Awakening of Humanity: the Dawning of a New Earth and Unitive Age by Light on Light

Awakening of Humanity: the Dawning of a New Earth and Unitive Age

by Doug King, Jude Currivan PhD, and Kurt Johnson PhD with a Spotlight by Robert Atkinson PhD 1

Awakening of Humanity: the Dawning of a New Earth and Unitive Age

by Doug King, Jude Currivan PhD, and Kurt Johnson PhD with a Spotlight by Robert Atkinson PhD

Copyright © 2023 All rights reserved Awakening Of Humanity: the Dawning of a New Earth and Unitive Age This book offers a unitive reframing of the foundational elements, worldviews, and deeper ontological aspects of reality for understanding the universe as a true superorganism. Integrating theological, cosmological, philosophical, universal wisdom traditions, and interspiritual perspectives, the authors arrive at a universal identity of humanity consistent with our individual and collective roles within the wholeness-in-motion of the entire creation as an invitation that this will lead to further dialogue and exploration in our re-membering who we really are and who we can evolve to become. In certain sections the collaborating authors intentionally favor wording and expressions of the first author (the theologian) in order to facilitate the express purpose of addressing theological narratives. Published by Light on Light Press www.lightonlight.us Rev. Shannon Marie Winters, MS Managing Editor, Light on Light Publications David Winters Creative Designer, Light on Light Publications

Introductions From Dr. Kurt Johnson at Light on Light Light on Light is pleased to be publishing, as an “e-publication” [electronic publication], this preview of a longer term initiative of these authors. In my 2013 book The Coming Interspiritual Age, the first paragraph asked this central question about humanity’s ability to adapt— “The dawn of the Third Millennium presented humankind with a dilemma. Will the skill that has characterized our species and propelled its development continue to sustain us, or will competition for power and resources lead to escalating conflict and our eventual extinction? ….. Our level of consciousness, self-awareness, and intelligence distinguished us from other species—most notably our ability to problem-solve by identifying the relationship of cause and effect. This ability separated us from Earth’s other creatures, allowing us to out-compete all our competitors and extend our civilization to nearly every corner of the planet.” Will we be able to continue to adapt successfully—and in ways that serve both us and everything of which we are a part? Asking this question is what has led us to identify central elements we believe will be essential for a worldview enabling such ongoing adaptation—at best not only to survive but thrive. 1

In the words of interspiritual pioneer Br. Wayne Teasdale: “We need to understand, to really grasp on an elemental level, that the definitive revolution is the spiritual awakening of humankind.”1 The Coming Interspiritual Age was published by Namaste Publishing soon after their publication of Eckhart Tolle’s bestseller A New Earth. And, my co-author—Rev. David Robert Ord—was an editor of A New Earth (and is now an editor at Light on Light). The title A New Earth is rooted in the Judeo-Christian narrative (Isaiah 65:17): “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.” And this is the root as well of the work of another one of us, Doug King—“Conversation for a New Earth”—“Integral Theology” at www.presence.tv. The question that I, Doug King, and cosmologist Dr. Jude Currivan, author of The Cosmic Hologram and The Story of Gaia have asked is—What are the foundational elements that could comprise a shared, successful, worldview for a global cosmopolitan civilization that could—in the words of the moniker of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—“work for all”? In framing our answer, we felt this foundation was likely a combination of: 1) the convergent understandings from science’s most recent knowledge and based on evidence at all scales and across numerous fields of research 2) the combined heritage of our world’s Great Wisdom Traditions—Interspirituality and 2

3) the most current available philosophies that are truly “Integral” in nature (that allow all elements of reality to communicate skillfully with each other and, in which “nothing is left out”) Each of these is central to a true comprehension of our origins— and the nature of the reality in which we live. To this we add a fourth, inherent, element—the skillful employment of our most recent technology. In this context we set out realizing rather quickly that we wanted to share, as soon as possible and as a preview, ideas and visions from these foundations—so the conversation could be opened punctually, but then also furthered with the time and care necessary for the project to realize its fullest capacity and potential. Soon thereafter, it did not surprise us, in our Light on Light Press editing of its most recent book (October 2023) The Great Upshift: Humanity’s Coming Advance Toward Peace and Harmony on the Planet—“Roadmaps for Planetary Activists”—(Ervin Laszlo, David Lorimer and thirty-five Global Thought Leaders) that a half dozen authors in that book identified these same elements as foundational in one sequence or another. Thus, at the incipient stage of this writing, I would summarize that the elements of understanding the universe as a true superorganism—in the context of points 1-3 above (and the breadth of the implications of same)—would need to include (i) comprehension of the scientific cosmology, quantum realities, holographic foundations etc. (at all scales), (ii) ideas of how these are embodied in biological organisms (anywhere and at all scales), and (iii) ideas of how this would relate to the combined “Akashic 3

Fields” (conventionally, the “spirit worlds”) of all such organisms. This is challenging indeed since much of conventional science would likely not recognize the latter two elements as “real,” and yet they are inherent within the understandings of our world’s diverse Wisdom Traditions.

An Introduction by Doug King My path leading to this e-publication is grounded in the reframing of long held theological views handed down over the last 2,000 years. Our non-profit, Presence.tv, has been working in the field of theology for quite some time with roots going back to the early 1970’s. One of the major areas of our work was Biblical Cosmology. This field has been primarily restricted to the Christian religion. Our reframing proposed Biblical Cosmology as universal to the entire global family. In other words, we propose theology as a worldcentric narrative. In the 90’s I was introduced to the work of Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics, as well as the Integral writings of Ken Wilber. The Spiral model was both developmental and historical. Although it was not a theological model it was well suited for interpretation of the Biblical Narrative. The first tier, second tier structure fit the cosmology of the Biblical Narrative. The New Heavens and Earth were like second tier. It was a space of unity and interconnectivity. I have been using the Spiral since then as an interpretive key for understanding the movement in the Narrative from ethnocentric to world-centric. For example, in John’s Revelation he notes regarding the new earth, “ALL NATIONS walk in its light.” And also, “the presence of God dwells within humanity.” (No separation). When Eckhart Tolle released A New Earth I saw once again a direct correlation with our proposed Biblical Cosmology. Eckhart talked about form and formlessness. The initial cosmology of Genesis 1 5

detailed a heaven and earth of forms or things. The new heaven and earth denoted a space without boundaries and beyond measurement, therefore related to formlessness. Shortly after its publishing, I encountered The Coming Interspiritual Age by Dr. Kurt Johnson and Rev. David Robert Ord. I contacted Kurt and invited him to our home in Colorado Springs for discussions about his exciting insights. It so happened that Kurt was on the way to a Father Thomas Keating event in Snowmass and he added a stop to our place. Since that time, I have been in numerous discussions with Kurt about our integral approach to theology. Around this same time frame, I read The Song of The Earth, coedited and co-authored by Dr. William Keepin. Will’s book introduced me to the work of physicist David Bohm and the concept of an Explicate and Implicate order. Science now added to our approach to Biblical Cosmology. The initial cosmology of Genesis 1 was related to an Explicate order of forms or things and the Implicate order aligned with our proposals around the nature of a new heaven and earth—a nature of unity, interconnectivity and relationality. My exposure to physics and the quantum world was greatly expanded when I discovered The Cosmic Hologram by Dr. Jude Currivan. Jude’s books, as well as ongoing discussions with Jude, deepened my “lay-persons” knowledge and gave me an understanding of the universal holomovement concepts. In addition, there’s been a push for recognizing the importance of a global holomovement by those such as Emanuel Kuntzelman who along with Jill Robinson, co-edited The Holomovement, Embracing Our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity. 6

This e-publication uses illustrations and diagrams that pull together the elements of holomovement and the latest cosmological discoveries, along with the role of Spiral Dynamics and spiritual concepts like those of Eckhart Tolle to set the stage for further discussions focused upon the world of narratives. These elements are used in my work on an integral approach to theology to further validate the universal identity of humanity, moving beyond separation paradigms. The result will have dramatic impact on past theological teachings and diverse interpretations of religion (specifically Christianity) and open the door for new conversations—global conversations for a new Earth.

