The Sacredness of Reality

1
The Sacredness of Reality

• The Scientific World View and the Emerging New
  Focus of Faith

2
In the Beginning

• Traditional Societies prehistoric to present
• No religion just the way we do things, the
  things we know
• Religious behavior not distinguished from
  counterparts to science, history,
  geography, astronomy, etc.

3
Magical Thinking

• Pattern Matching making any connections No
  such thing as coincidence
• No Critical Method Connections that are real are
  not distinguished from connections that are not
  real
• Confirmation Bias Ill assume Im right, e.g.
  Placebo Effect
• Cognitive Dissonance Its OK if I contradict
  myself
• False Analogies, Extended Properties word
  magic, divination, karma, symbol medicine, voodoo
  dolls

4
Magical Thinking 2

• Prescientific theory spirits in things cause
  them to move, change, or have effects on other
  things (powers)
• Spirits are usually invisible
• Spirits must reside in/near things
• By analogy with humans, spirits have intentions
  and personalities
• Almost everything has a spirit

5
Magical Thinking 3

• Spirit theory coordinates with folk psychology
  (theory of mind) every human is animated by a
  spirit (or more than one!)
• Spirits dont die because we can continue to
  imagine them conceptual imagination where
  spirit theory constructed is spirits home, not
  distinguished from reality

6
Traditional Sacred

• Many spirits, some more powerful than others, no
  single God
• Greater fear or love of some phenomena and their
  spirits (ancestors, sun, predators)
• Some spirits harder to understand must be
  avoided or entreated

7
Z-Phylum Innovations

• Theism in southwestern Palearctic spirits
  elaborated as gods, with persistent mythologies,
  cults, temples
• Axial Age changes Zoroastrianism, Judaism gt
  Christianity, Islam
• There is one main spirit first, uniquely
  all-powerful, creator, God
• Only things connected to this God are holy or
  sacred

8
Z-Phylum 2

• Universe is de-sacralized
• God is to be feared above all
• God is to be loved above all only source of
  purpose and value, creation not worshiped
• God is incomprehensible except through special
  revelations

9
H-Phylum Innovations

• Western Indo-Malay Hinduism
• There is only one spirit (nonpersonal God)
• There is only spirit
• Universe is de-sacralized
• Denying embodiment matter is illusion, (empty)
  mental space is only reality

10
Scientific Beginnings

• Paracelsus magic into science
• Traditional herbalisms gt trial and error method
• Traditional industries gt alchemy gt chemistry gt
  biochemistry
• Anatomy gt phrenology gt neuropsychology

11
A New Theory

• Laws of nature, not spirits, cause things to
  move, change, and have effects
• Laws are mathematically knowable and dependable
• The universe and life arose by natural processes
• The human mind arises solely from the activity of
  the body (brain etc.)

12
A New Method

• Physical senses distinguished from imagination
• Investigation, reality testing, demonstrations
• Mathematical modeling
• Proving precise, simple connections step-by-step
• Disproving common sense and common theories
• Logic, consistency of theories

13
Devolutions of Theism

• Deism God started the universe off, but then
  leaves it alone (cf. Epicurus gods dont affect
  us)
• Pantheism Lets call the universe God
• Atheism There is no God or spirit

14
Devolutions of the Sacred

• Nothing in the universe is sacred unless it is
  associated with God
• Religion dissociated from science two
  contradictory or disconnected views of the
  universe
• Science cold (unemotional) rationality,
  incomplete, end of wonder, no free will
• Poor fit between reality and hope (suffering and
  death)

15
The New Continuum

• Life is continuous with nonlife self-organizing
  chemistry (polymers)
• Humans and their bodies evolved
• Mind arises from body (brain, etc.)
• Thoughts, feelings, imagination, hope arise from
  neural activity and connectedness
• Mind evolved

16
New Continuum 2

• Laws and Constants gt
• Space, Time, Forces, Particles gt
• Atoms gt
• Molecules gt
• DNA gt
• Cells gt
• Neural Architecture gt
• Mind

17
New Continuum 3

• Energy and Pattern of Basic Matter and Energy gt
• Energy and Pattern in Molecular Chemistry
  (attraction, repulsion, bonding, chains,
  reactions, etc.) gt
• Energy and Pattern in Cells organelles,
  replication, protein synthesis, etc. gt
• Energy and Pattern between Neurons synaptic
  firing, coordinated patterns, etc. gt
• Energy and Pattern in Mind and Personality
  Perception, Conception, Emotion, Motivation,
  Innate Drives, etc.

18
New Continuum 4

• Everything that moves, changes, or has effects is
  related on a continuum of dynamism
• There are no inherent boundaries (human mind
  creates categories) universe can be conceived of
  as integrated, one
• Humans are uncovering more and more of reality

19
New Continuum 5

• Reality uncovered exceeds human ability to
  conceive of it (e.g., number of stars and
  galaxies)
• Reality provokes awe. Solving one mystery leads
  to many more mysteries
• Entire universe is connected to human purpose,
  motivations, feelings, and dreams
• Uncovering more and more of reality provides more
  and more to enjoy
• Reality is resource to achieve human hopes and
  dreams, power to survive and be happy (an end to
  fear)

20
Reality is Holy 2

• Not pantheism universe is holy by its inherent
  properties ability to inspire awe, mysteries,
  ability to be appreciated, value and
  significance, and its connectedness to us (and it
  includes us) not by its connection to God
• Spirit, and God, are failed theories which have
  been replaced

21
Reality is Holy 3

• No disconnection between science and religion, or
  between logic and emotion a seamless view
• No disconnection between understandings of human
  and nonhuman, life and nonlife, mind and matter
• The continuing quest to fulfill our lives by
  learning more about the entire universe and
  using what we learn to enrich our lives further

22
Reality is Holy 4

• Continuing the Great Work Benefiting from
  Reality
• Self-understanding, understanding others
• Appreciation of the world, including ones self
  and others
• Enjoying life in the world, and providing for
  everyones survival and prosperity in it
• Learning more about everything, learning how to
  better our lives