This was originally written in 1997 and published on my first website. I retrieved it from the archived site on the Internet Archive. The original wording, spelling, and punctuation are preserved. The only changes are the merging of the original linked pages into one article and the addition of heading structure for navigation.
Ecopsychology, Ecospirituality, Deep Ecology, and Health is a shorter companion piece from the same year.
A BRIEF NOTE
It’s interesting to look at these articles now. I remember my enthusiasm at the time, my wish to continue writing about these things, and maybe eventually teach at a college or university. That did not happen, partly because of going against my clear inner guidance that same year (going to Wisconsin and abandoning just about everything important in my life) and partly because of my health.
I also see an interesting dynamic. After the oneness shift, my mental aspect tried to make sense of it. It sought out worldviews that matched the immediate noticing of oneness and all as a seamless whole. That’s mainly what these articles are about – making sense of oneness. Re-educating the mental field so it is on board with what’s noticed in immediacy.
These days, that’s less of an interest. Maybe those years did the trick, at least enough for now.
Welcome
Welcome to this outline of a holistic worldview.
Feel free to read this collection of thoughts and text fragments in a non-linear fashion. Each fragment should to some degree reflect the whole of the worldview they are born from, and at the same time flesh out and give substance to a part of this whole.
Note that this is only one of an endless number of possible and equally valid and useful worldviews – each fitting nicely in with one or more of the multitude of possible world experiences. It does not reflect any “absolute truth”.
Feel free to let it inspire and challenge to own reflection.
Introduction
This Text
This “Outline of a Holistic Worldview” is a collection of texts meant to be for inspiration and challenge. We all need challenges to our habitual ways of experiencing our world – to stay flexible, open to new experiences, and open to new and more appropiate ways of organizing our experiences. This is one contribution in that direction.
These texts are by no means representative for all ecospiritual views, and barely so for a minority of them. If there is anything here that seems to be of value, it can be attributed to the wisdom of the universe being expressed through people I have shamelessly stolen from. It can also be attributed to direct experiences of the Universe – as it has arisen within and without of myself. All that is obscure, loopsided, muddled and not grounded, can be attributed to my own obscurations.
As diversity appears to be of immense value both in ecological and social systems, I do sincerely not wish these views to be adopted by all or even a majority. What I do hope is that it will inspire each one that take time to read some of this to reflection, to modification and formation of own views. Even, or maybe especially, if they are very different from those expressed here.
A Note
Please note that some texts are written from a traditional human perspective, and some from the so far more unusual perspective of the larger whole. Some are written in two versions, giving examples of both perspectives.
This will hopefully give a feel for the difference between the two, and a sense of the value of them both.
The content is often the same, but the perspective, and thus the experience of its meaning, differ.
This Perspective
The perspective outlined above is only one of an endless variety of possible world views, models or maps of existence.
As any other map, it is wrong.
It is based on an incomplete experience of the world, and in addition is an incomplete reflection of this experience. The world is always more and different from our experiences and maps of it.
At best, this perspective can be a guide for how to perceive and act in the world. It can be an aid of preliminary value until new experiences and new situations demands a different map, more appropriate for the new situation.
Worldviews
World Experience and World Views
Our experience of the world is always incomplete and preliminary. Or, in other words, the world is always infinitely more and different from our experience of it.
We create maps of the outer and inner worlds that reflects our experience of it. We do this to better function in the world, to have something to organize our behavior and experiences by. These maps exists often implicit in form of worldviews and more explicit in myths, models and theories. Maps are always incomplete descriptions of the terrain they reflect. They emphasize some features, de-emphasis others, and leave some out altogether. They are also based on an incomplete experience of the world.
These maps, or worldviews or models, are only to use for us in a limited set of inner and outer circumstances. When these circumstances change, our maps will have to change too. Humanity is today in a different situation, both inner and outer, from earlier times. Traditional maps are not as functional today as they once were. We need a new understanding of the world and our place in it, an understanding that makes us more able to deal with the unique challenges we face today.
Models
To any set of data, there is an infinitely large number of models that will fit the data equally well. Which one we chose is dependent upon our cultural background and personal preference.
Consistency
As the outer and inner situation is in constant flux, our models and guidelines will have to change too. Something that was good and beneficial in one situation may be destructive and harmful in another, and something harmful in one situation may be just what is needed in another.
As Gandhi once said : “Only fools are consistent with themselves”. This does not mean that we cannot have a commitment to a direction, for instance to awareness, compassion, and to live a life as beneficial to ourselves and the larger whole as possible.
Choosing Models to Operate From
Although it seems that we often do not have much choice in worldviews, they rather seem to choose us (!), there are some guidelines to go by in selecting models to operate from.
The primary guideline may be: How will this model affect my experiences and behavior in daily life? Will it close me off from experience deep gratitude, compassion and humility? Will it lead to an existence experienced as disconnected from the larger whole?
Or – will it open up for experiencing the wonders of cosmos and of life, will it open up for genuine compassion and humility, will it inspire to unfold my unique talents and skills to the benefit to myself and others? In short, will it encourage living a life to the benefit of myself and the larger whole?
The Universe
The Universe in an Earthworm
All phenomena reflect and are interdependent with the Universe as a whole.
Lets take an earthworm as an example. In the earthworm is embedded the history of the whole Universe. It is a direct descendant from the Big Bang, dependent for its existence on the amazing reorganizations from energy to simple particles, from simple to complex particles and from non-life to life. Its ancestors are primordial stars, supernovas and clouds of stardust reshaping into new solar systems.
In an earthworm is also embedded the history of the Earth. Its ancestors are the first one-celled organisms, the first amazing collections of single celled organism that functioned as one whole, the first organisms that came ashore, and every being in the chain from the first cells up to its own existence.
In the earthworm is also embedded the extent of the Universe. The events mentioned above were all dependent on and embedded in the processes and structures of the Universe as a whole. The Earth would not have emerged or evolved, nor would it exist the way it does today, were it not embedded in the structures and processes of this evolving Universe.
It is dependent upon the space, the formation of galaxies, the evolution of stars and the gravitational pull that allow matter to gather into galaxies, stars, solar systems and planets.