An Introduction by Dr. Jude Currivan Since I was very young, my life journey has been one of ongoing curiosity, with my favorite word (as my mom would attest), being “Why.” Throughout more than six decades, my fascination and focus has been to perceive the deeper nature of the world, and as Doug will share later in our e-publication, exploring the implicate and explicate realms/dimensions of its unfolding. While I wasn’t aware until much later of this terminology, as coined by theoretical physicist David Bohm in the early 1980s, I was, through an inter-weaving of direct experience and studies of the tenets of what Kurt refers to as Interspirituality, keenly aware and appreciative of these ontological aspects of reality. My continuing quest of inner and outer discovery has welcomed and honored universal and indigenous wisdom teachings and traditions – from my studies, learning and travels to more than eighty countries and with gratitude for both incarnate and multidimensional discarnate guidance throughout. My curiosity, however, has been grounded in the manifest world and an embodied urge to discover how its forms and phenomena somehow emerge from my experiential perception and insights – and vitally “How” they do so. This also led to my additional and life-long focus on the processes and discoveries of science; gaining a Masters degree from Oxford University specializing in quantum physics and cosmology and much later a PhD in anthropological archaeology from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom researching ancient 8

cosmologies – and seeking to understand both in ancient times and now, how our cosmologies and worldviews aim to explain our place in the world. What I soon appreciated though is a conundrum in that ancient cosmologies based their understanding within a perception of an innately meaningful and purposeful Cosmos, whereas modern science with a much greater ability to discern the appearance of our Universe, has come to view it though a lens of materialism and separation, seeing it as being devoid of meaning and bereft of purpose. Instead, like some of the leading pioneers of twentieth century science – Planck, Einstein, Schrodinger, Bohm and others both before and now a rapidly growing number since, described in recent books such as those by Paul Mills and by David Lorimer and Marjorie Woollacott and in scientific collaborations by for example by the Galileo Commission and in its Report Beyond Materialist Science, my own conclusions are based on a growing convergence of leading-edge science and universal wisdom and spirituality-based teachings and traditions. In recent years scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, as I’ll briefly contribute in this e-publication are providing wide-ranging evidence that is enabling an emergent cosmology of an essentially living, sentient and nonlocally unified Universe. And the award of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics attests to the ‘settled science’ of such universal wholeness as a foundational requisite. I write of the evidence from cosmology, physics, chemistry, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, our collective behaviors and more—and revealing its vital relevance to our every day lives and the choices we make—in my most recent books, The 9

Cosmic Hologram (2017) and The Story of Gaia (2022) and also co-founded in 2017 WholeWorld-View website www.wholeworldview.org to share the understanding and invite the experiencing and embodying of such unitive awareness and with its universal unity expressed and embodied in radical diversity. In doing so, it also enables a new and unitive narrative to be drafted and originally by members of the SDG Thought Leaders Synergy Circle of the Evolutionary Leaders and both with specific SDG and generic versions [see References] that, I hope, can inspire and empower transformational change and underpin, frame and support our collective conscious evolution. My intention and hope for our co-authored e-publication is to help facilitate an exploration and dialogue and that by inviting us to act local, feel global and think cosmic! can contribute to what is perhaps the most important and urgent call and choice of our time—an invitation to re-member who we really are—and who we might choose to consciously co-evolve to become.

Awakening of Humanity: the Dawning of a New Earth and Unitive Age Universal Holomovement As The Unitive Narrative by Doug King, Jude Currivan PhD, and Kurt Johnson PhD with a Spotlight by Robert Atkinson PhD

Proposal: The Universal Holomovement is the story or narrative of the evolution of our Universe and contains within it many of the underlying principles of spiritual narratives based upon unity. We will discuss how these holomovement principles also underlie wisdom narratives and all other spiritual narratives from indigenous forward throughout human history. In The Holomovement, Kuntzelman and Robinson describe a global holomovement as a “movement of all movements.” We might also frame this concept as a unitive “narrative of narratives.”

Use of the VENN Diagram: Throughout our approach to the holomovement we will be using VENN diagrams to illustrate certain principles so we might further connect those principles to other types of narratives as well. 11

The VENN depicts various ways of understanding movement or process from one thing to another. The center of the VENN will be used to depict the 2-way flow of the holomovement. This flow will illustrate a number of ways our Universe has evolved and also helps to define a number of unifying concepts that show up in other narratives. As we see these principles in our Universe and then in our spiritual narratives, our desire to pursue convergence is enhanced by the way we can discern whether any narrative aligns with, or conflicts with, these universal principles. This alignment of the holomovement narrative and our numerous and diverse other narratives should always arise from unitive awareness and result in wholistic and unitive outcomes. The principles under discussion include the left and right circles illustrating: Our Universe as both Explicate and Implicate orders The integration of diversity and unity The difference between Role and Function and Identity The center of the VENN will illustrate principles of movement such as: Unfolding/Enfolding Informing/Transforming Becoming

The Venn is an overlapping of 2 seemingly different things. The importance of overlapping is the depiction of an interconnected, inseparable and relational Universe. Its overlapping nature also shows how a 2-way movement is the constant flow behind our Universe and even the nature of our own human evolution with regard to consciousness. We propose this movement relates universally to wisdom narratives, indigenous narratives and many others, as we will see. It is the holomovement. The holomovement, as previously stated, is innately relational. Diagram 1 illustrates the two orders originally proposed by Bohm and those following this same line of thought.

This diagram begins our discussion by illustrating an Explicate Order and an Implicate Order. This concept of two orders sets the stage for cosmological constructs beginning with universal consciousness as the causation and underpinning of the emergent appearance of our Universe and all-pervasive throughout its manifestation.

Holomovement, Identity, Role and Function The holomovement, from the perspective of narrative, tells the story of identity. We see identity first and foremost in terms of our Universe. The quantum and informational physics of its nature has revealed numerous new understandings on incredibly deeper levels, all pointing to a unified oneness. The findings of the last decade have produced significant evidence of an implicate order of consciousness as the source of what we universally experience and perceive. One of the most important concepts we learn from the universal holomovement is the connectivity between two orders that make up one wholistic, interconnected Universe. The implicate order is the source of the explicate. The source always represents identity. The explicate order is one of great diversity. This diversity represents role and function. In this sense diversity is a beautiful aspect of our Universe but its source is a singular and literally universal consciousness that will bring ideas of spiritualty into this amazing story.

Jude’s observation that: “mind and consciousness are not something we have, but what we and the whole world are” points to, rather than being a form or thing, these are the source of identity. To clarify this by example, I am a husband, father and grandfather. These are role and function. But my identity comes from a source that transcends these diverse roles. My diversity is very much a part of life and very meaningful to me. But my identity is what unifies me with our entire Universe, Gaia and all of my human family across our planet. And these foundational elements of the holomovement will be at the heart of this discussion. “What is this thing that incorporates archetypes, structure, and the implicate order? Each thinker had their name for it. Pauli and Jung used Unus Mundus, one world, which we could connect to the idea of William James called “pure experience” and Bertrand Russell of “percepts.” Eddington called this the “spiritual world,” and Wheeler called it “pregeometry.” Bohm and Hiley call it holomovement.”2 Diagram 2 illustrates the unfolding part of the universal holomovement. The holomovement of our Universe began and continues with a universal informing process. Forms or things evolved into greater complexity and the inherent fine tuning of the holomovement organized into what we know as our Universe, our planetary home Gaia and eventually our human ancestors and ourselves.

