At every level of organization, there is a

higher level which includes it, right up to the level of the cosmos as a

whole. Many theoretical physicists now think that the fundamental

fields of physics arose from a higher and more inclusive field, the

primal unified field of the universe; in the same way, at every level of

organization, new morphic fields may arise within and from higher-

level fields. Creativity occurs not just upwards from the bottom,

with new forms arising from less complex systems by spontaneous

jumps; it also proceeds downwards from the top, through the

creative activity of higher-level fields.

The same principles apply to human creativity. It depends on

accidents, conflicts and needs, and is rooted in particular bodily,

psychological, cultural and environmental processes. At the same

time, new inventions, new insights, new works of art come into

being in the context of ecologies, societies, cultures and religions;

and ultimately in the context of Gaia, the solar system, the galaxy

and the cosmos - and, as many creative people have themselves

thought, of God. Traditional theories of human creativity ascribe it

to inspiration from a higher source working through the creative in-

dividual, who acts as a channel. The same conception underlies the

notion of genius; originally the genius was not the person himself,

but his presiding god or spirit.

As with all polarities and dualities, when we try to conceive of

how they are unified or held together, sooner or later we arrive at

the idea that they are both aspects of a higher unity. And indeed,

according to the Big Bang theory, fields and energy arose together

within the original cosmic singularity. All physical phenomena -

such as sunlight, molecules, trees and stars - have both a field aspect

and an energy aspect. The wave and particle aspects of light, for

example, are not two separate things, but two aspects of the same

structure of activity. So are the field and energy aspects of every-

thing else, including ourselves.

Excerpt from page 164,  Chapter 9, The Greening of God - Evolutionary Creativity

The Rebirth of Nature by Rupert Sheldrake 1990 Random Century Group