THE COSMOLOGY OF THE

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

By Eileen McKusick
 What is Cosmology?

Cosmology is the study of the Universe in its

totality, and by extension, humanity's place in it
 Why does cosmology matter?
 Our assumptions about the nature of reality
and the Universe inform all of the sciences –
each and every human discipline is influenced
by our governing cosmology

 It sets the stage

that the human
drama is played
out on
 Important for kids?
“A cosmic creation story answers the

questions asked by children. Where does

everything come from? Why do things

die? Children want to understand their

place in the universe.

They wonder about their roles. They

have an inherent need for a cosmic

story.”

Brian Swimme
Maria Montessori
thought so

She believed cosmological education and the sense of

connection it engendered were of central importance in
childhood and could be introduced as early as age 6.

“Naturally within the child is a movement, a creative

force to develop themselves into splendid, beautiful
human beings in tune with the harmony of the cosmos”.
“Let us give the child a vision of the whole universe… for
all things are part of the universe and are connected with
each other to form one whole unity”
 Important for adults
Our understanding of the Universe and our
relationship to it gives rise to our values which
define and guide the choices we make.

The tribe is united by

its creation story,
by its cosmology.
 Cosmology thru the ages
 Each culture had an oral tradition of the story
of creation and of humans place in the universe
 Religion was the defining cosmology in our
culture until the rise of the scientific revolution
 God as the first cause
of the universe gave
way to …
Our Current Cosmology

Big Bang Theory

 Big Bang Theory
 The universe began as infinitely tiny and
infinitely dense – then it exploded and has
been expanding ever since- 13.7 billion years
 Originally proposed by Roman Catholic Bishop

and scholar Georges Lemaître in 1927

 Confirmed by Edwin Hubble’s 1929

observation that the universe is expanding .

He is responsible for what is now known as
“Hubble’s Law”
Roman Catholic Bishop)
 Hubble’s Law
 Two ideas provide the backdrop
for the commonly held belief that
the Universe is expanding:
 Redshift (how much of the visible starlight is at
the red end of the light spectrum) is proportional
to distance and that it is an indicator of velocity
 The larger an object's redshift the farther away it
is and the faster it is moving away from the
observer.
 However, Hubble always said “if”…
 Rise of the Big Bang theory

 Took cosmology out of the realm of story, religion,

metaphysics and the domain of the common
person and turned it into an elite science.
 Precise calculations for determining the speed at
which the universe was expanding and the
distance of the stars from us became the defining
aspects of cosmology.
 Modern Cosmology
 Cosmology now
defined by
mathematicians in
incomprehensible
formulas
 No cosmology
education or stories
 Can you find your
place in this
equation?
 Newtonian Cartesian