Similarly, the extent of the Earth – the Earth as a whole – is reflected in the humble earthworm. The history of the co-evolution of the Earth as a whole and all its subsystems is embedded in this earthworm, – all its myriads of ancestors were dependent upon and reflect the state of the Earth as a whole at the time of their existence.
At this moment, the existence of the earthworm is dependent upon the ecosystem it is living in, on the conditions of the Earth as a whole, and on the processes and structures of the whole Universe.
In the earthworm we see the Big Bang, the emergence of matter from energy, the first stars, supernovas, the emergence of the living Earth, the history of the Earth as a whole as reflected in each of its ancestors and the processes and structures of the Earth and the Universe at this moment.
In every phenomenon is embedded the history and extent of the Universe.
Death and rebirth
The Universe and every phenomena continiously dies as what it was and is reborn as something different.
There is nothing to hold on to.
The whole Universe is fresh at every moment.
Causality
The Universe is one dynamic whole.
The perception of causality is a product of a fragmented experience of the world.
Changes are movements in the larger whole. What appears as causality are seperate expressions of these movements of the larger whole.
Synchronicity
The Universe is one moving and changing whole.
Movements in this whole affects every aspect of the whole, every phenomena.
This accounts for what we call synchronicities, “meaningful a-causal coincidences”.
They are beyond causal and non-causal as they are all expressions of movements in the larger whole. They are beyond being coincidences or not coincidences, as they are all brought forth from the same larger processes.
Holons
Every phenomena is a whole in itself as well as embedded in a larger whole.
Every phenomena is a system encompassing subsystems, affecting the processes of these smaller systems.
The Universe contains galaxies and solar system. The Earth contains ecosystems and social systems. A human being contains psychological and biological systems. An organ contains cells. Cells contains molecules. Molecules contains atoms. Atoms are energy fields.
Every phenomena is a subsystem in a larger system, taking part in the processes of this larger system.
A cell is part of an organ. An organ part of an organism. A human being a part of social and ecological systems. Social and ecological systems part of the Earth. The Earth part of the Universe.
Each phenomena has identity and is seperate from other phenomena through being a whole. Each phenomena is also embedded in and is one with larger wholes.
Embodied experience
Every aspect of this Universe is embodied experience.
Every molecule is a manifestation of the evolution and history of this Universe, reflecting how the Universe settled down into certain forms and relations, then refined and recombined these into new manifestations – from electrons, protons, atoms, to simple and then more complex molecules.
The Earth itself is a manifestation of its history. In its shapes and processes are written its evolution.
In every being, the history of its ancestors are embedded and embodied. In your own cells, organs, limbs, is the history of humanity.
Tuning into this opens up for an immense appreciation of every form manifested today, each embodying the history of the Universe. Each embodying the future of the Universe.
Tools of the Universe
The Universe is seeminlgy engaged in a self-exploratory process, continiously expressing itself in a multitude of new ways. Galaxies, nebulae, solar systems, black wholes, living planets, flowers, clouds, houses, planes, books, all these are expressions of the universe and a part of this exploration process.
The Universe has also developed self-awareness through some of its aspects, bringing parts of itself and its processes into awareness. One of these aspects is the Earth, which can be seen as a tool, or an organ, for the universe in this process.
Through aspects of the Earth it the Universe can experience parts of itself, the most recent innovation being development of new sensory organs through human science and technology, seeing deeper into matter and further into space.
Bias of Perseption
The Universe develops awareness through aspects of itself. These are similar to sensory organs, and could be called “awareness organs”.
These awareness organs, of which humans are one, will all have unique capabilities and limitations, and all experience existence in different ways.
Lets take a look at the sources of the bias that each type of awareness organs may have.
First, we see that the common characterisitcs of this Universe seems to pose some opportunities and some limitations in regards to experience. There are certain “habits” that this universe has aquired through its evolution, certain ways it operates and certain ways it does not operate (as far as we can tell). These shape how the Universe (or God as a larger whole) will experience itself through these organs.
Then there is the past evolution of the Universe that has led up to the formation of each organ. The Earth, as one awareness organ, is limited by its past history in how it will experience the Universe. The size of the Earth, its gravity, its distance to the Sun, its carbon-based sub-organs, all this shapes the experience of the Earth.
Looking at the sub-organs of the Earth, we see that the evolution of each sub-organ again shapes its experience of existence. Some of the factors that influences how the Earth experiences through its sub-organs are the sub-organ’s shape, orientation, size, movement abilities, environmental limitations, neourological characteristics, sensory organ characteristics and survival neccesities.
A fish, dependent on water as its environment, will experience the world differently from a bird soaring in the sky. A salmon, dependent on water in rivers and oceans for its life, will experience the world differently from a seal, moving freely between water and ground.
A mouse, being small and low to the ground, will experience the world differently from a giraffe, lowering its head only with difficulty.
A cheeta, running fast, will experience the world differently than a coala bear, moving slowly and laborously.
A goldfish, able to see both infrared and ultraviolet, will see phenomena hidden from a whale, perceiving a shorter range of photon wavelengths. A bat, hearing high frequency sounds and with limited vision, will experience the world different from a goose depending more on vision than sound. A mole, dependent on touch to navigate, experiences the world differently from a falcon with its sharp vision.
A hawk, continiously on outlook for a prey, has a different experience from a hare, on constant watch to preserve its own life. A whale, not having many predators, have a different experience than a antelope on the African savannah, with predators all around.
Through its multitude of awareness organs, the Earth is able to experience more of itself, to explore itself in the depths of its oceans, under ground, in caves and burrows, from the sky, covering the whole planet.
An additional factor is the background or unique experience of each type of organ. For humans, the cultural background affects the way life is experienced. A fragmented cultural worldview can lead to individual and cultural behavior where the well-being of the larger whole is not considered. A more organic and holistic worldview leads to a sense of belonging, of meaning and of natural concern for the well-being of the larger social and ecological whole.
