Brian Thomas Swimme: The Forces of the Universe

"The cosmological forces of the universe pass through us second by second. To be aware of these forces is to touch the ocean of wonder."

Brian Thomas Swimme

Powers of the Universe Brian Thomas Swimme was released by the Center for the Story of the Universe in September 2004 as an eleven-part DVD series. In it, Swimme first identifies, based on empirical observations, a total of ten forces and patterns of the universe, or "cosmological forces," that have shaped the 13.8 billion years of cosmic history, including an eleventh force of "seamlessness," the basis of all other forces; and then shows how these great formative forces, which manifest at all levels of the universe, have shaped human beings. He clarifies how the microcosm reflects the macrocosm—from DNA to star systems, from lungs to galaxies.

By exploring this interconnectedness, we can learn how the forces of the universe move within each of us; how we can align with these universal forces; how we can recognize them in the world and within ourselves; how we can resolve the tensions that divide our planet today; and how we can develop a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Earth. Seeking to synthesize scientific and spiritual worldviews, Brian Thomas Swimme empowers us to discover and re-remember who we truly are in the larger story of life. By grounding scientific theory within a human context, Swimme helps us see the grand challenges of our time as part of the journey of the universe.

There are many ways to characterize the last four centuries of modern science. I personally prefer this one: scientists started out with the assumption that they were studying physical processes that were at work “out there” in stars, hurricanes, dinosaurs, etc. But then one day it dawned on us that we were actually studying the processes that gave birth to us.

Let me give you one example of many. In the mid-twentieth century, the German-American physicist Hans Bethe (1) discovered the complex process by which stars create the various elements in the universe. Just imagine old Hans one night at his desk, pondering his new equations. Suddenly, all this knowledge came to him. Perhaps, as he caught a glimpse of the pen in his fingers, he realized that the carbon elements in his skin, like the phosphorus elements in his brain, were created by the same process he had just expressed in his equations. What a moment it must have been when he suddenly realized that he himself, with his mind and his nervous system, was actually the space where this process had ignited into self-awareness. “The Forces of the Universe” is my attempt to summarize what modern science has learned about the way the universe created us. What a wonderful moment we live in! It is as if we had stumbled upon a stone in some ancient castle and found mysterious plans for our existence—plans that no civilization had ever known before. In the following summaries, I base my conclusions on the now generally accepted scientific knowledge of physics, astronomy, biology, geology, paleontology, and thermodynamics, and I mostly avoid speculative areas of science, such as string theory. I have nothing against speculation. But the planetary shift in which we find ourselves today is so radical that it is useful to proceed in a grounded manner, building our understanding of who we are on the basis of knowledge that we have reason to believe is reliable.

0 Seamless

We begin our approach to these forces of the universe with the generally little understood notion of seamlessness. (2) This is simply my expression for the basis or source of all being, which classical Greek philosophy called apeiron, a concept sometimes translated as the realm of pure potentiality. Some scientists speculate that this primordial ground might even coincide with what we know in particle physics as the “vacuum” or “quantum vacuum.” The mind-boggling idea of a quantum vacuum was first hypothesized in the 1920s and experimentally confirmed in the 1940s. Today we know that the quantum vacuum permeates the entire universe and is a realm that gives rise to a continuous stream of particles and antiparticles. These elementary quanta spontaneously burst into existence and then just as quickly annihilate each other and disappear back into nothingness. Any verbal description of this domain will be adequate in some ways and inadequate in others. I have taken to calling this realm “nothingness” or “nothingness” (3) as a way of indicating that it is not a simple realm of objects. However, the term “seamless” carries the additional meaning of an indivisible sphere, overflowing with subtle connections.

In any case, although our understanding of this area is still very rudimentary, we now know that the universe is more than just a place filled with things. Rather, it is that the separate and distinct beings in the universe all have a common origin. This origin remains involved in the ongoing existence of each thing and its functioning. Every being in the universe is embedded in a dynamic realm of pure creation. (4)

1 Centering

The first cosmological force is centeringCentering represents the universe as a whole, which focuses on itself to give birth to new beings, a new human, a new animal, new molecules.

Consider your own existence. You come from your mother and your father. Your mother and your father come from your four grandparents, and this genetic information is condensed into molecular form in every cell of yours. If you go back far enough to the beginning of the vertebrate world, you will realize that your lungs were formed hundreds of millions of years ago by the life of a certain fish. That the process of forming the lungs carries with it the memory of all that time, which is now present in you. Likewise, the way we digest food first appeared two billion years ago, and the same process, using the same molecules, is at work in you today. Billions of years of the universe are present in us, in our bodies.

But we do not have only knowledge or information within us. We also have energy within us, the power to act. We have energy within us that flows through us from our last meal. It is the energy of the Sun that the Sun poured out and the Earth received and transformed into food. So solar energy flows through us, but the Sun has its energy from hydrogen atoms that receive their energy from the birth of the universe. The energy from the birth of the universe therefore flows through us. In this sense, the universe gathers everything from itself and gives birth to each new being. This is the power of centering.

