We've been seeing that we are part of a dynamic, evolving universe. In fact, for more than just a part, we are the latest expression of a nearly 14 billion year process of change and transformation. Looking from this cosmic perspective, we can see that the universe is not just a collection of disconnected separate objects, but a magnificent, unified and continuous process that includes ourselves and everything around us as part of its evolution and unfoldment. This dynamic evolutionary process involves both centration the coming together of different parts to form holes, and Cataclysm, the dissolution of these holes into smaller parts, which will eventually be used to form new and different configurations over time. And so the universe moves forward and onward, through these two interrelated processes. bringing new forms into existence from earlier forms, then letting them Go so that future forms can come together.

We see this process not only at work in the stars and galaxies above our heads, but as part of the earth process beneath our feet and all around us, old form dissolving new forms arising, coming and going, going and coming. We also find the same process in ourselves with new tails forming, old ones dissolving, and the composition of our bodies, minds and emotions, changing day by day and moment by moment. Like everything else in the in the universe, we are more process than form more change than permanent structure. And this universal process has been going on every moment 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for nearly 14 billion years without a single hiccup. Chances are, it's a reliable process and something we can trust in our lives. Given that everything is continuously changing, change itself must be the most reliable process.

We know about This raises the question, what is it that continues when everything else changes? I would propose that it is our ongoing moment to moment conscious experience that continues. Our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions change constantly, but our consciousness, that is the awareness of these thoughts, feelings and perceptions, remains consistent throughout, always present, always completely itself. Like the open sky, within which clouds storms and sunshine, come and go. Our consciousness, like the open sky, remains pure and untouched, completely itself, while the contents of consciousness the different experiences of our life come and go. If we can be in contact with this consciousness in a continuous way, this unyielding spacious awareness that is the essence of who we truly are.

And we can find a sense of restful acceptance to the many comings and goings, the little livings and dying that take place in US and around us. Each day of our lives, and so it is with the universe as well. stars, planets and galaxies also come and go. And yet the overall process of the universe continues. Both the contents of the universe and the contents of our consciousness are always changing, and it's the essence of them both remain the same. So learning to trust this essential process is learning to belong to and rely upon something greater than our usual self, learning to trust our true nature and reality ever more deeply.

By trusting our lives in our ongoing experience, we are trusting the process which gave birth to and sustains the universe, since its essence in our own are the same. From the cosmic perspective, we see that we are the cosmos showing up in human form. After 14 billion years of creative evolutionary work. We're the latest fingers and hands at the universe doing its work in the small perfect self as ourselves in our lives. Our existence is therefore woven into things Africa reality with each of us and everything around us has a beautiful pattern and the entire tapestry of the of the universe. So trusting the universe means trusting ourselves and our lives as they are.

And as they will be, as the ever changing froth cresting on the wave of evolution, that dynamic cosmic pattern morphing and changing over time, the creative edge of what's happening in the greater cosmic reality. In the next segment, we'll explore what it means to truly belong from this expanded perspective, and what we can rely upon in ever changing universe. So stay tuned.