Also individual experiences color the way the world is experienced. Most dramatically, a spontaneous trans-dual experience of the world can turn around a person’s worldview and way of life. These kind of experiences can appear “out of the blue” or can be opened up for through a dedicated spiritual practice, under guidance of an experienced teacher.
It is very possible that the Universe, as the Earth, has a multitude of awareness organs, spread throughout the Universe. Each with a unique bias and way of experiencing the Universe, giving the Universe a fuller and more rich total experience of itself.
Stepping back another step, it is possible that the larger whole that the Universe is part of may have several expressions – multiple universes – each with a multitude of ways to experience itself.
The Earth
The Living Earth
The Earth can be seen as a living, evolving organsim.
It is one single system, with the main characteristics of living organisms: Self-organization (self-regulation), self-transcendence (evolution or development) and self-healing (self-repairing). Just as a human is composed of many different types of organs and tissues, bones, cells, liver, hearth, brain, so is the Earth composed of many different systems that are embedded in the larger whole, in the processes of a larger system.
Humand and human culture and mind are part of and are born from this whole, being expressions of the Earth and of the evolutional phase it is in now. The Earth has developed selfawareness awareness through animals and humans. Through humans it can examine itself, and reflect upon itself and its processes.
The Replicating Earth
One of the hallmarks of life is replication, and it is very possible that the Earth itself can reproduce through humans (or later expressions of itself).
The Earth is contemplating reproduction through humans. This is a process so far named Terraforming. The first “child”, or clone, of the Earth, may be Mars, a planet of roughly the same size and distance to the Sun.
Humans may thus not only be one of Earth’s sensory and awareness organs, but also its (current) reproductive organ.
Humans – The Expression of the Earth
(Earth Perspective)
The Earth evolves in a creative exploration process, expressing itself in a multitude of forms and shapes.
It is a self-organizing and self-trancending whole, continiually creating new expressions of itself. The Earth has more recently evolved the first beginnings of an awareness of itself, experienceing itself in bits and parts at first, then in a more expanded and richer way. Every living being embedded in this planet is a sensory organ for the Earth, through which it experiences parts of itself.
The Earth has only in the last few moments evolved new ways of experiencing and exploring itself, through the science and technology of one aspect of itself, the humans. Humans, as every living being of this planet, is a tool for the Earth to explore and more fully experience itself.
Health
The health and well-being of a whole and of its parts are interdependent.
The health and well being of an organism is dependent on the health and well being of its organs, as the health and well being of the organs is dependent on the health and well being of the whole organism.
The health and well being of an individual is dependent on the health and well being of the larger social and ecological system.
The health and well being of the Earth is dependent on the health and well being of its subsystems. The health and well being of each of the Earth’s subsystems are dependent on the health and well being of the Earth as a whole.
Resources
Cells in an organism lets water and nutrients flow through them, absorbing what is needed at the moment and letting the rest pass by to other parts of the organism.
If a cell, through a moment of delusion, would think that it could “own” these resources and parts of its environement, and utilize these for its own good, the whole organism would soon shrivel and die.
This is the situation with the Earth today. One of its parts, humans, has developed the idea that it can “own” other parts of this living system. Individual humans try to collect as much resources as possible, with little thought os what is needed for other parts of this larger living system.
This idea is a product of a fragmented and alienated perception of the world, not seeing how every phenomena is embedded in a larger whole and dependent on the health of the whole and each aspect of the whole.
Depleting the natural systems of resources injures the health of the Earth as a whole, thus endangering the health and continued life of every living system including humans. Ignoring the suffering of large segments of the global society, ignoring the health of society as a whole, endangers the health the the human global society as a whole, as well as that of every human individual.
Seeign how we are all parts of one system, dependent on the health of the larger whole for our own health, we can use the resources neccesary for own survival and pass the rest on to where it is needed, just as cells in an organism.
Humans
Embodied experience – Humans
The human mind and organism is the embodiment of the history of the Universe, of the Earth and of the human species. It is the product of billions of years of evolution and experience.
What parts of the processes of the Universe, the Earth and of humans that are brought into awareness by humans, are infinetely few compared to the richness of all phenomena.
We need humility on the same scale to deeply listen and learn from what is there – not being blinded by our incomplete ideas of what is there. Not being blinded by delusions of the completeness of what is brought into awareness – insignificant compared to what is not brought into awareness.
Every phenomena is our teacher. Our mind, the human organism, the ecosystems, the Earth as a whole, the stars and the galaxies – all these are our real teachers.
To learn – we need to deeply and in humility open up for what is already there.
A Provincial Outlook
The Earth, in its beginning self-awareness, tends to experience itself in fragments and in regions.
Each expression of this awareness tends to experience itself as the center of the Universe (which it is, but so is everything else – and nothing), and place a major significance on what it sees as assosicated with itself. This is to a large extent neccesary for the survival of these expressions of awareness. The awareness energy is so low and fragile that it has to be consentrated around itself and its own survival.
For humans, this phenomnea is reflected in a large variety of experiences and worldviews. Common to most of them is a division of the world into what is seen as associated with oneself, and what is not.
– “Us” and “them”, “Greeks” and “Barbarians”, “Humans” and “animals”, “belivers” and “heretics”, “life” and “non-life”.
Often, one pole is associated with desireable qualities, the other not. We are good, they are evil, – we know, they do not, – humans are worth treating with respect, animals not.
It can take the shape ethnocentrism, seeing ones own culture as more highly evolved than others. Of anthropocentrism, seeing humans as more “important” than non-human forms of life. Maybe the next step is Gaia -centrism, placing an undue importance of this planet in the evolution of the Universe.
In any shape, it creates, and is born from, a perception of boundaries between phenomena that are all expressions of one whole. It is born from neccesity, from a low awareness energy that needs to center around itself. An awaress that, on a collective level, seems to slowly expand outwards, slowly including more in what is seen as “us” or what it associates with itself.
In the end, nothing is outside and nothing is inside. Every phenomnea is born from and expressions of the same whole. Of the Universe, of God, of the Mind, of that which is beyond all polarities.
Of that which includes and is beyond polarities of existence and non-existence, being and non-being, life and non-life, mind and matter, realization and ignorance, good and evil, right and wrong.
