I'm not sure where to begin with your questions, I've only just been learning about these things myself & it is a bit too deep for my puny little brain.

"Like a big mixing bowl that left nothing out, not even the bad stuff, for the sake of completeness..."

Well the universe is still evolving, God is still evolving. In nature there is what is called a dialectic, this is like a progression or an evolution. Of course, the Christians & Muslims will tell you that the universe was 'created' by a perfect 'God.' If God is perfect, why is creation far from perfect? The craziness of our world IS part of a dialectic, moving from fear & superstition to reason & logic, which are mankinds 'newest' attributes.

The fractal statement is deep. Our souls have all the secrets of existence encoded within them, just as a cell has the information of the whole organism. As above, so below.