We cannot understand who we are on our life’s journey without first understanding the universe we live in. Our future pivots on how we answer the question of whether we regard the universe as dead or alive. A growing body of evidence points toward regarding the universe as “alive,” and there is a meaningful distinction between the two views:
- Dead Universe View: The universe is a barren and inhospitable place that is comprised almost entirely of non-living matter and empty space. Life is extremely rare. On Earth, matter has somehow organized itself to high levels of complexity and has produced living entities. However, considered in the context of the larger universe, the human enterprise is a trivial speck. Our existence as humans appears to be pointless and without purpose, and will be forgotten. A dead universe has no memory and tells no stories. When the body dies, the “lights go out,” and we disperse, leaving no trace or remnant, either physical or non-physical. What matters most is matter—material possessions, material power, material pleasure, and material prestige.
- Living Universe View: In counterpoint to the dead universe perspective, this paradigm portrays the universe as buzzing with invisible energy and aliveness, patiently growing a garden of cosmic scale. It also suggests that we humans, as conscious life forms in this immensity, are very precious. We serve an important purpose for a universe growing conscious forms of life: Through us, the universe sees, knows, feels, and learns. We are learning how to live ever more consciously in a living universe. What matters most is not matter but what is invisible—the aliveness within ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us. In a single sentence, a “living universe” is a unified and completely interdependent system that is continuously regenerated by the flow-through of phenomenal amounts of life-energy whose essential nature includes consciousness or a self-reflective capacity that enables systems at every scale of existence to exercise some freedom of choice.
DEAD UNIVERSE: The universe is non-living at the foundations. The universe is a collection of mostly dead matter and empty space that is not fundamentally alive. At the foundations, the universe is a cold, barren, unfeeling, and spiritless place.
LIVING UNIVERSE: The universe is alive at the foundations. The universe is a unique kind of living entity that is sustained by the flowthrough of phenomenal amounts of Life-energy. The cosmos is a single living creature that encompasses all living creatures within it and is filled with feeling and soulful learning at every level.
DEAD UNIVERSE: The cosmos has no apparent purpose so any meaning must come from what we construct for ourselves as social beings. When we die, “the lights go out.” The soul is a superstition.
LIVING UNIVERSE: The cosmos is a purposeful learning system. When we die, the clear light remains but we may not recognize our subtle body if we have not made friends with the invisible qualities of our soul while we are alive.
DEAD UNIVERSE: Consciousness is a product of biochemistry and is located in the brain. Consciousness is absent from the universe except in higher animals.
LIVING UNIVERSE: Consciousness is a living field of life-energy that permeates the cosmos and provides a reflective capacity for material forms at every scale throughout the universe.
DEAD UNIVERSE:Because we live in a physical universe, the only potentials that we can cultivate are materially based (physical, emotional, and mental).
LIVING UNIVERSE: Because we live in a living universe, our highest potential is to become Homo sapiens sapiens or beings who can recognize themselves as a body of light, love, music, and knowing.
DEAD UNIVERSE: Creation ended with the big bang nearly 14 billion years ago. Since then, all that has happened is the progressive evolution of ancient matter into more complex forms.
LIVING UNIVERSE: Creation is ongoing, a continuing process. The entirety of the cosmos is sustained, moment by moment, with the flow through of stupendous levels of Life-energy.
DEAD UNIVERSE: We are bodily beings who are seeking spiritual experiences. We may think about a spiritual realm but we are basically physical entities and the two are separate. Creation ended with the big bang nearly 14 billion years ago. Since then, all that has happened is the progressive evolution of ancient matter into more complex forms.
LIVING UNIVERSE: We are spiritual beings having a bodily experience. Our bodies are biodegradable vehicles for acquiring soul-growing experiences. Every experience plants its feeling-knowingresonance in our soul. Creation is ongoing, a continuing process. The entirety of the cosmos is sustained, moment by moment, with the flow through of stupendous levels of Life-energy.
DEAD UNIVERSE: Life mysteriously emerges from non-living matter as the forms become more complex. From the lesser the greater emerges. From non-life, emerges life.
LIVING UNIVERSE: Life is the foundation of all existence. The Life force that sustains the entire universe is fundamental and the aliveness manifest by beings such as ourselves is emergent. From the greater, the lesser emerges. From the greatness of the Mother Universe, we humble beings emerge.
DEAD UNIVERSE: The purpose in life is to achieve material security and success in a materially defined world.
LIVING UNIVERSE: The purpose in life is to learn how to live in eternity. It means developing our potentials for double wisdom as homo sapiens sapiens and to make friends with ourselves so when we die we recognize our subtle Self.
DEAD UNIVERSE: A dead universe tells no stories so we can each make up our own stories and they will have equal validity because none of them will ultimately matter.
LIVING UNIVERSE: A living universe is itself a story of immense meaning and richness as, within it, are the stories of a vast array and variety of life forms in their journey of awakening.
DEAD UNIVERSE: There are small islands of life in a vast field of non-living space and dead matter.
LIVING UNIVERSE: Islands of life are simply those places where the field of consciousness has become intensified and has gotten a hold of itself.
DEAD UNIVERSE: Materialism makes sense in a dead universe. We can protect ourselves from the surrounding deadness with material pleasures and demonstrate our significance with material projects and accumulations.
LIVING UNIVERSE: Simplicity makes sense in a living universe. We are motivated to minimize the clutter, complexity, and stress of the material side of life and to engage more fully the juice and joy of aliveness itself.
DEAD UNIVERSE: Because the world around us is dead or unconscious, it is proper to exploit that which is dead or unconscious on behalf of the most intensely living, which is ourselves.
LIVING UNIVERSE: Because all is alive and interconnected, whatever I do to the world I ultimately do to myself.
DEAD UNIVERSE: A dead universe is indifferent to human concerns.
LIVING UNIVERSE: The universe is a garden for growing living systems. The cosmos is compassionately non-interfering in the unfolding of her offspring.
