The Cosmic Gospel

Sometimes meaning "good news", the term Gospel has been used thoughout history to signify the delivery of powerful new messages. Perhaps the most powerful message ever received by humanity is that for the first time, science and technology have allowed us to see ourselves and our place within the grand sweep of the time and scale of the Universe. Contemplating one's place in this vastness is both humbling and enlivening. How trivial are our petty concerns and conflicts seem in the face of the cosmos and how wonderful is our improbable existance!

I think you would agree with me that humanity in dire need of a new perspective, both for our survival, better stewardship of the planet and overall mental health. Religion may never give us this new perspective, whereas a wonder and respect for the universe and our (however small) place in it might just do the trick.

Many voices are emerging to bring this "good news" to humanity and this site is about finding and featuring those people (and I am one of them ;-). So, this site is dedicated to featuring the "Speakers of the Cosmic Gospel". If you want to add your voice to the ones below, please contact me, Bruce Damer, initiator of this little project.

Speakers of the Cosmic Gospel

Bruce Damer

Terence McKenna once called Bruce Damer “a visionary's visionary,” and Bruce certainly lived up to that reputation in his 2003 Burning Man presentation. Combining subjects as diverse as evolution, psychedelic experiences, and physics, he builds a mental construct to rival Olaf Stapleton's classic work Starmaker. In addition to Bruce's ideas about a conscious universe, we were also treated to an inspiring rap by his wife, Galen Brandt, as she explains the lure of the Burning Man experience.

Click here to listen to The Day the Universe Became Conscious at the Palenque Norte podcasts. Thanks to Lorenzo Hagerty for providing this in convenient MP3 and podcasting formats!

For more visit Bruce Damer's homepage here or click here for access to audio/video of Bruce's speeches.

Andrew Cohen

When the Universe becomes Conscious of Itself
Because of the gift of self-reflective consciousness, the human being alone, of all forms of life, has the capacity to recognize his or her own true identity as being not separate from the whole event of creation. Not separate from the Ground of Being, the void out of which the universe emerged, and simultaneously not separate from the first cause, from the Big Bang itself. When the individual has an experience of what is known as cosmic consciousness, that's when this human vehicle becomes a vessel through which the Universe is able to know all of itself. The human vehicle becomes capable of knowing the body of the whole Universe as its own self, as its own limitless body. So the awakening of the spiritual impulse in the human heart and mind is the Universe becoming conscious of itself through its own emerging creative process. That's quite profound. Especially considering that it's taken fifteen billion years for evolution to bring life to the point where this was possible.

From a quote by Andrew Cohen in 2002

Brian May

"To me it is a spiritual force in my life," from Brian's interview for the CNN article Queen's guitarist explores the cosmos. See his book "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe" with astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott.From the Bang! website:

Why BANG!? Why did three men from markedly different backgrounds come together and spend two years passionately thrashing out the text of a book about a Big Bang? Because they believe that every intelligent, inquisitive human being should have the chance to hear this astounding story, only very recently beginning to make sense - The Complete History of the Universe – in a language everyone can understand.

See related sites:

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day

Gnostic Way and NewGospels.net

For additional notes, see Scraps
Project estabilshed May 31, 2006
First Site: June 2, 2006
Last update: October 19, 2006
Contact our webmaster if you would like to be involved in this project.