The Story of the Universe

Very recently we have learned how we humans can be better understood when set within the context of a developing Earth, and then how Earth can be better understood when set within the context of a developing Universe.

Here is roughly what we know of this Story.

Galaxies trillions of miles in diameter collided and grew over billions of years creating black holes, stars, supernovas, and our beautiful Earth.
Here, molten rock, graced by ever faithful Sun, learned to shape itself into tiny creatures who could learn, remember, & cooperate.
Life found myriad ways to express itself, both in form and function. Cells learned to eat oxygen & iron and extract nitrogen from air.
In her creativity Earth sculpted a fantastic variety of intimately interrelated living and non-living beings. Each emerged out of a deep and profound process that is the Universe itself.
Each seeks its own role in the great drama of life.
Blessed with self-reflective consciousness we humans have now learned of our 13.73 billion year ancestry, an ancestry shared with not only all humans, but also all living and non-living beings.

 

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Exploring Cosmology

Integrated Curriculum

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The course covers this history of our Universe, from the Flaring Forth to the world we live in today. The spectacular and violent creativity of the processes leading to the emergence of Earth, the creativity of the evolutionary intelligence that transformed molten rock into the splendor of the savannah, and the awesome adventure of our hominid ancestors - all this is our ancestral heritage which we will study in order to better appreciate our deep and creative past.

"Every known culture in human history organized its creative energies by means of its cosmological epic - its account of where the Universe came from, how it developed into its present state, and what meaningful role humans play in the midst of this cosmic drama." Brian Swimme

The purpose of this course is to present both the central discoveries that led to our current evolutionary cosmology and the startling implications of these new understandings. Our ultimate aim is to assist in the development of those who can participate in the process of transformation that carries us from the destructive nature of our western culture to a new era of well being throughout the planet, for every form of life.

The general structure of the course is as described in the Program Description page. Those aspects which distinguish this course from other courses in this program follow:

Educational Environment

Each participant will receive a CD containing the course content consisting of textual, visual, and audio supporting materials, links to relevant websites, assignments in several supplemental texts, and lectures by faculty. There will be videos recommended. (See below for list.)

Specific Subject Matter

The twenty seven active weeks are divided into nine three-week modules: Early Life; Complex Creatures; Mammals, Primates; Flaring Forth; Stars, Galaxies; Supernova, Solar System; Human Emergence; Neolithic, Classical Civilizations; Modern Human.

Texts and Videos

The following texts and video series will be involved in the course.

Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story, Harper, San Francisco; 1994.

Ursula Goodenough, The Sacred Depths of Nature, Oxford University Press, Oxford; 1998.

Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W. W. Norton & Co., New York; 1999.

Brian Swimme, The Canticle to the Cosmos, available from The Center for the Story of the Universe, 800-273-3720. The DVD and VHS versions of this series cost $90 including shipping. (This is a special student rate. Email Sue Espinosa, sespinosa@msn.com, and tell her that you get the $90 student rate.)

 

Primary Faculty

Larry Edwards received a Ph.D. in chemical-physics from Harvard University. He has been on the faculties of the American University of Beirut, the California State University of Northridge, the California Institute of Technology, and was a research associate at the Jacques Cousteau Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. Larry worked 17 years at the U.S. National Science Foundation in Washington D.C. He is currently on the faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, Wisdom University in Oakland, CA, Genesis Farm in Blairstown, NJ, and An Tairseach in Wicklow, Ireland.