Will the Copernican Principle enhance Cosmic Consciousness? No.

SR 1163

Imagine the explosion in cosmic consciousness you or I might’ve enjoyed in 16^th and 17^th century Europe! The great astronomers and founders of modern science—Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton—opened windows and even telescopes to stars beyond the stars. Now forgotten theologians—John Buridan (1292-1358) and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464)—had previously speculated that extraterrestrial intelligences might be living on celestial bodies. With telescopes by 1610, the possibility of ETI neighbors suddenly seemed more real. Might the paroxysm of new scientifically gained knowledge of celestial resplendence have sparked the fires of cosmic consciousness?

Does the Copernican Principle — the Principle of Mediocrity — contribute to, or detract from, cosmic consciousness?

In 2021 and again in 2022, I was invited to deliver a guest Zoom presentation to webinar series 12.400 Our Space Odyssey at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The host professor of planetary sciences, Julien de Wit, asked me to speak on space consciousness. Mmmmmm? Does space consciousness  refer to your and my terrestrial consciousness or awareness of space? Or, does there already exist an extraterrestrial space consciousness that invades or pervades your and my mind, soul, and imagination? Or, both? This question prompts this dissertation.

Decentering, Demoting, and Degrading

Let’s ask again: does the Copernican Principle contribute to, or detract from, cosmic consciousness?

No, is the answer if you belong to the Copernican De-Centering Club. On the basis of the Copernican Principle, the decentering club degrades, demotes, and demeans our inherited religious traditions and their theological reflections. How? By turning the discovery of Nicholai Copernicus into a sledge hammer to pound down our spiritual sensibility like a railroad spike. Allegedly, according to the de-centerers, the scientific discovery of heliocentrism whacks down outdated religious beliefs such as geo-centrism and anthro-pocentrism. Science replaces religion in our modern worldview. To say it another way, scientists practice theology without a license. Well, at least according to those in the Copernican De-Centering Club.

I believe that the two or more trillion galaxies with countless stars and planets and perhaps extraterrestrial civilizations provide our religious sensibilities with a natural symbol of the divine. Outer space resonates within the depth of our souls. Galaxies prompt our souls to talk.

The unfathomable cosmos kindles within the human soul a spark of excitement at pondering what is beyond. The dialectic that makes human beings into spiritual beings is the interaction between what is beyond and what is intimate, between what is transcendent and what is immanent, between what is sublime and what is mundane.

Even though any self-respecting doctrine of God would dub the cosmos a something created by a Creator and not in itself divine, the cosmos conveys God’s magnificence, mystery, and incomprehensibility. And if you and I could get our spiritual druthers, we would want this magnificence, mystery, and incomprehensibility to lodge within the depths of our soul, mind, and even heart.

Members of the Copernican De-Centering Club simply do not grasp this virtually universal religious sensibility. So, let’s get back to the basics of religion. Then we can sort through the fake news and gain a more authentic appreciation for cosmic consciousness.

Our Religious Quest for the Beyond and the Intimate

So, what is our essential religious quest? It is to find the beyond within the intimacy of our own soul. Let me repeat. The inchoate drive within us seeks harmony between the beyond and the intimate, a harmony taking place within our individual soul.

God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived, said St. Anselm. But we find God not merely out there, beyond the galaxies. Rather, the God of the beyond effervesces like champagne within our inner self.

So, then, why might we try to cultivate cosmic consciousness by straining to see distant supernovas, intergalactic plasma, or inhabited exoplanets orbiting stars in the Milky Way?

The infinite depths of space and the mind-numbing distances of perhaps two trillion galaxies evoke within us awe and amazement if not adoration. The prospect that extraterrestrial neighbors yet to be discovered may similarly find their souls exhilarated with the same awe only enhances our own hunger for cosmic consciousness. Speculations about extraterrestrial intelligences only embolden our own efforts to summit the peak of cosmic consciousness. See Nick Pope’s report on the 2010 Royal Society treatment of the religious and social implications of extraterrestrial intelligent life, “Indistinguishable from Magic.”