This process of informing is understood as one of unfolding throughout the evolutionary journey of our whole Universe

Human languages use alphabets currently ranging from twelve letters (the Rotokas language of Papua New Guinea) to one of seventy-four letters (the Khmer language of Cambodia) to combine in meaningful ways to express our human experiences. Our Universe uses the simplest alphabet possible, comprising only two letters, the zeros and ones of digitized information, from which to express the reality of its universally meaningful and in-formational appearance of energy-matter and space-time. Meaningful in-formation pixelated at the minute Planck scale, named after the quantum pioneer Max Planck, essentially informs the entire formation and forms of its embodied existence and manifestation over 13.8 billion years. From its beginning, not as an implicitly chaotic big bang, but as the first moment of an 16

incredibly fine-tuned, purposeful and ongoing ‘big breath,’ its unfolding evolutionary and essentially unitive narrative has led to planets and plants and people. The evidence of scientific breakthroughs at all scales of existence and across numerous fields of research are now revealing that its nonlocally unified nature and the extreme order and simplicity of its birth had the inevitable consequence of a universal and one-way flow of time from its first moment until its last. The complementary and ongoing expansion of space and its holographic manifestation, has, ever since, also enabled more and more meaningful information and emergent complexity to be embodied within spacetime, and will continue to do so throughout its lifetime. When the unfolding led to the advent of our human ancestors, the universal holomovement began to enfold back within the consciousness from which it was manifested.

We will use Diagram 3 in our discussion below to illustrate the evolution of human consciousness as it relates to the Enfolding process. The evolution of consciousness has been moving through history from earlier separation paradigms toward more and more integrated and interconnected paradigms. This enfolding movement is directionally oriented toward the Implicate order. To discuss the enfolding process of the Universe’s holomovement, we might begin by using the definitions of philosopher Teilhard de Chardin. The initial forms of a conscious evolution were the foundational things such as stars, galaxies, solar systems and planets, etc. This organizational process resulted in Teilhard’s terms, physiosphere and biosphere to describe the manifest world and the realm of biological organisms. As planets evolved, our planetary home Gaia has provided the necessary conditions for the evolution of biological life. This process began to emerge from the first moment of the big breath of our Universe, and as a consequence of its entire evolutionary arc. The harbingers of biological organisms and the water ice that would be vital for their further sustenance, formed in interstellar clouds, even before the birth of our solar system and Gaia herself. To then further emerge as single celled organisms, the evolutionary journey of complexity continued, eventually resulting in the appearance of our human ancestors. Today, we know from the science of plate tectonics and other planetary processes that the physiophere and biosphere are inherently and intricately connected, through the interrelated actions of gases, liquids and solids. Thus, the entirety of Gaia’s inherent sentience—her gaiasphere—is wholly interdependent in enabling her biosphere and so including ourselves, to flourish. 18

We might use these terms for the explicate order as in this sense form was external. But Teilhard recognized the evolution of human consciousness as the next level of emergence. He considered the ability of humans to think about thinking, meaning to experience self-reflection, as being [on Earth] unique to our species. He termed this realm as the noosphere. With the mainstreaming of Teilhard’s cosmological thought, usage of the word, and views of its meaning, are currently diverse: ranging from those rooted in inclusion of spiritual or metaphysical perspectives, or others rooted solely in the “physicalism” of hitherto conventional science’s “methodological materialism.” The import, of course, is whether a noosphere is solely a human endeavor or one that is cooperative, animated, even guided by non-human forces. A primary difference in underlying worldviews is currently at play—the spiritual or metaphysical view deducing the Cosmos is an innately living, even sentient, superorganism, in contrast to the materialist that it is a dead universe in which some living things have evolved and struggle to survive. So, today, the meaning and implications of the word are very much in debate. Nonetheless, contemporary international, interdisciplinary, conferences are held on the nature and implications of noosphere and on comprehending the roles of consciousness and narrative in the flow of, and as a determiner of, unfolding human history and with political scientists and diplomatic corps entertaining the promise and potential of a noosphere politique—a view of future international relations, culture, and commerce based on these as likely the most important drivers of cultural evolution. As such, it has been within human consciousness that turning points have occurred and with Form(s) internalized. 19

While the unfolding process has produced a Universe of external forms related to an explicate order, within human consciousness internal forms have been undertaking an evolutionary journey in an enfolding movement back toward the consciousness of universal source from which all forms began. This movement has evolved from human understandings on the most basic levels of survival into more complex internal forms we know as worldviews and producing values of ultimate concern necessary to navigate increasing complexity at each stage. But the holomovement of the Universe’s underlying evolutionary principles have now led to a pivotal point in our history. We have begun to understand and experience an evolutionary leap in our perception of forms, identity and roles or function. It is here that we move, to provide illustration, to the model of Spiral Dynamics.

The Holomovement and Spiral Dynamics In diagram 4 the Spiral model traces the evolution of worldviews which we can refer to as internal forms. These worldviews begin in First Tier as separated and distinct identities among diverse cultures. The movement of consciousness into Second Tier reveals these worldviews as part of one narrative, meaning they each become a necessary part of the whole. This wholistic approach to human identity models an enfolding process as we now discuss in more detail. The initial unfolding of forms or things evolved into our Universe from an Explicate point of view. These forms were subject to the science of Newton and those following. As noted, this explicate 20

order at first seemed to be one of individuated building blocks. As we will see this led to separation paradigms. And separation thinking produced a history of conflict and even violence. So, let’s look more closely at the movement of forms into the Noosphere realm of consciousness. The model of Spiral Dynamics, for example, traces the evolution of internal forms understood as worldviews. Although there are numerous consultants from a diversity of fields who use this model, for our discussion we highlight the SDi (Spiral Dynamics integral) principles as they relate specifically to the holomovement. SDi is both an inform as well as transform model of the evolution of human consciousness. The centerpiece of each emerging worldview were the values necessary to navigate one’s life conditions. 21

Life conditions varied across the globe and therefore evolution of worldviews emerged at different times and in different cultures. But the values of ultimate concern associated with each worldview were common to this diversity of cultures as they moved from stage to stage. So each worldview was part of an in-forming process seeking to embrace and reconcile our inner and outer experiences of life and to imbue them with in-formational meaning and purpose. The second holomovement principle of SDi was trans-formation. When the complexity of life conditions exceeded the ability to navigate forward, cultures experienced the unworkable. The unworkable required transformative thinking, ideas and action to bring about a new set of necessary values. Again, some cultures experienced movement before others due to varying life conditions. In some stages of history cultures experienced regression, such as in the Dark Ages etc. But the trajectory of growth continued to a greater complexity of values needed to navigate the increasing complexity of a global family. If we use the language of integral philosopher Ken Wilber, the historical trajectory was from ethnocentric to world-centric values. Today, after millennia of historical experiences, the call for values of inclusion, cooperation, justice, equality and peace have come to the forefront. This latest worldview is postmodernism. And it is the product of all the stages of history, their life conditions and emergent values. From the big picture of the Spiral model, we can see an enfolding direction back toward the consciousness from which everything 22

