"So, just as in the religious traditions there is a sense that we are valued and important, there is a similar idea now emerging in science, which in many ways is the religion of the twentieth century. We are valued, for we are the consciousness of the universe incarnating itself and becoming aware.
"Another scientific discovery, the hologram, gives rise to yet another important insight: Everything that is part of a larger whole replicates within itself the essence of that larger whole. The whole is contained in the part, even as the part is contained in the whole.
"Thus, if God — the cosmic whole — so loved the world and the cosmos that He gave His only son for its salvation, as the Christian tradition states, or if the Ultimate Being so loved the idea and potential of creation that it gave its own self to be the body of a universe, then that act of loving surrender and sacrifice lives in us as well. We are also giving ourselves to the world, to one another, to the future because we love the world; we are participating in that great sacrifice from which worlds are born and, if necessary, redeemed.
"So, we are here on earth in part because of love, because the world has value, and we have value, and we wish to nourish and succor this. We are here because of that unique gift that only each of us can give to the world, each in his or her own way. I cannot love the world for you or sacrifice you for its well-being. Only you can do that for yourself, as only I can do that for myself. Only each of us can give the unique gift of love inherent in our individuality.
"We are here because the Big Love recognizes our value and knows what we can become, what we can give, what we can do that will bring new life, new vision, new spirit, new love to the world.
"This is the primal call.
"This is the background call in the lives of each of us, like the background radiation of the universe: the call to treasure and value and love one another and all the other creatures and things of the earth. It is the call to acknowledge and to act from that knowledge that each person is just as valued and just as loved as the next, and all are invited to participate in the communion of that love."
