Awareness / Consciousness as of Today

Today we are aware of more aspects of our Universe, our Milky Way Galaxy, our Solar System, our Planet Earth, our non-human relatives, and our human story than we have ever been before.

Today we can take in all this awareness and process it in the context of The Universe Story - including the ever expanding influence of human existence.

We uniquely represent the transformation of light into matter and then into the complex human form with an evolving consciousness.

As humans, only some of our actions/interactions with the Universe are constrained by our DNA coding. As the Story goes, we have free will and we have a deep seated need to protect our individual freedom dearly. So much so that we have devised a social order intended to assure our freedom - a system that gives each individual a voice - called democracy. We inherently sense that that the preservation of individual freedom allows each of us the opportunity to be an integral part of the Universe and continue the its sacred path of Emergence - creating something more from nothing but via new relationships. So we create ways of extending ourselves with new appearances (fashion), with new tools that provide new capabilities, with the expression of new insights (art), with new relationships (social contracts), and a generationally evolving awareness and consciousness.

One might go so far as to say that our "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is so fundamental and sacred, it is as if ordained by the Universe.

So in addition to the patient natural evolution process that allows new creations to emerge over millions and billions of years, humans are now using the combination of their consciousness and free will to assist the Universe with its Emergence - with an ever increasing number of human creations as well as an increasing rate of Emergence.

During Deep Time, Emergence took place in the medium of unrestrained space that provided the freedom of movement for Gravity to sort and collect matter to come together into new relationships for something more to emerge - galaxies, stars and planets were created.

During Earth Time, Emergence took place in the medium of molten / liquid Planet matter that provided the freedom of movement of Earth matter for new relationships to emerge - new relationships of atoms created complex molecules that in turn created complex structures / cells that in turn created complex systems of cells we acknowledge as Life - systems that began the thread of evolving consciousness - starting with the most basic consciousness needed to replicate (basic emergence - something the same from nothing but as the result of familiar relationships).

During Human Time, Emergence now seems to be taking place everywhere we can imagine. Humans now influence the movement of gas, liquids, and solids into new relationships for the Emergence of something more from nothing but Planet matter. In addition, the Human mind evolved to be able to record its experiences and then learned to re-stimulate (playback) the sequence of stimulations that made up the experience as a "memory." The playback creating something non-material - something not of the world of matter but a re-enactment of the world of matter. Thus began the emergence of a new cosmos of imaginables - an intangible universe where experiences with matter can now be re-arranged in ever increasing number of relationships not subject to the "laws of the universe." This is the realm of ideas. An intoxicating world to live in. Unfettered by the constraints of the observed patterns of the Universe (i.e. the Laws of the Universe).

Nevertheless, our physical bodies (and brains) are still an integral part of the material Universe and subject to the forces and relationships therein.

Today, humans appear to be losing their connection to the Universe - more specifically they are losing their intimate connection to Planet Earth and the intimacies of our Solar System. We are confusing the World of Oz with the World that is. We are no longer in "Right Relationship" with our Planetary Family (including ourselves). [Ref: When the Body says No:The Stress-Disease Connection."

The Universe Story also teaches us that not all expressions of Life are enduring or sustainable over a long period of time. During the 3.8 billion years of biological evolution on Planet Earth, more than 96% (perhaps as many as 99.9%, according to Newman and Roberts,1994) of Earth's life forms have become extinct typically within ten million years or so of their first appearance. Nearly 20 years ago, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated the Earth was losing on the order of 30,000 species per year.

"There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past...[in this] current Sixth Extinction ...there is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through such activities as:.... human destruction of ecosystems, overexploitation of species and natural resources, human overpopulation, the spread of agriculture, pollution,transformation of the landscape, .... This means we can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part.
.... Niles Eldredge, The Sixth Extinction

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This web site is intended to help readers explore their unique role in the extended Universe Story - particularly those chapters that have just been written in the last 5 years, 10 years, or last 50 years.

Despite the fact that biased advertising by specific economic and political interests try to convince us otherwise, there is adequate energy coming to us from our Sun each day to live sustainable lives on this planet without burning fossil energy. But we do need to "modify our behavior toward the global ecosystem."

But we are creative. Unfortunately our creations are coming from the World of Oz and are not always consistent with the World of Is.

So the challenge facing us appears to be "How do we continue to preserve our individual freedoms, so we can continue along the path of Emergence and create something more from nothing but by forming new relationships YET do so responsibly - meaning in "Right Relationship" with All?"

We suggest learning as much as possible about what the Universe wants as revealed in it's Story.

This page begins to capture a snapshot of life on Planet Earth TODAY. Using the Universe Story as a frame of reference, we will review our successes and also enumerate areas where it is becoming obvious that the irresponsible free will of a segment of the 6 billion humans on the Planet is taking the species toward premature extinction.

Human consciousness has continued to increase in complexity with the emerging awareness that indeed our Planet and all of us inhabitants, human and non-human, make up a cohabitating system often referred to as Gaia. Our anthropocentric view will need to be extended to a planet-centric view if we wish to continue to evolve as a species.

Thus the human species occupies a unique place within the concepts of Time and Space because we can reflect back on all of our current awareness, differentiate between Cosmic and human constructs, acknowledge that the Universe trumps, and project into the future.

By reflecting on today's updated Universe Story, a whole new consciousness can emerge and begin to inform and inspire all areas of human belief and behavior. This critical reflection on what the Universe is telling us is the "Great Work" suggested by Thomas Berry.

Berry suggests that we "re-invent the human—at the species level" specifically mentioning the areas of Economics and Law. We will include a re-examination of Ecomorality, Energy, Institutions, Business, Health Care,...

So let's start.

The Universe Story and this view of Planet Earth from space reminds us that we are indeed living on a Spaceship with all of its physical ramifications: including

1) There are no utility wires, gas pipe lines, or water lines connecting us to an external source of power. Our only long term source of life sustaining energy comes from the Sun (and it's expected to continue for several more billion years). Yes, we are currently enjoying the euphoria of easy energy of ancient sunlight stored on our Spaceship during the Carboniferous era some 300 million years ago (the result of a patient accumulation of sunlight over a 90 million long period where sunlight stimulated chemical reactions that in turn combined water and CO2 into biomass (hydrocarbon based material). But the Sun is still the only currently known prevailing sustainable long term energy source, so the Universe Story is suggesting "Quit Complaining. Deal with It!"

2) There are no sewer lines to dump human waste.

3) The diameter of the earth is around 8000 miles. The oceans we use for hiding human waste products (creations that are not used as input for something more, are about 5 miles deep. The atmosphere where we also try to hide human waste products varies in density with altitiude, but is