Cosmology: The Spiritual Implications

My understanding of life has changed a great deal since I was a child. I remember learning about evolution in grade school. The evolution of life on Earth was depicted as a seamless process with one form of life evolving to the next until human beings emerged.

I also learned to think of the Earth as the center of life. While the Earth revolved around the Sun, there was something unique and special about our solar system and planet Earth. Planet Earth was presented as being the best world in all creation.

Within my life time, the general understanding of human life and our place in the universe has changed a great deal. Scientists were aware that the perceptions held by most people weren’t correct. But it wasn’t until Carl Sagan’s historic show, Cosmos, aired in 1980 that average people became aware that things were far different from what we had understood. Sagan carefully explained that our solar system was one of billions in the cosmos. In fact, we were floating in the far reaches, the back-waters of the known universe. Earth and humanity weren’t central in this cosmic picture. Nor was it likely that life on Earth was unique.

Since 1980, common knowledge about science and cosmology has grown. Many astrophysicists believe that ours is likely to be but one of many universes that make up the cosmos. While we have not yet encountered life we can recognize on other planets, given the sheer size and age of the universe, and given our great distance from other parts of the universe, encountering other forms of life with our current level of technological development is a very difficult process.

More interesting to me is this: we know today that evolution on Earth was not an unbroken chain. Instead, there were five extinction events that wiped most of life from the face of the Earth. Following each extinction event, life reorganized and emerged in different ways from what had been previously dominant on the planet. In other words, life on Earth moved from a time when trilobites were the primary species. Later came the age of the dinosaurs. Our latest chapter of the story of life on Earth features the genus “homo” – all the various forms of “human-like” beings that have lived over the last two and a half million years.

While I was taught to view homo sapiens – modern human beings – as the pinnacle of creation, that understanding simply doesn’t fit within our actual cosmic story. It is true that human beings have a unique the level of consciousness. We have developed the ability to reflect and understand many aspects of the scope of life on our planet and in the cosmos. However, it is arrogant to assume that we are the final stage of the development of life, the apex of evolution.

In all likelihood, some series of events will occur (probably of our own making) that will lead to the sixth extinction event of our species. Given that the Sun has lived only about half of its life, I expect that future beings on Earth will learn about us millions of years from now by digging in about two inches of dirt that will become the fossil record for the genus “homo.”

While our religious and cultural metaphors reflect our belief that we are unique and special, the cosmological facts cause me to go beyond these metaphors when reflecting upon what it means to be human. Further, the way in which we understand our humanity is an essential aspect to our understanding of spirituality.

Perhaps it will help to explain my point by using an analogy to explain how our growing awareness of life on Earth and Earth’s place in the cosmos can impact how we understand human history. I grew up looking at maps of the work that placed the North Americas in the center. The United States was most prominent on these maps. For this view of the world to fit on a map, the Eurasian land mass had to be unnaturally split in half. Further, the continents of South America and Africa were always depicted in smaller scale than they really are. These maps present a very skewed and overly interpreted view of the world. From the perspective of this kind of map, how would someone looking at the map interpret a country like New Zealand? After all, New Zealand was at the bottom in a far off corner. It was difficult to find. Given where it’s located on the map, how could New Zealand be of any value or hold any importance? That’s the impression a viewer of a map of the world depicting North America as central would have of New Zealand.

I’ve been to New Zealand. It’s one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The country is green and lush and unique in its terrain. Indeed, New Zealand is far away from North America and Europe. It’s not a jumping off destination to any other place. People only go to New Zealand because they choose to go. But in its isolation and with its unique terrain, there’s something very special about the two islands that make up this small country.

Essentially, I think that understanding our cosmological story and our place in the universe is like learning to look at the type of map I described from the perspective held by New Zealand rather than the perspective of the United States. New Zealand has never been a global power or great economic force. Most people on the planet will never visit New Zealand or learn much about its unique history, geography, and culture. Yet, it’s a rare jewel on planet Earth. It’s special because it is remote and in many ways very pristine when compared with other countries. It’s such a magical place that it’s the natural setting for movies about hobbits and faeries and quests for goodness.

Yes, the place of Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy is much like New Zealand’s place in a world dominated by North America. We’re not in the center of it all with everything focused on our greatness. We’re in a hard to get to part of the cosmos far from the initial Big Bang. Our arrogant understanding of our place within the order of the cosmos caused us to think of humanity as more important than anything else in the universe. That’s simply not true. We are merely one form of life on planet Earth and, I would suggest, one expression of the dynamic Creative Energy in the cosmos. While we are something of beauty and wonder, much like New Zealand, we’re really just a small part of the cosmos – hardly noticeable to the rest. Perhaps with this truth as a starting point, we can begin to come to a new understanding of what it means to be human – creatures who play a small part in the cosmic story.