The Living Universe: Where are we? Who are we? Where are we going?
By Duane Elgin. Foreword by Deepak Chopra.
Duane Elgin has written a tough book that goes into quantum physics, religion, anthropology, history, urban planning, astronomy, philosophy , etc. at least at the undergraduate level. Since the 1970's he has worked for several US government agencies an other organizations focused on serious attempts for future plans for mankind, and is the author of several book, most notably, "Voluntary Simplicity". Dr. Chopra finishes h is foreword by writing, "A widely shared understanding that we all live in the same living universe provides the foundation for positive visions of the future that offer beacons of hope in the darkness of the world;s "gathering storms".
Elgin observes that most major religions have beliefs of continual creation by the All-powerful Creator who causes the constant arising of the cosmos. this is expressed in many ways e.g. "God's mercies are new every morning" in the Christian Bible and from an Islamic teacher, "...the one totality that continuously comes into being - is something we can experience directly." Similar views from Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, and Native beliefs are also discussed.
Elgin summarizes, "When we are in the now, we are riding the wave of continuous creations", He philosophizes at some length about what he calls Mother Universe and the hard to understand concept of the universe being of material things composed of nothing but changing space, that never started and will never stop. This is a good attempt to make quantum physics understandable to those interested in cosmology. In his list of qualities of Mother Universe we find "Ultimately ungraspable"
This thought process seems hard to even begin to summarize or explain... perhaps Stephen Hawking did it better. A number of religions ideals have gien us various readings of the Golden Rule, which Elgin quotes, and are actually graspable.
Part 4 and later in this book he outlines and somewhat explains what he calls 6 Vital Tasks for the Journey Home. Several of these, Like #2 Cultivating Reflection and Reconciliation, and #4 Creating New Kinds of Community, relate to Beyond War goals. From my small observation, I believe Beyond War is not presently set up to, or has the membership to deal with the very scholarly ideas he is explaining. He sees the great need to have religious reconciliation, racial, ethnic, reconciliation, also economic ecological and generational reconciliation. All of these are serious problems, some now in crisis.
He notes that the sort duration of violently-made power bases. Then his readers are treated to his well-thought-out vision of the "green village" movement. He writes of human=scale communities, with conflict resolution, health care and co-operative living. This great plan for the future includes re-inventing all present systems....but we can start!
Duane Elgin has written a tough book that goes into quantum physics, religion, anthropology, history, urban planning, astronomy, philosophy , etc. at least at the undergraduate level. Since the 1970's he has worked for several US government agencies an other organizations focused on serious attempts for future plans for mankind, and is the author of several book, most notably, "Voluntary Simplicity". Dr. Chopra finishes h is foreword by writing, "A widely shared understanding that we all live in the same living universe provides the foundation for positive visions of the future that offer beacons of hope in the darkness of the world;s "gathering storms".
Elgin observes that most major religions have beliefs of continual creation by the All-powerful Creator who causes the constant arising of the cosmos. this is expressed in many ways e.g. "God's mercies are new every morning" in the Christian Bible and from an Islamic teacher, "...the one totality that continuously comes into being - is something we can experience directly." Similar views from Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, and Native beliefs are also discussed.
Elgin summarizes, "When we are in the now, we are riding the wave of continuous creations", He philosophizes at some length about what he calls Mother Universe and the hard to understand concept of the universe being of material things composed of nothing but changing space, that never started and will never stop. This is a good attempt to make quantum physics understandable to those interested in cosmology. In his list of qualities of Mother Universe we find "Ultimately ungraspable"
This thought process seems hard to even begin to summarize or explain... perhaps Stephen Hawking did it better. A number of religions ideals have gien us various readings of the Golden Rule, which Elgin quotes, and are actually graspable.
Part 4 and later in this book he outlines and somewhat explains what he calls 6 Vital Tasks for the Journey Home. Several of these, Like #2 Cultivating Reflection and Reconciliation, and #4 Creating New Kinds of Community, relate to Beyond War goals. From my small observation, I believe Beyond War is not presently set up to, or has the membership to deal with the very scholarly ideas he is explaining. He sees the great need to have religious reconciliation, racial, ethnic, reconciliation, also economic ecological and generational reconciliation. All of these are serious problems, some now in crisis.
He notes that the sort duration of violently-made power bases. Then his readers are treated to his well-thought-out vision of the "green village" movement. He writes of human=scale communities, with conflict resolution, health care and co-operative living. This great plan for the future includes re-inventing all present systems....but we can start!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Leonora on -
Thank you for your review of this challenging and inspiring book. I found it helpful to see his interviews explaining some of his concepts. Search Duane Elgin on YouTube, or go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYl96iEya9E. He has 32 videos there - pretty interesting stuff!
I participated in an online seminar with Duane and found him to be just like his book - intelligent, warm, optimistic and totally focused on what it takes to create both our near and far future. I believe that coincides with BW's focus on the MEANS required to build a world that is beyond war. And I'm glad you mentioned his view about the great need for reconciliation at every scale of our lives, which is another place of agreement we share with him.
I highly recommend this book, and I certainly agree with your conclusion: "we can start!"
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