unfolded. And the evolution of our consciousness opens the door for consideration of spirituality and its nature as that which is unified, wholistic and integrated. This spiritual nature and its associated values open the door for discussions among a diversity of narratives. SDi also shares another principle with the holomovement of the Universe. It begins with an order understood as first tier and evolves into a second tier order. Once again, these two orders are not separate but rather one unified process of growth. For example, second tier consciousness sees how all first tier stages produce values necessary for unified growth. The difference between these two tiers or orders is emergent perspective. We might note, here, the work of Harvard psychologist Robert Kegan. He stated that the subject of one historical era becomes the object of the next. When applied to the SDi model, this principle defines its two-tiered concept. The first tier stages were experienced subjectively. That’s what defined these stages as first tier. To understand a worldview subjectively is to attach to it as simply “the way things are.” For example, Attila the Hun never asked, “what do you folks think about this Warrior Stage?” Julius Caesar never asked, “what do you folks think about this Traditional Stage?” Each stage, all the way to postmodernity was experienced as the sum total of what life was. This is why conflicts and even violence accompanied differing 23

cultures due to understanding life’s realities through differing lenses, which is to say, through differing worldviews. In this sense each first tier stage became an attached identity. And differing worldviews were understood as differing identities. These first tier experiences led to a world of people seeing most of the planet as other. Diversity is seen as separation in first tier. Second tier is an evolutionary leap because the historical stages and their values become understood objectively. The movement into objectivity produces an integrated understanding of all first tier stages and their associated values. The directionality of human consciousness moves from ethnocentric divisions into an identity of world-centric unity. This second tier movement redefines the diversity of first tier as the necessary path toward a wholistic and unified understanding of identity. First tier was role and function. Each of its stages and the values that emerged were part of an enfolding movement toward a more wholistic and integrated perspective found in second tier awareness through objectivity. Second tier objectivity sees each stage as a part of the whole. This perspective has brought us to a place in history where we can view human identity as that which is always growing toward the infinite consciousness from which the diversity of these forms came. Identity is universal to all humans even as we converge a diversity of understandings.

The understanding of our universal identity is the starting point for our global family as we look to integrate the role and function of worldviews and their values. There is no other, only we. We are a global, world-centric and interconnected family. So SDi follows the holomovement blueprint of enfolding. The diversity of forms is not evidence of separation consciousness but rather they play a role and function of delineating the infinite nature and diversity of beauty. There are different cultures, races, genders and classes of people on our planet sharing in the beauty of one identity. This beauty is integrated, unified and wholistic.

Holomovement As Becoming The holomovement is a narrative of becoming. The caterpillar is informed and transformed and becomes a butterfly. The child is informed and transformed at each age and becomes an adult. Adult collectives are informed and transformed and become more conscious of the needs of the whole. Diagram 5 illustrates the concept of Becoming as both an Informing as well as Transforming process. Our diagram of becoming summarizes this holomovement process: Formlessness becomes Form - unfolding Form becomes Formless- enfolding 25

Regarding spiritual narratives, this movement or process will show up in a variety of ways and through a diversity of languages. Becoming is a constant evolutionary movement of unfolding and enfolding. Becoming is at the heart of life’s journey. Being and Becoming, as an underlying principle of the holomovement, is common to both Eastern and Western narratives of spiritual evolution. These holomovement principles align all the way from the explicate order, subject to scientific observation, to the implicate order from which narratives of spirituality have arisen for millennia. In this sense the explicate and the implicate or form and formless illustrate oneness, unity and the wholistic nature of all.

Spotlight

A Universal Spirituality for the Unitive Age by Robert Atkinson, PhD In the beginning was unitive consciousness, the eternal ground of being. This is the formless organizing principle upon which all of creation was formed and still guides its ongoing evolution. The holomovement is the inherent wholeness-in-motion of the entire universe, which is comprised of the two orders of formlessness and all things formed. The separation of all things formed from the formless initiated an ongoing process of progressive transformations over many millennia that is leading to the eventual re-union of the two orders. The holomovement is the archetype, or first of its type, illustrating this spiraling, unfolding and enfolding nature of evolution in its fullest. It can be understood as the purest form of a unitive narrative of narratives, existing even before narratives came into being. It was, in fact, because of the holomovement that unitive narratives came into being in the order of all things formed when the first peoples observed the harmony, unity, and wholeness of creation around them and made this pattern of wholeness the basis of their narratives. These held the community together, gave them a shared purpose, and maintained their wellbeing. In their guiding narratives, they reflected the pattern of the unitive narrative they saw around them. Making these stories of wholeness the center of their lives carried out the hermetic principle of “As above, so below, all things accomplishing the miracles of the One thing.” As the storytelling species, humanity, in its infancy, reflected the same 27

archetypal story, or unitive narrative, observed all around them. This unitive narrative is evident in the variety of variations on this same pattern, from the monomyth in mythology, representing the one myth all traditions have in common, to rites of passage, to the mystic way in mysticism, to the individuation process in psychology, and story itself. All these ways of knowing identify a similar process of transformation consisting of a three-phase process of beginning-muddle-resolution, or what is referred to in A New Story of Wholeness as call to wholeness-path of purification-return to wholeness. This is where the wholenessin-motion of the holomovement is leading us. What makes this pattern of transformation necessary in the realm of all things formed is that as the earliest communities expanded, spread out, and people became aware of their diversity, during humanity’s childhood and adolescence, conflict and disorder emerged, turning their stories into divisive narratives that supported separation. After many millennia, as we approach humanity’s collective maturity, and the dawning of the Unitive Age, the greatest need is for new stories of wholeness to frame this interconnectedness. It is time now – for our own survival – to come together again through unitive narratives. Myths that people lived by were the original unitive narratives that united people with the natural laws around them. Putting this function in a contemporary context, Joseph Campbell said, “The only myth that is going to be worth thinking about in the immediate future is one that is talking about the planet… and everybody on it.”3 At the turn of the millennium, Brother Wayne Teasdale saw a shift in consciousness making possible the interdependence of all spiritual traditions, a new interconnected, universal civilization, and an emerging unitive consciousness available to all. 28

These insights, and many more, suggest an evolutionary impulse that carries a unifying function, integrates all levels of reality, and enfolds form into formlessness, what Teilhard de Chardin referred to as “a single energy at play in the world.”4 But because evolution—and history—do not occur in a straight line but in a nonlinear, spiral-like process, divisions and separation persist even as a universal spirituality is emerging to re-create the oneness of form and formlessness. An overview of the evolution of humanity’s spiritual heritage reveals collective leaps of consciousness throughout our history. Most recent of these spiritual regenerations was in the mid19th century when, out of the division, discord, and inequality pervading Persia, Baha’u’llah renewed the spiritual verities that have guided the peoples of the world throughout the ages. Focusing on unity as the way of healing the ills of an ailing humanity, this preceded and lead to a series of advances in all realms of human rights, from the end of slavery to women’s rights, the first convening of the world’s religions, civil rights, and beyond. The Unitive Age is ushering in a new Earth in which everyone will participate equitably and equally in a time promised by all the sacred traditions when humanity fulfils its inherent purpose, or sacred mission, of bringing about sustainable peace on Earth. Our present world is conditioned by our present mode of consciousness; only when that consciousness passes from its present dualistic mode conditioned by time and space will the new creation appear, which is the eternal reality of which our world is a mirror. ~ Bede Griffiths5 29

Holomovement Into the Future When considering the holomovement as narrative, we have followed the latest evidence that opens the door to considerations of spirituality and/or consciousness as the informing/transforming nature of the Universe. This source, known by many names, is embedded in wisdom narratives, indigenous narratives and all other narratives related to spirituality. But there are also those in the field of science that understand our existence strictly in terms of a Universe of forms or things. This realm of form(s) has been part of our previous diagrams in terms of its role and function. However, our trajectories have pointed beyond the explicate order of forms to an implicate order from which forms or things arise and are manifested. This debate of whether we live in a Universe evolved from a big bang as its source or whether it is the result of a conscious or spiritual source goes back to the emergence of modernity in the West. Referring again to the Spiral Dynamics model, it was modernity that evolved from the previous traditional era. One of the central values of the traditional worldview was loyalty. One did not question the authority of the empire or the church. The pushback of modernity was to question such unwavering adherence. It was Copernicus followed by Galileo and Kepler who developed the heliocentric understanding of our solar system. Their discoveries 30

stood against the view of the Catholic Church and challenged the church authorities of their time. In 1633 Galileo’s view was declared heresy and the separation of science and religion started down a path that became further and further apart as modernity evolved. Diagram 6 illustrates how science and religion were seen as 2 separated and non-related fields. We will begin with the work of Stephen Jay Gould and then trace the evolution of thought regarding these fields.

