If our lives aren't ultimately about acquiring and filling our lives with material objects and stuff, then what are they about? What guidance can we find from the cosmic perspective about our tiny flickering existence here on earth? I would like to suggest the following. That happiness comes from participating fully in our cosmic nature and heritage. In other words, knowing our origins and who we are, from a cosmic perspective, can help us orient to what's truly important. Many people derive a sense of happiness, fulfillment, and purpose, by contributing to and being a part of something larger than themselves.

What could be bigger and being a part of and contributing to the evolutionary Cosmos itself, knowing that we are the unique expression of something much larger than ourselves. This personal connection to and participation with the larger perspective leads us to the next Cosmic inside our lives are interwoven with the life of the cosmos. From the cosmic perspective, each of us is an unbroken thread of cosmic process that stretches back to the very beginning of time and indefinitely forward into the future. For the atoms that make up our body, to the energy flowing in our brain and nervous system, we are the latest living our incarnation of matter and energy has been flowing for since the beginning 13.7 billion years ago. We are literally the universe expressing itself in a unique way, in a specific location at a particular time. This is tremendously empowering to realize that we are each as much the universe as Saturn.

The Orion Nebula or the Andromeda galaxy, is a kind of enlightenment that is as much spiritual as scientific. Recognizing both our human nature and cosmic inheritance gives us perspective as both cosmic and personal Hey, And shows that our own lives and contributions are linked to the journey work of the stars themselves, and evolution of the universe as a whole. seeing ourselves as part of a cosmic process, called the universe can give us access to source of inspiration, support, and meaning we might not otherwise have access to from a more limited perspective. When we see that we are the universe expressing itself uniquely in our particular location as us in our lives, our lives take on a new significance and meaning nowhere else over the entire history of the cosmos has mattered energy come together in the same way, as it has right where we are now.

This also means that the very same dynamics that have shaped the universe, over billions and billions of years are at work and shaping ourselves in our lives right now. The forces and dynamics that govern and shape the formation of the universe, and that gave birth the stars and the galaxies of the night sky. Right here work on Earth and in ourselves in our lives. The idea that the universe expresses itself equally uniquely at every point within itself is sometimes referred to as aamna centrism. The perspective that every part of the universe is the center of the universe is expansion and action. One of the remarkable discoveries of 20th century cosmology is that the universe is expanding equally everywhere within itself, and everywhere within itself is the center of its cosmic expansion.

One way of visualizing this is to imagine the dough of enormous loaf of raisin bread, rising and expanding equally in the oven as it is baked. The raisins in this example represent galaxies, and the dough between them is expanding. Since every place in the reason bread and universe are expanding equally, no single point can be said to be the only Center. This means the center of the universe is in the Andromeda galaxy, and the core of the sun and within each one of us as well. This leads us to our next cosmic insight. Insight number five is we are each unique centers of experience in action for the universe.

Um, the centrism empowers us by demonstrating that the same cosmic dynamics are equally available in at work in every place in the cosmos. We've already seen that the same energies that were present at the beginning of the universe. Now flow now flow through our veins, hearts and minds, the very same energies in dynamics that shaped the course of the first galaxies that created the brilliant cores of stars that formed the fertile earth and all inhabitants. Now find the expression through us and everything around us to recognize that we are made of the same forces and energies that gave birth to the universe, and you continue to shape this action and evolution is no small thing. Connecting ourselves in our lives to the dynamics that shape the vast stretch of comics fans in history can be tremendously empowering. This leads us to the next cosmic insight in our journey.

The powers and dynamics of the universe find their expressions through us in our lives. These powers represent the various ways the universe expresses his vast potential through action, the common set of laws, forces in dynamics that shaped the cosmos everywhere, from the lives of the stars to our own lives. These dynamics are the general principles of reality, life and existence, that flow through all things. Some of these are the physical laws, the fundamental forces, the processes that govern the interaction of light and matter, that dynamics of gravity, space and time. But there are other dynamics, more qualitative and experiential principles that shape the universe in our own lives, and very personally relevant ways. The cosmologists Brian swim has referred to them as the cosmological powers.

Others have called them the universal principles or the forces of life dynamics such as centration, dissolution, attraction, transmutation, interrelatedness radiance are examples of some of the cosmic principles that we find acting everywhere in the universe. These the life principles that are present In every center of action for the universe, from our lives to the universe as a whole, and the next series of lectures we will explore to these are especially relevant for exploration centration and dissolution as two examples of these cosmic dynamics, expressed principles of life and death on both a cosmic and a personal scale. So stay tuned and see you next time.