The Great Decentralization

“The centre cannot hold.” - W.B. Yeats

A good deal of my writing since 2002 about the emerging global era could be summed up in a single word: decentralization.

In a wide variety of ways, our world has seen a splintering of various hubs to be replaced by multiple “centers” that together introduce dramatically new dynamics into the unfoldment of not only society generally but religion, technology, and the arts.

For instance, take the rise of modern democracy, which divvies up power that previously resided in a centralized king or queen and shifts it instead to the populace. This decentralizing impact is also apparent in a global technology like the Internet, which has no centralized address and whose “center” actually lies within each and every user. We see it in such developments as corporate think-tanks and employee-owned businesses. We see it even in music, with the advent of modern jazz decentralizing conventional models by giving creative input to all its participants, in contrast with more top-down models like the traditional orchestra or ancient forms like the Gregorian Choir.

For that matter, the history of science in recent centuries has been one long series of decentralizations, beginning with Copernicus dethroning our Earth from its central position the universe; then, with Darwin, who decentralized humanity from its key perch on the Great Chain of Being; to Freud, who dethroned the conscious ego from its lofty throne atop the pinnacle of being; to astronomer Edwin Hubble, who decentralized our home galaxy by showing there were many other galaxies in the cosmos; and even Albert Einstein, whose theory of Relativity decentralized the notion of a single preferred reference point in time and space, replacing it instead with a cosmos that housed an infinite number of observer-based perspectives.

It’s safe to say there will be more massive decentralizations yet to come. But what form will these take? I’d like to suggest two possible candidates (and these may well wind up being interconnected):

* Humans learning that we aren’t alone in the universe.

* Learning that this universe - or even this dimension - isn’t the only one, and that there are many more.

For example, there has been increasing discussion in the halls of Congress about the possibility of intelligent life beyond the Earth, with the suggestion (from figures like David Grusch) that some of it might even be from other dimensions. If “disclosure” were to actually happen, where humanity formally discovers it’s not alone in the universe, how would that effect us? It certainly would be a seismic event as great if not greater than what occurred as a result of the Copernican revolution, when humans realized the Earth was not the center of the universe. Humanity has long assumed that it represents the pinnacle of intelligence in the cosmos; what would happen if that proves not to be the case?

As with other tectonic shifts in culture, such a change would no doubt have both positive and negative repercussions. Most constructively, I suspect it could be a stimulant for philosophers and intellectuals of various stripes, as thinkers struggle to incorporate the implications of this development into their worldviews. Arguably the most negative reaction would come from religious fundamentalists around the world, who would find it hard, if not impossible, adapting to the reality of beings (and their beliefs) not accounted for in their literal theologies. Some have also theorized that certain mundane sectors, like the oil industry and assorted energy producers, could ultimately be sent reeling by the unveiling of new energy sources. There are many ripple effects to be expected, to be sure, and possibly many more unexpected ones. (The book A.D. - After Disclosure by Richard Dolan and Bryce Zabel offers an interesting read along these lines.)

But perhaps the biggest question to be grappled with is this: how would disclosure impact how you see yourself?

Consciously or unconsciously, each of us tends to regard ourselves as the center of the universe. Suppose you were to learn there are indeed highly evolved beings in existence which make us humans seem puny or even stupid by comparison; or that there are more civilizations or races of beings in reality that we ever imagined possible. How would such discoveries impact your conception of your own place and importance in the cosmos? Would your sense of your own potentials be expanded—or reduced?

One way or another, that could ultimately turn out to be the greatest “decentralization” of them all.

© 2025 Ray Grasse

Ray Grasse is a writer, photographer, and astrologer living in the American Midwest. He is author of ten books, most recently In the Company of Gods and So, What Am I Doing Here, Anyway? His websites are www.raygrasse.com and www.raygrassephotography.com.