A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the California Institute for Integral Studies.

Religious and spiritual leadership, aligned with the cosmos-building processes of the universe, can be a key element in the human community becoming a vibrant part of the whole Earth community.

This dissertation builds on the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (2003), Thomas Berry (1988, 1999), and Brian Swimme (Swimme & Berry, 1992) that suggest human alignment with the cosmos-building (cosmogenetic) principles of identity, differentiation, and communion is crucial for the next stage in the development of the human. It examines our ecological, social, and spiritual crises in light of these principles, and describes how the principles are revealed in the natural world.

It focuses on the role of religious leaders as carriers of this message, guiding the human community to a cosmology which integrates these principles.  It proposes that religious vows influenced by cosmogenesis would demonstrate the relationships the human community needs to embody in order to become a vibrant part of the whole Earth community.