The Youth of Humanity
The Earth is still a young planet, and humanity is a young organ for the Earth. Only occationally are there more mature expressions of the mind, with a transdual experience of the world.
Today there is a situation nudging humanity on a collective level into a deeper realization of the interconnectedness and interdependence of every aspect of this planet.
This opportunity will either be used and the Earth can continue its evolution without too much of a “backward” step, – or passed.
If not used, the Earth may have to reorganize dramatically, shedding some of its systems (including humanity) and continue in a slightly different direction. This will probably be a minor setback for the Earth, having a life span of billions of years.
Humanity Today
One pole being expressed invites the other pole of the polarity to a more full expression.
Through a dualistic experience of the world, and the technology created out from it and the application of this technology, we have created a situation where we are invited, or rather forced, into seeing the interconnectednss of all life. We have no choice but to learn how to live a life more to the benefit of the larger whole if we want to ensure our own survival.
And through science and technology, we have an opportunity to experience the wholeness and interconnectedness of all life and phenomena in a different way than before, with a deeper understanding of the complexity of it all.
Human Culture
As an expression of the creative evolution of the Universe and the Earth, humans has evolved culture and all that is part of human culture, including dance, poetry, science, music and storytelling.
All these are expressions of the creativity of the Universe, just as everything we see peering into the depths of the Universe and everything else that is part of this planet.
Through dance, the Universe is exploring itself through movement. Through poetry, the Universe attempts to describe itself in a way that goes beyond what can be said in everyday language. Through science, the Universe is exploring itself and its functioning. Through music, the Universe explores and expresses its qualities in sound. Through storytelling, the Universe brings its own processes into awareness and explores possibilites not manifested in the physical Universe.
Technology
There are limits to how the Universe, through Earth’s biological organisms, can evolve sensory organs.
These limits are in the areas of size, vision, hearing, and processing of information, to mention a few. Going beyond biology, the Universe has, through technology, evolved a much more powerful sensory apparatus.
Through technology, the Universe can see deep into space, back to the beginning of its own existence, it can study the evolution of itself, the formation of galaxies and solar systems, and marvel at its own beaty and diversity.
Through technology, the Universe can peer deep into matter, discovering the particles it has created and how they all are expressions of energy, it can examine molecules and quarks, the properties of light, gravity, nuclear energies, electromagnetic fields.
Through technology, the Universe and the Earth can examine the biology through which the living Earth expresses itself.
Through technology, the Universe can hear its own sounds, created throughout itself.
Through technology, the Universe and the Earth can coordinate its sensory and awareness organs, making them function more consiously as one whole. This is true for the Earth today. Going beyond this, it may be true in the future, bringing communication between the Earth and other sensory and awareness organs throughout the universe.
Human Science
Human science is the process of systematically exploring and mapping out the world as experienced by or through humans, reflecting the unique human possibilities and limitations.
Currently, in modern human society, science is fragmented, reflecting a fragmented world experience. The world has, in the experience of modern humans, been divided into compartments, with only in rare cases more than a passing interest in how they relate to or are expressions of a larger whole.
In psychology, we overlook how the human mind is related to a larger whole, too often ignoring how psychology can help us live more responsibly as part of this planet and the local and global social system.
We explore the subjects of the natural sciences, without examening how humanity and the mind relates. We leave the evolution of life and human culture out of the evolution of the universe, we leave the nature of mind out of the studies of physics and of the nature of matter.
We have not yet fully integrated an ecological perspective on economics, ignoring too much how all human interactions are embedded in this planet and dependent on the health of the larger whole.
The study of human politics are divorced from a larger understanding of our place in the Universe and our part of the evolution of the Universe. Ignoring how we may be seen as have a larger mission and responsibility than just survival and satisfaction of short term goals created out of a fragmented worldview.
Technology and World Experience
Humans in the western culture, especially for the last few hundred years, have had an uniquely fragmented experience of the world.
Each pole in the polarities have often been seen as disconnected from each other and in opposition to each other instead of complementing each other. One pole has been valued as “good”, the other as “bad”, and we seek contact with or to enhance one, and avoid or seek to destroy the other.
This has lead to an experience of inner and outer combat as the main order of life, blinded to the larger harmony that the occasional real strife is embedded in. It has lead to an experience of alienation towards the larger whole as well as the inner whole, of being split off from nature and the larger society, of fear and suspicion for anything new and previously unencountered, to creation of conflict in the outer and inner world.
Our detachment from parts of the inner and outer world has also lead to amazing technological advances. To mechanical devises of all sorts, to computers and spacecrafts, telescopes and TVs, medicines and bicycles. We have in an wholly unprecedented way expanded and enhanced our physical senses and abilities, and can see further, move faster, lift heavier, and dig deeper than ever before.
We can hear faint signals from other galaxies, we can talk with someone on the moon or on the other side of the planet, we can see inside of the living body, we can watch the dance of the tinyest particles. We can shape and destroy on a scale rarely dreamt of by our ancestors.
We are like a child with wonderful gifts and abilities, but without the wisdom to apply them more consistently to the benefit of our selves.
What was meant to be a paradise, a world where almost every aspect of life is aided by technology and science, has become a world where mass destruction is possible every minute and where the ecological system is about to collapse under the weight of human activities -bringing us down with it.
Both the technology, and the application of it in a way destructive to ourselves, was born out of this fragmented and dualistic world experience.
Through separating ourselves from matter and nature we had the courage to explore it in depth, without reverence and taboos. And through this alienation we applied the fruits of our explorations in a way where we ignored the interconnectedness of all life. We did not see that through polluting the rivers and the sea, we polluted our own blood stream. Through releasing toxins into the atmosphere, we toxify the air we breath in every second.
Through toxins released into the ground, we polluted our own cells and organs. Through cutting down trees we are destroying the cells of our larger breathing organs. We did not realize fully that through developing weapons of mass destruction to get rid of “the other”, we created a situation where we ourself could be killed in an instance.
