Scientific – Spiritual Cosmology – Alan Wight
For my AR class, I have been asked to describe the values that inform my research. I am firmly rooted in a scientific-spiritual understanding of the universe. Bradbury and Reason (2001) provide an excellent introduction to this point of view in their “On the nature of the given cosmos” (p. 8). Please a take a moment to view the linked video below, and the read the accompanying words.
Biopolitan Poetry for creating an Earth-Centered Consciousness.
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| Cat’s Eye Nebula |
And the universe asks—what are you compared to me?
Dude, I am you! Our human consciousness formed from you. We are one version of your awareness, privileged to reflect back upon this great mystery.
I am humbled by the awesomeness, the grandeur, the scale, the age, the beauty, the violence, and the astonishing—mind blowing distance of our every expanding reality. The cosmic elements collected and as our star gathered enough mass fusion burst forth, and photons of light energy exploded in all directions.
Eventually the Earth gave birth, and now we can see,
and taste, and touch, and feel and breath.
It is from this spiritual and scientific understanding that I approach the world. This humility transforms into the highest respect for Gaia, our planetary emissary. We are one of many forms of Gaia’s awareness. We exist here because we coexist with everything else on Earth.
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| Sun’s Radiation and the Earth’s Magnetic Field (artists interpretation) |
A step back reveals the potential precariousness of our current endeavors. The mad ambitions for money, parceled out-private property, power, domination, and control. These are the cultural values repeatedly whispered and extolled.
Our economic practices and actions do not reflect the reality of our biosphere, of this larger living entity.
The expansionist, Promethean, Frontierist, planet – plundering mentality is insane.
Therefore, I actively embrace alternative Earth-Centered paradigms. From the cosmopolitan, and declaration of ‘citizen of the world’ I advance the key value that informs my thoughts and research.
This is the concept of biopolitansim: the identification of humans as one life form, one culture, one group of earthlings among many; we are a human community that only exists because of all the other Earth’s communities. We need to respect and protect all other species and ecosystems and foster an appreciation for other ways of knowing.
It is the values of this Earth-Life-Community Ethic that I heed, and from here, from this moral point that I proceed.
Notes:
Peter Reason and Hililary Bradbury-Huang (Eds). 2006. “On the nature of the given cosmos.” Handbook of Action Research. p. 8 Los Angles: Sage Publishing.