Living Kosmos represents a self-worldview that is
vital, alive, evolving and inter-connected
This is an invitation to experience living beyond dualism, beyond materialism and beyond secularism. We recognize that the universe isn’t simply out there, but that it’s also in here… which is to say, we are an embodiment of the living, breathing, creative, growing universe – the kosmos in its process of becoming.
‘Kosmos’ is a Greek work meaning the entire world – the physical, the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual. It has sadly been reduced to ‘cosmos,’ which the modern world still claims to be ‘the whole world,’ but it only includes the physical realm – materialistic reductionism, in other words.
~Ken Wilber
Our word ‘cosmos’ generally refers to ‘outer space.’ But the word derives from the Greek kosmos (signifying ’embroidery’), which implied not a universe filled with disconnected noun-things but the orderliness and harmony of woven patterns with which the universe is embroidered and moves.
~Michael Schneider
Living Kosmos is the embodied recognition of our participation in the creative advance of the universe, life, and consciousness. I founded the school, Living Kosmos, in 2020 when I powerfully stepped into this self-worldview myself. During the great pandemic pause, I undertook initiation into the Western Mystery Tradition, immersed into Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory, and moved to Kaua’i. The interweaving of these three threads catalyzed the birth of Living Kosmos as a vehicle for me to share the path of active co-creation in the evolution of consciousness.
The foundational tenets of Living Kosmos are as follows:
- The entirety of the kosmos is simultaneously diverse and whole. Nonduality, meaning not-two, signifies the essential continuity of reality that unites opposites, embraces paradox, and welcomes us as individuals into our home here. I am not separate from the kosmos. I not only belong here, but everything that I encounter is essentially of me. The kosmos is alive because I am alive. The kosmos is conscious because I am conscious. I am, you are, an intelligent, living, breathing kosmos. We are self-reflective universe!
- This kosmos contains (at least) four realms of beingness. (1) Objective exterior dimensions are measured by the hard sciences; (2) subjective interior dimensions are the domains of psychology and mysticism; (3) collective exteriors which contain emergent systems, populations, ecosystems, and societies that cannot be described solely by the interactions of individual members; and (4) collective interiors of cultures, values, and shared identity. It is possible to be scientific about each of these domains, which unites diverse modes of knowledge production including science and spirituality. This is known as the Four Quadrant Model from Integral Theory which incorporates panexperientialism (ie: every entity has both an objective exterior and a subjective interior of experience).
- Our kosmos is meaningful. We inhabit a pansemiotic reality where every phenomena and every experience across all levels fundamentally carries meaning. Physical matter is encoded light. Biological organisms are encoded aliveness. Human communication is encoded reflexive consciousness. The most fundamental and universal patterns of meaning are the archetypes. By studying the archetypes (such as the tarot deck, religious symbolism, and mythology), we not only learn about the workings of the kosmos, but we can use the archetypes as a bridge to experience the power and diversity of our reality.
- We live in an evolving universe. As Brian Swimme put it, “If you let hydrogen gas alone for 13 billion years it will become giraffes, rose bushes and humans.” This evolution spans physical, biological, and psycho-spiritual dimensions. Evolution is a process of creativity that exhibits directionality toward greater degrees of complexity and wholeness. The developmental drive to advance is Eros: our innate capacity to learn and grow. The drive to embrace is Agape: our integrating compassion. The interaction of Eros and Agape produces an ongoing creativity across every scale: a kosmogenesis.
This represents a radical metaphysical framework and self-worldview – one that psychoactively transforms the student by studying it. In order to step into a new reality, I need to inhabit a new me. The mission of Living Komsos is to shepherd the transformation of human consciousness. In recognition of the nondual, panexperiential, pansemiotic, evolutionary nature of the kosmos, our mission is to support individuals to align to these processes – to allow life to unfold through us.
In order to support this mission, we hold the following five principles:
- Nonviolence. Through our courses and transformational containers, we do not cause harm. This includes physical, emotional, and psycho-spiritual aspects for individuals, and community, cultural, and ecosystemic aspects of the collectives that we inhabit. Nonviolence means supporting individuals and groups to meet their needs.
- Sustainability. Meeting our own needs today – the goal of nonviolence – is one half of the equation for sustainability. The second component is to do so without impairing the capacity of future generations and all beings everywhere to meet their needs.
- Organicity. Life naturally moves toward healing and well-being. Each individual, when engaging in sustainable processes, will innately move toward their own wholeness and growth. This process leads to ever greater degrees of creative liberation, which I call eleutheropoeisis. We recognize that each individual knows what is best for them. Our role as practitioners and teachers is to support the unfolding of life’s wisdom through each participant.
- Inclusion. Grounded in the awareness of our coextensive nondual nature, we welcome all participants who align with these principles. We celebrate diversity and learn through integrating contrasting perspectives. In addition, we recognize that every mode of knowledge production is at least partially true. Every religion, every science, and every philosophy contains a kernel of truth and therefore holds an inherent dignity for consideration. Simultaneously, we recognize that within a developmental framework, some truths will be more true or more comprehensive than others. However, no truth is fully and completely true – it is always part of the ongoing advance which produces ever-greater truths.
- Humanness. “Being human first” orients us to the path of awakening and development. Human consciousness affords us the opportunity to explore countless realms, planes, and states – and this is our birthright. However, we recognize that we came here to be a human in this 3D reality: ordinary, mundane, and imperfect. By choosing to be human, we embrace the messy, wounded aspects of ourselves and this world. Centering in our embodied humanness, we open to receive the entire kosmos into our hearts without dissociation or bypass. Human first is a commitment to inhabit our lives as both the practice and the path.
