Synopses of some Basic Concepts
Contents
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| This really just describes the intuition that our world
is special in a way that makes our existence possible.
There might have been no world, or it might have been different in a way that would have made life or consciousness impossible. When physicists look at this world, they are impressed by the fact that even slight variations in otherwise arbitrary physical laws would radically alter the attributes of the world. It seems either obvious or likely that most of those alternative worlds would not be ammenable to any for of life. Thus in modern physics, we are being pushed to once again consider the problem of design or teleology, that was supposed to have been put to rest by the Theory of Evolution. Not!! |
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| The Big Bang and Unified Field theories will remain as
a convenient way to systematize the physical appearance of the world. At
a deeper level, we will come to understand that these 'physical' appearances
were a logical way for the cosmic intelligence to separate and conceal
itself from us creatures. As scientists do their theorizing and 'discovering'
they are actually participating in the manifestation of the cosmic template
that is also embedded in the microcosms of our individual minds.
From our mythic, dreamtime origins, it was our continued participation in this mythos that has gradually imposed the present degree of detail and constancy that is the delight of scientists. It is us creatures who have fleshed out the template of our world that resides in the mind of the universal spirit. But now we are destined to become conscious co-creators of new realities with new templates. |
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| Spirit/Matter or Mind/Brain dualism was introduced by
Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the French philosopher. It is the view that
the world is composed of two distinct substances: mind and matter. Matter
is distinguished by having the attributes of spatial location and extension.
Mind, on the other hand, has only the attribute of thought.
Since the time of Descatres, science has done its utmost to eliminate the mental or subjective aspect of reality. However, within the 'Consciouness Movement' there are now a number of scholars who are using 'quantum dualism' to revive the Cartesian dichotomy. Nonetheless, history has shown Cartesian dualism to be an unworkable and incoherent compromise between the monistic philosophies of materialism and immaterialism, in my opinion. |
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| A distinction may be made between history proper and
pre-history, history proper being recorded human history. The recorded
history of human consciousness can be ascribed a reality greater than that
of dinosaurs or the Big Bang, in my opinion. Pre-history existed as a mythic
dreamtime where time and space take on a very fluid character. One does
not have to draw a line of demarkation between these two epochs. The one
can be seen to blend into the other.
Another consideration is the teleology of history. The eschaton becomes the primary ordering principle of history, and is the final cause par excellence. The paradigm inversion suggests that the eschaton may replace the Big Bang as the primary 'causitive' agent in shaping our world and history. The menaing of Human History will be finally understood in the realization and the light of the eschaton. |
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| The history of philosophy and of ideas in general may
be understood as a prolonged argument with the tendency we all have to
embrace a common sense form of naive
realism.
Science also takes the world as brute object, but it is far from naive and far from decided as to what might actually be out there. Immaterialism is a direct inversion of the scientific and naive tendency to objectify the world as existing independent of all consciousness or intelligence. Idealism, in its Western, Platonic versions, tends to objectify prexistent, transcendental ideas as the ultimate source of all order in the world. In contrast, the immaterialism that I espouse is rather more pragmatic and process oriented, in the sense of A. N. Whitehead. |
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| Science could be right about all its facts, but still
be wrong about the nature of reality. Instead of our minds being an epiphenomenon
of a material world, it is entirely possible that our world
is a construct of cosmic intelligence, of which we are an integral part.
The practical question is wether this cosmological gestalt switch in our world view can be made without serious disorientation, particularly within the academic and religious communities. Using the internet to its utmost would be one way to both expedite and soften the impact of this Paradigm Inversion. |
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| Teleology and eschatology are inseprable doctrines, in
my estimation. The 'final cause' of teleology is located in the dynamic
of the eschaton of history. Teleology holds that meaning, purpose and design
exist in all things. This would not be possible if human history did not
have a conclusion or goal.
History, in order to be a meanignful story must have a beginning, middle and end. This simple insight is the genius of the Western prophetic tradition. The idea that there is an arrow of time that moves in a linear fashion actually derives from the prophetic tradtion. But it was 19th century physics that attempted to make this over into an objective abstraction transcending the phenomenon of history. The idea of an absolute, objective time and space are conceptual traps from which physics in the 20th century has been struggling to free itself. Next to the problem of mind, the problem of time and causality has provided metaphysicians with the greatest perplexities. For instance it is not at all clear whether time depends on causality or vice versa. This is only to say that there is plenty of room for other than initial material causes in the greater scheme of things, as long as we are willing to forego the oversimplifications of a prior century. |