Customer Reviews

The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story

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I personally found this book both extremely inspiring and enjoyable to read. Swimme's method of unveiling the truth about advertisments and consumerism and how they shape our veiw of reality is ingenious. At the same time, the book takes you on a scientific journey of the universe that incorporates feelings of mystical awe and wonder that many books fail to acomplish. I have read everything from Fred Wolfe to Brian Greene. However, Swimme envokes a deeper feeling of appreciation for science, the workings of our universe, and humanity in general. All his books, especially this one, have something new to say and add a human touch to science that is long overdue. This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill new age book and I recommend it to anyone who is passionate about preservation of the environment or just plain curious about new ideas concerning reality and the world we live in.

Brian Schwimme has an archaic nostalgia. For thousands, even millions, of years, people have united together to marvel at the mystery of the cosmos and contemplate the essence of it all. It was the same macrocosm that each and everyone of the primitive cave dwellers to modern man have directly experienced. But nowadays, we don't do that. We disenchant the world by scientific explanations that view the universe as a machine, to the point where the mathematical explanations of phenomena are more significant than phenomena itself. You might be thinking, no way, the majority of the world is religious, and contemplate such things regularly. He points out that the problem with modern day religious thought is that when we ponder the deep questions of meaning in the universe, we do so in a context fixed in the time when the classical scriptures achieved their written form, rather than worshiping in the context of the universe as we have come to know it over the recent centuries. Such knowledge is restricted to "science" which is at odds with religion. It shouldn't be like this. The Scientific Revolution was an age of this separation. The current cosmology calls for an age of integration. I am all for this goal of striving for a new consciousness. Within our Newtonian minds, we've built such tiny worlds like this, which resulting from the machine view of a dead universe, we apotheosize and deify consumerism. This book doesn't bicker about God or anything that people don't want to hear, it's just saying, "Wake up from this man made world, cast back the veil from your eyes, be at one with this LIVING fecund universe!" You will truly be LIVING in the world once you appreciate the heart of the cosmos, which all though is around 15 billion light years away, is also every where at once. There is no restriction to science. The new cosmology is what has mystified the men of all ages, what they spoke of as the Tao, or the Logos - the emanating source of all creation.

Brian Swimme is a very passionate man who is well-versed in science and cosmology. At the same time, he is a deeply intuitive man and deep feeler. This book is an introduction to his point of view on man's nature to the cosmos and the necessity for not becoming disconnected to nature and the wonder and awe of the universe. It stresses the interdependence of everything and focuses on the mystery and awe of the universe and the world of nature. This is something most of us have been taken for granted at least at times. In short, it is an invitation to step of the treadmill of the daily grind to look at the big picture and be inspired by feeling our way into the improbability of it and the heart that is ultimately at the center of the universe. Brian believes every child should be introduced to the story of the cosmos and his unique place in it as the culmination of billions of years of evolution. He espouses a return to feeling part of the creation rather than acting on it as an object. If more people did this kind of reflection, I'm sure the world would be a better and safer place.

This book falls somewhere between the cerebral 'Universe Story' and the poetic 'The Universe is a Green Dragon'. Brian is struggling to bring the beauty and feeling of the universe into perspective with the consumerism which rules the day. If you had to pick a single book by Swimme, it would be 'The Universe is a Green Dragon'

This is a scarey honest book about our society and it's values. But Dr. Swimme also offers an alternative. If you are absolutely certain of your beliefs and have all the answers you need about life, you will not like this book. It is for people who may not yet know everything.

Brian Thomas Swimme (born 1950) is a mathematical cosmologist on the faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he teaches courses on evolutionary cosmology. He was also a faculty member of the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality from 1983-1989, and is presently adjunct professor at the Sophia Center. He has also written Journey of the Universe, and co-authored (with Thomas Berry) The Universe Story : From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos and Meditations with Thomas Berry: With additional material by Brian Swimme.

He wrote in the Preface to this 1996 book, "The question I consider in this present volume is perhaps the most ancient of all. '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 into existence?' Relying on the discoveries of the modern scientific enterprise, and in particular of twentieth-century cosmology and quantum physics, we confront this perennial question not with any naive expectation that we will now answer with certitude questions which have eluded our ancestors, but with the hope that we too might become just as engaged by the questions, and just as baffled and amazed by the answers... all of these meditations will begin within the context of the evolution of the cosmos, and will be guided by a single, unifying concern: 'What does it mean to exist, as a human, in this vast unfolding universe? What is our role here? What is our destiny?'"

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"(W)e would say that science aims at an understanding of the Earth's rotational and revolutionary movements around the Sun, while cosmology aims at embedding a human being in the numinous dynamics of our solar system." (Pg. 31)
"In terms of our children, we can't, with a snap of our fingers, transform their education from industrial to Ecozoic, where by 'Ecozoic' I mean a form of education that would initiate our children into the ways of the universe... But we can begin to make a difference. We can begin by introducing our children and ourselves to the universe. We can start by showing them they are part of a Big Picture; they have a place and a role in this enveloping activity. In time, if they are fortunate, they will eventually learn to regard all the things of the world, even the briefest breath of the tiniest gnat, as woven into a single, comprehensive whole." (Pg. 58)
"The consciousness that learns it is at the origin point of the universe is itself an origin of the universe. The awareness that bubbles up each moment that we identify as ourselves is rooted in the originating activity of the universe. We are all of us arising together at the center of the cosmos." (Pg. 112)

I wish everyone would read this book. This is a small and easy to read book that is very potent. It gives many ideas and the how to, to see each one of us in a larger perspective. It talks about our connection to the cosmos and galaxies and that helps us redefine ourselves in a larger realm of reality. I love the reminders of nature and sky and star gazing to bring people back to what is real and grounding. He talks about worshipping advertisements as the most zealous religion nowadays, and it is true. Children can whistle ad jingles easily but can't distinguish bird sounds. He challenges the world view and I think that is great.