 Matter is composed of discrete particles – solid

building blocks
 The universe and everything in it is machine-
like implying a creator who was separate from
creation
 Everything is separate from everything else
 No need for a god active in daily affairs
 Created the spiritual vacuum we have today
 Western Cosmological Story
 Meaningless, inconsequential life
 Sound doesn’t travel through the empty
vacuum of space– we are all alone in the
universe and no one can hear us
 Sun is a thermonuclear furnace burning itself
out; the universe is winding down and is
going to die
 Black holes suck in light
 Dark matter and dark energy lurk unseen
 Perpetuating the story
 Educated into a sense of emptiness and disconnection
- education prepares us to be good consumers
 Belief in ‘hard work’ keeps people working so they
can be good consumers
 Marketplace has taken the place of the cosmos
 Education is largely reductionist, looking at the pieces
of everything but not at how they interact as a whole.
 It’s no longer anyone’s job to consider the big picture
as cosmology has been hijacked by the
mathematicians.
 Specialists are rewarded and compensated.
 Values
 No longer see the earth as a “nurturing
mother”
 Exploit nature and each other
 Economy is more important than ecology
 Social Darwinism leads to survival of the fittest
– competition rather than cooperation
 A sense of isolationism, powerlessness,
disconnectedness and meaninglessness
 A “Cosmology of Separation”
The New Physics
 Max Planck, upon
accepting the Nobel
Prize for physics in
1918 said, "We have
now discovered that
there is no such thing
as matter, it is all just
different rates of
vibration designed by
an unseen
intelligence.”
 Quantum Theory
 “Isolated material particles are abstractions, their
properties being definable and observable only
through their interaction with other systems”
Niels Bohr
 An elementary particle is not an independently
existing entity. It is, in essence, a set of
relationships that reach outward to other things.
Frijtof Capra
 Shift from objects to relationships
 Things should be defined not by what it is
in itself but by its relations to other things
Everything is Connected
 The behavior of any part is
determined by its nonlocal
connections to the whole
 Electrons do not have objective
properties independent of the mind of
the observer
 In atomic physics the sharp division
between mind and matter, between
observer and observed can no longer
be maintained
 Universe is a connected web of
relationships but how is it connected?
 Newtonian Universe?
People have been talking about this awareness
of connectivity for decades, but little has really
changed. What is missing is the larger view,
the cosmic backdrop. Regardless of the
quantum view of connectivity, we still live in a
cold disconnected mechanical
gravity-driven vacuum of space-

Or do we?
 Electric Universe
 “The cosmic theatre has outgrown the Newtonian
stage, and we need a larger setting to understand the
broader cosmic drama. Instead of a vision of isolated
bodies turning gear-like in a vacuum, we need a
vision of electrical circuits embedded in a conducting
medium whose components drive each other and
may be in resonance. We have left the familiar world
of solids, liquids and gasses. We have entered a
world of plasma, where the rules are different and
more complex. We now live in an Electric Universe."
 From “The Electric Universe”
 Introducing Plasma Cosmology and the
Electric Universe Theory (EU)
 Acknowledges the electrodynamic force in the
universe. Contends space is not electrically
neutral.
 Everything is connected through electric current
conducting plasma filaments (Birkeland currents).
Plasma fills interstellar and interplanetary space.
 No need for big bangs, black holes or invisible
dark matter and dark energy in an electric
universe model – force of electrical interactions is
far far greater than gravity alone.
 A Growing Movement
 EU Theorists have made accurate predictions for stellar events
that have “surprised” mainstream cosmologists and
astrophysicists.

 The theory and proponents are ridiculed and denied access to

telescopes and technology. NASA will not fund any research that
does not support the Big Bang.

 “Like the church of Galileo’s day, refusing to open its eyes to any version
of the order of the cosmos but its own, today’s astrophysicists have closed
their eyes and minds to observations that may disprove their dogma”.

Donald Scott “The Electric Sky”

 The Cosmology of Connection
 If EU theory is correct,
all things are
connected at the
Quantum, Cosmic
and ordinary reality
levels – in an electric
kind of way
 The actions of
everyone impact the Celtic symbol for unity

everything
 Cosmic Values
 If everything is connected and the actions of
everything affect everything else, how does our
knowing this influence our values?
 A sense of cosmic values and responsibilities can
help us transcend the selfish and insignificant
concerns of our culture.
 Cooperation
 Community
 Reverence
 Respect
 Stewardship
 Resources
 Scott, Donald “The Electric Sky”
 Thornhill, Wal “The Electric Universe”
 Capra, Frijtof “The Turning Point”
 Ostrom, Martin, & Zachartis, “Autopoisesis and the Cosmology of
Postmodern Adult Education”, Adult Education Quarterly, Aug
2008
 Schaefer, Patricia, “Emerging Adolescence: Finding One’s Place in
the Cosmos”, The NAMTA Journal, 3/2000
 Swimme, Brian, “The Resurgence of the Cosmic Storytellers”, The
NAMTA Journal, 12/1998
 Root-Bernstein, McEachron, “Teaching Theories: The Evolution-
Creation Controversy”, The American Biology Teacher, Oct 1982