The unifying force of the multiple cannot be composed of the multiple — T. Chardin

Eco-theologian Thomas Berry was an advocate of scientist-theologian Teilhard de Chardin. Berry challenged his followers to tell a new universe story encompassing Teilhard’s cosmogenic vision, an unfinished puzzle in search of inspired synthesis puzzlers. What follows is a succinct new universe story that I believe Teilhard and Berry would recognize as novel, progressive, and faithful to their synthesis legacies and challenges — one that (a) holds science and spirituality in disciplined tension, without collapsing the integral domains of either (b) utilizes the phi-spiral (double-spiral) as the vehicle for their unified cosmic expression, (c) honors the Zero-Point Field as Source, with light emanating from the center-point (vortex) of each spiral at all cosmic scales, (d) reframes spirituality, education, ecology, and ethics in a future looking way for children, teens, and adults. Of particular interest to Berry, this synthesis feat would encompass an ecological “communion of subjects” in their totality, while penetrating the “heart of matter” mystery in Teilhard’s evolutionary paradigm, whose unified vision of the whole likewise awaits fulfillment. (click Resource box at top for Teilhard video)

Methodology: (Completing a 5-D puzzle with the Jigsaw Method) 

Completing Berry’s call for new universe story, and Teilhard’s unfinished spirit-science synthesis vision involves bringing together multiple components joined by a single universal element at play over deep-time, framed by a coherent delivery system, or cosmic architecture. I propose approaching this synthesis challenge using a modified 4-D puzzle format in conjunction with the Jigsaw Method in education, explained below.

We’ve all pieced together jigsaw puzzles, some more detailed and complex than others. The more difficult and time consuming puzzles have several effective methods of approaching them, one of which is working in sections. Another is making it a joint effort by inviting others in. A 4-D puzzle is a type of puzzle that incorporates an additional dimension beyond the three spatial dimensions. This “fourth dimension” often refers to time or a representation of a 4-D object or substance in 3-D space. As cosmogenesis involves showing historical progression from the moment the universe was created in the Big Bang event, evolving in layers over eons, time will be this model’s 4th dimension. However, because this mythical model is in effect a spirit-science synthesis joined by a universal constant spanning deep-time, we must also name and include that constant as our fifth dimension. Again, of paramount significance Berry’s challenge and Teilhard’s vision call for holding science and spirituality in disciplined resonance without collapsing either discipline into the other. For me, this method seems to best simplify and satisfy that requirement.

The Jigsaw Method in education and discovery is a cooperative learning strategy where participants become well-versed on one part of a topic and then teach that particular piece to their assigned group, who rely on each other to learn the whole subject, much like assembling a puzzle by assigning each person a piece or section of the whole. This method fosters interdependence, collaboration, accountability, and active listening by dividing material into manageable chunks, assigning each to a participant’s expertise or allurement, having them share to meet a common group goal. It also keeps the group from tendencies to define the whole in terms of any one part, or perspective, safeguarding the group against developing in-group insularity led by a single concept or leader. This democratizes the traditional teacher-student, leader-follower hierarchy, while cultivating engagement and empathy, where key pieces of the puzzle find their proper places accordingly. In this case, finishing an unfinished cosmogenic puzzle having all components present and accounted for in accordance with the basic science teachings and spiritual wisdom of mentors Teilhard and Berry.

As for my pieces of the puzzle in this proposed methodology, what follows is Part 4 in a series based on three DTN blog entries prior that closed-out the 2025 DTN blog year. For those interested, it would be helpful to review those entries (with video shorts) as a backdrop in a continuing series. The most informed among us, after all, are attempting to compose a work of art and science that remains incomplete, at minimum solving a veritable four-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with multiple overlapping pieces that hold an entire universe together. Toward that end, insofar as possible, the content of what is conveyed below minimizes jargon, maintains the integrity of science, spirituality, and other disciplines without compromising any, and presents a story one can teach, practice, and pass on at multiple educational levels.

First, let me begin by conveying a condensed version of the New Story that has many of the elements found in the current cosmogenic model specific to DTN, particularly the synthesis contributions of Jennifer Morgan, Brian Swimme, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. Morgan is the founder and catalyst of the Deeptime Network, a global community providing educational courses and sharing resources around the “Cosmic Story.” She is the acclaimed author of the award-winning children’s book series, officially titled The Universe Stories Trilogy, first published between 2002 and 2006, revised and released in late 2025 as Born With A Bang.  This early education classic aims to connect children with the vastness of cosmic and human history through storytelling.

