Situate yourself in deep time

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is a miracle.
~Albert Einstein

Every culture has its creation story. Ours is the big bang.

And it’s an amazing story, full of poetry and wonder.

Out of nothingness, the Universe dreamed itself into being. Wow.

And then expanded in every direction at the speed of light. Whoa!

For the longest time – over two billion years – there were swirling clouds of hydrogen that slowly coalesced. As they clumped together and became denser, the heat and pressure caused some of these massive clumps to ignite, and the first stars shined.

Our solar system was born from the supernova explosion of one of these first-generation stars, given the name Tiamat by some cosmologists.

As the Earth cooled, it was just rocks and storms, and eventually the most basic life forms emerged.

Single-celled organisms evolved into multi-cellular organisms, and the land was soon populated with plants, and eventually flowers, forests, and animals.

The dinosaurs gave way to the rise of mammals, and humans emerged.

For over 90% of human existence we have been nomadic foragers and hunters. The “agricultural revolution” is only 10 or 11,000 years old.

The industrial revolution is only 300 to 500 years old, depending on where you draw the line.

The information age can be measured in decades at the most.

Your life goes back generation after generation after generation. How far?

The story of the unfolding, emerging Universe is also your story.

Do you have any doubts that you are made of stardust?

Alan Watts was quoted as saying, “The individual is an aperture through which the universe becomes aware of itself.”

Indeed.

Take a moment, close your eyes, and situate yourself in deep time.

Do you see?

You are an emergent member of this unfolding community of manifest existence.

You are the Universe aware of itself.

Strive to consciously participate in that evolution and unfolding.

The orchestra of LIFE delights in you playing your part.

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More resources:

In my research for this post I found what looks like an amazing movie:
http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/

The trailer for it is also here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=665rLZ0_HjU

Here’s a cool video from a series with evolutionary philosopher Brian Swimme: The New Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRykk_0ovI0

Want a more detailed timeline? http://www.thegreatstory.org/timeline.html#galactic

For more, search for “the great story”, “the universe story”, and the work of Brian Swimme.