We did not experience deeply that by not sharing resources necessary for life with “them”, we are creating a situation where the lives of ourself and those we see as “us” are at risk.
Human Education
A vital part of human education have often invovled setting up a situation where a numinous experience of the larger whole can arise, both for the well being of the community and the individual, but also so the Universe and the Earth has a more encompassing context to experience its parts in.
Currently, in modern human society, education is fragmented, reflecting a fragmented world experience. The main purpose of education seems to be to shape young beings into “good citizens”, not to encourage a joy of creatively exploring all aspects of our existence, asking the difficult questions and exploring our role in the larger whole.
We need a new approach to education where the whole person and the larger whole we are a part of are both acknowledged. Here, learning will also be considered a life long process.
This will be an approach to education where creativity, exploration and personal passions are in the center, and where skills and knowledge are gained as part of this process of exploration.
Wars, Cruelty and Pain
Everything that the Universe and the Earth , through humans, experiences as uncomfortable, is also an expression of the Universe and the Earth.
Wars, cruelty and pain, as well as everything else humans find objectionable and unpleasant, are as much a part of the Universe as expressions of love, beauty and art.
The Earth, in its dreaming wisdom, has evolved a habit, through its aware parts, that tends to preserve the life of these parts. What tends to sustain life has a certain attraction, and what tends to end life is experienced as unpleasant. This has evolved through natural selection among the animals and humans of the Earth. The evolving Earth has been dependent on this life preserving instinct, embedded in all of Earth’s life expressions.
To sum up, human experience of aversion and attraction is based on natural selection, and is a tool for preserving and continuing life. Humans tend to go beyond what is there, merely an experience of attraction and aversion, and add a value judgement. What we experience as unpleasant or have aversion towards becomes “bad”, what we experience as pleasant or have attraction towards are labeled “good”. Humans in some cases create whole ideologies around these value judgements.
What is there, is one seamless whole, all expressions of God and the Universe.
What is imposed on this reality, is an experience of “good” and “bad”, reflecting merely a life-preserving instinct evolved through the evolution of the Earth.
When seeing this, asking why God “allows all this to happen”, questions about “good” and “evil”, and so forth, all becomes meaningless and falls away.
Pain
The Earth, through its parts, has evolved life-preserving habits to ensure the continuation of its life.
These habits have been formed through natural selection and involves mainly an experience of discomfort towards what tends to endanger the life of the individual expression, and comfort towards what tends to preserve ones own and ones offsprings life.
On of the life-preserving tools that has evolved is pain and an experience of discomfort towards pain, coupled with a desire to get away from whatever is perceived as inducing the experience of pain. For example, when our flesh is damaged, we experience pain and tries to prevent whatever has created to pain from continuing or occuring again.
Through examening and observing the functioning of the Mind, these patterns and connections can be revealed to the consious parts of the mind. They can be brought into awareness and seen more clearly.
Through this awareness and insight, this habitual pattern can be dissolved. We can experience pain, and the connection with the impulse to get away from or remove whatever is causing the pain can be seen through and does not have to be brought into action when not appropiate. The automatic, habitual and unconsious response dissolves.
In this way we can learn to face for instance emotionally painful situations withouth automatically retreating or pushing them away.
Pain and its connection with a desire to remove the cause of the pain, is only one of a multitude of habitual and automatic responses in our lives. Although functional and life-preserving throughout the history of our species’ evolution, they may not be appropiate in all situations today. Examinening and observing the functioning of the mind, bringing more of its processes into consiousness, can help us see through these habitual patterns and dissolve the tendency to automatic responses.
Meditation, often prolonged and under the guidance of an experienced treacher, is one way to do this.
Why me?
The evolution and exploration process of the Universe and the Earth, can seem brutal from the local perspective of their parts, although beatiful and meaningful from the perspective of the larger whole. Both perspectives are valid.
Humans, in their recently emerged awareness, cling to ideologies created out of a fragmented and dualistic experience of the world. The Earth, through humans in the western culture especially, has created an ideology where the world is supposed to be “fair” according to a limited human perspective.
When something unpleasant occurs in the lives of these aspects of the Earth, there is often an experience of shock and of unfairness, of disbelief that something “bad” can happen to “good” people.
What is not seen is that both the situation and the person are part of and expressions of the larger whole, of the Earth, the Universe, and of God, – beyond good and evil.
Why should it not happen to you?
Inside and Outside
For humans, there is a perception of inside and outside. Of mind, with thoughts, emotions, sensations, – and the external world, with other living beings, mountains, rivers, oceans and galaxies.
Both of what humans perceive as inside and outside are born from and expressions of the Universe, embedded in the Universe. The seperation between the two is an artifact of how the human mind currently functions.
Deeper into Both Poles
Through aspects of itself the Universe has experienced itself, both in itse parts and as a whole.
The role of humans, as one organ for the Universe in this process, may be to more deeply and fully bring both the parts and the whole into awareness.
This involves exploring the phenomena of this Universe, how they interact, how they are embedded in larger processes and how they themselves contain smaller wholes. These phenomena include the stars and galaxies, this and other solar systems, the Earth as a living whole, its subsystems such as ecosystems and social systems, human culture and of central interest, the Mind.
It also involves unfolding and exploring an awareness of the whole, a trans-dual experience of all existence. This is a process mystics and serious practitioners in all major and some minor spiritual traditions have explored, mapped out and created tools to facilitate.
There is also a need to explore how these two interrelate, and to explore how to live more fully in the world the realization of the oneness of all.
In a very real sense, this endaveour is done not only for the individual, humanity or the Earth, but for the Universe as a whole.
We – Them
Humans tend to seperate phenomena, seeing the poles and not the polarities they are part of and expressions of.
There is often a sense of “we” and “them”, an artifical and arbitrarily set seperation and split between phenomena, creating projections, fear and hopes.
When we expand our sense of “we”, more phenomena is included among those that we feel related to and care for. We can expand our perception of “we” to slowly include more and more of the Universe – from family and a small social group, to a nation, and further to the global society, the Earth as a whole with all its manifestations, to the Universe as a whole and all existence.
