Our Common Story: Promoting Big History Worldwide

 

Who are we? How did we get here? What does it all mean?

 

After thousands of years trying, we can answer two of these big questions. Modern science has discovered a progressively factual account of the universe and ourselves. It spans some 13.7 billion years from the primordial flaring forth of the early universe to the rapid flaring forth of our global civilization. The story blends cosmology, physics, chemistry, geology, biology, anthropology, sociology and history into a single, compelling narrative. It encompasses all nations, all cultures, and all times. We call it Our Common Story.

 

What does it all mean? That depends on how you interpret this great story and the future we create together in the 21st century and beyond. This grand history is perhaps the most remarkable achievement of human civilization, but it is rarely taught and studied as such. It may also be an essential tool in securing Our Common Future –promoting excellence in education, transcending dangerous conflicts, and effectively addressing the economic and environmental challenges of our global civilization.

 

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It is now possible to teach the history of the universe, the evolution of life, and the rise of human civilizations as an integrated, single semester course or series of integrated courses.(1) Typically science is taught as separate specializations and history taught in different periods and regions. Unique in Our Common Story is the integration of all these different specializations into a single, narrative account of the development of the universe, the evolution of life, and the history of humanity.(2)  Some call this new integrated story told by science and history “the New Cosmology” or “the Epic of Evolution.” Others call it “the History of Nature,” or simply “Big History.” We are calling it Our Common Story, because for the first time humans have an origin “myth” that transcends all of our regional, religious, and tribal differences.

The advantages of teaching general science and world history as an epic narrative are many:

1. The integrative narrative provides a mnemonic for students and adults alike to understand and remember the details of science and history.
    
2. This approach helps to inspire students and adults to appreciate the awesome grandeur of the new sciences and the human adventure.
    
3. This approach helps students and adults to understand the unique environmental, political, economic, and technological challenges of the twenty-first century global civilization.
    
4. This approach helps to address profound existential questions of meaning and purpose, virtues and values, in ways that are respectful of science, supportive of progressive religion, and conducive to civil societies.(3)

Our Common Story is an increasingly factual narrative that transcends and includes all of our different stories. We see this curriculum, and exploratory dialogues about how to interpret this story, as an important component in addressing the challenges of culture wars and clashing civilizations, as well as a productive context to solving many of the great political, economic and environmental challenges in the world today. We seek to incubate such courses in undergraduate colleges and universities, book clubs, religious congregations, and ultimately in age-appropriate ways in K-12 education, here in the United States and around the world.