The New Paradigm in Cosmology

SelectBooks is pleased to announce the publication of our e-book titled  The New Paradigm in Cosmology. This book compiled and edited by Richard  Blum is based on the second Online Global Symposium of The New Paradigm  Symposia Series sponsored by the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm  Research. In December, 1921, leading cosmologists from around the world  presented their latest thoughts and theories, including some unique  perspectives on the branch of astronomy and metaphysics that deals with  the nature of our cosmos.

The Laszlo Institute' s first online  symposium in the series in July, 2021, was on the subject of  contemporary politics. Our e-book titled The New Paradigm in Politics  summarized the symposium' s presentations exploring the meso-dimension  of human affairs and experiences that constitute our everyday reality.  Participants in the symposium heard a rich exchange among leading  authorities on governance, policy making, organization development, law,  and civil society.

The dynamics of this self-organizing,  participatory community event revealed how interdependent and truly  interrelated we are— not just as people on this planet but as part of  the way our Earth itself evolves and adapts. We might ask why a research  institute committed to improving the state of the contemporary world  hold a symposium on cosmology. How does the cosmos factor into  determining the state of human beings on this planet? In order to  understand this relationship, perhaps we should first consider the  meanings of " cosmos" and " universe." Kósmos in the original Greek  sense of the word is the totality of all that exists. It is eternal,  infinite in time, and if our reality is truly fixed— and nothing is  transitory— the cosmos is also infinite in space. Today, our " universe"  refers to a different reality.

According to current scientific  conceptions, the universe is not infinite in time. Nor is it infinite in  space. It is a limited spacetime domain within the all-encompassing  reality we call cosmos, supporting the theory that our universe had its  origin at a given point and has been persisting in time and expanding in  space ever since the big bang. To answer the question of why  information regarding such a universe is relevant to human concerns, the  answer is this: If the universe arose within the womb of the cosmos and  is not an eternally fixed domain but is subject to change, development,  and " evolution," the way it changes could be an indication of laws and  regularities that govern change and evolution within the universe. If  so, the evolution of the universe as a whole is relevant to the  existence of things within it, including human existence.