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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The primary revelation of the Divine, 7 Oct 2009
The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story, by Brian Swimme, Orbis Books, New York, 2005, 128 ff.
The primary revelation of the Divine
By Howard A. Jones
I have taken my title for this review from the endorsement of the book by Thomas Berry, whose own book, The Great Work, may be seen as complementary to Swimme's. Brian Swimme holds a PhD in mathematical cosmology and is a member of the graduate faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
Swimme's research interests, reflected in this book, centre on the relationship between cosmology as revealed by contemporary science and traditional views of the Divine, and the sociological implications of the role of humankind in this New Story of our beginnings and destiny: `We study the story primarily in order to live the story.' Swimme conveys the message that is becoming increasingly familiar to those in tune with cosmic spirituality: `What is needed is a transformation from the form of the humanity of today into forms of humanity congruent with the ways of the universe.'
Swimme reinforces the point made by C,J, Jung that, because many religious texts contain stories that are now rationally and scientifically untenable does not mean that they should be consigned to the scrapheap as `meaningless nonsense', as suggested by some atheists. Rather, they should be regarded as myths that teach psychological and moral truths and they have value in this respect for any cohesive society. We have lost sight of this spiritual aspect of our being in our `spiritually desiccated consumer society out of touch with the numinous powers pervading each being in the universe.' All societies develop effective methods to initiate their young into their culture's world view: in the West, the advertising media do this to inculcate consumerism.
Like Thomas Berry, Swimme stresses the need for properly directed education, and getting away from a wholly materialistic philosophy, in science as in everyday life, is a crucial goal: `a change in perception is a primary aim of the curriculum.' The universe is an `unseen ocean of potentiality' for these young minds if they are not constrained in their thinking. To be disciplined is one thing, but it is quite another to be subjected to authoritarian dogma, whether its source is science or religion.
This short book is an inspirational read for those seeking or already on a spiritual path and the New Story is convincingly told.
Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books of Winchester, UK.
The Great Work
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cosmology, clarity and poetic reverence from Brian Swimme, 22 Jun 2009
For as long as I can remember, the questions cosmologist Brian Swimme raises in the Preface to this wonderfully lucid, accessible and poetically written book have fascinated me:
"Where did it all come from? Where is the center of reality? Where is the heart or source of the universe? Where is that place where everything sprang forth into existence?"
In "The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos" he sets about confronting these questions, with due modesty, and without "any naive expectation that we will now answer with certitude questions which eluded our ancestors." He does so in a positive and optimistic spirit, stating that "the opportunity of our time is to integrate science's understanding of the universe with more ancient intuitions concerning the meaning and destiny of the human."
Swimme makes it clear that cosmology isn't simply about scientific teaching about the facts and theories of the universe. It is "a wisdom tradition, drawing upon not just science but religion and art and philosophy" .
The book centres on the major cosmological discovery of our time: that the Universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago and (in Swimme's own words from his website)" ....is so biased toward complexification that life and intelligence are now seen to be a nearly inevitable construction of evolutionary dynamics."
His approach in explicating this shattering discovery is one of evocation rather than merely conveying the facts, although he does the latter extremely well in language which elucidates rather than obfuscates. It is hard for people like me, who lack a grounding in science, to get to grips with the kind of world in which we live from the perspectives of modern physics and cosmology, when so much of what is now known is so counter-intuitive to how our five senses perceive both the earth and the starry heavens.
Each chapter I read, from The Sun at the Center, through Looking Down at the Milky Way, via The Large-Scale Structure of Space and Time, to A Multiplicity of Centers, helped me to understand more clearly than I ever had before not only the nature and structure of "the vast ocean of the cosmos", but also evoked a deep sense of the numinosity of belonging to that cosmos.
Everyone interested in humanity and the new story, which is being revealed to us by modern cosmology, should read this book.
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by Brian Swimme
by Judy Cannato
by Berry
by T Berry
