A central question to any science and religion synthesis is this. How can the scientific world view activate our sense of spirituality? Now by spirituality I do not mean the feeling of awe. The universe is intrinsically awe inspiring and science easily shows this. No, quite to the contrary, the spirituality I am speaking of is that well known feeling of expansive unity. The feeling that you and the universe have merged into one. Exciting or calming, these are two different feelings. Science gives easy access to the feeling of awe, whereas the feeling unity can be problematic. 

   Perhaps this is because The Big Bang seems to depict a Universe spreading apart. A universe of increasingly vast distances. A universe of separating galactic clusters. An expanding, cooling Universe, ultimately disconnected by the speed of light.

   Some try to find cosmic unity in Quantum Mechanics. Indeed Quantum Mechanics does give a small hope for cosmic unity. There is quantum entanglement and universal unexpressed quantum fields. Quantum fluctuations even began the universe. But just as matter clumped around these fluctuations and became something else. Quantum mechanics is more like something we came from than something we are.

   We are macroscopic animals evolved through eons of time. Most of what we’re about, either directly or indirectly, has something to do with reproduction or survival. And a sense of unity whether personal, social or cosmic cosmic could help along these lines. The health benefits of spirituality are well documented.  We need and love this warm feeling and wish it were justified in the cold light of truth. 

   Enter the language of the Octagod where the top dot that stands for emergence. Basically emergence means; that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, that more is different. But it could also mean great changes. For instance we could speak of the emergence of life, or the emergence of time itself. It could even mean the emergence of the present moment.

   But when the top dot represents the emergence of the present moment. And the bottom dot represents the beginning of time. The symbol takes on peculiar meanings.    

   Perception, in part, is born out of language. So if you believe in the language of this symbol, the two dots take on a very special meaning. Now the present moment is seen in the context of creation. Here, through language, the present moment is tied to the infinite parade.

   Inside the symbol, from dot to dot, you are what the universe has become. This emergent moment comes from an emerging universe. See the symbol. Feel the thought. The Octagod connects you to the Universe. The Octagod, if rightly understood, gives you a sense of cosmic unity.