What does it mean to belong, especially to belong to something greater than ourselves? our existence in the world is sometimes said to be highly improbable. The chain of events that led to each of us being here is so long and so complex, that it is statistically extremely unlikely that anyone or anything like each of us will ever exist in the same form again, in the entire history of the universe. For example, consider the cosmic events that took place to form the atoms in your body, the galaxy that had to form First, the stars that came in when from enormous clouds of interstellar gas and dust, to create the elements that eventually formed the earth, and finally ourselves. And yet it is this larger reality of stars, dust, galaxies and the earth from which we have come. It is our origin, that which has given birth to us.
You might even say that the universe is our cosmic mother. The nourishing matrix from Which we have come, in which we live and grow, and that into, which will eventually die back. The universe is therefore our origin, our deepest nature, and our destiny. Everything arises exists and dissolves into its context. the intimacy of a cosmic nature means that we deeply belong here, that our existence is sewn into the very fabric of the universe, since its beginning, and our lives are inseparable threads in this fabric. recognizing our cosmic origin, nature and destiny, is the beginning, not only of a deeper sense of belonging, but what I call deep trust, trust in the larger process of that which has given birth to us and sustains us in each moment.
Trust in the process that has given birth to the stars that feel the night sky, the elements that make up our bodies, and in the cycles of the earth that bring the seasons and food to our tables. This is a trust that's not based on any particular URL. But on the reliability of the process of the universe itself, things come and go, live and die. And yet the process continues. Even with everything else changes or drops away, this process continues. We are the universe.
So trusting ourselves in our lives, is to place ourselves into the cosmic hands that have shaped us over 14 billion years, and will carry us for the rest of our lives and beyond. Do you trust your hand, then why not trust the process that created your hand and is carried you for 14 billion years to this moment? Deep trust is a way of seeing that everything is always okay. No matter what the circumstances, that there's something reliable to existence that is there when the tide comes in, and when the tide goes out, and even when the tide has disappeared altogether. Deep trust is that which sustains us when everything familiar changes and falls away. Deep trust is a recognition that no matter what happens, the universe has our back.
What might it mean for your life? If you're really recognized that you not only belong here, but that the universe was also here for you in the deepest way possible. Deep trust is trust in the continuing unfoldment of the universe and in our lives and ourselves as expressions of it. trusting the cosmos is also a way of trusting ourselves. Since at the deepest levels of existence, they are one in the same. Einstein is attributed to have one said the most important question a human being can ask is, is the universe friendly?
How each person or culture answers this simple question determines their whole outlook on life, the universe and everything. So, as we look around, what do we notice about the cosmos that might give us hints about whether deep trust is available? Looking around in any given place, what do you notice is the more order disorder. In general, life on Earth seems to know what it's doing. There seems to be a reliable pattern into events on Earth. We see more orders than disorder with reliable patterns of the day and night, summer winter, more structure and form than chaos and randomness.
And yet chaos and change exist. Things Fall Apart and break down. continents shift and the earth changes people and things we love disappear. There's a fine balance between order and chaos between spontaneity and determinism, between nothingness and something that's chaos and unpredictability aren't necessary, since complete order and regularity would be machinelike with no room for novelty. Yet looking around, there's a great deal of novelty and creativity, stars and galaxies are forming. new species are being born.
New ideas and inventions are coming into the world, more space forming within the universe and so on. At the edge of ordering chaos is where the magic happens in ecology The greatest species in energy density is where two bioregions meet in overlap. Where there is creative exchange. In other words, a little bit of chaos, and a semi ordered state. It's also the same with our lives. Don't we all need a little bit of shake up every now and then to keep us on our toes, to maintain our creative edge to feel fully alive.
Creativity lies on the knife edge between order and chaos. Since the universe seems to value creativity, we can trust that if our lives go too far towards either chaos or order, it's likely there eventually be a shift to bring our lives back and to create a balance between the two. As Nietzsche said, you need a little chaos in your soul to give birth to dancing star. Each day we see the sun, moon and stars rise and set with great regularity and consistency. Summer fall, spring and autumn polar summer. Life on Earth is generally reliable and consistent in our daily lives.
While it's true that these cycles change gradually over long periods of time, on the timescales of our lives, they are very regular like clockwork, which is why they've been used as timekeepers for thousands of years. So we live in a world that is generally consistent and reliable, we can have trust that the sun will continue to rise and the earth will continue to turn. Our existence in each moment is also dependent on an enormous confluence of cosmic forces and dynamics, working together consistently and reliably. For example, has the force of gravity ever failed you? Each moment of our lives were held to the earth by a reliable embrace. On atomic level, the atoms and molecules of our bodies are held together by the electromagnetic and strong nuclear forces that have been consistently reliable every moment of our lives.
Where they fail for even a microsecond. Every atom in our body would explode with a force of a nuclear bomb. All the fundamental forces in our lives have been inherently faithless in The beginning of the universe, completely reliable in each moment. On a personal level, notice the consistency and fidelity of your own inner experience. There's always something there some thread of experience, whenever you look, whether you're happy or sad, joyful, confused, or even feeling blank, there's always something there as a you was experiencing this feeling of emotion. Notice it's our attention to these feelings and sensations that comes and goes, not our experience.
You remain there consistently. Nevertheless, your being has a sense of fidelity to it. So this parenting and reliability are two examples of ways that we can begin to trust the universe and ourselves more fully turris more deeply in each moment, and trust that our lives are evolving in trustworthy ways. Whether they're centration or disillusion, living or dying happening.