A mini-meditation on the awakening universe
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“We are the Universe becoming conscious of itself” I heard this morning on Michael and Connie’s DVD “Celebrating Evolution.”
Here’s a quick meditation for the next time you’re at a park, or any time when you have a scene in front of you which has all of the following: rocks or soil, plants or trees, animals and people. This has been adapted from an anonymous quotation:
The Universe sleeps in the stones,
Dreams in the plants,
Stirs in the animals,
And awakens in humanity.
(end of quote)
One thing it makes me realize is how short an amount of time the Universe has been awake through humanity. In Celebrating Evolution they mention that the first fully human species Homo Habilis evolved starting 2.5 million years ago. Out of 14 billion years, the Universe has barely woken up! May there be eons of awakened, self-conscious life left to live.
I was curious about when plants and animals first evolved and looked on http://www.thegreatstory.org/timeline.html but soon got confused. Maybe somebody can help out with that? Thanks in advance.
References:
—The original quotation, listed as by an anonymous author, was “God sleeps in the stones” etc and I replaced the word “God” with “The Universe” which is more fitting here. I found it while reading Morgan Llywelyn (Irish historical fiction) but it was a while ago so I don’t remember which title.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Llywelyn
— A Guide for the Perplexed (1977) by E.F. Schumacher discusses the four “Levels of Being” which match up with this meditation as follows.
If level m = mineral or matter, x = life, y = consciousness, and z = self-awareness, then
Plant = m + x
Animal = m + x + y
Man = m + x + y + z
Or more simply put, plants are life, animals are consciousness, and man is self-awareness.
A few excerpts from the book:
“…as you go up the scale, each is more rare and precious…
…the four levels are ontologically different- incomparable, incommensurable, discontinuous. Only "m” is accessible to objective scientific observation by means of our five senses.
…no transitional forms- life is either present or absent; … the same goes for consciousness and self-awareness.
… the great majority of mankind throughout its known history, until very recently, has been unshakenly convinced that the Chain of Being extends upward beyond man. This universal conviction of mankind has been impressive for both its duration and its intensity.
…If the great Cosmos is seen as nothing but a chaos of particles without meaning or purpose, so man must be seen as nothing but a chaos of particles with purpose or meaning – a sensitive chaos perhaps, capable of suffering pain, anguish, and despair, but a chaos all the same…. This is the picture presented by modern materialistic Scientism, and the only question is: Does it make sense of what we can actually experience? This is a question everybody has to decide for himself. Those who stand in awe and admiration, in wonder and perplexity, contemplating the four great Levels of Being, will not be easily persuaded that there is only more or less – i.e., horizontal extension. They will find it impossible to close their minds to higher or lower – this is to say, vertical scales…"
(end of excerpt)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Guide_for_the_Perplexed
3 Responses
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Carl, I did some math and collapsed 13.7 billion years into one year. It comes to about 26,000 years to the minute. So if the Big Bang occurred at the stroke of midnight on January 1, earth was formed by the last day of August and life appeared three weeks into September. H. sapiens didn’t enter the picture until New Year’s Eve, December 31, in the very last hour. Art, religion, etc.—the stuff of “mind,” of “spirit”—didn’t show up until a minute or two before midnight. Amazing! The “universe becoming conscious of itself,” the “awakening in humanity” JUST happened. One minute ago! After a tremendously long wait.
Amen to your redone poem: this is the most stunning thing a universe could do! And we are here to see it, to be it.
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Luke wrote: “There’s also a more detailed timeline on wikipedia.”
Luke, thanks for the link. I’m out of my league here but some guesses based on the diagram within the wikipedia link are: the first plants could be 3 billion years ago with photosynthesis, and the first animals 600 mya with simple animals, or 1bya with multi-cellular life.
John wrote: “The “universe becoming conscious of itself,” the “awakening in humanity” JUST happened. One minute ago! After a tremendously long wait.”
John, thanks for the math. The time scale, even when collapsed down, is still tough to wrap my mind around. But I like the simplicity of one year / one minute.
If the first plants were 3 bya, that’s 80 days ago. If the first animals were 1 bya, that’s 27 days ago. If 600 mya, then 16 days ago.
Carl,
Thanks for the mediation link, I will be reciting while working in my garden.
I was curious about when plants and animals first evolved and looked on http://www.thegreatstory.org/timeline.html but soon got confused. Maybe somebody can help out with that?Maybe somebody can help out with that? Thanks in advance.
The best source I have is Richard Dawkins “The Ancestors Tale” which goes backward from ourselves all the way to plants and bacteria. There’s also a more detailed timeline on wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolution