I was interviewed on Vortex Sarasota a while back (embedded
video below). It was a great conversation and I really like the host George
Lewis. It was one of the funner interviews I’ve done.
At one point George asks me about spiritualism. And, I don’t
understand what he is asking me. I do my best to translate his question into
something that makes sense for me and fail.
Even though we agree on a lot of things, there is a basic disconnect in
our world views. I am a natural
materialist, he is a supernatural spiritualist.
For me there is only the natural world that consists of
matter and energy. If something happens, it is quantifiable in this world. I
have the same feelings of awe and wonder as anyone else. I have feelings of
intuition. But for me, these feelings are a result of biochemical processes
occurring in my brain. That doesn’t make
them any less special or any less amazing.
It doesn’t make me feel any less connected to the universe. It is just
that I don’t view these things as anything other than a material natural
process.
I think what trips people up is the choice of words. People
associate the natural materialist world view with capitalistic materialism
which refers to the gratuitous consumption of material, which is, for good
reason, associated with greed. So they don’t understand how a natural
materialist worldview can help people lead such satisfying emotionally
fulfilling lives.
Grounding your view of the world as a natural materialist as
opposed to a supernatural spiritualist simply means that you accept the world as it is as opposed
to hoping that there is something more there. It is a liberating, amazing and
inspiring way to view who you are in the universe. On the one hand, you are nothing more than
matter and energy combined. On the other, you are you! Matter combined, against all odds and against
its tendency towards entropy to create you!
If that doesn’t make you feel special, nothing will.
PS – I am a board member for the Spiritual Naturalist
Society – check them out at: http://spiritualnaturalistsociety.org/
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