Swimme and Tucker released their book and companion documentary, Journey of the Universe in 2011, telling their version of the epic story of the universe and human transformation, followed by a ten year anniversary podcast follow-up (JOTU: 10 years later) in early 2021. A YouTube playlist updated in 2025 included ongoing discussions and a broader reach.

Presented as such, JOTU: 10 Years Later wasn’t finished in a single narrative but as the original film’s anniversary celebration with new reflections from creators and educators, continuing with later episodes, exploring its impact and expanding universe story. The above creations are laudable pioneering works that contribute significantly to an evolutionary understanding of the created order.

Yet the new story is far from completed, particulary articulating the human transformation pieces beyond noogenesis, the early 2oth century notion proposing a “thinking layer” of the Earth where human intellect, knowledge, and technology will shape the planet’s future and guide its evolution beyond inorganic matter and the biosphere. Each synthesis group has its own model, and each model is incomplete. In my view, there remain vital components necessary to complete the new story that most synthesis groups either ignore or avoid unknowingly, devolving into in-groups led by a few individuals inadvertently closed to ideas beyond their own valuable but limited horizons. Nonetheless, the story of the universe remains an ongoing and unfinished story, updated by past, present, and future composers, puzzlers, and co-creators from all fields and groups, open to relevant updates and revisions. To date, no one person or group can lay claim to having the whole story, or having all the pieces snugly fit together in working order (synergy).

This blog series and my summary below add two indispensable dimensions which, to my knowledge, no other cosmology group embraces as central to their cosmogenic storyline. The proposed additions make the existing story more comprehensive and unifying, framed by a universal geometric architecture and icon, and fueled by a single universal energy Source common to both science and spirituality that inform, contain, image, and leave room to expand that story with greater clarity and inclusivity. Moving from general to particular, whole to parts, I’ll begin with a new story summary statement a few paragraphs below, then continue in this column and future blog entries detailing the particular parts and their synergy for easier processing and assembly. But first a brief overview on the spiral motif’s history as architectural framework, icon, and energy delivery system via of a comprehesive model in keeping with the Teilhard-Berry legacies and challenges.

The Spiral Motif in the New Story (Review)

Instituted by Teilhard in his cosmogenic model, I make use of the spiral motif because it is found at all scales of the universe, from the shape of the galaxy to the microscopic DNA spiral it is a THE hallmark signature of the whole whose code is encrypted in each part (as fractal). To sidestep or downplay this geometric fact so central to Teilhard’s model is to miss one of two foundational principles in assembling any viable synthesis model of this sort — its architecture (geometric framework) and animating lifeblood (energy). Embracing this cosmic icon is not only based on the spiral’s universal presence found at all scales, but is associated with a basic principle of education that understands that a fitting word picture can be powerful, leaving the most lasting impression in conveying any idea or concept. I include myself in a cohort of proven predecessors embracing the spiral motif and related geometric shapes as central to assembling a comprehensive unified model of the universe dating back to Pythagoras and extending to Einstein and Teilhard. I do so for several established reasons (see diagram of notable geometers below). Chief among them is that such forms and the energy they convey arguably comprise the vibrational architecture of everything in the universe. These geometric forms reveal something about the invisible scaffolding on which all things rest, the vital energy that informs their moving parts, and the patterns that connect them.

Further, the shape, energy, and patterns of creation reveal something about their cosmic organizing principle (God-of-the-Whole), and how s/he works through the universe. The guiding principle of this spiraling paradigm is “as above so below, as within so without.” Lastly, a spiraling geometric model best symbolizes the learning process and life path, realities that seldom follow straight lines or lead to dead ends.

The ubiquitous spiral is a pattern not a force; a delivery vehicle, not a cause or cultic totem. In effect, the spiral is not asserted as a mystical fantasy in this new story 2.0. It is a mathematically observed pattern in galaxies, growth dynamics, wave interference, and biological morphogenesis that functions purely a transmission geometry for energy (light) and information. To ignore this fact in cosmogenesis is tantamount to ignoring the mechanical layout of a finely tuned race car motor and chassis, to say nothing of its energy source.

Geometers Hall of Fame

In the diagram above, Teilhard sums up an impressive cohort of history’s geometers. Spirals demonstrate fractal geometry, showing self-similar patterns repeating across scales, linking micro (DNA helix) to macro (spiral galaxies). Proponents view spirals as nature’s fundamental code for energy, form, and time, and the spiritual path to enlightenment, suggesting a unified framework where mathematical principles drive all aspects of reality. Theories in physics propose that space-time itself is embedded in a vibrational spiral field, making the spiral a core element of physical laws, not just a visual pattern.