But that has led to new possibilities with the emergence of the postmodern worldview. So, let’s consider this trajectory as it now stands. First let’s look at the work of Stephen Jay Gould which reflects the split of science from religion. 31

Gould used the concept of two circles, just as we have in our diagrams, to define the domains of science and religion. However, his proposal introduced what he termed, “non-overlapping magisteria.” This approach reinforces their split; with science and religion being understood as two separate domains that cannot be related in their particular subject matters. Gould saw science and religion as unrelated. And in some ways, this is understandable given some of the ongoing traditional views of certain religious fundamentalism that clearly stand in contradiction to verified scientific facts. But even those who initially restricted themselves to the domain of science and its investigation of forms or things recognized the necessary role of values. Our previous look at the role of Spiral Dynamics in the enfolding process of the holomovement focused on the evolution of values. Whether one identifies as atheist, religious or spiritual the foundations of behavior are values. That’s why the Spiral model uses the term vMeme. Each era of human history and cultural norms has specific life conditions that directly impact one’s values of ultimate concern. Our latest era in many parts of the globe is postmodernity and the emergent values of equality, justice, empathy and unity are now of ultimate concern. These values are shared among all those embracing a postmodern worldview whether in science, religion or spirituality in general. This evolution of thinking has led to new possibilities beyond the proposal of Gould. So, let’s consider a new paradigm. 32

Diagram 7 illustrates the evolution of the Science/Religion discussion as outlined by Gould into a discussion of Science and Spirituality. This paradigm opens the door for discussion of universal values common to both fields of study as well as a common desire for a Pro-Social approach to activism.

In this illustration we return to the VENN diagram. However, rather than science and religion we look at science and spirituality. The movement from religion to spirituality has changed the conversation. And it should be noted at the outset that religion is not being excluded from this discussion! So how are we defining spirituality and religion? We begin by considering the coexistence of three primary worldviews across our planet: traditional, modern and postmodern. Each worldview has its own values of ultimate concern as we noted in our section about the enfolding process of the holomovement. First, religions must be defined as forms. Forms are boundary driven in their necessary role and function. Without form one 33

cannot distinguish this from that. Religions have boundaries that define and differentiate themselves from all other religions. Further, religions whose worldview center of gravity is consciously traditional are defined as orthodox, conservative or fundamentalist. The values of ultimate concern are dogma, doctrine and creed. One is either in or out in this form of religion. While these religions emphasize law, order and obedience as their necessary values of ultimate concern, this view has also had a history of conflicts and even violence, which are well known. Over the years those restricted to the science domain have used these fundamentalist religions in particular to discredit the domain of spirituality. Many of these religions are easy targets because in many cases they continue to hold beliefs directly conflicting with accepted scientific principles and evidence. But those traditional religious boundaries have been deconstructed by religions going through the modern viewpoint. They include scientific advances while questioning long held views within their own religion. This is very prevalent now if one looks on the internet for #deconstructing faith or #deconstructing religion etc. The result of the values related to questioning and deconstructing has been an increase in the number of separated groups within religions. For example, the term denomination is part of our everyday language. To denominate is to define the way one separates from others. So, the concept of religion still carries inherent difficulties related to separation. The results of ongoing separation eventually have led to the advent of postmodernity and its above listed values of ultimate concern. Religions in this category are seen as progressive, liberal or even mystical in nature. 34

Yet, these religions are still separated, denominated and divided in different ways. Looking deeply into this phenomenon of denomination, we see the dynamism of how “spirituality” and “religion” can become inevitably coupled—but can also differ dramatically in consequence. The deepest “spiritual,” “awakened,” or “enlightened” experience in all the traditions is that of profound interconnection and interdependence (and that “there is no ‘other’”). From this realization flows inevitable behavioral implications that characterize the professed shared universal values of all the religions, like all-embracing love, mutuality, reciprocity, and so on: matters attributed in the modern interfaith and interspiritual conversation as “flowing from A Common Heart.”6 Yet, in the historical phenomenon of religions, the minute something is established as a normative idea, custom, or practice that can naturally engage the parsing mind of human beings (especially across cultural niches), you have something that can be disagreed about, or even lead to conflict. This difficulty between “spirituality” and “religion” has been a deep one for humanity. It helps us understand what Br. Wayne Teasdale, the “namer” of Interspirituality meant when he said “the only viable religion for the Third Millennium is spirituality itself.”7 And it helps us understand why some of the best, and some of the worst, behaviors in history have resulted from religion. Adding to conflictual behaviors between religions are the harmful misbehaviors that can plague power dynamics within them. There are some 4000 extant religions today (and many more now-extinct religions from our past) and all have reflected these conflicts and paradoxes of spirituality and religion. When the United Nations (UN) was formed in 1945, to try to address the perennial challenges of global conflict, the UN could not, of course, identify with one religion. It could only uphold the rights of all religions, and profess in its Charter the shared global values that well-spring to a great 35

degree from these shared historical spiritual roots. Yet, the same potential pathologies of what becomes of religion also pervaded on that day, leading theologian Hans Küng to proclaim of that founding: “There can be no peace among the nations until there is peace among the religions.”8 This fine line between “spirituality” and “religion” is so important for us to understand and it also deeply informs our understanding of “spirituality”, “religion” and “science.” Returning to our VENN diagram, we now see an overlapping of science and spirituality versus Gould’s separation paradigm. The center of the diagram brings the conversation between science and spirituality into the realm of universal human values. This promising new frontier results from recent developments in the sciences, particularly evolutionary science, neuro- social- and behavioral science, and cosmology. Implications in important advances in these sciences point to the importance of altruism and understanding how it evolves, and the heightening of human behavior with overall goals for healthier forms of personal and collective living. In science this has come to be called “pro-social” behavior and its importance (the opposite of “anti-social” behavior). We will say more about this below. Thus, from the scientific viewpoint the concept of pro-social values is in the middle of the VENN diagram and where we find transformation. From the spirituality viewpoint we also find transformation. Here, it relates to alignment with a conscious source whose identity is known by many names. A fortuitous advance in mainstream evolutionary science has prompted this new understanding of how altruism (“goodness”) 36

evolves. And, it has upended the long held, and socially damaging views of “social Darwinism” and “the selfish gene” and the “shark tank” of “survival of the fittest” that has unfortunately dominated politics, economics, and business. It is now understood there are three interconnected kinds of natural selection operating in nature: “Darwinian” (or Individual), “Group,” and “Multilevel.” Only the first makes selfish selections; the latter two make selections “for the good of the whole.” This is how altruism evolves. Science now understands that the definition of “fitness” changes as a system complexifies: from competition as fitness to cooperation as fitness. In cultural evolution, it is cooperation that defines fitness. Of course, all three kinds of natural selection sustain survival. This has put modern evolutionary science in step with the new physics, understanding that the operative rules of a process change as the system complexifies. The question is whether this recent paradigm shift in evolutionary science will “trickle down,”, and be recognized in time to affect politics, economics, business and education before the abuses of power, money and the environment lead humanity to catastrophe.9 Overall, scientific breakthroughs and evidence at all scales of existence are now revealing that the appearance of our Universe arises from essentially spiritual realms of causation. An emergent cosmology of a living and indeed loving Universe that meaningfully exists and purposefully evolves as a unified entity of holographically manifested form, naturally reconciles the historical schism between science and spirituality. It posits both an initiating ‘big bang’ (or rather, given the incredible fine-tuning of its origin and continuing nature of its emergence, an ongoing ‘Big Breath’) and arising from the cosmic consciousness, known by many names; crucially with its source and in-formed expression as being innately and allpervasively conscious. And thus, its inherent wholeness naturally embraces relational and pro-social values. 37

