Customer Reviews

Universe Is A Green Dragon

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I arrived at this book after reading Swimme's more recent book, THE UNIVERSE STORY (1994). Both books reimmersed me into the enchanting wonders of a child gazing up into the stars. This book is written in the classical form of a philosophical dialogue between two speakers, "Thomas" and "Youth." Swimme's book is dedicated to his more recent collaborator, Thomas Berry "and the cosmological tradition he celebrates, stretching back from Erich Jantsch and Teilhard de Chardin through Thomas Aquinas to Plato" (p. 19). The other speaker, "Youth," serves as a reminder that, "having only just arrived on this planet, we are still learning what it means to become fully human" (p. 87).

"The universe bestows on us fire from the beginning of time, simultaneously evoking our profound reverence for this fire" (p. 169), Swimme writes. He uses the green dragon metaphor "to avoid lulling [us] into thinking we have the universe in our grasp, like a stray dog shut up in its kennel" (p. 25). "It is outrageous to compare the universe to a green dragon," he writes, "but I hope this will express some of my astonishment at what we now know about the universe" (p. 26).

"The universe continues to unfold, continues to reveal itself to itself through human awareness" (p. 31). Simply stated, Swimme's premise is that "the universe is a single multiform event. There is no such thing as a disconnected thing. Each thing emerged from the primeval fireball, and nothing can remove the primordial link this establishes with every other thing in the universe, no matter how distant" (pp. 59-60). The same dynamics that forged the fireball and the trillions of stars are also at work within us (p. 109). We are dragon fire.

"The universe is enchantment" (p. 94), and Swimme's profound book is liberating. As the universe unfolds, it demands our response: "Do we awake, dedicating ourselves to a vision of beauty worthy of our fire's origin?" (p. 169).

G. Merritt

Whenever I read this book I feel like I'm sitting outdoors under the starry night sky by a campfire, listening to two people talk about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Within the framework of an imaginary conversation between "Thomas" (based on Thomas Berry) and "Youth" (representing youthful mankind), Brian Swimme's UNIVERSE IS A GREEN DRAGON tells the miraculous story of the vibrant existance of our universe. In masterful storytelling style, Swimme spins a tale so poetic and electrifying that the story inside this book begins to seem much more real than much of the rest of "real life". As Thomas explains to the Youth, "To develop the power of cosmic sensitivity is to understand that to be in reality means dissolving the universe, absorbing it into your new self. To be is to dissolve and draw up, to BE dissolved and drawn up. The universe is a hard yellow candy, to be sucked on and swalled until it dissolves, and, in that moment of dissolution, we emerge. A hardened mind cannot respond to the presence of the moon. The moon's riches cannot be tasted, so the moon can not show itself. The interaction between the rigid person and the universe is superficial, because the sensitivity is dim." I feel invigorated after reading any part of this book... refreshed with a new vision of the true splendour of this enchanted universe.

There is probably no better way to introduce the non-scientist to the philosophical implications of the emerging 'quantum' worldview. As a mathematical cosmologist, Brian understands the details behind the amazing revelations of the 'new physics' and with unique talent weaves a wonderful tale of the complementary meaning we must see in these details. I have used this book as a primary text in courses I have taught in science and society and years later had students recall with great fondness the sense of awe, spirit and personal vision it awakened in them. This is not another work of the nice but limited science-and -religion-are-the-same school, but a truly deep and accessable presentation of the new scientific worldview that combines technical understanding with spiritual meaning. A true gem that educates and inspires hope!

I couldn't stand looking at the one star review on the Amazon page that doesn't show that almost all the rest gave five stars. Hands down this is my favorite book -- for all the reasons the eloquent writers of the five star pieces cited. I've bought 400 plus copies -- if you are my friend, you've read it, and if you are someone I've brushed by who is listened to by others, I've pressed a copy in your hands. Understanding the concepts in this book changes you into what it is that hopefully us humans are becoming, where our gratitude for the privilege of human life in this wondrous creation supercedes our proclivity to blow each other up.

I was first acquainted with this book as it was quoted by Paul Winters (famous soprano saxophone musician extraodinaire) at a workshop I attended. The quote had me in tears.. I can't find my copy or I would have written it in here. He writes of the Universe as Love. How it is truely an alluring universe. And how we can relate to ourselves through its allurement. With an open mind and heart I invite all to read this book. I now see Brian has authored a couple of other books I may get my eyes on!

I was blessed to have had the opportunity to study this book while in college. Swimme's dynamic writing style and grasp on the mystical is refreshing in these days of atheism and agnosticism. I highly recommend any and all of his works, as well as those of Thomas Berry and Matthew Fox. They free us from the pain of modern theology and it's uninclusiveness, and opens up the divine for all to share.

As a supplement to the thoughts of Lonergan, Ursula Franklin, Thomas Aquinas, and Plato, this book serves to put into poetic terms the dance of physics, biology, cognitive thought, creation, evolution, spirituality, psychology, love, life, death, meaning, and essentially everything else this universe holds. It was interesting to see this work done in the matter of the dialogues - it worked for the Greeks for teaching difficult topics. The book holds much more meaning if you have already studied concepts of life, such as those expressed by Lonergan. The reader is really forced to think in a completely different manner in order to understand Swimme's thoughts. You look at everything differently after reading this; you gain a new love of life and in the process become more human. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in life and existence, no matter what your background knowledge is. Best thing out there!

