We humans have brought ourselves to a fascinating and challenging point. By our numbers and our choices, particularly in the last 200 years, we’ve grown into an equivalent of the geological forces that have shaped our planet over its 4.5 billion year life.

Our effect on the thin layer of atmosphere blanketing the earth means that we are potentially altering the ability of every living thing to prosper, or even exist. Our use of resources is far outstripping the earth’s ability to replenish them. Millions of people worldwide are grappling with these challenges, which represent not just things to do but require new ways to think.

Where do we look for inspiration? To the universe itself, suggests cosmologist Brian Swimme. In 2005, Brian recorded a series of talks on the powers of the universe, the modes the cosmos itself operates by. There are eleven of them: seamlessness, centration, allurement, emergence, homeostasis, cataclysm, synergy, transmutation, transformation, interrelatedness, and radiance.

These energies have been operating for 13.7 billion years. They are still the forces forming the cosmos, operating every moment through all its manifestations, including us. By opening ourselves to these energies, we become the universe becoming itself. We reengage with the planet we live on. We reimagine the future we can create.

Our gatherings will look at the powers themselves and how they interact with each other. Most important, how they are working through our own lives every minute. This will be a participatory class, exploring these energies and how we can step into them wholeheartedly. I have written essays on how each power shows up in our lives, and we will use those to launch our discussions. 

About Betsey Crawford

Betsey Crawford spent her years as a landscape designer and environmental activist in New York convincing people to return to their literal roots by planting native plants and restoring ecosystems. She spent as much time as she could studying the work of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme with Miriam McGillis and Jean and Larry Edwards at Genesis Farm.

Taking these passions on the road after retirement, she roamed the west, photographing wildflowers (and everything else.) Now living in Northern California, she posts photos and writes about wildflowers, ecology, botany, spirit, and all things nature on her website:

The Soul of the Earth