The Holomovement Blueprint Diagram 8 illustrates the role and function of narratives whether scientific, like the holomovement or related to Wisdom Narratives, Indigenous narratives etc. This transnarrative approach detaches from identification with specific narratives or religious forms and points to our universal and interconnected identity as it relates to the Implicate order of our common source.

In light of our discussions of the holomovement as narrative, we now define the role and function of narratives. For those who follow narratives of spirituality, the movement of trans-narrative thus points to the nature of the implicate source. Narratives, therefore, are not identity. They are the finger pointing. 38

When this approach is used, identity is to be found in a transnarrative space. This space is not religious but universal, wholistic and formless. We might consider a unitive narrative, such as a co-authored effort developed by members of the SDG Thought Leaders’ Synergy Circle of Evolutionary Leaders [see References]. This narrative points to a space representing a convergence of science and spirituality and the shared values that such a unitive perspective invite. But a unitive narrative is not a religion. Its role and function are to frame and contribute not convert. And this narrative is open. This unitive narrative is the best efforts of a group of wholistic and integrative activists for a new Earth based on the best understanding we have of the increasing concordance of evidence-based science and spirituality at this time in history. At the same time, we recognize that new life conditions will continue to arise with each new generation in the future. These new conditions and their associated challenges will require new thinking around the values necessary for new solutions. This unitive narrative is inherently emergent and will be revised and updated in order to stay relevant to our global family. In this way it does not become a concretized form. We always experience each new iteration as the next form. But each form of understanding is experienced formlessly in expectation of the next changes that will manifest yet another form of understanding. Attachment to any narrative for identity leads to attachment to a form. And we are filled with a planet of form wars. When boundary 39

driven forms are embraced as identity, conflicts will inevitably arise between diverse parties coming from diverse narratives. Division can only happen in the realm of form. When a narrative points to the implicate order as identity, it is pointing to the formless nature of spirituality. Spirituality becomes the source of identity without boundaries or division. This is to say, division cannot exist in formlessness. This approach includes the role and function of the rich diversity of narratives but transcends them as identity. Recognizing our universal human identity as that without boundaries opens to unending evolution of spiritual consciousness. The truth becomes about learning and growing not grasping/attaching. Each new generation will face emerging new life conditions. These life conditions will require new discussions about how an approach centered in spirituality can offer solutions. The primary discussion of this e-publication has concerned addressing this landscape to the domains of spirituality and religions. This same landscape, will also require deep reflection across the fields of science—for science too has been caught in its own attachment to a narrative of identity and attachment to its forms. It too is part of the form wars and this is a journey it will also have to make in our human future. In science’s journey, conflicts will also inevitably arise between its own diverse varieties and methodologies.

The Convergence of Subjective and Objective Informing While we have illustrated the convergence of science and spirituality from the viewpoint of shared values, there remains an ongoing concern from both sides of those approaches regarding the experiential. We’ve already looked at the unfolding movement of informing. The question under consideration is whether this informing process includes subjective experiences, and, in any wholistic context, the answer must be “Yes.” Millennially, spirituality and more recently modern science, inevitably delve into what both often call the “subtle realms.” A search of the meanings of this term across science, and spirituality/religion indicates reference to that which is only detectable by the most penetrating and sensitive actions of perception or consciousness, or instrumentation. As we all know, in science the abilities of the latter, instrumentation, is improving, even exponentially, all the time. And there is consequently rapid change in the generalities of “settled science” that are expressed about it by the scientific community—as seen, for instance, in the recent history of Nobel Prizes for Physics. This question of subjective and objective informing is inevitably the new area of varying answers from both those in science as well as those coming from types of spirituality. As these domains (each, in recent human thought so variously represented by the degrees of dynamism in the VENN representations herein) make this journey there will inevitably be, at “stations along the way” when notes are compared—the need 41

to, at least initially, “agree to disagree.” This is because the crossdiscussion at each historical interval will reflect what underlying a priori notions/assumptions of each domain dictate “what is ‘in’ and what is ‘out’.” Thus, agreeing to disagree during this unfolding process will be essential for the conversation to continue, as is so urgently needed. Theologian Ilia Delio addresses this in her newest book, The NotYet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, and the Relational Whole. In her discussion of physicist David Bohm, she writes: “The implicate order means that everything is unfolded into everything, and the question of distinguishing what is hidden and what is apparent is a challenging one. Bohm thought that science was too fixated on explaining what was perceived or measured; what is hidden also exists and must be considered in any scheme that attempts to describe the whole, because that which is hidden has greater power than that which is seen.”10 Even though this generality is inevitably debatable in current academic conversation, it does well portray the depth, dynamism, and abstraction of the conversation urging itself upon us. Similarly, her comments on complex, and perhaps seemingly contradictory, matters are helpful: “… dual-aspect monism, states that the mental and the material are different aspects or attributes of a unitary reality, which itself is neither mental nor material. They are both properties of one neutral substance x, which is neither physical nor mental. Harald Atmanspacher 42

describes the phenomenon in this way: “In dual-aspect monism according to Pauli and Jung, the mental and the material are manifestations of an underlying, psychophysically neutral, holistic reality called unus mundus, whose symmetry must be broken to yield, complementary aspects. …From the mental, the neutral reality is approached via Jung’s collective unconscious; from the material, it is approached via quantum nonlocality. Teilhard held to a dual-aspect monist position to explain evolution …a specific effect of matter turned complex; He considered matter and consciousness not as “two substances” or “two different modes of existence, but as two aspects of the same cosmic stuff.”11 Similar dynamism is also seen in the rapidly growing scientific field of consciousness studies, another major field investigating more subtle phenomena. Emerging as a distinct discipline in the 1980’s (if dated by its professional journals), its generalities have swiftly changed as well. And, those changes have reflected, at every stage, the status of underlying a priori notions (“identify fixations”) of those entertaining variously metaphysical or materialist worldviews. There is already a long history of this juxtaposition within science itself. An early, classic, divide between variously metaphysical or materialist views dominated the 18th and 19th Centuries with the distinctions of “vitalism” (early notions that biological life is the result of non-measurable energies) and “mechanism” (that living organisms are machines, to be explained by appeal to, or even reduction to, parts or processes). There were many varieties of both vitalism and mechanism, but the point is, none of them would have strong credence in the light of 20th or 21th Century science. This journey toward a greater wholism has been a process, with superseding views always arising. 43