Particular attention in my use of the spiral motif is the phi-spiral (double spiral) as best representative of cosmogenic evolution because it vividly images the currents of energy flowing in different directions — like the equinoxes — balancing the contrary forces of ebb and flow, birth and death, light and darkness, growth and decay, inner and outer worlds, etc., — and all apparent opposites/paradoxes — in a perpetual circuitry of evolution and evolution. Such dual-aspect currents are found throughout nature, and the universe. These counter-rotating, electromagnetic energy and information currents are best depicted in the common sunflower, whose symbolic seed patterns coordinate by flowing in opposite directions. The phi-spiral (pronounced “fee” spiral) is not random in nature and the universe. Rather, it is the most efficient energy carrying and packaging system in the entire cosmos. The spiral not only generates spin-spiraling energy and carries information, but encodes harmony across quantum, biological, and cosmic scales — innermost and outermost — key to understanding the spiral as bridge between inner and outer worlds in cosmogenesis, delineated in Part 3 of this series. Reconciling apparent paradoxes (contraries) is indispensable to developing a unifying cosmogenic model, one that harmonizes with all disciplines bar none.

Now for the New Universe Story summary:

The New Universe Story 2.0

The universe arises from a generative Source whose first expression is light — an immense field of energy and potential present even in its apparent emptiness. Ample scientific evidence for same is found in the spiraling Big Bang radiation event, evident in its CMBR afterglow (“fossil radiation”) spread throughout the cosmos. As a universal constant, light also doubles as central to numerous religions and wisdom traditions that view it as THE fundamental Source, or primary creative principle in their cosmogonies. From this depth, light does not disperse at random but organizes itself though spiral motion, with the phi-spiral serving as a preferred pathway by which energy concentrates, circulates, and transforms from light –>plasma –> form. As light follows this spiral dynamic it unfolds inward as matter and information, while simultaneously awakening interiority in proportion to complexity. At every scale, from quantum fields and galaxies to cells, minds, and cultures — the same spiral pattern appears, whose energy vibrates at different frequencies governed by an ordering principle that converges and interiorizes in humans. Evolution is thus both an outward unfolding and an inward deepening (counter-rotating spirals spin-spiraling in synergy): science reveals how the universe comes to be, spirituality discloses its meaning, and together they tell a single cosmogenic story of becoming, coherence, and communion.

How the New Universe Story Changes How We Live

The universe grows by spiraling light into relationship, from particles to planets, and from cells to consciousness. Everything that lives learns how to receive light, organize it wisely, and give it back. That single idea reshapes education, ecology, ethics, and spirituality.

Spiral of Light: Educational and Interfaith Framework

This framework affirms that the universe is an evolving whole in which light, energy, matter, life, mind, and meaning emerge together over deep time. Contemporary science reveals the measurable processes of this unfolding, while the world’s spiritual traditions bear witness to its interior depth, value, meaning and purpose. When held together with care and humility, these ways of knowing offer a shared universe story capable of guiding education, culture, and planetary responsibility.

Across cultures and disciplines, the spiral appears as a symbol and pattern of growth, integration, and renewal. The phi-spiral, in particular, expresses how energy concentrates, circulates, and transforms across scales — from the structure of galaxies and ecosystems to learning, culture, creation of an inner self, and moral development. This spiral reflects both inward depth and outward expression, unity and diversity, continuity and change, and perfectly images the nexus between inner and outer worlds universally.

Unlike current cosmogenic models, the phi-spiral (double-spiral) motif accurately accounts for and out-pictures the dual-aspect counter-currents of evolution/involution, growth/entropy in biological, psychological, and spiritual growth and development. This is particularly critical in explaining the convergence-interiorization thrusts of spiritual formation (the spiritualization of consciousness) that occurs in the human transformational stages beyond psychologial development, including noogenesis, toward its all important transformation in spiritual formation and development, and later transfiguration in Omega. The double-spiral not only traces the trajectory of the energy (universal constant) common to psychological and spiritual development, but alsoi its role in fueling the cycles of nature as their Source and catalyst, centrating in humans as the animating invisible substance of their visible material form.

Spirituality (interfaith ground)

Spirituality is the cultivation of interior awareness, reverence, and relational belonging within an interconnected universe. It honors the many names and paths by which peoples understand the Source of life and meaning, while affirming a shared responsibility for care, compassion, and humility. Spiritual practice deepens presence and ethical concern without replacing scientific inquiry or privileging any single tradition because their Source and substance are univeral, regardless of their form. Water is water regardless of the size, color, and shape of the container that holds it. Ditto authentic spirituality.