Copernican Confusion

If I recall correctly, it was Bob Pratt calling on behalf of the National Enquirer for an interview.

He asked, “With your expertise in this field, Doctor Peters, what do you think would happen if we could confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life? Would all of our traditional religions on earth collapse?”

“No, of course not,” I responded. “Why would you ask such a question?”

“Because,” he replied, “our religions teach that Earth is in the center of the universe. Because our religions teach that man is the highest being. So, learning of other intelligent beings in space would cause a crisis in belief. Wouldn’t they?”

“Well, Bob,” I answered, “I’m quite familiar with the Christian religion. Christians believe God is in the center, not the Earth. Christians believe that above the human race are the angels. And above the angels there is God. I don’t see the logic of your line of questioning. What fragile religions do you have in mind?” (T. Peters, The Implications of the discovery of extra-terrestrial life for religion 2011)

After a few moments he said, “Well, Ted, I don’t think I’ll be quoting you in my next article. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Copernican Decentering and Demoting

Thus, I wonder if Bob Pratt had been bamboozled by the Copernican Principle. What’s that? It’s an alleged scientific principle used to decenter human consciousness and demote human hubris. Here’s how it works.

When Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the universe that would eventually replace the Ptolemaic geocentric model, the planet we live on became de-centered, so to speak. This is not merely an astronomical observation. At least according to those in the Copernican De-Centering Club. It is simultaneously a psychological, cultural, and religious datum. Really?

Eventually this decentering was given a name. Austrian and British mathematician, Herman Bondi (1919-2005), coined the term Copernican Principle to refer to the de-centering of Planet Earth and the demotion of the human race to marginal status in a giant universe (Bondi 1952, 13) (Smith 2020, 8). [1]

“This removal of the Earth from any position of great cosmological significance is generally known, even today, as the Copernican Principle. It has become a cornerstone of modern astrophysics” (Chaisson 2014, 43).

This astronomical observation allegedly has theological ramifications. At least according to those who do not understand theology very well.

“Since the sixteenth century, the place of humanity in the universe has gotten smaller and smaller. In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish priest, knocked the Earth off its pedestal as the center of the universe and discovered it was just another planet revolving around the Sun. Ever since, the ghost of Copernicus has continued to haunt us…. Humanity is just a grain of sand on this vast cosmic beach” (Ricard 2001, 38).

Now, do you feel properly decentered and pounded down?

Post-Copernican Hammering of Religion

Demoting does not stop with Copernicus. Some scientists take a sledgehammer to drive humanity down and down as if religion were a railroad spike. Ohio State University zoologist, Tim Berra, for example. “To the Catholic Church, which for centuries had insisted that the Earth as the center of everything, [Copernicus’ heliocentrism] was a great shock and a blasphemy….there are still geocentrists and flat-earthers who claim that their positions are supported by a literal interpretation of the Bible. In 1859 Darwin completed the Copernican revolution by removing humans from center stage” (Berra 1990, 143-144). Really? Is this true?

More hammering follows.  But in the adroit hands of space historian and U.S. Library of Congress scholar, Steven J. Dick, the hammering is more like gentle molding. “As Darwinism placed humanity in its terrestrial context, so exobiology will place humanity in a cosmic context. That context—a universe full of microbial life, full of intelligent life, or devoid of life except for us—may to a large extent determine both humanity’s present worldview and its future” (Dick 2005, 9). Dick’s historical account sounds more like it.

Curiously, when a scientist makes a non-scientific or unverifiable assertion, we tend to believe it. University of Amsterdam “researchers found that regardless of their country or level of religiosity, participants regarded absurd claims from a scientist as more credible than those from a spiritual leader” (Editors 17 February 2022). So, when a scientist practices theology without a license, should a theologian listen?

With this in mind, we must ask: is there anything of spiritual value to this demotion hypothesis? How can the human spirit enticed by the magnetism of knowing what’s cosmically beyond be beaten down by the same exhilarating cosmic truths that so delight us? This proposed decentering is confusing, at best.

