Human Self & Earth :: Big Mind & Space **
I watched The Right Stuff last night, about the Mercury astronauts. I am a sucker for anything related to space, so I found it fascinating and well done too.
Human Self & Earth
It reminded me of how I used to be fascinated with the correlation between the Earth as a whole and ourselves as a mind/body whole. It seems that they go hand in hand.
Experiencing ourselves at a centaur level (in Ken Wilber's terminology) and experiencing the Earth as one living system seems to be two sides of the same coin, in theory and practice. Those engaged in mind/body practices such as yoga, tai chi, chi gong, breema and so on, also tends to be interested in sustainability and see the Earth as a living whole.
In a way, it is all part of the green phase in the Spiral Dynamics model.
I still see it this way today, but the fascination with it has faded - maybe it seems too ordinary and familiar now.
Big Mind & Space
So if there is a correlation between experiencing ourselves as a whole at a human level and seeing the Earth as a seamless living whole, can we take the analogy further?
To me, it seems that the answer is yes.
There is a rough analogy between space and Big Mind.
Through the Universe Story, we see that experiencing the universe as one process - beyond and including most or all polarities, can lead us into Big Mind.
Exploring outer and inner space both leads us into a deepening transdual view. And both are the final frontiers, as we see them today.
Inner & Outer Explorations
So we can say that in the first case, we explore the whole at a local level: ourselves as a whole beyond and including psyche and body, and the Earth as a whole beyond and including all its various subsystems, both ecological and cultural.
And in the second case, we explore the whole at a wider level: Ourselves as Big Mind beyond and including all polarities, and the Universe as a whole similarly beyond and including most or all polarities.
Again, there is a beautiful symmetry here.