Experiencing Cosmogenesis: Evolutionary Cosmology and the Emergence of Cosmogenetic Experience

Video of Doctoral Defense by Ezekiel Fugate

In this doctoral defense presentation, Ezekiel Fugate explores the emergence of cosmogenetic experience—a new mode of human experience made possible by the modern discovery that we are an integral expression of the evolving universe. Drawing on the philosophical work of Wolfgang Leidhold and the evolutionary cosmology articulated by Brian Thomas Swimme and Thomas Berry, he argues that humanity is undergoing an experiential shift: from observing the universe as distant spectators to conscious participants in its ongoing creativity. Weaving scholarship with lived inquiry, the presentation invites listeners to consider how this new cosmological orientation can reshape perception, identity, and belonging, and how practices such as autocosmology and cooperative inquiry can help cultivate a felt sense of being on the inside of a developing universe. This defense is both an academic milestone and an open doorway into a deeper form of planetary and cosmic participation.

In the above image, Dr. Ezekiel Fugate shows the desk sign he created for himself when he was 11 years old. Also shown are Brian Swimme (chair of Dr. Fugate’s PhD committee), Jennifer Morgan, Ann Amberg, Sarbmeet Kanwal, Stephan Martin, Orla Hazra, and Carolyn Cooke, the teaching and companion team for the Activating Cosmogenetic Experience course (2026).

To watch video, click on the blue button top right.