ACOSMIC PANTHEISM
"LIFE IS BUT A DREAM" By David J. Harrington

The word "Acosmic" comes from Greek for "no universe." This idealistic form of pantheism takes the position that only the Force is real and that the material universe is unreal. This includes an inherent value-judgment that the material world is inferior to or of lesser importance than the spiritual Force. The universe, in this system of thought, is God's dream. Acosmic pantheism has a dualistic premise: the physical world is an illusion -- the Mind (of God) is the only reality. The dualism is of mind/body as separate substances. The "mind" is spiritual, ideal, and sacred. While the material world of the body is profane and merely a shadow.

To give this a context, we'll make a quick journey through history: During the Age of Enlightenment (ca. 17-18th centuries) serious thinkers sought the most reliable method for understanding the nature of reality. Ultimately, the scientific method of investigating physical reality was accepted as the best way to obtain knowledge. But at the same time, in the German cultural region there was a movement in a different direction -- to idealism.

The scientific method is based on the premise that the physical world exists. And that reliable facts can only be obtained by testing and verifying ideas in the physical world. This belief in knowledge by experience is called "empiricism." Idealism is opposed to empiricism. And idealism is the philosophical base of 19th century acosmic pantheism.

Idealism is the belief that reality exists only as ideas in the mind, and that experience in the physical world is untrustworthy. What that means is that what's real -- ideas -- is invisible; and what's visible -- matter -- is imaginary. Hmmm.

Critics of idealism wonder how such a concept could be taken seriously.

At the end of the 18th century the German lands were fragmented into tiny principalities and city-states. Any hope of Germanic greatness was just a dream. And along comes Georg Hegel with a idealistic philosophy that says imagination is real and reality is imaginary -- just the stuff to drive an escapist into reveries of Romanticism.

This might compare with the computer technique called "virtual-reality." In virtual reality, the viewer's mind is connected to a computer that simulates the sight and movement of reality. Enough information is given so that the viewer's mind fills in the blanks as though it were experiencing true reality. The feeling is enhanced by a glove or other device that allows the viewer to move around and interact with the virtual reality data sent by the computer. This interaction gives the viewer the feeling of being in reality. According to acosmic pantheism, this is what real life is like.

A similar concept of reality is proposed by "identity of opposites" pantheism. The Force of a virtually-real universe would be like an infinitely powerful computer. Without emotion, it would methodically churn through every possibility of every possibility. This would not be a jealous God--for good reason: Nothing else in its universe would be real. This "God" would be pure mind, and its only function would be to imagine.

Every idea that comes to it, may come simultaneously with its exact opposite. If it's very first thought had been of self-existence, it would simultaneously have thought of non-existence. But its non-existent possibility would think simultaneously of existence. And so it would be eternal.

If it is eternal, it has no dimension of time. It also has no dimension of length, breadth or depth in its imagination. Its only dimension of thought would be complexity. In the Force everything is possible. Every new image in this "God's mind" might be echoed in endless parallel universes in endless variations.

In the acosmic Force, each human thinks of itself as a real person making real decisions. To each human, every decision made is real, seems real, feels real. Each human is sure free will exists. But in the acosmic conception, all decisions are made in the Force. The Force is the only reality in acosmic pantheism.

To put it another way, everything in our universe is made of empty space and particle/waves of energy. All of our flesh, bone, and brains are just bundles of energy. We each identify ourself as being separate. But when we die our energy disperses into other arrangements of atoms. So maybe we shouldn't take life so seriously. What claim do we have to life eternal? The energy of the Force is eternal and we are a part of it.

Suppose, for a moment, the possibility that the universe IS acosmic and what really exists is ideals. Science studies physical reality and gets physical results. The truth is often stranger than fiction. We are taught that there's only one possible reality. Perhaps reality can be told in many ways and all of them be true. Go back a few centuries and no one would have believed that the universe is made of mere "movement." But the universe is made of energy, science tells us, and what is energy: the capacity to do work, and work is movement.

Idealism and acosmic theories of reality lead to endless speculation about the nature of reality. The argument could be made that because of our ignorance we don't realize ideals when we see them.

Maybe something as common as emotions may have an existence that is independent of our physical reality. Maybe emotions are really dimensions, like time and space. But we don't realize it because we don't have the tools to measure it yet. So maybe life is really a spiritual matter, where we invest our energy into many dimensions to make ourselves more conscious of our own insignificance in the great scheme of things.

Suppose some "acosmic" explanation of the universe's structure were an accurate representation of our existence. Would it matter in our lives? We humans want to believe in freedom. Why not just enjoy the world the way it feels to us. Does it matter if we are "God's dream?" Then the Force is enriched by our imagined existence. Or does it matter if the Force is our dream? Then we may be enriched by the hope of the Force's existence. Everything is possible in the dream world of acosmic pantheism.

Further reading of David J. Harrington can be had at If There's No God......