and thought of it as indestructible and inert. Then they discovered something that took them by surprise. They learned that in the center of stars, hydrogen atoms are transformed into carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the elements that make up our bodies and the bodies of every living being.

Here’s the feature of this discovery that relates to OSE and that I ask that you think about. An individual hydrogen atom can NOT transform itself into carbon, nitrogen, or phosphorous. An individual hydrogen atom will persist as it is without change for billions of years. At the most, it might disintegrate into an electron and a proton. It will never create anything new by itself.  But the amazing fact is that if a hydrogen atom finds itself in the intense and interacting community called a star, it discovers that it has the power to participate in crucial ways in its transformation into the elements that give birth to life. In the community called a star, an individual atom becomes the gateway into the next era of the universe’s story.

This process whereby the universe constructs communities that ignite the creativity of its members has been at work for 14 billion years and at every level of complexity. It now operates in the human world. It will, I predict, be operating with a new intensity within the Order of the Sacred Earth.

Creative and sensitive humans alive today yearn to make a difference in the world. They can feel the creativity that surges within them. They know they have an important gift to bequeath. What they need is a way of activating these creative powers. That is what OSE is.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, Jennifer Listug, Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action, pp. 116f.

To read a transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.

Banner Image: Children playing outside. Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash.

Queries for Contemplation

How do you respond to Swimme’s teaching of the role of community in how the universe works and creates?  What does it tell us about human possibilities?

Recommended Reading

Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action
By Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jen Listug

In the midst of global fire, earthquake and flood – as species are going extinct every day and national and global economies totter – the planet doesn’t need another church or religion. What it needs is a new Order, grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, including science and indigenous. An Order of the Sacred Earth united in one sacred vow: “I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.”
Co-authored by Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, and Jennifer Berit Listug, with a forward by David Korten, this collection of essays by 21 spiritual visionaries including Brian Swimme, Mirabai Starr, Theodore Richards, and Kristal Parks marks the founding of the diverse and inclusive Order of the Sacred Earth, a community now evolving around the world.
“The Order of the Sacred Earth not only calls us home to our true nature as Earth, but also offers us invaluable guidance and company on the way.”  ~~ Joanna Macy, environmental activist and author of Active Hope.