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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Bruce Charlton
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I believe that people will not feel comfortable and positive about the contemporary world until we can endorse and believe an evolutionary cosmology which is appropriate to modern conditions. A cosmology is a mythical account of the universe as it presents itself to the human mind; it needs to be poetic, symbolic, inspiring of a sense of awe and mystery. Furthermore, a complete cosmology should include the three levels of macro-, meso- and micro-cosm, in order to understand the nature of the universe, human society, and the individual's relation to them. Traditional cosmologies described an eternal underlying structure to ultimate reality - a static ideal state towards which the world ought to gravitate. However, modern life is characterized by rapid growth, novelty, destruction and fluidity of all kinds of structures, a feature which traditional static cosmologies interpret negatively and pessimistically. A modern cosmology therefore needs to be focused on underlying dynamic process instead of structure and stasis. Biologists are better placed than many to appreciate a cosmology based on evolutionary change; because this is the mainstream understanding of adaptation and diversity in the natural world. The same dynamic, neophiliac and open-ended process of 'creative destruction' can be seen at work in science, economics, and modern spirituality. But a modern cosmology will only be experienced as both deep and spontaneous when it takes the form of a mythic account that is first encountered and assimilated during childhood. Since myths arise as a consequence of human creativity; there is a vital future mythogenic role for artists in the realm of ideas, images and stories: people such as mystics, poets and philosophers - including, I hope and expect, creatively inspired scientists. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Charlton BG
Publication type: Editorial
Publication status: Published
Journal: Medical Hypotheses
Year: 2007
Volume: 69
Issue: 4
Pages: 713-717
ISSN (print): 0306-9877
ISSN (electronic): 1532-2777
Publisher: Churchill Livingstone
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.021
DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.021
PubMed id: 17583439
