Creation, Reality & Mind, episode #1 — an Alternative to the Biblical World View —
Thought is where adventure begins. Emotions go along for the ride. Metaphysical adventurers chase thoughts to unknown destinations, invoking a range of feelings and vistas of new possibilities.
Faith and Philosophy.
RELIGION is a topic often avoided in “polite company” discussions. There are many reasons for this, and most are personal and even sensitive. Some people become uncomfortable when their faith is questioned or challenged. Even cult-like expectations are found in some faith communities in which members are discouraged from engaging with others who do not share their beliefs. Learning and social expansion can be thwarted under such conditions.
PHILOSOPHY is an exciting domain of discussion for many people. Exploring new ideas often leads to intriguing realizations, new possibilities and can create lively adventures in thought. Unlike the dogmatism commonly found in religious belief systems, philosophy encourages exploratory thinking and even ‘flights of fantasy’ with occasionally life-impacting results.
This begins a series of episodes which begins with a premise that I hope will lead you to one of those ‘flights of fantasy’. Later, I plan to describe my philosophical journey from a 1950s child raised by Roman Catholic parents, until today as a non-religious, retired, senior citizen. It will trace my path, its milestones, and reveal why I have spent decades exploring the meaning, nature and purpose of my life. One partial yet compelling reason was the need to overcome years of clinical depression and panic disorder.
My journey is not particularly special, but it is unique as is yours and every other sentient being who has ever lived. As this episode series will reveal, our journeys share much more in substance than we may suspect and perceive as individuals.
MY LIFE LENS is the name of my Substack publication. It, and the image attached, were chosen to symbolize my journey to Now. Who knows where it will take me next?
A PREMISE for Your Consideration
WHAT IF ‘reality’ exists solely in consciousness?
WHAT IF everything we observe in the so-called “physical universe”
is simply a dream, an illusion?
This idea, of course, is a challenging one to take in and absorb. Obviously, the “consciousness technology” behind the manifestation of dreams and illusions is beyond the comprehension of human minds.
The thought that life may be lived as an illusion is not new.
It does, however, become a fresh adventure for every new mind that encounters it and imagines its possibilities.
People like their “reality” to be tangible, but …. WHAT IF it’s not?
A video game metaphor will help to imagine this premise. The ‘God’s Video Game’ metaphor below was chosen to explore it.
NOTE: I am using the term ‘God’ as a proxy for non-religious concepts like “Universal Consciousness” and “The Universal Mind”. Some past and contemporary thinkers have proposed this phenomenon as the source and foundation of all things in “Creation”.
I avoided the biblical interpretation of ‘God’ in this metaphor because it is too partisan and counterproductive for the purpose of exploring this premise.
The following video game analogy was inspired by my eldest daughter who was an avid online gamer and, like me, not religious. It was her gaming passion that inspired me to write the original version nearly a decade ago to help me teach the basics of this premise to her. Of course, my use of the term ‘God’ is useful to juxtapose the ‘God’ premise described herein against the Bible’s narrative of God as the ‘Creator of Heaven and Earth’.
Definitions.
The terms ‘articon’ and ‘Articon’ must be defined for this metaphor to be understood and appreciated.
An ‘articon’ is any content of any nature that manifests in the consciousness of an individual mind.
An ‘Articon’ is all content that exists in the Mind of ‘God’ (Universal Consciousness) which may, or may not originate in an individual mind.
These are the ‘artifacts of consciousness’. They can be perceived as singular (like a single atom) or in combination (like a whole object comprised of many atoms) of thoughts, ideas, observations, images, memories, feelings, perceptions, impulses, sensations or any state of being experienced by sentient beings.
Important to understand is the absence of ‘time’. It is an articon in and of itself. Time is a perception usually associated with other articons such as memories. Some Eastern spiritual traditions teach that Now is Eternal, a concept difficult to imagine for people who believe their ‘reality’ to be ‘material’. However, the ‘eternal Now’ makes logical sense for the metaphysical premise proposed. As a point of interest, pets seem to have no awareness of time.
God’s Video Game
God is consciousness. Consciousness is God.
Nothing exists but God. Everything exists in a dream.
There is no space, for space cannot exist in a dream.
There is no time if there is no space.
There is just Now, the dream and us — players in the Game of Life.
We co-create Life.
The Mind of God is the Life setting.
Avatars arise to play the Game of Life.
From genesis, avatars evolve as
Unique players with distinct attributes,
Each endowed with free will to address Life’s choices.
Wisdom is from choices made, sometimes defeating challenges, sometimes not.
Inevitably, avatars die.
The wisdom of each Life rests eternally in the Mind of God.
An artifact of consciousness - “articon” - is a Life lesson
To be each avatar’s wisdom.
Eternal Wisdom, the sum of all Life lessons, manifests as Articons.
Within the Mind of God, Articons originate from
Every articon from every Life ever played.
Human Creativity is the Life impulse
To create articons and ultimately to
Co-create Wisdom for the Universal Mind.
Life is played only in the Mind of God.
Articons are the elements of ‘reality’
Used by avatars to imagine Life.
Creating articons is every avatar’s Life purpose,
To co-create the Articons of eternal Wisdom.
Avatars come and go,
Each with unique attributes and
A will to play the Game of Life.
Life, an eternal game of infinite dimensions
And endless possibilities,
Is the Mind of God.
Afterthoughts.
When I contemplated the work of human online game creators, it struck me that they mimic the role of “God as the Creator of Life”. Like God, they create the stage upon which their game is played, the avatars who are its actors, and the circumstances that avatars encounter. A video game avatar is a product of human imagination, created to apply uniquely assigned attributes, talents, and decision-making abilities to pursue higher levels of success.
Human creativity rises from a well of life experiences, as does judgement and wisdom. In creating this God’s Video Game metaphor, I consciously chose metaphysical elements that have physical equivalents. Hence, articons equate to atoms; Articons equate to objects. I did this so that subsequent episodes can explore the two realms.
Wisdom, of course, is human quality. People aspire to it, and have great admiration and respect for those who possess it. Wisdom aggregates from the many lessons acquired in life. It manifest as individual knowledge and one’s maturity of judgement. Collectively, especially in the political realm, our species seeks leaders in whom wisdom will be found. We hope that, within their select circles of power and authority, they will possess the superior knowledge and exceptionally good judgement to lead us to happier, safer and more prosperous times.
In this Mind of God premise, notice that no one avatar has better access to Universal Consciousness than anyone else. Human will, the ability to make informed choices, is the variable that determines the life path for every person.
The mind is where creation arises and reality manifests in every person’s life. Good individual choices makes for a better life for everyone.
Up Next.
Episode #2 will compare metaphysical and physical realities. It will build of the premise presented here. I hope you found it interesting.