In telling the New Universe Story along religious lines, it is important to consider that we live in the Second Axial Age, a term Thomas Berry underscored as key in telling the new story. In essence, the Second Axial Age is about humanity growing up, realizing its global interdependence, and finding ways to live wisely and spiritually on a single shared planet, much like the first Axial Age birthed our core spiritual traditions that preached unity under a single divine Source. While all of those traditions embraced love, inclusivity, and tolerance, they had no identifiable spirit-science constant or architecture to hold them together and rally around globally. Hence, they tended to devolve along sharp tribal and sectarian lines creating divisions and party spirits, even warring with one another for centuries. Early twentieth century humanity has begun to discover that there is no separation within the field of existence, that we belong deeply to an interconnected world, and to each other. Hence, our traditional religions need not be disregarded, only realigned in light of our emerging global, Second Axial vision toward greater wholeness and inclusivity, minimizing differences, and maximizing common spiritual ground.

The Spiral as an Ancient Symbol Connecting Inner and Outer Worlds

Sacred Geometry is a universal language that describes the inner workings of nature and the intrinsic order of the universe. The word geometry means “earth measure.” Differing from standard Euclidian geometry taught in schools, which adheres to a disconnected view of the universe, sacred or inter-dimensional geometry embraces the ecological view of a connected universe or unified field. Studying the patterns and energy that unite and inform all aspects of life from microbes to planets and stars, sacred geometry shows the relatedness between unique differences, and provides a tangible means of examining the intrinsic order of the cosmos.

— everything has an underlying geometric template and energy that links it to the cosmos

— each template reveals something of how the microcosm and macrocosm mirror one another

— each template reveals the basic tenets of being, “as above so below, as within so without”

— each template shows how diverse elements can preserve their individuality as whole-parts

— each provides perspective on the interface between the seen and unseen, finite and infinite

— via templates, primitive man evolves toward transfigured man as light beings/workers in Omega

— personal and cosmic evolution advances not smoothly, but by crises (disorder) of transformation

— in evolution, the spiral tightens toward its axis in spiral geometry, not via linear progression

— in spiral geometry, the tighter the center, the wider and richer its outward expression in wholeness

— each iteration of a spiral breaks a prior equilibrium, producing a new, irreversible dimension

— the spiral is always dynamic in its operations, never collapsing into a static point

— each spiral revolution reduces self-referential organization toward big-picture organization

— each spiral revolution deepens development and higher-level insight and discernment

— spiral currents first spiral inward toward truth, then outward toward love, again and again

— spiral transformation is not about going “up,” but about going deeper into wholemaking

— spiral evolution and transformation always create greater non-dual insight and unitive awareneness

— inter-dimensional geometry is called sacred geometry because it unfolds from the Infinite Invisible

In simple terms, “God-ness” is whatever helps keep light and life growing and flowing, unhindered throughout the world.

Education (integrative learning)

Education initiates learners into the patterns of the universe and the responsibilities of citizenship within a planetary community. Learning fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and pattern recognition across disciplines, encouraging students to see connections between science, humanities, religion, ethics, and lived experience. Knowledge serves updated spirit-science wisdom traditions; diversity strengthens understanding; learning prepares persons to participate responsibly in a changing world.

Learning as Following the Spiral of Light

In the old story 1.0 education fills empty minds where knowledge is stored, tested, and ranked, and curriculum subjects are separated and abstract.

In the new story 2.0 learning follows the phi-spiral (double-spiral pattern), like the two beats of the heart, or like breathing (inhaling/exhaling). Light in —> curiosity and wonder. Spiral inward —> understanding and integration, spiral outward —> creativity, service, and meaning. Education becomes teaching students how things connect, teaching pattern recognition across scales, and cultivating interior awareness as well as information. In simple terms, children are taught how stars become atoms, atoms become life and energy, energy becomes thinking, and how thinking becomes responsibility. Illustrated brilliantly in Jennifer Morgan’s work, education becomes an initiation into the universe’s way of growing, continuing on throughout the life journey.

— harm happens when we break the spiral’s natural “code” (law) by taking without returning

— to damage Earth is to interrupt or violate the flow of light through life’s natural cycles

Ecology (Planetary Belonging)

Earth is a living community of life sustained by circulating light and energy and independent systems transmitted via spirals, not a storehouse of resources. Ecological health depends on sustaining the spiral flow of energy through soils, waters, atmospheres and living systems, maintaining the balance and regenerative flows that support life at all scales. Regenerative cultures align their economies, technologies, and practices with Earth’s living systems rather than extracting from them without replacement or return. Eco-minded institutions commit to practices that respect planetary limits, protect biodiversity, and align human activity with the long-term flourishing of the Earth community.

