663. Brian Thomas Swimme

Brian Thomas Swimme did his doctoral work in gravitational dynamics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon. From the publication of The Universe Is a Green Dragon to the Emmy Award–winning PBS documentary Journey of the Universe, Swimme has articulated the cosmology of a creative universe, one in which human intelligence plays an essential role.

For three decades as a professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, he taught evolutionary cosmology to graduate students in the humanities. Currently he is director of the Third Story of the Universe at Human Energy, a nonprofit public benefit organization.

A detailed description of his books and media works can be found at storyoftheuniverse.org.

About the documentary, Journey of the Universe.

Human Energy presents Story of the Noosphere

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded September 18, 2022

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Brian Thomas Swimme and Cosmology

00:03:59 - Two Meanings of Cosmologist

00:08:00 - The Relationship Between Human Mind and the Universe

00:12:49 - The Power of Scientific Knowledge in Understanding Ourselves

00:16:55 - The Color of the Universe

00:20:55 - The Nature of Laws and the Mystery of the Universe

00:25:36 - The Ontology of Intelligence and Consciousness

00:29:10 - The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness and the Experience of Reality

00:34:14 - The Ontological Connection between Individuals and the Universe

00:38:50 - The Interplay of Science and Spirituality

00:42:17 - The Mystery of Mathematics and Science

00:46:22 - The Influence of Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry

00:50:12 - The Interdependence of Science and Spirituality

00:53:43 - The Noosphere: United Humanity and Earth's Evolution

00:58:46 - The Special Quality of Humanity and Symbolic Consciousness

01:03:50 - The Dark Age and the Loss of Knowledge

01:07:45 - Ignorance of Extinction

01:10:57 - Co-evolution of Technology and Spirituality

01:15:02 - Becoming beings who see the whole first

01:19:50 - The Bhagavad Gita and Being Established in Action

01:23:55 - The Vast Intelligence Within You

01:27:25 - The Noosphere in Action

01:32:05 - The Noosphere as a Collective Consciousness

01:35:24 - Deepening Collective Intelligence

01:38:19 - The Dream of the Earth and Integral Ecology

01:43:30 - Embracing Change: A Deep Change of Heart and Mind

01:46:42 - A Breaking of Symmetry in the Early Universe

01:50:50 - The Incessant Creativity of the Universe

01:54:52 - Matter's Intrinsic Property of Self-Organization

01:59:13 - The Excitement of Matter and Spiritual Development

02:02:39 - A Round-Trip from Tacoma to Berkeley