Glimpses of a Creative Universe

Our Universe exists as a unified field or whole. Creative energy swirling as atoms, giving rise to molecules, forming galaxies, stars, planets, mountains, rivers and the bodies of all living beings. If this is so, why do we not “see” the world this way, experience our lives for the miracle it is?

The modern technologically “advanced” world that surrounds us is an outgrowth of our civilization’s compartmentalized ways of thinking. For centuries now most modern cultures have taught their people to “conceptualize” the Universe in terms of distinct categories and dualistic divisions.

As a result we have the complex systems and institutions that surround us- governments, corporations, schools, entertainment industries, economic systems, legal systems, prison systems. All of these based on methods of identifying, measuring and manipulating “things” – discrete objects and units.

Many of the problems humans have created- from poverty, war and racism to global warming & environmental destruction- have their roots in our compartmentalized and mechanistic ways of thinking.

As Alan Watts and others have pointed out, most of the “units” we observe around us (humans, trees, birds, forests, rivers) have existed for millions of years in the natural world, while others are very recent creations – products of “civilized” imaginations.

Money and property, for example- the idea of wealth accumulation and “ownership” are conceptions that our ancestors dreamed up fairly recently. Same for the concept of linear historical time, rather than seasonal cyclical time. Most of the social structures and institutions that surround us- school buildings, financial systems, corporate headquarters, military bases and such – move to the mechanistic beat of this structural matrix of time and money.

The architects of modern civilizations dreamed these institutions up and placed them in our world. Consequently, generations of humans have been raised within them, much as ants build colonies and bees create hives to hatch their young.

Unfortunately, just as blinders limit the range of a horse’s vision, the conceptual boxes and physical walls of civilized people tend to screen out deeper understandings about the effects of our actions and our connection to nonhuman worlds.

In reality, the whole Universe pulses with complex interconnections and a mysterious beauty far beyond our imaginations. There’s a deeper truth that our limited conceptions ignores- that the Universe is not something that exists outside of us. You and I are creative living expressions of ALL that is.

We are born of atoms forged in the heart of long gone stars, energized now by the photons of our local sun. Kept alive by the nutrients and air of our Mother World. We are Life manifesting as people, mountains, rivers and trees.

Seeing this deeper truth and experiencing our connection to the Universe is the beginning of wisdom. Sharing that wisdom with others- and using it as the foundation for redesigning the human systems that we build together- is how our world can be re-created and transformed.

~Christopher Chase

Creative Systems Thinking