Ethics: Right Action as Shared Responsibility

In the old story 1.o ethics are rules imposed from outside, morality is personal or social habit or preference, and power decides what is right.

In the new story 2.0 ethics arise from how the universe stays coherent. Ethical action arises from awareness of interconnection. Right action sustains relationship, protects complexity, and preserves the conditions for future generations. As knowledge and power increase, so does responsibility. Justice, care, and restraint are not optional values but requirements for collective survival and dignity.

Right action:

— receives energy respectfully

— organizes it wisely

— returns it generously

Harmful action:

— hoards energy

— blocks circulation

— collapses complexity into control

In simple terms an ethical life increases connection, deepens awareness, and protects the conditions for future spirals of life. Goodness (God-ness) is whatever helps keep light and life flowing through the world.

One Unified Vision 

— Spirituality teaches us to see the spiral as a sacred geometric symbol dating back millennia

— Education teaches us to see the spiral and its informing light energy as cosmic constants

— Ecology teaches us to live within the spiral as the architectural structure of the universe

— Ethics teaches us to respect and protect the spirals and cycles of life

All four dimensions (segments) above serve the same purpose, to help the universe continue its journey toward greater awareness, relationship, unity, and care

The Story We Tell the Next Generation (All Ages)

You are made of the same light (and dust) as the stars.

You are shaped through the same spiral vortex (portal) found in galaxies and shells.

Your choices either help the light keep flowing in cycles — or hinder it.

Your task as a species is simple: learn the flowing pattern, live the pattern, and pass it on.

The Interlocking Spiral (Acrostic)

One Sacred Science

One Progressive Paradigm

One Infinite Invisible

One Revealing Radiance

One Ambient Almighty

One Loving Life, “and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4).

Summarizing: Cosmogenesis, Part 4

Connecting past and present over deep-time (in 5-D), the above synthesis notions are in keeping with a more complete telling of the New Story vision and challenges of Teilhard, Thomas Berry, and other scientific and philosophical notables, part of an evolving plan on how a universe story might become a living culture in a more inclusive way.

Interfaith and educational communities commit to nurturing interior depth, fostering integrative learning, advancing ecological responsibility, and shaping ethical cultures of care. Their shared task is not to dominate the Earth or reduce knowledge to utility, but to participate wisely in an unfinished universe so that life, understanding, respect, compassion, and unity may continue to grow for generations to come via a shared understanding of the whole, its energies, dynamisms, themes, and patterns.

Many traditions, one Earth.

Many disciplines, one universe.

Many peoples, one shared future.

Many forms, one energy.

Part 5 upcoming will continue developing the education-ecology-ethics-religion theme more specifically for children, teens, and adults, explaining the Zero-Point Field wisely as the energy portal or threshold (liminal space) between the physical and metaphysical worlds, and between potential and manifestation. And as the series continues, explaining how the biogenesis stage of cosmogenesis and beyond translate and transform interiorly to psychological and spiritual centers that ultimately transfigure in Omega via of same energy expressed differently.

About the Author

Joseph C. Masterleo, LCSW-DCSW, is a clinical social worker in private practice in Syracuse NY, and Rockledge FL. His half-century of service in the mental health care field includes faith-based counseling and psychotherapy, with an emphasis on psycho-spiritual integration. His subspecialty involves developing a novel paradigm for the synthesis of science, religion, and psychology, identifying the energy and geometric patterns that connect the quantum world with space-time, inner and outer worlds. His model explains how spirit and matter can co-exist as two facets of one reality in a unified field, dissolving the walls of partition between previously siloed disciplines. Inspired by the writings of Thomas Merton (ecumenism), Teilhard de Chardin (synthesis), Thomas Berry (ecotheology), Nikola Telsa (electromagnetism), Richard Rohr (Cosmic Christ), Ilia Delio (christogenesis) and others, his objective is to tell a new, future-looking story for the Ecozoic Age, one that forms a connecting bridge between the biblical story of creation, modern science, and ancient cosmologies. His columns on these and related subjects have appeared on websites such as The Center for Christogenesis, Progressive Christianity, and in newsprint via The Goodnews Paper, the Syracuse Post Standard, and the Syracuse Sports Magazine, where he comments on sports as reflecting the best and worst of American character and culture. Further information about Joe and his Spirit-Science model can be found in his book, The Ambient Christ, the Untold Story of God in Science, Scripture, and Spirituality, listed on Amazon Books, Barnes & Noble, and on his website www.joeknowsgod.com