2 Attraction

The second force is the force attraction. It represents the way the entire universe holds together. At the level of galaxies, we call this force gravitational interaction. Gravity is what holds galaxies in place; it is what holds stars together. At the level of molecules, attraction has another name: it is called electromagnetic interaction. The atoms and molecules in our bodies are held together by the attractive force of electromagnetism. The word attraction it points out all these different forms of attraction.

3 Origin

The third force is emergence. (5) We have discovered that the universe is not a place; it is a story, a story of an irreversible sequence of emergent events. We have long believed that the universe is a fixed sphere whose major creativity occurred only at the beginning of time. Now we understand that the universe is a constantly ongoing creative event. Stars appeared, galaxies were formed, planets emerged, life exploded into existence. This force of emergence could also be called perpetual creativity. In some ways, this is the greatest discovery in the history of science—that the universe as a whole and every being in it is permeated by the force of emergence, the force of emergence.

4 Homeostasis

The fourth force is homeostasis. Homeostasis is the way in which the great deeds of the universe are maintained. The term comes from physiology and originally referred to the way in which the mammalian body maintains its structures. We use the term here more generally to describe how the universe maintains its great achievements, which do not just come and go—the universe cherishes and keeps together its best moments of grandeur.

The oyster shell represents one such remarkable feat that has held together for generations and generations. It is something that has worked beautifully. And the interactions that take place on the planet as a whole have allowed all of this beauty to continue to come into being. The homeostasis of the Earth as a dynamic integrated system holds together its communities, including the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the geosphere.

5 Cataclysm

The fifth force is cataclysm. (6) A cataclysm is a process by which the universe destroys some of its structures—not just in the sense of “accidents” that may occur, but also as part of its ongoing creation. The universe systematically dismantles certain aspects of itself, a process necessary for uninterrupted, vibrant creativity to continue. In other words, the beauty that has characterized 14 billion years of existence would not be possible—as far as science has been able to understand it—without the process of cataclysm.

6 Synergy

The sixth force is synergy. (7) A synergistic relationship is one that gives rise to causal factors in the universe that would not otherwise exist. One of the most striking examples of this relationship concerns elementary particles such as neutrons and protons. For example, if a neutron were alone, it would decay in a matter of minutes. However, if the same neutron were put into a relationship with one or more protons, it could easily exist for billions of years. This is one way synergy works in quantum physics. In biology, synergy can be understood as a collaborative connection to achieve strategies that are increasingly successful in the grand drama of life. Synergy essentially demonstrates the ontological power of relationship.

7 Transmutation

The number seven is strength transmutation, the force of transformation by which the universe sometimes insists, no matter what, that something new will come into being. The universe never seems completely satisfied. Why didn’t it simply calm down and relax when it had hydrogen and helium atoms? When the Earth finally formed and bacteria formed, why didn’t the universe just say, “I’m taking a break today?” Isn’t it enough that tiny bits of Earth are literally teeming with life? Clearly not. Our universe is a self-transcending community of beings, and transcendence is often a necessity in it. This means that the universe often finds itself at a crossroads, faced with a terrible choice: either transmute itself into a new form or disappear from the story.

8 Transformation

Transformation, the force associated with transmutation, is a process in which change occurs throughout a society or community. It is an interconnected and self-reinforcing dynamic: transmuted individuals stimulate the growth of new organizing codes that create a community in which new individuals are increasingly likely to undergo transmutation. And so on. Transformation is the way in which the entire system progresses.

9 Interdependence

The number nine is strength. interconnectedness (8) – the power of integrity and connection. It could even be called “wholeness.” It is because of it that every being in the universe depends in various ways on every other being in the universe. For example, our own existence depends on the tiny organisms in the Pacific Ocean as much as it depends on the activity of protons in the Sun. Seen from the outside, it is the power of interconnectedness; seen from the inside, it is the power of care or compassion.

10 Radiation

The tenth and final cosmological force is radiation. It is a force that is directly related to the second law of thermodynamics. In its simplest form, this law states that any being that has energy will radiate that energy. In short, to radiate is a law of the universe. This is true of everything we explore. Even the coldest clusters of the tiniest hydrogen atoms in the darkest night of intergalactic space are content to give off photons of light moment by moment. To me, the force of radiation is a manifestation of a mysterious process whereby the universe seems unable to contain the magnificence that is within it; instead, it is forced to express itself in countless different ways.

The text was translated and the illustrations selected by Jiří Zemánek. The illustrations come from the cycles of cosmological drawings by the American painter and cosmologist Mary Conrow Coelho.

Footnotes

1. Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906-2005) was one of the most important physicists of the 20th century. He explained the principle of thermonuclear reactions in stars that create heavier elements, which marked a turning point in the understanding of stars. He received the Nobel Prize in 1967 for his paper on this topic.
2. In the English original "seamlessness" – also uniformity, coherence.
3. In the English original "nothingness".
4. In the English original "pure generativity" – also pure fertility.
5. In the English original "emergence" – also emergence, arising, development, evolution.
6. In the English original "cataclysm" – also destruction, disaster.
7. In the English original "synergy"- also cooperation.
8. In the English original "interrelatedness"- also a two-way relationship.