Copernicus’ heliocentric model is a scientific model to be celebrated and, yes, it is a cornerstone for much of the astrophysics to follow. But, what has this to do with cosmic consciousness? Why all this talk of decentering or demoting? The decentering and demoting depend on fake news. Fake news depends on a failure to grasp the distinctively religious dimension to cosmic consciousness. Our scientific decentering friends are practicing theology without a license.

The Cosmic Consciousness of Mother Krishnabai

Let’s begin with a classic example of cosmic consciousness. We will ask: would this be affected by Copernicus?

Mother Krishnabai (1903-1989) is a person who attained cosmic consciousness. She experienced a complete merging of herself with all that is. That’s what she told us.

It was 1984, if I recall correctly. My Munich colleague Michael von Brück and I visited Anandashram in southern India and requested an audience with Mother Krishnabai. She outlined for us her meditative pilgrimage that led to cosmic consciousness. After forty years of strenuous yoga, she said, she no longer felt any sexual desire. With sex out of the way, her atman took a leap and she realized her oneness with Brahman. The whole of cosmic reality resides within her soul and she became aware of it.

According to the Divine Life Society, “The state of Cosmic Consciousness is grand and sublime. It is beyond description. The mind and speech return from it baffled, as they are not able to grasp and describe it. The language and words are imperfect. It induces awe, Supreme Joy and Highest Unalloyed Felicity, free from pain, sorrow and fear. This is divine experience.”

Would the cosmic consciousness of Mother Krishnabai or the Divine Life Society get decentered by the Copernican Principle? No, I don’t think so.  Mystical merging of the individual soul with the All is pre-Copernican. And post-Copernican.

What is distinctive about post-Copernican cosmic consciousness prompted by outer space is this: the ringtone of distant galaxies vibrates on the cell phones within our souls.

The God Consciousness of Friedrich Schleiermacher

Mother Krishnabai in India actualized something Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) in Germany observed to be a universal human potential.

Like a bathroom nightlight, a soft glow of transcendence never departs from the edges of your or my consciousness. Whether we think about it or not, we never cease to be semi-aware of our dependence upon that which sustains us in existence. We are utterly dependent on something beyond us.

This is the observation of the Father of Liberal Protestant theology, Friedrich Schleiermacher, in his 1799 book, On Religion. It’s not rational. It transcends while encompassing reason. It’s a matter of feeling, of intuition. We cannot escape the inchoate feeling of absolute dependence, das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl. This led to Schleiermacher’s theory of religion.

“The sum total of religion is to feel that, in its highest unity, all that moves us in feeling is one; to feel that aught single and particular is only possible by means of this unity; to feel, that is to say, that our being and living is a being and living in and through God” (Schleiermacher 1958, 49-50).

A century later, History of Religions pioneer Mircea Eliade found this sensitivity toward the beyond residing in culture after culture. So, he defined the human species as homo religious. Because of the “validity of comparisons between religious facts pertaining to different cultures,” contends Mircea Eliade, we can see how “all these facts arise from a single type of behavior, that of homo religiosus” (Eliade 1957, 17-18).

In sum, our sensitivity to what is beyond inclines the human imagination to pursue cosmic consciousness. Not every individual is interested in outer space or institutional religion, to be sure. But certainly our generation as a whole is answering the call of outer space within our soul.

The Double Valence of ETI

Suppose SETI or METI or NASA establish communication with an extraterrestrial civilization more technologically advanced than we on earth. What will we say to each other?

Here is one scenario for sharing consciousness with off-Earth neighbors. The more advanced ETI will have achieved utopian levels of intelligence, knowledge, health, longevity, and perhaps even inter-planetary peace. Coming from their planets into our heavens, ETI could shower earth with blessings. This is the scenario put forth by Cornell’s Carl Sagan and SETI’s Frank Drake. Contact with extraterrestrials “would inevitably enrich mankind beyond measure” (Sagan 1975, 89). [4] These two scientists unwittingly are responding to the call of the beyond from within, expecting what transcends us to bless us. [5]

Here is an alternative scenario to our question. Suppose our ETI neighbors want to talk about the Super Bowl score or complain about high taxes. Or worse! Suppose they want to show us photos of their grandchildren? Suppose our neighbors in space are just absorbed in mundane twaddle or even gossip as we are? Suppose ETI are just ordinary? Then what?

