“All is flux,” the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said 2500 years ago. “Nothing stays still.” He offered us a perfect description of transmutation, one of the great powers that cosmologist Brian Swimme ascribes to the universe. Since the first flaring forth 13.7 billion years ago, not one iota of the universe has been still or remained […]
The patient genius of transmutation Read More »
From its earliest years, the cosmos has been turning in on itself in an ever-evolving process of centration. The early clustering of the original elements into stars. Swirling arms of galaxies gathering them together and creating more centers as new stars form. The dust of the universe collecting itself into planets around those stars, pulling
Centration: the universe and the doughnut Read More »
We humans have brought ourselves to a challenging point. By our numbers and choices, we’ve become equal to the geological forces that shaped our planet for 4.5 billion years. Our impact on the thin layer of atmosphere blanketing Earth means we can alter the ability of every living thing to prosper, or even exist. Our
The power of radiance Read More »
Humans are story-making animals. We have a story for everything, and many, many stories for the same things, depending on where and with whom we found ourselves when we arrived in this life. Our tales explain where we came from, how we got here, why we’re here at all, how to behave now that we
Eostre and the Universe Story Read More »
In his 1981 book, Basin and Range, John McPhee gave us a good analogy for the scale of deep time. Stretch out your arm sideways, and imagine that the 4.55 billion-year timeline of earth’s history runs from the tip of your nose to the tip of your middle fingernail. A quick swipe of a nail file would wipe out human history.
The solace of deep time Read More »