Infinite Causes & Universe Story

The Universe Story is a beautiful confluence of science and spirituality. It is the story of the unfolding Universe as emerging through mainstream science, and told as our - all of ours - sacred creation story.

It is aligned with Big Mind and the Big Mind process, seeing the largest whole as that which is beyond and includes all polarities, including that of existence and nonexistence, creation and creator, spirit and matter, individuals and the larger whole, nature and culture, and so on.

And it is aligned with a wide range of explorations and inquiries as we find them in many spiritual traditions.

Exploring infinite causes

One is the exploration of infinite causes: Take any situation, for instance a choice or behavior where there seems to be an "I" involved. Then explore the contributing causes to that situation, choice or behavior. Start with that which is near in space and time, and allow the exploration to expand in widening circles - out in space and back in time.

As we go through this exploration process, and as we do it over again on other situations, there is a realization dawning.

There used to be a vague and general sense of an individual and separate self and doer, of a fragmented and mechanistic universe, of I as a human self and Other as the wider world of phenomena, and maybe of separation and alienation from oneself, others, and the wider universe.

Now, there is a realization of how interconnected it all is. In fact, the Universe is revealed as a one single seamless process. The boundaries between I - as a human being, and Other, as the wider world, does not seem so substantial anymore - maybe to the point of being erased. Now, it seems more as if the whole is acting through this human self. There is little or no room for any individual or separate doer. The whole idea of "I" as a segment of all of this seems far less substantial and real. It seems more and more as if it is just an idea superimposed on this whole.

It may be difficult to take this all in and realize all of its implications. It often takes time to allow it to sink it, to become familiar with this quite different context for the world. To explore what it means for this human life, if it really is the whole acting through and as it.

Ultimately, what we'll find is selflessness. That there is only the whole acting through and as this human self. There is no "I" apart from this whole, and there is not really any "I" there either as there is no "other". Locally, this is experienced as no doer (as a segment of what is), only the doing.

This exploration of infinite causes is really just one way of exploring the Universe Story.

Normally, the Universe Story is told from the birth of time/space and through to the way it is unfolding right now. But in this case, the story is told in reverse - from one particular point in space and time, unravelling some of the infinite contributing causes all the way out to the largest whole and back to the birth of time and space.