Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Enformationism unites
Spiritualism
and
Materialism

   Post 74. March 10, 2019

  Materialism versus Spiritualism

   Enformationism is a 21st century alternative

 The Enformationism worldview is a Quantum Era update to classical Spiritualism and Materialism. By “classical”, I mean the period in antiquity of transition from emotional tribal myths to rational philosophical theories; for example, the Hellenic and Hebraic eras recorded in early literature & scripture. This perspective shift, from subjective feelings to objective facts, coincided with the emergence of civilization that followed the spread of agriculture and human culture via trading roads and shipping lanes. Multicultural cities and empires required consistent worldviews and belief systems in order to keep the peace among their motley constituencies. So heterodox tribal shamanistic practices gradually melded into orthodox priestly religions with communal rituals to keep people amused, and official explanations for how the mysterious world worked behind the curtain of appearances, to keep them bemused.

Imaginative ancient shamanic priests enthralled their flocks with stories of invisible people who lived on remote mountain-tops, and who ruled the world by controlling the forces of Nature. Since the behavior of those deities was capricious, humans lived in fear of sudden reversals of fortune like tornados and droughts, or in hopes of special dispensations1. The followers of those fabulous story-tellers accepted their authority & expertise based on their apparent ability to com-municate with higher powers, and to bring some heavenly magic down to Earth. Unfortunately, as we now know, appear-ances can be deceiving. Stage magic successfully dupes the audience by keeping secrets, and by obscuring the senses with smoke & mirrors. Probably all Occult systems work in a similar manner, in that they depend on keeping their devotees in the dark, like the Wizard of Oz pulling levers behind a curtain.

Romantic pioneers of the Spiritual traditions were intuitively aware that there’s more to the world than “meets the eye”. So they posited an unseen world behind the opaque veil of carnal reality. But their third-eye theories of the other world had to be taken on faith by the magic-blind muggles. Some Pragmatic philosophers, though, rejected those supernatural stories as fear-inspiring fictions, giving more credence to the objective world of impersonal Nature. They understood that scary stories of avenging gods could cloud the rational mind with distracting emotions. But when viewed dispassionately, the world was understandable as a generally predictable mechanical system of cause & effect2. Those independent thinkers were also skeptical of any offers of inside information that was not freely available to ordinary rational investigation and confirmation. They were onto the trust-me tricks of toga-clad con-men.

The Materialist school of thought disparaged those Spiritualist notions of invisible agents & super powers as simply mind-manipulating propaganda, and turned its attention to more practical aspects of the world that humans could directly sense and manipulate. For millennia, humanity debated notions of physical reality and metaphysical ideality with dualistic terminology. But in the 20th century, atom-splitting natural philosophers stumbled upon tangible and logical evidence of the Quantum realm, which turned-out to be analogous to the despised spiritual underworld beyond the reach of normal senses. After that, the Magisterial accommodation between worldly and otherworldly worldviews began to unravel.

Post 74 continued . . . click Next

TERMINOLOGY

Occult :
Hidden or secret realities that are known only to a few adepts or gnostics, who will reveal those mysteries for a fee, or for faith. Subjective - knowable only to self.

Overt :
Open to public inspection; plain & undisguised; Objective - knowable to all.

Romantic :
Intuitive & emotional evaluation of information on the basis of subjective feelings.

Pragmatic :
Empirical & rational evaluation of information on the basis of objective facts.

Spirituality :
Not a belief system, but an idealistic attitude toward the world that values Meta-physics more than Physics; warm Feelings more than dry Facts.

Materialism :
A pragmatic worldview that values tangible facts over intangible feelings. Feelings can be manipulated by emotional appeals, but empirical Facts are verifiable.

BothAnd-ism :
An inclusive worldview that values both Subjective and Objective information; both Feelings and Facts; both Mysteries and Matters-of-fact; both Animal and Human nature.

Magisterial :
Sphere of authority. Referring to S.J. Gould’s NOMA argument of Non-overlapping Magisteria.

1. Why do people believe in “things not seen”?
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.
   As indicated by Paul’s definition of “faith”, hope is a prime motivator for things that do not exist in the here & now, but only in the realm of possibility. However, fear of negative possibilities may also motivate behavior in the here & now.

2. Normal Nature :
   Natural processes are variable, but generally follow predictable paths as graphed in the Normal Bell Curve. What keeps us on our toes though is the occasional Black Swan that comes out of nowhere to upset our settled routines, which are based on the assumption that tomorrow will be like today.
   Religions evolved from primitive attempts to under-stand those frightening reversals of fortune. Since they had no concept of abstract energy, early humans assumed that all actions were caused by intentional agents (spirits, gods, demons). So, many of their rituals were rooted in fear and groveling.
   Philosophy, though, evolved as a way to understand the world with calm rational analysis and minimal presumptions, rather than with anxiety and knee-jerk reactions. Their explanations for the ups & downs of natural events tended to be more abstract and impersonal. So their theories were based on confidence in human ability to deal with tides of fortune.
   Since natural philosophy has gradually learned to control some of Mother Earth’s random tantrums, the scientific method has gained a bit of of the respect formerly reserved for prayer & sacrifice. We can’t foresee and eliminate all dangerous outliers, but we no longer have to fear their wrath.