The Changing Universe

Change is the law of existence. Heraclitus reportedly pointed out you could never step into the same river twice. Wiser than him who opined there is nothing new under the sun.

The critical change which has occurred is a change in knowledge. We don’t know whether this has flowered in other places in the universe, but it is going on here, and it is the most amazing manifestation of reality thus far! Most of our detailed knowledge of cosmology came into being only during the last century or so,

The universe apparently began some 15 billion years ago with reality infinitely compressed. Energy expanded and converted partially into matter. With that, both space and time came into being. It is mistaken thinking to ask what went before, or what is there outside of. This is the finite universe.

Matter was not equally distributed. It tended to clump into galactic island with vast space intervening. Stars formed. The speed of light is one of the most basic constants of the cosmos. Around certain stars, drifting debris coalesced into planets, with varying composition and properties. Our earth, probably around 5 billion years old, circling a midsized star in the Milky Way galaxy, ended up with a moderate climate, enough water for numerous purposes, and a vivifying atmosphere.

In this friendly environment, life occurred, and moved forward. With whatever admixture of inevitability, plan or happenstance, the river of life flowed through mammalian species into the human race. And then the fun began. Modern man has been around for roughly 200,000 years. 20 to 30 thousand years ago, the pace quickened. Over the last 5 thousand years, culture exploded, although it may not have seemed like much of an explosion at the time. Recently, on the evolutionary clock, classical culture occurred, to be followed by the tremendous flowering of Christianity, in Europe. In what is but a blink of the cosmic eye, we have discovered not only this history, which is in itself quite novel, but also its internal mechanisms. Knowing not only that, but to a large extent, how.

As a human phenomenon, this is amazing. As a cosmic phenomenon, here is this infinitesimally tiny part of the real estate of the universe, organized according to forces and elements within the system, developing the capacity to know, and turning back on the universe of its origin so as, in knowledge, to understand the process itself. What the outcome of this change will be remains to be seen.

We are tenders of our planet, our home. The practical problems may appear overwhelming. There is none greater than the extreme inequity in the distribution of human goods and skills. We have a great deal of work to do, and many responsibilities to respond to. But, we need also to comprehend our own process, and to participate in its continuing development and expression.