Here’s what. ETI will lose their resonance with the sublime, the beyond, the holy. No longer will our imagined ETI be identified with transcendence or divinity because they will have lost resonance with our religious sensibilities.

Conclusion

The effect of the Copernican Principle on your or my cosmic consciousness is virtually nil. The post-Copernican awareness of the depths of outer space only enhances the resonance between our intimate soul and the transcendent beyond. The stars watched through telescopes spark, ignite, and enflame spiritual excitement. No matter how hard members of the Copernican De-Centering Club try to pound down cosmic consciousness, they will not be able to squash it completely. [6]

Shall we equate God with space? No, of course not. Yet space speaks to us. In oblique language, space tells us to become aware that the beyond is that than which nothing greater can be conceived. And that than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-conceived-lodges within the depths of our own soul.

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Along with Martinez Hewlett, Joshua Moritz, and Robert John Russell, Ted Peters co-edited, Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2018). Along with Octavio Chon Torres, Joseph Seckbach, and Russell Gordon, he co-edited, Astrobiology: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (Scrivener 2021). He is also author of UFOs: God’s Chariots? Spirituality, Ancient Aliens, and Religious Yearnings in the Age of Extraterrestrials (Career Press New Page Books, 2014). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

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Notes

[1] Do not confuse the Copernican Principle with the Cosmological Principle. The cosmological principle, Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich tells us, holds that “that the universe should be homogeneous and uniform not only in space, but also in time” (Gingerich 2014, 112). Vatican Observatory astronomers remind us that, according to the Cosmological Principle, “there should be no location in space or time that is special or privileged in any way” (Consolmagno 2014, 275).

 

[2] Working from within the demotion myth, Philip Hefner illustrates the dynamics of de-centering. “Copernicus took earth out of the center of the solar system. Darwin removed the human species from the center of the evolution of life. Harlow Shapley discovered that our solar system is on the periphery of its galaxy…there is no center, as such, to the universe…We believe that God is the center of reality, but we humans are certainly not the center–in either time or space….In this experience of de-centeredness we will gain new insights into God and into God’s will for us” (Hefner 1996). Hefner makes the point that our center is God, regardless of where we are located in space or time.

 

[3] There are numerous helpful resources in the field of “Theology and Science” as I frequently point out. If you are an evangelical Christian, tether yourself to BioLogos. If you are a Muslim, note how Iranian physicist, Medhi Golshani, collects affirmative testimonies in his series of books, Can Science Dispense with Religion? (Golshani, 2021) If you are Jewish, then visit Sinai and Synapses. If you are a Lutheran, join the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science, and Technology and visit monthly Covalence Magazine.

ESSSAT (European Society for the Study of Science and Theology) publishes a fine newsletter. Visit also Greg Cootsona’s blog, Science for the Church, along with reading the Science and Religion Initiative Newsletter. The journal, Zygon, has been a pioneer publication for half a century, drawing scholars from IRAS (Institute for Religion in an Age of Science).

In Berkeley, I work with physicist-theologian Robert John Russell at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, which is part of the Graduate Theological Union. For two decades we have published a fine scholarly journal, Theology and Science. The science-religion sandbox is filled with lots and lots of toys for our minds to play with.

 

[4] I dub this scenario the ETI Myth. We find this myth among scientists who practice theology without a license (T. Peters, Astrotheology’s contribution to public theology: From the extraterrestrial intelligence myth to Astroethics 2021).

