In this third week of David Loy’s retreat, he delves further into the notion of a collective self, suggesting that in order to strive for a “collective awakening,” we as a species need to reconsider our current “story,” or our prevailing perception of ourselves and where we come from.
Taking us through various historical points of view on “the Story,” from theistic narratives to the more recent scientific narratives, Loy closely examines the Western conception of evolutionary theory and offers ways that Buddhism can reinterpret evolution. Instead of understanding evolution as a naturally competitive force of nature, we can look at it as an intrinsically self-creative process. Loy finishes by suggesting that we can view it as a macrocosm of our own consciousness—essentially as the process by which the universe awakens to itself.
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