Swimme writes about our authentic maturation as a species. Let us then consider one splendid example of authentic maturity: the shark. Unquestionably, the shark is essentially perfect in fit, form, and function. That need not surprise us: the shark is the result of tens of millions of years of change. No one would argue the shark prevents the Earth from blooming.

The shark also provides a useful test of the assertion that the shark got to its present state of maturity by continuing to question, develop, hope, live in awe and in the depths of wonder. We are to believe the shark developed a greater awareness by the process of "self-reflexion" and that explains its perfect fit in the universe. I believe the opposite is true: the shark is a "matured" species precisely because it was (and is) incapable of any of the activities Swimme claims as prerequisites for maturation.

One paragraph in Swimme's book reads:

"Can Earth sustain our violence? Can a great beauty grow from the ruins we leave? Concerning this question, it is important to understand the temporal nature of the Earth's creativity. The Earth at one time was able to create life, but that time has gone. The first life forms consumed the very conditions that enabled life to emerge. The fertility of the Earth is different now. If the higher life forms disappear, they cannot be re-created. When life forms vanish, they vanish forever."

Several thoughts come to mind. In the geologic past at the Cretaceous-Tertiary transition, current evidence suggests an immense event took place. Just about all life forms vanished. We can safely assume that one of those life forms qualified as the "highest". It very likely vanished too. And at the transition we find no evidence of any life form like Homo sapiens, or any evidence of a life form that remotely approaches the intellectual capacity of Homo. Now, 65 million years later, there is Homo sapiens. Swimme's assertion is that when T. rex (for example) was erased, there was no possibility of anything "higher" in the future. This is clearly not the case, for if it were, Homo wouldn't be here.

The fertility of this planet is amazingly resilient and is the same now, 65 million years ago, and two thousand million years ago. Even the suspect extraterrestrial impact marking the Cretaceous-Tertiary transition did not prevent Homo from appearing later. Furthermore, any ruins we might leave pale in comparison to extraterrestrial impacts, repeated continental glaciations, magnetic pole reversals, mega-thrust earthquakes, gigantic eruptions of theoliitic flood basalts, cratonic rifting, lateral strike-slip displacements with 1000 kilometer length scales, subduction of entire landmasses, and the list goes on and on. If the Earth can "endure" all those events, then it can easily handle the worst we can throw at it. No, I am not suggesting we are therefore granted license to continue on an irresponsible path of environmental degradation, but I do think we need to be willing to confront root-causes for our lousy stewardship and do something about them.

One classic root-cause for our ills is greed. I find greed a better explanation for our ills rather than from our failure to appreciate the workings of the universe. Said another way, I have trouble accepting the idea that once the Theory of Everything is formulated (and withstands the rigors of experimental verification), all we need to do is embrace it and then greed will vanish and the Earth will bloom once again. Based on that thinking, you would expect the Copernican Revolution, Newton's Principia, and Einstein's General Relativity to have at least provided some incremental improvements in the condition of Homo, yet I find no evidence of that.

Swimmes writes at length about violence. I have even more trouble with the idea of a link between the explosion of a star and the violence Homo perpetrates on itself and its environment. In fact, the idea that there is violence apart from Homo amounts to anthropomorphism. The explosion of a star is not a violent event: it's simply another event just as its ignition is an event. Don't ask me to accept the proposition that protons and neutrons perpetrate violence. Furthermore, no shark kills based on ideological differences with its prey. Blue stars don't conspire to blow up red stars because of a prejudice against the color red. Violence is a unique trait of Homo.

Of course, the very simple solution to the problem of violence is to love our neighbors as ourselves; but alas, that doctrine is rooted in one of those out-moded, eroded religous systems (which might be why Swimme doesn't write about it). And it requires that we change ourselves. Leo Tolstoy said it best: everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change himself.

I am a scientist, and I do appreciate and feel the vastness and beauty of the universe, and the elegance of biological evolution. But I don't think Swimme's romanticizing of science, cosmology, and particle physics is going to lead us to build a better society or better individual lives. Educated people have already tried making a god of science in this culture, I presume because of the seeming miracles it has performed, and the result has been people with empty spiritual lives and a desperate need to fill the void with stuff - food, things, travel - anything to avoid facing the sense of meaninglessness they get when they feel like tiny insignificant cogs in a vast machine. It doesn't really matter whether the machine is the military/industrial complex or the universe, in terms of its effect on the human spirit. Granted, the current state of much organized religion is not ideal, but I don't think Swimme's approach is going to have any better results. There are many alternative approaches between religious fundmentalism on one pole and an exclusive devotion to matter on the other.
This particular book is also painful to read, due to its patronizing tone and the way science is mixed with the subjective speculations and opinions of the author. There is a lack of respect for logic or fact in this book, which is surprising considering its topic and the author's credentials. Swimme is misusing the hard-won authority of science, which has performed its seeming miracles by a rigorous attention to observable facts. He owes it to his trusting readers (note the many 5-star reviews at this site) to distinguish clearly between the facts and his interpretations. There is a lack of intellectual humility here, which ironically mirrors his complaint of inappropriate human grandiosity in relation to nature.

Thanks for getting the book out so quick!