In the later phases of this process, we can sincerely say “we” about any and all human beings, anout any and all living beings, about any and every aspect of the Earth, about any and all aspects of the Universe. We see how we ourselves are related to all of this – to every phenomena of existence. Experiencing deeply belonging to the Universe – nothing is apart from us – nothing is ultimately foreign.
Change
The whole Universe is continiously changing, in all its expressions and manifestations.
Galaxies, planets, mountains, stars, the mind, each living being, – all are dying as what they were and being reborn as something else, every moment.
The human mind tends to impose “fixedness” on phenomena, to create a simplified experience of the world that is easier to work with and is an approximation of the phenomena themselves. This “fixedness” is an illusion.
Every phenomena is in constant flux, constantly being reborn as something different from what it was. There is nothing fixed to hold onto – exept being “held” by the Universe – seeing that oneself and every phenomena is constantly being born from the Universe.
Saints and Prophets
Through some parts of itself, the universe has experienced itself as one whole.
Among humans, these are often known as the saints and mystics of every spiritual tradition. Through deeply experiencing that all is one and beyond all polarities, there is a deep and spontaneous experience of gratitude, compassion and humility. Gratitude, for being part of this immense and beautiful whole, compassion for every being who experience suffering due to blindness to this wholeness, and humility for being an infinitely small part of an immensely larger whole.
As this experience is trans-dual, and words function by discrimination (dualistic), these experiences cannot fully be described by words. Nor can they fully be conveyed by any other means, such as ones life, music, poetry or art, unless received by someone in whom a similar transdual experience is expressed.
Often the people in whom this experience is expressed are seen as saints and prophets, due to their deep compassion and more open experience of the world. They may gather a following, trying to convey their experiences, and their “teachings” – feeble attempts to convey their experience – will often be solidified and written down by their followers. In some instances they will try to design “maps” or techniques to help others towards opening up for similar experiences.
These maps or teachings will be conveyed in a form that is appropriate for the time and place of their lives, in a language that is most accessible to their followers. Too often these followers will be attached to the form of the teachings, and be blind to the original experience behind them.
Beyond Boundaries
The Universe has developed a rudimentary self-awareness through, among other expressions, humans.
In humans, the functioning and surviival of this half-awake awareness is often dependent on it perceiving and setting up boundaries between aspects of the world. It is (most often) not yet capable of fully perceive that all phenomena are parts of and expressions of one whole.
The first perceived boundary is between parts of what is seen as the individual psyche. Some parts are known, accepted and identified with, some are unknown and/or unaccepted and seen as “other”. We have a situation of projections and “blind” attractions and aversions. This boundary is worked on in most conventional psychotherapies.
The second boundary is between mind and body, not perceived as expressions of one whole. This boundary is addressed through body-oriented therapies and methods, such as Yoga, Tai Chi Chuan and Feldenkrais.
The third boundary is between individual and larger whole. The individual is perceived as seperate from the larger social and ecological whole, from the Earth and the Universe. This boundary is addressed in Deep Ecology, Process Oriented Psychology, Shamanism and more.
The final boundary is the one between all polarities. Between existence and non-existence, mind and matter, whole and part, inside and outside, and also between right and wrong, good and evil, realization and non-realization. This is worked on through techniques developed in different spiritual traditions and they include meditation and prayer.
The Universe has developed tools for speeding up the process of transcending the boundaries. These tools are expressed in the traditions and methods mentioned above, and many more.
All levels can be worked on one-by-one or simultanously. Working on seeing and transcending the latter boundaries will always include working on the former boundaries.
In any case, it is usually of vital importance to work with a teacher or a guide that has knowledge and personal experience in transcending and dissolving the boundary in question.
Meditation
Meditation refers to a technique that is meant to open up for a trans-dual perception of the world.
Often, the approach has a two-fold focus. One is to develop a stable one-pointed focus so the energy of the mind can be channeled in a chosen direction, often called concentration. The second is to bring more of the processes of the mind into awareness, often called insight.
A one-pointed focus will be more stable with insight, seeing that life is transient and that it is of vital importance to uncover the nature of mind. Insight will increase with a more stable focus, being able to apply the focus on whatever one wants to bring into awareness.
In meditation one is faced with the processes of ones own mind, which will, whether one wants or not, be slowly brought into awareness.
After a while, the illusion of “self”, of an independent and separate existence, dissolves, and mind experiences itself without a center and as literally one with all existence.
Beyond the initial realization, the experience will deepen and become more stable, and will – through some effort – be reflected and embedded in all aspects of ones life.
Initially, one will often have the paradoxical experience of being both one with all and special. After a while the experience of being special will wear off, and left is an experience of deep gratitude, compassion and humility. In many ways one becomes – for the first time – thoroughly ordinary and human.
From the perspective of the Universe, there is first an experience of itself in bits and fragments, then a vague experience that there is something beyond the fragments, a larger numinous whole. This leads to an effort to directly experience this whole, a first glimpse, and then a more stable and embedded experience of itself as whole and beyond all polarities.
Good Intentions
Good intentions, as we know, can pave the way to misery for both ourselves and those around us. Having an idea of compassion, of being of help, will often lead to ill considered actions, to actions devoid of appropriateness and wisdom.
Setting oneself in a situation where one can realize the interconnectedness of everything, where one recognizes from within oneself what one sees in others, where one examines how ones own self interests and the interests of others and the larger whole converge, can on the other hand open up for spontaneous compassion and a life more genuinely beneficial for the larger whole.
There is no idea of compassion or helpfulness, only a deep and embodied realization that we are all part of one whole, that the welfare of oneself is dependent on the welfare of the larger whole, that all beings wants happiness and freedom from suffering, and through this taking care of the larger whole becomes as effortless and natural as taking care of oneself.
Gratitude, humility and compassion
Opening up for a trans-dual experience of the world, gives a deep experience of gratitude, humility and compassion.
Gratitude, for being part of such an immensely rich and meaningful whole.
Humility, for being an infinetely small part of an infinetely larger whole.
Compassion, for the suffering that is part of the exsitence of every being.