Today the vying between variously more metaphysical and wholistic perspectives or materialist views involves questions like these: • Is there a shared field of consciousness outside the brain? “Yes” (the Great Wisdom Traditions) and among consciousness studies scientists—moving in the last decades from 80%-20% “No” to, more currently, more like 50/50.12 • What is primarily causal, consciousness or material? “Consciousness,” the Great Wisdom Traditions and a growing number of scientists including Jeans, Planck, Einstein, Schrodinger, Bohm, Swimme and Currivan. “Material,” most of conventional science. As already noted, this affects not only resultant conclusions regarding noosphere but also the question of whether there is any directionality in the evolutionary processes of the Universe. The scientific enterprise is usually defined by evidence based on these attributes or criteria: testability, repeatability, predictability and veracity. With regard to directionality in evolution, it is “predictability” (or the ability to predict) that can become a conundrum. Conventional science does see directionality in hindsight (since, obviously, “something happened” that is empirically verifiable). But it struggles with how its predictive ability (based on what is “already seen in the rearview mirror”) affects future, or inherent, directionality. This matter, of what can then become “teleology”13 has caused a vexing divide among those entertaining variously metaphysical or materialist worldviews.14 A helpful insight concerning authentic science and testability comes from consciousness studies pioneer Dr. David Chalmers. 44

He notes that astronomy and astrophysics fortuitously decided to make a place for “space” in their scientific landscape, even though, at face, there was nothing that could tested about it (“space” as “nothing”). But if “things” and “material” can be seen as “the furniture in the room” and space as “the room” very good science can come from this. He laments that much of the rest of science did not do the same with “consciousness.”15 In sum, for those visioning a cosmic superorganism, with all that implies, the attributes of “alive,” even “sentient,” and thus with the capacity of directionality, is part of the package. If those possibilities have been ruled out in advance by materialism or reductionism they are not only impossible but, as some from that camp say, “must be vigilantly rejected.” Thus, the current state of the conversation between and among the domains we have been sharing herein in VENN representations are much directed by the underlying, or a priori, notions/assumptions of those various worldviews—and there is historical dynamism and flux within all of them as well. For instance, in current thought movements, there are “New Humanism(s),” “New Materialism(s),” “New Atheism(s”), and many more, each with multiple definitions when one looks across disciplines. Nonetheless, the convergence of scientific breakthroughs with universal wisdom teachings and traditions as outlined herein is offering increasingly compelling evidence, supporting an emergent cosmological framework and a unitive narrative to inform and potentially underpin the ongoing conversations and explorations.

Conclusion All this history considered, ultimately, the two circles of science and spirituality open the door for further concordance. Even as the debate continues, both can meet at the intersection of Values and Action. Ongoing discoveries by science about our Universe will either conclude that it has a spiritual source and is essentially living or not. Many in the fields of Cosmology and Evolutionary Biology are already proponents of these scientific evidences as another finger pointing to spirituality. However, even those who believe the Universe is conscious or spirit based in some way will likely have differing ideas about its infinite source. But the ‘direction of travel’ of ideas point to the nature of our universal identity. Unlike, though, as in the past, they will not be concretized forms to be defended by walls of separation, but rather based on an understanding of wholeness. As Brother Wayne Teasdale said, “the only viable religion for the Third Millennium is spirituality itself”16 and, with that, we will realize that “We have been given the gift of life in this perplexing world to become who we ultimately are: creatures of boundless love, caring compassion, and wisdom.”17

REFERENCES Atkinson, R. “The Whole is All There Is”, Parts 1 & 2, pp.137-142; 167-171 in Kuntzelman, E. and J. Robinson. The Holomovement: Embracing Our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity (Light on Light Press, 2023 [original pagination version]). Atkinson, R. A New Story of Wholeness: An Experiential Guide for Connecting the Human Family (Light on Light Press, 2022). Currivan, J. The Cosmic Hologram: In-formation at the Center of Creation (Inner Traditions, 2017) Currivan. J. The Story of Gaia: The Big Breath and The Evolutionary Journey of Our Conscious Planet (Inner Traditions, 2022). Currivan, J. “A Unitive Narrative Cosmology Underpinning the Holomovment”, pp. 21-34, in Kuntzelman, E. and J. Robinson. The Holomovement: Embracing Our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity (Light on Light Press, 2023 [original pagination version]). Delio, I. The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, and the Relational Whole (Orbis Books, 2023). Galileo Commission and Report. https://galileocommission.org/ report Griffiths, B. A New Vision of Reality: Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith (Templegate Publishers, 1990). Harland, M. and W. Keepin [Ed.]. The Song of the Earth: A Synthesis of the Scientific and Spiritual Worldviews (4 Keys to Sustainable Communities). (Permanent Publications, 2012). 47

Johnson, K. and D. R. Ord, The Coming Interspiritual Age (Namaste Publishing, 2013). King, D., K. Johnson and N. Naeem. “Holomovement in an Integral Vision”, pp. 143-150 in Kuntzelman, E. and J. Robinson. The Holomovement: Embracing Our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity (Light on Light Press, 2023). Kuntzelman, E. and J. Robinson. The Holomovement: Embracing Our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity (Light on Light Press, 2023 [original pagination version]). Laszlo, E. and D. Lorimer. The Great Upshift: Humanity’s Coming Advance Toward Peace and Harmony on the Planet (Light on Light Press, 2022). Lorimer, D. & M. Woollacott. Spiritual Awakenings: Scientists and Academics Describe Their Experiences (Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences, 2022). Oxford Languages. https://languages.oup.com Miles-Yepez, N. [Ed.]. The Common Heart: An Experience of Interreligious Dialogue (Lantern Books, 2006). Mills, P. J. Science, Being and Becoming: The Spiritual Lives of Scientists (Light on Light Press, 2022). Teasdale, W. The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (New World Library, 1999). Teilhard de Chardin, P. The Phenomenon of Man (Harper, 1959).

Unitive Narrative. A unitive narrative as co-drafted by members of the SDG Thought Leaders Circle, specifically referencing SDGs and Agenda 2030. https://sdgthoughtleaderscircle.org/unitivenew-narrative Unitive Narrative. The generic version of a unitive narrative as codrafted by members of the SDG Thought Leaders Circle. https:// www.unitivenarrative.org WholeWorld-View. https://www.wholeworld-view.org Wilson, D. S. Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes and the Welfare of Others, from Foundational Questions in Science Series,1 (Yale University Press/Templeton Press, 2015). Wilson, D. S. This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution (Pantheon Books, 2019).

ABOUT THE AUTHORS DOUG KING is the president of Presence, a non-profit research and writing group, dedicated to a reinterpretation of religion and spirituality. He has worked with his father, Max King who has written since the early 70’s in the field of Theology. Doug has a dual degree in Theology and Biblical Languages. His applications of Spiral Dynamics to theology led to extensive new paradigms by using an integral approach to long held religious worldviews. He is a frequent speaker, teacher and podcaster on numerous platforms. He also has a business background, being founder and president of a technology company in Atlanta Georgia for 20 years. During this time his company was named Dealer of the Year in 1999 among hundreds of others in North America. He also served as President of a North American Telecom Distribution Group. Doug currently works in Evolutionary Leaders, Theology Without Walls and a number of independent groups with content focused on trans-narrative and trans-religious outcomes. https://www.presence.tv https://www.evolutionaryleaders.net

