The 2015 Spring | Summer issue of Kosmos Journal is here
May 5, 2015 Kosmos Community News


Excerpt | The Living Universe

by Duane Elgin

‘Big History’ is the name given to an emerging field of study that describes the evolution from the big bang up to the modern era. This is an enormous span of time—nearly 14 billion years—so it is understandably called ‘big’ history. However, it is also a shallow view of history because it leaves out themes and ideas such as consciousness, meaning, and purpose. This article seeks to deepen big history by bringing in these neglected themes through the paradigm of a living universe.


Excerpt | Coming Back to Life

by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown

It is crucial that we know this: we can meet our needs without destroying our life-support system. We have the scientific knowledge and the technical means to do that. We have the savvy and the resources to grow sufficient quantities of real, unaltered food. We know how to protect clean air and water. We can generate the energy we require through solar power, wind, tides, algae, and fungi. We have birth control methods to stop the growth and eventually reduce human population. We have the technical and social mechanisms to dismantle weapons, deflect wars, and give everyone a voice in democratic self-governance. We can exercise our moral imagination to bring our lifestyles and consumption into harmony with the living systems of Earth. All we need is the collective will.


Excerpt | We the People of Living Earth: An Authentic Story for Our Time

By David Korten

As contemporary science observes the behavior of subatomic particles, the inner life of living cells, the self-regulation of complex ecosystems, and the scale of the universe, we witness a grand, complex, and wondrous reality far beyond the imagination of previous human generations. The more science reveals of these mysteries, the more evident the yawning gaps in our understanding become.

When we look beyond the details we see a universe unfolding on a clear and persistent underlying trajectory toward ever greater complexity, beauty, awareness, and possibility. Creation’s expression bears far greater resemblance to a living seed bursting forth to grow into a magnificent flowering tree than a giant mechanical clock playing out the tension in its spring.