Compassion
Compassion cannot be willed but springs from a realization that all beings are one – in more than one way. We are all expressions of and part of the evolution of this universe, we all want to live free from suffering and where our basic needs are met, we all share this existence and are “in the same boat”. Beyond that, the nature of our minds are the same, although its expression varies due to biological and other shaping factors.
A deep experience of this, through recognizing in ourselves what we see in other beings, opens up for a deep and genuine experience of compassion and an openness to live a life that will enhance to joy of life of oneself and others and not induce an experience of suffering in others.
Compassion and Projections
It seems that the mind has the potential to express and experience an infinite range of characteristics. Often, we see these characteristics, or qualities, only within ourselves or only outside of ourselves, and are blind for the existence of them both within and outside.
This blindly dualistic way of experiencing the world is natural and fully understandable, given the youth of our species and the Earth. We are still in our early and partly immature phase. It leads to an experience of separation from others and the world around us, and can lead to a sense of alienation and isolation as well.
Deeply experiencing how every quality we see in the outer world is also present in the inner world, and how every characteristic in the inner world is expressed in the outer world, we open up for a deep sense of belonging and for a spontaneous compassion with all living beings as well. Recognizing from ourselves what we see in others, we cannot help experiencing compassion. Lack of compassion comes from a sense of separation, which falls away as we recognize and integrate projections.
Healing
To heal, we need to open up for the wisdom embodied in every phenomena.
The Earth embodies the history of the Universe and the part of this history that is its own history. Every part of the Earth embodies the history of its ancestors. In this, is immense wisdom for organization and healing.
To heal, we need to open up for and get out of the way of these self-healing processes, of the memories of the system, infinetely more rich and wise than what parts of these processes are brought into awareness by human healers and scientists.
Aids to a Shift
There are many factors that can facilitate a shift in awareness and worldview among humans in the present situation.
We have created a situation where mass destruction is possible by the push of a button, we are all in the same boat. Through damaging the ecosystem we are forced into seeing the interconnectedness of all life. Through space travel we have seen for the first time the planet as one whole, as a small, living whole suspended in space. Through technology we can communicate and spread information around the planet in a fraction of a second, binding seemingly separate minds more into one whole.
Common interests
Seeing the intimate connection between every aspect of the Universe opens up for seeing how the parts and the whole have a common interest.
It is in the interest of the individual to be part of a healthy social and ecological system. The health and well being of the Earth as a whole and of its every aspect is of direct concern for myself as embedded in this system.
The interests of the individual and that of of the larger whole converge and are one.
Far reaching and long term consequenses
Seeing how every phenomena is interrelated and interdependent, there is a natural tendency for concern for the far reaching and long term consequenses of ones everyday actions.
The natural and spontaneous question is: Will my actions, and this action in particular, benefit or at least not harm the larger whole that I myself am embedded in and dependent on ?
A Vision of Future Communities
We need to explore and find ways to organize our lives, on a global, regional, local and individual level, which is truly sustainable. Ways that are harmlessly integrated into the social and ecological systems they are embedded in, and maybe even enriching. Ways that reflect the awareness that everything is interconnected and part of one whole – that the Earth is one body. On a global level, there is a need for a global governance, a democracy on a global level.
There is a need to go beyond the idea of nation states as the main unit of governance,and expand democracy to be a guideline for relations within the international community. On a regional and local level, maybe the most promising existing way to achieve sustainability are ecovillages. Small self-sufficient communities with an emphasis on quality of life and sustainability – an harmless and enriching integration in social and ecological systems.
The connection between the local communities and the global community will be facilitated by existing and future ways of communicating, of which what we see today gives only a faint idea of what may come.
Humans – The Expression of the Earth
(Human Perspective)
Humans have often realized that they are part of a larger whole, an experience that often has an numinous (or sacred) quality to it. Almost all cultures that we know of has had an image of this larger living whole embedded in their worldview.
Modern western culture is has created a context where this has not longer been true. We have seen ourselves as somehow seperate from the larger whole, as outside and apart from it. Although illogical and paradocial for a tradition that prides itself by adherence to logic, this has been a pervaiding and largely unquestioned worldview.
Now, through science and renewed interest for traditional spirituality, we see ourselves again as a part of a larger whole, embedded in a larger living organism, the Earth. We take part in the larger processes of this planet and are an expression of the evolution of this planet, itself embedded in and part of the processes of a larger whole, the Universe.
Meaning of Life for Humans – Universe Perspective
Each phenomena is a part of the self-eploration process of the Universe, and each phenomena fulfils its role perfectly, without effort.
So too it is with humans. Each human individual is an expression of the Universe, a product of bilions of years of self-exploration, a phase in the evolution of the Universe.
Each phenomena expresses in a unique way potentials of the Universe, and through each human, the Universe experiences and brings more aspects of itself into awareness in a unique way.
It is impossible for any individual to not fulfill its purpose in a perfect way. Every moment, the Universe expresses itself in its wholeness through each individual.
Meaning of Life for Humans – Human Perspective
A profound experience of meaning is awakened in humans when they become aware of being part of a larger whole. Of being part of humankind, an expression of the Earth, of belonging to the Universe.
A sense of seperation and alienation brings an experience of lack of meaning, of not belonging. A organic sense of connectedness brings an experience of meaning and belonging.
This “carrot”, urging humans towards a more holistic experience of the Universe, is a way for the Universe to evolve into an experience of itself as one whole.
At Home in the Universe
Our worldview naturally colors our experience of the world and our existence.
A fragmented experience of the world, imposing barriers and separations, naturally alienates us from the larger whole. It sets up a situation where we easily are at the mercy of blind attractions and aversions, seeing something outside of ourselves that we do not recognize as part of ourselves. It also easily leads to an experience for blind fear and suspicion towards anything that is experienced as “other”, as we are blind for the connection between ourselves and what is “out there”.
One the other hand, experiencing the world as one whole, as one organic whole that we and all phenomena are expressions and parts of, creates a sense of belonging. All phenomena are brothers and sisters, no matter if our interactions with them are experienced as pleasant or unpleasant. Meeting something new for us is as meeting an old friend.