Dr. JUDE CURRIVAN is a cosmologist, planetary healer, futurist, author, Evolutionary Leaders Circle member and previously a senior UK-based international business woman. She has a Master’s degree in physics from Oxford University specializing in cosmology and quantum physics and a Ph.D. from the University of Reading, UK in archaeology, researching ancient cosmologies. Having travelled to over 80 countries and worked with wisdom keepers, both incarnate and discarnate, from many traditions she is a life-long researcher into the nature of reality and author of 7 nonfiction books, latterly and both award-winning and best-selling The Cosmic Hologram: In-formation at the Center of Creation (2017) and The Story of Gaia: The Big Breath and the Evolutionary Journey of Our Conscious Planet (2022). Since 1998, she has been in ongoing service to our collective and planetary healing, aiming to do so from a perspective that our dysfunctional behaviors and consequential collective trauma are based on a dis-ease of separation – and that such healing is vital for our future potential to be fulfilled. In 2017 she co-founded WholeWorld-View to serve the understanding, experiencing and embodying of unitive awareness, conscious evolution and transformational change and underpinned and framed by a unitive narrative. A faculty member of Ubiquity University, Humanity’s Team and the California Institute of Integral Studies, in 2022 she was awarded Meshworker of the Year by Integral Cities. https://www.wholeworld-view.org https://www.evolutionaryleaders.net

Dr. KURT JOHNSON is a noted evolutionary biologist and comparative religionist. In science he is co-author or co-editor of two award-winning popular science books, both regarding Vladimir Nabokov-- Nabokov’s Blues (1999) and Fine Lines (2015) (Brian Boyd Prize 2019) along with Vera’s [Vera Nabokov] Butterflies (1999). He is co-editor of the Gold Nautilus, COVR and Living Now award-winning book Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future. In comparative religion he is co-author of the influential book The Coming Interspiritual Age (2012) and Awakening of Humanity (2023). Kurt is co-founder of the Light on Light Press (which has garnered five Nautilus Awards) and Light on Light Magazine, and multi-year co-host of The Convergence radio and blog series on VoiceAmerica. He co-founded, with interfaith and interspiritual pioneer Br. Wayne Teasdale, what is today The Interspiritual Dialogue Network. A former monk and with PhD in evolution and ecology, Kurt was associated with the American Museum of Natural History for 25 years and subsequently the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity (University of Florida). With a fifteen year association with New York City’s One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, he also serves widely on international forums and committees, especially at the United Nations and with the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, the Holomovement, Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Prosocial World. https://www.lightonlight.us https://www.interspirituality.com https://www.evolutionaryleaders.net/synergycircles

Dr. ROBERT ATKINSON, award-winning author, educator, and developmental psychologist, is a 2020 Gold Nautilus Book Award winner as co-editor of Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future, a 2023 Silver Nautilus Book Award winner for A New Story of Wholeness: An Experiential Guide for Connecting the Human Family, and a 2017 Silver Nautilus Book Award winner for The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness. He is also the author or co-editor of nine other books including, Year of Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969 (2019), Mystic Journey: Getting to the Heart of Your Soul’s Story (2012), The Life Story Interview (1998) and The Gift of Stories (1995). With a PhD in cross-cultural human development from the University of Pennsylvania and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago, he is professor emeritus at the University of Southern Maine, an internationally recognized authority on life story interviewing, a pioneer in the techniques of personal myth-making and soul-making, director of StoryCommons, founder of One Planet Peace Forum, and a member of the Evolutionary Leaders. https://www.lightonlight.us https://www.robertatkinson.net https://www.evolutionaryleaders.net

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We want to thank the Synergy Circles of the Evolutionary Leaders (https://www.evolutionaryleaders.net/synergycircles), especially those whose thematic areas tandem with this important subject matter: the “unitive narrative Synergy Circle”; the “SDG Thought Leaders Synergy Circle” which formulated the initial “Unitive Narrative” (see References); the “Integral and Wholistic Cosmologies Synergy Circle” of which we are co-founders; the “Vision and Message of the Holomovement Synergy Circle” which shepherded The Holomovement book (see References); and the “Wholistic Design and Bio-Mimicry”, “Cornerstones”, “Science and Spirituality” and “Education” Synergy Circles whose passion areas further augment this content. Thanks also to members of the “Spirituality and the Noosphere” Discussion Group of the Teilhard de Chardin Masterclass at Prosocial.world for rich discussions of Teilhard’s vision and work. We also want to thank the multiple contributors to The Holomovement: Embracing Our Collective Purpose to Unite Humanity (see References). Discussions and editing processes during the development of this book at Light on Light Press nurtured the horizons and questions that we have further entertained in this current publication. Finally, we are thankful to all those persons who are dedicated to cultivating a wholistic synthesis of our world’s great heritages of science and spirituality and the resulting prosocial behavior that may create the better world we all want to see.

ENDNOTES See p. 12 in Teasdale, Wayne. The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (New World Library, 1999). 1

Baron, G. R. “Dual Aspect Monism in the Implicate Order of Bohm and Hiley” in Top-Down or Bottom-Up? https://medium.com/topdown-or-bottom-up (July 20, 2022). 2

See p. 41, in Campbell, Joesph with Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth (Doubleday, 1991). 3

See p. 29 in Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Human Phenomenon. Translated by Sarah Appleton-Weber (Sussex Academic Press, 2003). 4

Bede Griffiths, A New Vision of Reality: Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith (Templegate Publishers, 1990). 5

Miles-Yepez, Netanel [Ed.]. The Common Heart: An Experience of Interreligious Dialogue (Lantern Books, 2006). 6

See p. 26 in Teasdale, Wayne. The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (New World Library, 1999). 7

Küng, Hans [as recorded in] Christianity: Essence, History, Future (Continuum, 1995 edition) 8

In what is now called the “post-resolution” explication of a newer and fuller understanding of the process of evolution, the series “The Foundational Questions in Science” by Yale/Templeton in 9

2015, tackled and resolved the issue of Darwinian natural selection against the acceptance of Social Darwinism. By “post-resolution,” its authors—including such eminent scholars as Harvard’s E. O. Wilson and State University of New York’s David Sloan Wilson— meant just that. They declared that “everything else is commentary.” This statement is so famous that if one internet searches for “Evolution everything else is commentary,” the references come right up. Wilson and Wilson, representing the high tide of the new understanding in evolutionary science, had previously re-written the “theoretics” of Sociobiology (the biology of social organisms) in 2007 based on the new views . References: K. Johnson, “Evolving Toward Cooperation” (Kosmos Journal, winter 2018); D. S. Wilson. Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes and the Welfare of Others, from Foundational Questions in Science Series, 1. (Yale University Press/Templeton Press, 2015); This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution (Pantheon Books, 2019); D. S. Wilson and E. O. Wilson, “Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology,” (The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 82, No. 4, 2007). See p. 6 in Delio, Ilia. The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, and the Relational Whole (Orbis Books, 2023). 10

See p. 23 in Delio, Ilia. The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, and the Relational Whole (Orbis Books, 2023). 11

See “Scientific Consciousness Studies”, pp.157-164, and “The Field” pp.134-143 in Johnson, K. and D. R. Ord, The Coming Interspiritual Age (Namaste Publishing, 2013). 12

“Teleology” [from Oxford Languages]: in Philosophy—the explanation of phenomena in terms of the purpose they serve rather than of the cause by which they arise; in Theology—the doctrine of design and purpose in the material world. 13

Why Teleology is the Elephant in Evolutionary Theory’s Room This View Of Life. In This View of Life. publication of The Evolution Institute (State University of New York) 14

See p. 139 “What is Consciousness?” in “The Field” pp.134143 in Johnson, K. and D. R. Ord, The Coming Interspiritual Age (Namaste Publishing, 2013). 15

See p. 12 in Teasdale, Wayne. The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (New World Library, 1999). 16

See p. 26 in Teasdale, Wayne. The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions (New World Library, 1999). 17