What is the feeling of the living universe?

Building on the view of the universe as a self-organizing, living system, I would like to explore the possibility that its underlying qualitative dimension—its feeling or “felt” nature—is what we experience as unconditional love. When we observe systems such as the Sun and Earth, we see a continuous, non-transactional flow of energy and resources that sustains life without expectation, reflecting a principle of generative, self-organizing giving. In human experience, this same quality appears when the sense of separation dissolves—whether through deep focus, creativity, or contemplative states—revealing a feeling of unity, peace, and intrinsic connection. This suggests that what we call love may not be merely emotional, but an experiential access point to the deeper coherence of the self-organizing process itself.

From this perspective, the limitation lies in the dominance of linear, reductionist perception, which isolates parts of the system and constrains our understanding of cognition to the brain alone. In contrast, emerging insights point toward the cognition of the entire body, particularly those of the heart, as it is a major cognitive hub that connects us intuitively with the universe and this state of unconditional giving (or open-heartedness). Recognizing this broader, embodied cognition allows us to reconnect with intuitive, relational forms of intelligence that align with the larger system. In doing so, unconditional love can be understood not only as a philosophical or spiritual ideal, but as the natural experiential state of a system in coherence with itself.

For more detail, see The Feeling of this Living Universe