The Future Role of Humankind
In the early history of the Earth, simple cells at one point reorganized in a dramatic fashion into a collective, creating the first multi-cellular organism.
Every mulitcellular organism is in a very real sense a collective of cells expressing qualities not present on an individual cell level. The most dramatic example of these emergent qualities is the mind.
The sensory and awareness organs of the Earth consist presently of animals and humans, continiously reorganizing and evolving. Many of the shifts, as in the example above, appear as amazing occurences and could not easily have been predicted in advance had there been an observer.
It is possible that the Earth will reorganize its sensory and awareness organs in a way beyond what we can imagine or predict today.
Diversity seems to be of major importance to the Universe and the Earth, producing a multitude of expressions of themselves and a multitude of ways of experiencing themselves.
At the same time, there is a tendency to organize phenomena into a more coherent whole. In the early phase of the Universe, simple particles emerged from energy. Energy and particles spread throughout the Universe, condensed and created galaxies. From the materials within each galaxy, solar systems emerged. Within solar systems, stars and planets emerged. On the Earth, single cells emerged from from water and minerals. These cingle cells later organized into collectives.
Within these multicellular organisms, organs and limbs developed – finns, tail, head, eyes, legs, nervous system and brain. From some of these multicellular organisms, culture emerged – skills and knowledge passed on to new generations, – mythology, agriculture, technology and science.
The following are some possibilites for the future of humankind:
Seeing the above, one possibility is that both diversity, a wide variety of experiences and lifestyles, as well as an organization into a more coherent whole, will be important in the future of humankind.
A more organic and wholistic worldview seems to be neccesary, integrating the different areas of human experiences and allowing our lives and activities to be more harmlessly integrated in the larger processes of the Earth.
An awareness of our role as a sensory organ for the Universe and Earth may emerge on a larger scale. The Earth may awaken more fully, through humans, to an awareness of itself as one living organism.
The Mind
The universe, as mind, seems to evolve from a state similar to sleep, via dreams and a half-awake state, to a fully awake state.
Minerals and matter, stars, rocks, gases, fluids, in this the universe is as asleep, unaware.
In plantlike forms, the universe is as dreaming. In animals and most humans, the universe is experiencing a half awake state, aware of itself in bits and fragments.
In a few humans, the universe is aware of itself as one whole, fully awake. This is a state beyond all dualities and polarities, beyond words and descriptions. Beyond any intellectual understanding.
Mind as Nature
The Universe expresses its potentials in an unending variety of ways. Galaxies, stars, nebulae, the living Earth, clouds, the atmosphere, the oceans, a flower, forests, ecosystems, experiences, culture, technoloigy, all these are born from and part of this Universe.
The full range of human experience, including pain, suffering, joy, exitement, hopes, fears, greed, compassion, despair, bliss – are born from and part of the Universe, just as a galaxy or a mountain.
All experiences are natural phenomena – beyond good and bad. They aries and dissolve as rivers, mountains, dew on a petal, clouds in the sky, as the Earth and the Universe.
Assigning a value judgement to experiences fragments our view and experience of the world. We seek to push some aspects of the universe away and to cling to others. We push inner states or qualities away, and push away people and situations that reminds us of these in ourselves. We cling to other states or qualities, and cling to situations or people who we use to awaken these in ourselves. We do not see how they are all part of one whole, part of the Universe and the human condition.
Part of being a complete human being. We act out of blind aversions and attractions, complicating our own and other’s lives.
Through abandoning value assignment, we open up for space around these experiences. We can let them more freely unfold according to the processes of the Universe embedded in them. We are freed up from blindly acting on them. We have space to more freely choose actions that are more effective and appropiate in the situation. As we give space to our inner processes, we give ourselves space to more freely choose appropiate actions.
We also open for a more rewaring, rich and enjoyable interaction with others. Blind judgement is dissolved, as we are know and are familiar whith what we see in others in ourselves. We are not “better” or “worse” than the other. We give the other space to be who she or he is, as we give our inner processes space to unfold and be what they are. We open up for compassion through deep empathy – seeing in ourselves what we see in others.
A compassion that can be actively lived in a skillful way, respectful for the integrity of the other.
God
Beyond this Universe
God can be seen as what is beyond all dualities, beyond mind and matter, beyond the Universe and the Earth, and yet encompassing and expressing all of this.
Panenteism
The Universe and all phenomena are in God, are God and embodies God.
Every phenomena expresses God perfectly and fully.
Nothing is beyond, nothing is incomplete.
God
God can be seen as what is beyond all dualities – beyond existence and non-existence, time and space, matter and mind, life and non-life.
Glimpses of this larger whole opens up for a numinous experience – of what is sacred – of God.
As Gandhi said, “God is Truth”, and truth is reality itself – beyond our experience or description of it. No experience can fully grasp it, no description is adequate. Existence is One, beyond and including all polarities. Words divide, describe what makes one phenomena different from another.
Words – and any other human expressions – are inadeqaute. What is left is deep gratitude, humility and compassion.
The Numinous
(experience of sacredness)
The Universe experiences the Numinous when being reminded, often below the threshold of awareness, of its own wholeness.
It can come through a glimpse of sunlight as a child, peering into the Universe a dark and cloudeless night, looking into the eyes of a loved one, being in nature, shifting ones way of looking at an ordinary situation, through prayer and meditation, through an image representing the transdual qualities of the Mind, watching the ocean waves washing up on the shore.
It is a reminder of our own divinity, as children of the Earth, the Universe, and if you will – God – all existence.
Archive Sources
Opening index — archived 10 October 2000
Introduction — archived 10 October 2000
Worldviews — archived 10 October 2000
Universe — archived 10 October 2000
Humans ONE — archived 9 October 2000
Humans TWO — archived 10 October 2000
Humans THREE — archived 10 October 2000
Humans FOUR — archived 14 February 2005
Humans FIVE — archived 9 October 2000
Humans SIX — archived 9 October 2000
Humans SEVEN — archived 9 October 2000
Humans EIGHT — archived 19 June 2000
Humans NINE — archived 9 October 2000