"OUR COSMIC PLACE"

Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What is our place in the cosmos? These are probably the most important questions we can ask.

The great religions, meditation, philosophy, cosmology, ecology, art, music and many other human ideas and practices provide some answers. As lifelong learners, we can study these subjects and find out what others think.

However, for these big questions, an intellectual understanding of others' ideas is not enough. The answers need to resonate for us personally. If nothing seems meaningful, it is often easier to just keep busy with practical things.

We recently met a Jesuit priest who talks about death as a return to the cosmos. We can see ourselves as being made of stardust. When we die we are reunited with the universe. According to quantum theology - energy and matter are never lost - even when someone dies.

He also talks about human evolution and our place in our natural environment. You can find out moreabout his ideas at Earth Literacies .

Here are some books he suggested:

  • Cannato, Judy. Field of Compassion
  • Cox, Harvey. The Future of Belief
  • Gottlieb, Roger S. A Greener Faith
  • King, Ursula. The Search For Spirituality
  • O'Murchu, Diarmuid. Ancestral Grace
  • O'Murchu, Diarmuid. Quantum theology
  • Rohr, Richard. The Naked Now

    • We also recommend:

  • Taylor, Jill Bolte. My stroke of insight

      • These books have got us thinking about the length of time humans and hominids have been on our planet. Did you know that:
    • The earliest hominids lived 4.4 million years ago?
    • Neanderthals and home sapiens sapiens (the humans who know they know) may have lived together 45,000 years ago?
    • Check out Archaeology Info for more fascinating ideas on our very long "pre-history.".