 

[5] “ET will be neither totally benign nor totally malevolent. Instead my empirical prediction is that ET will share the ambiguity of moral behavior found in humankind. If this is the case, it underscores the universality of the Easter event: God, who is the author of all life in the universe by means of evolutionary biology, is also the redeemer of all life in the universe as symbolized by the phrase, ‘the Cosmic Christ’” (Russell 2008, 18).

 

[6] In this Patheos series on public theology, we have lifted up a Theology of Nature informed by science. Paul Scherz, among others, would agree that the public theologian should “combine respect for scientific research with caution in regard to its application” (Scherz 2018, 1049). This caution includes distinguishing between solid science, misleading scientism, and the intelligibility of genuine faith in God.

More specifically, this post is an exercise in astrotheology. “Christian Astrotheology is that branch of theology which provides a critical analysis of the contemporary space sciences combined with an explication of classic doctrines such as creation and Christology for the purpose of constructing a comprehensive and meaningful understanding of our human situation within an astonishingly immense cosmos” (Peters 2013, 443).

Already here in Patheos we have given special attention to what the space sciences tell us about our glorious yet mysterious cosmos. One post dealt with Lucas Mix, astrobiologist and theologian, on life in the cosmos. In another post we asked if NASA along with hired priests were preparing for ETI contact. In still another post we asked if alien scientists are our real gods? In this post, we extend our speculations into astrotheology.

References

Berra, Tim. 1990. Evolution and the Myth of Creationism. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.

Bondi, Herman. 1952. Cosmology. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.

Chaisson, Eric and Steve McMillan. 2014. Astronomy Today, 8th ed. Boston: Pearson.

Consolmagno, Guy, and Paul Mueller. 2014. Would You Baptize an Estraterrestrial. New York: Image.

Dick, Steven and James Strick. 2005. The Living Universe: NASA and the Development of Astrobiology. Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Eliade, Mircea. 1957. The Sacred and the Profane. New York: Harcourt Brace and World.

Editors of Nature, 2022. “Credibility Score: People Put Their Trust in Scientists,” Nature 602: 7897 (17 February).

Gingerich, Owen. 2014. God’s Planet. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

Hefner, Philip. 1996. “Discovery of Life on Mars–A Theological Response.” The Magazine of the Chicago Center for Religion and Science 8:1 16-17.

Peters, Ted. 2013. “Astrotheology.” In The Routledge Companion to Modern Christian Thought, by eds Chad Meister and James Beilby, 838-853. London: Routledge.

Peters, Ted. 2021. “Astrotheology’s contribution to public theology: From the extraterrestrial intelligence myth to Astroethics.” HTS Teologeise Studies 77:3 1-8.

Peters, Ted. 2018. “Does Extraterrestrial Life Have Instrinsic Value?” International Journal of Astrobiology 17:2 1-7.

Peters, Ted. 2018. “Introducing Astrotheology.” In Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life, 3-26. Eugene OR: Cascade Books.

Peters, Ted. 2011. “The Implications of the discovery of extra-terrestrial life for religion.” The Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions A 369: 644-655; https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.72/kht.6bb.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2011RoyalSoc.pdf.

Peters, Ted, Martinez Hewlett, Joshua Moritz, and Robert John Russell, eds. 2018. Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life. Eugene OR: Cascade Books ISBN 978-1-5326-0639-7 / eBook 978-1-5326-0640-3.

Ricard, Matthieu and Rinh Xuan Thuan. 2001. The Quantum and the Lotus. New York: Random House.

Russell, Robert John. 2008. Cosmology from Alpha to Omega: The Creative Mutual Interaction of Theology and Science. Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press ISBN 978-0-8006-6273-8.

Sagan, Carl, and Frank Drake. 1975. “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” Scientific American 232 (1): 80-89.

Scherz, Paul. 2018. “Laudato Si and the Use of Scientific Research in Theology and Public Theology.” Heythrop Journal LIX 1049-1059.

Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1958. On Religion. New York: Harper.

Smith, Kelly C. 2020. “Cosmogenesis, Complexity, and Neo-Natural Faith in the Context of Astrobiology.” Religions 11 (12): 1-10.