Brian Swimme is Director of the Center for the Story of the Universe and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he teaches evolutionary cosmology and philosophy to graduate students. He lectures widely and has presented at many conferences. He co-wrote and hosted the 60 minute film, Journey of the Universe, broadcast on PBS television stations nationwide.
Brian has been my main philosophical squeeze since the late 80s when I read his book, The Universe is a Green Dragon. It’s a “cosmic creation story” of our billions of years of evolution with humanity at the leading edge of the known universe. As good as Brian’s book is, I’m equally enamored with its wonderful author who inspires everyone in his presence with the majesty of the universe and the privilege of being part of it. We did a memorable evening with him at my house a lot of years ago, and when he came to L.A. a few weeks ago to be on a panel and to give a keynote address at a local event I had the pleasure of having him at my house again.
We turned the camera on at a brunch with a few good friends who each read Brian a favorite passage from Green Dragon to spark our conversation:
Here are excerpts from his keynote address and his panel at an event leading up to the 2018 Global Parliament of the World’s Religions:
For all true seekers, who want to see all the way to origin to understand our place in the scheme of things, this is a body of material not to miss. There are different flavors, if you will, of the same truth of being, and this is one of them. Who knows where that deep knowledge that can guide us comes from? Somehow, there are openings here on earth for it to get in. Mystics and saints through the ages have been doorways. In religions, there are doorways to be found. It matters not whether you have an opinion about channeling, which is where this body of truth came from. It has that same resonance and that’s all that matters. It’s what occurs within you when you’re on one of the authentic paths. Your own awareness is your authority, and those who have had these experiences know that.